IBM Business Automation Workflow vs IBM Case Foundation comparison

IBM Business Automation Workflow vs. IBM Case Foundation

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Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

IBM Business Automation Wor...

Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)

13th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM Case Foundation

Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)

31st

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of IBM Business Automation Workflow is 1.9%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Case Foundation is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Process Management (BPM) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Business Automation Workflow	1.9%
IBM Case Foundation	0.5%
Other	97.6%

Business Process Management (BPM)

Featured Reviews

Ateeq Rehman

Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited

Customizable features empower seamless workflow automation

The system is fully customizable, very resilient, and fault-tolerant. We have first-line support from IBM, so there are no issues. We have integrations with different banks, ERP systems, and other human resource management systems by integrating through different systems. It provides many ways to integrate, and we are utilizing it effectively.

Read full review

Nouman Nawaz

Deputy Director - IT(Plans) at DHA Lahore

Mature product in terms of security and stable product

The architecture is a bit difficult, but in BAW, they introduced the Business Automation Workflow. It's a bit easier compared to Case Manager. Currently, we use Case Manager, so it's a bit difficult to upgrade and handle, but BAW is comparatively much better and easier to handle. The limitation is only for customization because IBM doesn't support it. In some scenarios, if you want some business processes to be customized, we have already spoken two or three times with IBM representatives that we have to customize some of the features in this business process. They would say that if you want to do this automation at your own end, then okay, fine, go ahead, but we are not supporting all this customization. The only thing is the customization because it's a complete standard application.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product is suitable for knowledge management processes."

"IBM provides long-term support and maintains a traditionally good customer-vendor relationship."

"The system is fully customizable, very resilient, and fault-tolerant."

"Productivity improvements are notable because processes have been orchestrated and streamlined with IBM Business Automation Workflow."

"It's a flexible solution."

"The workflow of BAW's automation is handled inside of BPM, so we can see what state it is at and how things are processing through."

"The tool streamlines operations, especially from an operational perspective, by facilitating decision-making and ensuring timely approvals. This helps prevent delays in the approval process, where business process management adds significant value for us."

"This product is tightly integrated with the RPA automation process."

More IBM Business Automation Workflow pros

"The most valuable feature is its stability, which is why we are using it."

"It is easy to set up workflows that notify the user depending on certain events."

"The only thing is that we can easily track where the application is in the process, from manual to automation."

"Flexible and the ability to divide search screens, and to search for documents. The ECM feature inside the system is great."

"The solution is scalable."

"The client and the IBM content navigation are the solution's most valuable features."

"It's very easy."

"The most valuable feature is the content manager part of the file as it is very stable, robust, and reliable."

More IBM Case Foundation pros

Cons

"The main areas which need improvement are specifically around reporting and analytics."

"Improvements could be made in debugging and troubleshooting."

"The monitoring features must be improved."

"The UI of the solution is not good. They should work to update the solution and make it better and fresher."

"From what I understand, in the next release they're actually going to combine all of this together as one integrated solution... If we could have one unified way to build a solution, that would really help."

"In terms of improvement, it could be less complex."

"While everything is integrated into one platform, I'd like guidelines on when and how to use ODM. This applies not only to implementation but also to automation processes. Additionally, proper instructions should be provided when installing on the cloud."

"Requires a lot of customization code writing which could be reduced."

More IBM Business Automation Workflow cons

"The place of improvement is merging or combining all of the workflow functionality into one seamless tool. Now, there are multiple installations that are different. Case Foundation, before you can put Case Manager and you've got IBM BPM, and the roadmap is there to merge them altogether. But that's the struggle at the moment, it's having multiple installations and disparate workflow applications."

"The interface needs to be more user-friendly."

"Comparing the solution with other interfaces, IBM BPM is much better than Case Foundation. They need to make this solution's interface more user-friendly."

"The limitation is only for customization because IBM doesn't support it."

"We are now using microservices but there are some areas where the coordination with FileNet is problematic."

"The solution can be quite expensive."

"The service as it currently stands is out-of-date and lacks flexibility."

"There are some features that could be enhanced like the document viewer"

More IBM Case Foundation cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When you compare with Laserfiche and M-Files, IBM is expensive."

"There is still a relatively high total cost of ownership to actually implement, support, and stand up solutions."

"Our license is on a three-year term."

"IBM Business Automation Workflow has a flexible pricing mode, but the price is expensive. The price of the solution reflects the quality of the solution which is very high. The technical support is an additional cost."

"Nowadays, clients are looking at pricing as one of the major factors. For IBM products, they always think it is expensive for them. We are still educating our clients on the IBM FlexPoints licensing."

"The product is expensive."

"While it can be quite costly, it offers significant benefits for users."

"The solution has saved us time."

More IBM Business Automation Workflow pricing and cost advice

"This is not an expensive solution and we are using the standard license."

"IBM Case Foundation is a little expensive."

"The price falls in the middle range—not overly expensive but not extremely affordable either."

"Pricing is in the mid-range, it is not cheap, but it's not expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

32%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	16

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	6

Questions from the Community

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 do you like most about IBM Business Automation Workflow?

It performs the basic tasks that are required for the BBM solution as part of the overall integration with ECM or enterprise contact management.

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 do you like most about IBM Case Foundation?

A valuable feature includes seamless integration with the document management system, along with robust capabilities in analytics and reporting.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Case Foundation?

The tool is expensive for my customers; it is very expensive, more than other solutions. Some customers say it is more expensive. The license cost for Cloud Pak is per user and increases with the n...

What needs improvement with IBM Case Foundation?

We face some challenges with IBM Case Foundation from our customers, particularly with administration and configuration. We face many issues and open tickets with IBM regarding that, especially som...

Camunda vs IBM Business Automation Workflow

Comparisons

Compared 30% of the time

IBM BPM vs IBM Business Automation Workflow

Compared 22% of the time

Apache Airflow vs IBM Business Automation Workflow

Compared 11% of the time

Appian vs IBM Business Automation Workflow

Compared 8% of the time

Fujitsu Interstage BPM vs IBM Business Automation Workflow

Compared 4% of the time

More IBM Business Automation Workflow Competitors

IBM BPM vs IBM Case Foundation

Compared 31% of the time

OpenText MBPM vs IBM Case Foundation

Compared 28% of the time

More IBM Case Foundation Competitors

Product Reports

IBM Business Automation Workflow

Download IBM Business Automation Workflow product report

IBM Case Foundation

Download IBM Case Foundation product report

Also Known As

Business Automation Workflow

Case Foundation, FileNet Business Process Manager

Overview

IBM Business Automation Workflow combines business process management and case management capabilities in one workflow solution. It integrates the capabilities of business process and case management into a single workflow offering. It unites information, process, and users to provide a 360-degree view of work to drive more successful optimized business outcomes. IBM Business Automation Workflow on Cloud provides the same capabilities that are offered in the IBM Business Automation Workflow offering, all within a ready-to-use, cloud-based environment that is hosted in IBM Cloud data centers and managed by IBM.

IBM

IBM Case Foundation is for organizations that need to harness unstructured information and integrate it with business processes to drive critical business decisions. It enables organizations to create, manage and optimize case-based processes and is designed to decrease development costs while significantly improving process performance. Case Foundation links specific pieces of content with a structured workflow. It's an on ramp for organizations that choose to move from document-centric workflow solutions to the advanced capabilities of IBM Case Manager.

IBM

Sample Customers

Key Bank, Barclays, Control€xpert, MIR Insurance Brokers, Conqord Oil

Suncorp Group Limited

IBM Business Automation Workflow vs. IBM Case Foundation