IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Reviews

We used IBM RPA with the AS/400 IBM product. We have done a few terminal-based solutions for banking. We used it with their FileNet product for some workflow automation. We have done data entering with FileNet.

It's on-premises, but I've also used the cloud version. We have only deployed three projects with WDG. The first one is purely on-premises and the other two work with the cloud version. The on-premises one is within the internal infrastructure on top of VMware, and the cloud provider for the cloud version is IBM.

I started with version 21, and I'm currently working on version 23.

We can connect with different database types, and they have included a different package for a terminal connection to, for example, AS400. When it comes to UI development, it's not using the drivers or anything. It's not a selector-based development like UiPath. 

We can use its inbuilt activities, and it's a complete package, but just like ElectroNeek, a limitation is that we have to depend on its inbuilt activities. We can't include our own activities or we can't introduce other activities.

When it comes to deployment and scheduling bots, there are some conflicts. They are using Microsoft MQ to communicate with their bots, but it's not reliable. When we are scheduling time, if I need to schedule an interval of one minute, sometimes, the queue gets loaded with a lot of processes or bots, and they don't wait until the first one gets complete. So, that sort of disadvantage is there.

I have found one bug in version 22 when sending or configuring mail. While using their orchestration environment, on IBM Server, you can configure an SMTP connection to send out the details you want. For example, when you create a user, they send out an email. That part didn't work, and I created a few tickets. The issue is that there's a typo in the endpoint API. They have probably corrected it in version 23.

I've been using IBM RPA for one and a half years.

As of now, it's stable. I'm using version 23, which is pretty stable. They have some issues with the terminal where there are some restrictions related to screen sizes, but they seem to be working on that.

Its availability and scalability are pretty high. I have used LDAP with the IBM tool because I have to sync a few members with AD groups. For that, I used JavaScript. I developed the communication outside of the IBM tool, but I can do the execution within the IBM tool using CMD commands.

My whole team is using this tool, so there are about 20 people.

I've contacted them multiple times. Their ticketing process is good. My client has a paid version because they are using IBM FileNet and that particular product set. So, when there is a ticket, the process is very smooth.

I also work on ElectroNeek. We went for IBM RPA because we were working with the FileNet product, and on the BPM side, we have IBM. That's why we are using the IBM WDG tool.

It's at the medium level. For on-premises, we have to install a server separately and the bot environment separately. When it comes to the server, we have to configure a database in MS SQL Server, and we have to create five to six databases on the server side, and the bots and the servers communicate using the Microsoft Messaging Queuing system. 

The initial configuration took about two to three days because I had to enable a few ports. In the client environment, every port was closed, so we had to open a few ports for the API and other layers. They have an inbuilt OCR tool, and for that one, we need to expose the APIs.

You can use this solution, but it depends on your use case. You can use it for a pretty complex project, but when it comes to queuing, you have to use a third-party queue, such as RabbitMQ, to hold your transactions. Other than that, you can easily use the IBM RPA WDG product.

Overall, I'd rate it a seven out of ten.

The primary use case is the development of facilities using artificial intelligence, specifically Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to perform tasks across business systems and applications in much the same way as human workers do. 

IBM Robotic Process Automation is an RPA tool that is used to automate any repeated simple/complex tasks with ease. IBM Robotic Process Automation is one of the simplest RPA tools, having a simple user interface, and it is very easy to get hands-on with this platform. 

It has vast learning resources available, too. Use cases include extracting data from scanned PDFs. Using IBM Robotic Process Automation made it much simpler to scrape data from scanned PDFs and convert it into standard Excel format, as per requirements. We also use it for portal automation. AA makes web automation simple and our manual tasks have now been automated. Our portal is for making client bookings of the client. The bot reads the Excel file shared by the user and accordingly, makes the booking in the portal with minimum time and with high accuracy.

IBM Robotic Process Automation has greatly improved the organization by improving the speed of performance, as the speed of the robot is estimated to be 20 times faster than the human being. This is why it is very fast in dealing with websites, downloading files and uploading, using programs and dealing with them, extracting data, filtering them and sending them to customers by mail, and scanning PDFs and images. 

It also helped me work on other problems by saving me a lot of time and allowing me to do other work.

The solution's best attributes include:

• Less coding: RPA does not necessarily require a developer to configure; drag-and-drop features in user interfaces make it easier to onboard non-technical staff.
• Rapid cost savings: Since RPA reduces the workload of teams, staff can be reallocated towards other priority work that does require human input, leading to increases in productivity and ROI.
• Higher customer satisfaction: Since bots and chatbots can work around the clock, they can reduce wait times for customers, leading to higher rates of customer satisfaction.
• Improved employee morale: By lifting repetitive, high-volume workloads off your team, RPA allows people to focus on more thoughtful and strategic decision-making. This shift in work has a positive effect on employee happiness.

The feature that I hope will be available in the next versions is the system role which gives users access to specific features, based on the assigned roles and the accessibility provided to the user. The benefits of creating roles include increased security through controlling users' access according to their specified roles.

We would like a decreased need for customer support. 

We need easy and accurate monitoring of the use and access of data by higher management, leading to better research management.

System roles are preconfigured with the permissions necessary to perform the tasks within the scope of that role. They cannot be modified or deleted.

I've been using the solution for three years.

It is very stable and always offers updates.

The scalability is very good since IBM is very interested in artificial intelligence and very interested in expanding this field as soon as possible.

Technical support is very good and available 24/7.

Positive

I did use a different solution previously as this tool has a very good feature, which is that you can run more than one robot on the same device.

The initial setup was straightforward.

We did the setup in-house.

The cost is very low and good.

I evaluated Automation Anywhere.

In my opinion, I think that the product needs a lot of events and competitions to promote it and spread it quickly

I have been using IBM Robotic Process Automation for approximately three months.

IBM Robotic Process Automation should be more stable.

The solution is scalability.

We approximately 100 people working on this solution.

I am satisfied with the technical support.

I have found some of the deployments of IBM Robotic Process Automation are more difficult than others. Some deployments can take a few months.

The license is paid annually.

I would advise others to find a solution that best fits their use case.

I rate  IBM Robotic Process Automation an eight out of ten.