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Hyland OnBase vs IBM Business Automation Workflow comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.3
Hyland OnBase boosts ROI by streamlining processes, reducing paper use, and enabling faster, secure digital document access.
Sentiment score
7.7
IBM Business Automation Workflow boosts ROI by enhancing productivity, streamlining tasks, and improving efficiency with real-time monitoring.
I have seen a return on investment with Hyland OnBase because it provides a very reliable ECM platform for my organization, helps to remove the dependency on paper files and file folders, saves real estate costs, and facilitates the ability to work from anywhere.
Senior Software Engineer at Infosys
I have been able to see a return on investment as the time for approvals has been reduced, and since they are centralized, everything is in one place.
Project Manager at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
Initially performed manually, workflows now provide a better user experience and increased efficiency.
Senior Systems Developer at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
IBM Business Automation Workflow demonstrates strong return on investment, particularly through the operation model and real-time monitoring capabilities provided by the embedded dashboards.
CEO at Exact Holding NV
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
Hyland OnBase offers reliable 24/7 support, though quality varies by partner; some users find premium support and integration beneficial.
Sentiment score
6.0
IBM Business Automation Workflow's customer service is mixed, with both timely support and challenges like slow responses and communication delays.
Our vendor relationship facilitated integration with our system and offered additional service beyond the Hyland OnBase product.
Program Manager at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
I would describe the customer service and technical support of Hyland OnBase as being based on the partner that is used.
Project Manager at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
I find technical support from Hyland to be good.
Product owner at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
If the solution is readily available to IBM support team, they provide it instantly.
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
IBM provides long-term support and maintains a traditionally good customer-vendor relationship.
Deputy CEO, CIO at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Hyland OnBase excels in scalability and integration, supporting large enterprises despite high initial setup costs, potentially reduced by cloud services.
Sentiment score
7.9
IBM Business Automation Workflow is highly scalable, accommodating extensive users and transactions with flexibility in deployment and resource efficiency.
Transitioning to cloud-based services may reduce these costs in the future.
Product owner at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
We are implementing load balancing and horizontal scalability.
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
We can manage the license usage and scale our environment while optimizing license use.
Deputy CEO, CIO at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Hyland OnBase is highly rated for its scalability, stability, reliability, and low maintenance, resembling a Windows application.
Sentiment score
7.5
IBM Business Automation Workflow is stable and reliable, praised for functionality but impacted by maintenance and OS challenges.
Hyland OnBase was a stable solution that worked effectively for us.
Program Manager at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Outside of these maintenance periods, the environment is quite stable.
Senior Systems Developer at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
When installed on AIX, IBM Business Automation Workflow performs very well.
CEO at Exact Holding NV
 

Room For Improvement

Hyland OnBase requires user interface and pricing improvements, better training, migration processes, support response, and enhanced AI features.
IBM Business Automation Workflow enhancements requested include better UI, AI features, simplified setup, and improved support and resources.
The application could potentially be more open-source, allowing integration with more solutions.
Program Manager at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Hyland is working on a new platform (HXP) to integrate features from all products, addressing some concerns.
Product owner at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
The experience with the platform's learning curve is quite steep, especially for less technical staff.
Project Manager at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
Rather than sending URLs or documentation for customers to solve problems independently, the support team should be more involved in addressing the client's specific issues in a targeted manner, providing clear guidance on what actions need to be taken.
CEO at Exact Holding NV
Many developments are focused on AI, LLM models, and data science.
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
IBM Business Automation Workflow could be more intuitive, with more advanced low-code features and services definition.
Deputy CEO, CIO at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
 

Setup Cost

Hyland OnBase offers modular pricing with varying licenses, potentially expensive in Latin America, but enterprise licenses enhance scalability.
IBM Business Automation Workflow is expensive but valued for high-quality features, flexible licensing, and productivity enhancement compared to competitors.
We also paid for workflow licenses, which allowed up to 250 concurrent users.
Program Manager at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
I find pricing to be on the higher side due to its monolithic architecture.
Product owner at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that it is very cost-effective and affordable.
Senior Software Engineer at Infosys
It is not a cheap license but in line with expectations for such software.
Deputy CEO, CIO at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
The price of IBM Business Automation Workflow is on the higher side compared to the features it offers.
Senior Systems Developer at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Hyland OnBase optimizes business processes with workflow automation, storage, security, integration, and user-friendly interface for improved efficiency.
IBM Business Automation Workflow integrates RPA, offering rapid app development, AI-enhanced automation, and robust cross-departmental communication tools.
It provided data security features, allowing restrictions on sensitive documents, such as who could view or modify them.
Program Manager at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
The workflow engine has made the biggest difference for me because it is excellent for automating approval processes.
Senior Software Engineer at Infosys
Hyland OnBase is valued for its security, especially for those in the finance domain who require data confidentiality.
Product owner at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
IBM Business Automation Workflow integrates seamlessly with other IBM products, such as Enterprise Content Management, FileNet, Case Manager, and Operational Decision Management.
CEO at Exact Holding NV
The system is fully customizable, very resilient, and fault-tolerant.
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
It assisted in making users concentrate on the process flow rather than just features.
Deputy CEO, CIO at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Hyland OnBase
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Content Management (6th), Low-Code Development Platforms (15th)
IBM Business Automation Wor...
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
13th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of Hyland OnBase is 1.1%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Business Automation Workflow is 1.2%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Management (BPM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Business Automation Workflow1.2%
Hyland OnBase1.1%
Other97.7%
Business Process Management (BPM)
 

Featured Reviews

Abdul_Jabbar - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Infosys
Automated workflows have transformed document handling and support daily approvals and billing
The best features Hyland OnBase offers in my experience include being a robust storage solution that integrates well with the Epic solution, allows Unity Forms to be easy to create and use, and has Distribution Services for sending email notifications as reminders.Out of those features, the workflow engine has made the biggest difference for me because it is excellent for automating approval processes, and we use Hyland OnBase for legal requests, hardware requests, travel requests, corporate credit card requests, and file transfer requests. WorkView is an incredible module for gathering and displaying summary information, and we utilize it highly in our subsidiary to manage our legal contracts, their financial billing process, and their travel. We also use the Document Import Process coupled with Unity API for writing custom code to automate processes to send and receive data from other systems that are not yet API enabled. The impact of Hyland OnBase on our organization is that automating manual processes has had an incredible effect on our return on investment, and the man-hours saved by automating processes pays for the system, ranging from one to five hours. I measured the man-hours saved through the tracking of workflows and automation processes. Additionally, Hyland OnBase has allowed us to move away from moving paper around various departments, providing workflow management to keep approval inside the system and out of the email boxes, eliminating the need for paper storage, and saving storage costs with other vendors.
IsmailEl Dahshan - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at Exact Holding NV
Automation has transformed financial workflows and has improved revenue tracking and compliance
Regarding Watsonx, I am uncertain whether it is fully complied and fully integrated with IBM Business Automation Workflow yet. Currently, we use some AI in Enterprise Content Management, particularly when searching documents. Archiving snapshots would be very beneficial. It would be good to reduce the administration effort required to archive snapshots, as this is a main issue with the product. I would also recommend that IBM engage with customers more deeply. Rather than sending URLs or documentation for customers to solve problems independently, the support team should be more involved in addressing the client's specific issues in a targeted manner, providing clear guidance on what actions need to be taken.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
27%
Construction Company
8%
Insurance Company
7%
Healthcare Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hyland OnBase?
The main factors that influenced my decision to choose Hyland OnBase over other options available on the market were the cost compared to others and the high document-handling capacity that Hyland ...
What needs improvement with Hyland OnBase?
I believe Hyland OnBase could improve by making its user interface more user-friendly.I am referring to the learning curve, and I can tell you that the experience with the platform's learning curve...
What is your primary use case for Hyland OnBase?
Hyland OnBase serves as the primary document management solution for all of my company's documents.A concrete example of how I use Hyland OnBase for document management within my organization is th...
Which is better, IBM BPM or IBM Business Automation Workflow?
We researched both IBM solutions and in the end, we chose Business Automation Workflow. IBM BPM has a good user interface and the BPM coach is a helpful tool. The API is very useful in providing en...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Business Automation Workflow?
The price of IBM Business Automation Workflow is on the higher side compared to the features it offers.
What needs improvement with IBM Business Automation Workflow?
Regarding Watsonx, I am uncertain whether it is fully complied and fully integrated with IBM Business Automation Workflow yet. Currently, we use some AI in Enterprise Content Management, particular...
 

Also Known As

OnBase
Business Automation Workflow
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Honda France Industries, Hill County Texas, Hylant Group, ING Lease France, State of South Carolina, Syracuse University, Swindon College, Rhode Island Department of Human Services, Rochester Institute of Technology, Moen, Odense University Hospital
Key Bank, Barclays, Control€xpert, MIR Insurance Brokers, Conqord Oil
Find out what your peers are saying about Hyland OnBase vs. IBM Business Automation Workflow and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.