We performed a comparison between Fortra's Automate and Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out what your peers are saying about UiPath, Microsoft, Automation Anywhere and others in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)."The most valuable features for my client are timing and scheduling."
"The ability to connect to websites and pull data is the solution's most valuable feature."
"We have found the pricing to be very reasonable."
"The interface is simple, user-friendly, and very intuitive."
"Compared to other vendors, it's the scheduling tool because a lot of vendors want to charge you extra for their enterprise-level license to have a scheduling tool built in to give you the ability to set up regular schedules to run and do certain data checks."
"The licensing of the product is very good. You only need to license it once and then you have it forever."
"Fortra's Automate performs the job effectively and has the capability to alert us of any issues."
"The pricing is excellent. I would give them perfect marks in that regard."
"The most valuable feature is that it provides 100% reliability for file transmission. It ensures that files get delivered in a secure manner. When you use Connect:Direct, your file 100% gets delivered to the next delivery location. If the log shows that a file got delivered, it will have all the transmitted data without truncation or other data issues."
"The product has been very stable."
"The Security Plus feature of this solution is excellent, and allows you to send encrypted files very securely to remote destinations."
"Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct is a solution that is on the market for a very long time. There is an integrator that has been developed and evolves every year. On the roadmap, there is always a new integration. For example, it's one of the solutions in the market that out of the box can handle EBICS protocol. The file processing is done very well. By default, there are a lot of configurations that can be customized."
"Security is the most valuable feature of this product."
"Automation is the most valuable feature."
"Offers secure file transfers with a fast and efficient protocol for very large files."
"The documentation is not that great."
"It's possible that they could use a stronger community for seeking guidance and help."
"The documentation for errors needs improvement as many of the error messages we receive are very vague."
"Fortra's Automate is not as reliable as I would like it to be."
"The interface could be more user-friendly and easier to navigate."
"The workflow for variables could be better. The input and output of task-level variables could be made a little clearer in terms of passing those around from one task to another upon success, etc. Things like that could be a little easier potentially."
"The OCR for Hebrew text needs to be improved."
"Some companies have asked for voice integration. This is likely part of the roadmap."
"Sometimes we face issues and can't figure out the cause of failures."
"They have File Agent, which is an additional utility and a component of Connect:Direct, for automated file transmission. In that utility, there is some issue with the file name. There is a limitation on the file name, and that is being fixed by IBM."
"The user interface could be more user-friendly."
"User interface is not user friendly."
"This solution cannot be deployed on a root_squash NFS, which limits superuser privileges."
"Technical support is the number one concern."
"The user interface needs to be improved."
"Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct could improve by adding some of the functionality that some other vendors have. For example, GoAnywhere has call agents, which are small clients that can be installed on the endpoints and can be handled by the central point on the server. If I want to do this with the IBM solution, I have to sell a lot of account addresses. The price could be unprofitable for the customer. There is some small functionality that could be implemented and could be easily done to improve this solution."
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Fortra's Automate is ranked 5th in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) with 21 reviews while Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct is ranked 9th in Managed File Transfer (MFT) with 7 reviews. Fortra's Automate is rated 8.2, while Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Fortra's Automate writes "Can automate several processes with only one bot and is easy to implement, administer, and use". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct writes "Good automation features but needs improvement in the monitoring dashboard ". Fortra's Automate is most compared with Microsoft Power Automate, UiPath, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, MOVEit and Automation Anywhere (AA), whereas Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct is most compared with IBM Sterling File Gateway, Kiteworks, Aspera Managed File Transfer, MOVEit and Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT.
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