Automation Anywhere Reviews

Our primary use is a bot to look up accounts from Excel to the source system and entering it back into Excel.

We have a bot running on a computer that is doing manual tasks that we used to do. There is an initial setup time but pays off quickly.

I haven't done anything fancy yet, but the basics work for me for now.

It would be better to make it more user-friendly so that individuals with no experience can pick it up pretty quickly.

We have been using Automation Anywhere for one year.

I primarily use Automation Anywhere for:

1. SAP Automation using DLL MetaBots.
2. Salesforce Automation using REST APIs.
3. Citrix Automation.
4. Teradata Automation.
5. Oracle Application Automation using MetaBots.
6. Automate Mainframe application.

Details: Salesforce Automation

Automating the salesforce application to create the case ID and update the chatter field accordingly using the API.

Through the Bot, we are processing the case number with all of the required operations and at last, changing the case status with the API.

Environment:

We are developing the Bot in the dev environment first, and later testing is performed in the UAT environment. If everything looks fine then we move it into production.

AA brings a lot of benefits for our organization in a number of different ways.

I could say that many of the Salesforce activities are now replaced by bots, like creating the case ID number, uploading the attachment in the Chatter feed object, and many more.

Earlier users were converting the unstructured data from the PDF into the structured format to process the task but now, this activity is replaced by IQ Bot. It reads the unstructured data from the PDF and processes the task smoothly. Basically, we are dealing more with the invoice PDF to read the unstructured data.

I believe everyone is aware of the Jira application, which is used for issue tracking and project management. Now, all the Jira activities are replaced by the bots. Whenever any user is logging any issue through Jira, the Bot automatically assigns the ticket to the respective individuals, which saves a lot of time. In a simple way, I can say the Bot has replaced our Jira monitoring team.

From my point of view, IQ Bot is the most valuable feature in AA. It is a type of cognitive bot designed to support, as well as learn from business users and enable them to experience the power of advanced artificial intelligence technologies. Integrated with the Automation Anywhere Enterprise RPA, the IQ Bot offers enterprise massive gains in productivity, as it includes competency in automating complex tasks involving unstructured data.

The REST API is also a very valuable feature in AA. Using this, we can automate the web application through the API and execute it in the background in a fraction of time.

MetaBot is also a valuable feature in AA. Using this, we can run the DLL of any application and also develop the process in offline mode. If there any minor changes in the screen then we can avail of the calibrate feature of MetaBot.

It would be great if there will be a built-in machine learning model available in the AA, so the developer can directly map it with their task and train the model accordingly. Training and testing the model can be achieved using these features.

I have been using the Automation Anywhere solution for the past five years.

Stability-wise, Automation Anywhere is excellent.

The scalability is excellent.

I have had an awesome experience with the service and technical support team.

I still remember that initially, there were four or five times where I had raised a support ticket. I got the optimal solution and each time, I received a positive and quick response from the technical support team. I really appreciate their patience and effort.

Fortunately, I have started my career in the RPA field, and that too with the Automation Anywhere tool.

The initial setup is average in terms of difficulty.

We implemented using an in-house team.

I feel the cost of licensing is very high for the A2019 version. There is nothing much to say about the setup cost.

I have been trained in Blue Prism as well, but I feel a more friendly environment in AA.

As of now, I am using the 11.3v of AA, and whatever improvement is required I believe it is already taken care of in the A2019 version.

We have started doing migration of bot in A2019 and have seen that many new features have been added in the latest version of AA. Nonetheless, I can say that AA can expand its features and functionalities in the Artificial Intelligence area.

Apart from licensing costs, I don't have any concerns. I would suggest everyone go with this product and avail all the features wisely.

The primary use case was related to automating a daily job, which involves a lot of manual effort and was error-prone. We did involve RPA to automate the job and also have a pretty useful notification system in place too.

We had a requirement of pulling in data from a location, dumping it all into some spreadsheets, and then applying logic. Once that is complete, the distribution also needs to be controlled, and we have achieved all of this by implementing RPA.

There are also use cases for us where it is still a work in progress, including tasks in finance/accounting, and HR as well.

AA has helped our organization to improve productivity with less manual dependence. It has come up with certain paradigms in RPA that largely reduce human efforts.

The use case that is mentioned above had a dependency on three FTE on a daily basis to process data for us, and implementing RPA has helped us save this effort. 

There have been processes that were tedious and had dependencies on resources, as well as being error-prone. The involvement of AA has reduced problems to a considerable extent.

RPA is a feature that really helped eliminate errors during the execution of structured business processes. In particular, with our requirements, we have seen reduced dependency on the workforce and we had proper execution of our business process.

It has also opened doors for an intelligent notification system as well, with the help of which, we are getting the proper input from the different stages of our program.

Cognitive Automation helps by self-improving, using AI and ML for complex data.

Altogether, these important features help to form the organization as a digital force.

The product should improve on Voice Recognition and IoT pretty soon, as this is the next big thing in and I would like to see this upgraded in the next release.

This is the age of Voice Recognition where systems like Alexa and Cortana are ruling. I would love to see certain features for these.

In addition to this, there should also be a community version that will be able to provide support without a cost. This will make sure that the outreach for Automation Anywhere would increase up to a considerable extent.

I have been using the solution for approximately one year.

The solution is quite stable. I have used it for features like RPA and cognitive intelligence and didn't find any instability.

This is certainly scalable and the support is quite good too.

They have pretty decent customer service support. I had reached out a couple of times and I found them decent and knowledgeable. In addition, they have a good SLA too.

Other than evaluating UiPath, I have not used a different RPA solution.

The ROI is pretty good. I have used it in one of my use cases where I have a dependency on three FTE, and I was able to reduce it by a considerable margin.

UiPath was the option that I was evaluating but ended up choosing Automation Anywhere.

We used Automation Anywhere to create and integrate a solution that is suitable for a dynamic application. We had a business challenge where things were dynamic in terms of the environment, and we need to integrate into a CICD system.

It reduced cost and effort significantly. Yearly, our organization saved $14,000. The company started to save more, and increased efficiency in the field of automation then started to pioneer.

Within less time than it used to take, we can automate a complete Apex task. Being able to do this is how we managed to win the work for our client. The client was amazed and suggested the solution throughout the organization.

Complex tasks can be automated easily and reliably.

I feel the tool has to provide deeper insights for debugging issues, considering both internal and external factors.

The image recognition functionality needs to improve so that we can work faster.

We have been using Automation Anywhere for one year and eight months.

We were highly attracted to this product due to its scalability. This is because we started to work within a CICD environment.

The technical support is excellent.

Previously, we used the UFT solution provided by Micro Focus. It did well with us for a couple of years but as the application keeps on growing and becoming more complex, UFT has shifted from pros to cons. That's where we shifted to Automation Anywhere.

The initial setup was straightforward.

We implemented through a vendor team and their level of expertise was excellent.

Our advice is that anybody interested in this product should negotiate product bundles in order to reduce the cost of installation and setup. This product will ultimately help you to innovate and excel, and we recommend it.

We evaluated other options like UiPath, but we got what we needed that was specific to our requirements, so we onboarded AA.

I believe Automation Anywhere bundles everything for generic needs and in my case, everything was covered in these generic bundles.

We use it to automate all kinds of business processes. The primary use case is the RPA platform, even though they have the cognitive platform and the analytics platform. We use it for so many different things it's hard to focus on one, but it's automating business processes in our banking system.

We're interfacing a lot with Excel, our ERP systems, some legacy systems, the databases, file folders, text files, CSVs. It's hard to pin down one.

Through the software, we have been able to reduce the time that we spend on manual, repetitive tasks so that we can focus on activities that add value to the business or to our partners and customers. The most important things are saving time, increasing control, and increasing automation.

It has reduced a lot of repetitive manual work and manual mistakes that can occur while doing repeated work. This tool is very accurate. Everyone wants to automate their day to day work because of which we will be getting more and more work.

Since more and more companies want to automate their process because of the current situation, jobs for RPA developers have increased. Automation Anywhere has made tedious jobs so easy and time-saving. If the project is super automated, it can be finished in a very short period of time.

String extraction, Excel integration, and web services are the most valuable features. Because we are using web services it is so easy to connect with third-party applications. 

Excel automation is one of the best features in Automation Anywhere. If we have to work with multiple excel sheets with lots of rows and columns, it gets really difficult to keep track of this is done manually. But Automation Anywhere makes it really simple and error-free. 
Email automation is another command which is really good and time-saving. If we have to send out emails to a group and if it is everyday job, AA is very helpful

I would suggest adding more fields while calling in API. There is no option to generate an Authentication token within the Bot.

While using REST web services, we faced a lot of issues as we were trying to connect with the Salesforce application which needs an authentication token to connect. Since there was no option to create an authentication token we had to find a different solution altogether. This feature can be improvised.

Object cloning is another feature which is not very stable and this can be improved as well

I have been using AA for three years.

Cost Licensing is little high.

We are working for the Telecom industry, so there are multiple orders that come every day for service changes, add, and disconnect, so we have automated repeated steps using Automation Anywhere.

We use the Schedule feature to run an Unattended Bot, which gives a structured report prior to office hours, and we can directly start manual steps once we log in or come into the office.

It is easy to automate SAP by using Cloning and Metabot.

We can easily perform actions on a vendor-based tool that is specially designed for the Telecom industry or for database purposes.

Real-time mail notification is useful when reporting Bot status.

It definitely changed our approach; we automate repeated process steps using the simple GUI of Automation Anywhere's Bot creator, commands, and variables.

The Scheduling and Trigger features make Automation Anywhere fabulous in terms of unattended or independent automation.

We are showcasing our Automation potential to our clients. We offer them a cost and time-effective solution for repeated and time-consuming processes, which surely help a lot in terms of improving quality. It helps to exceed expectations beyond a predefined service level agreement. 

Once you create or paste the file/folder into a specific location, it will trigger the assigned Bot for execution.

We are getting the real-time status of the Bot, indicating whether it is successfully completed or failed.

The Mail notification feature also gives us the exact route cause of Bot failure using the Error Handling feature. It also gives a Snapshot of the error.

We can easily assign roles as Bot Creator, Bot Runner, Attended, or Unattended using the Control Room. We can also create custom roles as per our or clients' requirements.

We can smoothly monitor the status of the User, Bot Status, and many other metrics using the Dashboard feature in the Control room.

The time taken to execute a Bot through A2019 can be reduced. It takes time to upload Bots/Files once you click on Run, and it is difficult to wait while we are developing automations because deadlines are always a risk factor for developers. Code needs to be run code multiple times to achieve requirements shared by the client or team.

Migration from V11 to A2019 is difficult and needs more attention because it should be simpler.

They need to improve the  Object Cloning feature because it creates problems when the resolution is changed.

We have been using Automation Anywhere for more than three years. We started working on AA Version 10.X.

It is more stable than any other solution available in the RPA industry.

The scalability is tremendous and it is like a magical stick in your hand for automating repeated tasks.

Technical Support is always available and they help from scratch, trying to resolve each query.

We did not use another RPA solution prior to AA.

The initial setup was difficult but later, it gets easier in each progressive version released by Automation Anywhere.

We did not evaluate other products.

Automation Anywhere is most easy platform to learn about Robotic Process Automation and show potential of Automation.

We primarily use Automation Anywhere to automate Windows applications and Web applications. Both of these are easily automatable with the advanced Automation Anywhere commands, which are user-friendly and easy to use in the Financial & Banking services industry.

It can be used to automate the PDF processes, Microsoft Word, as well as Excel. Without manual intervention, the bot can make its own decisions based on the business rules, and its timely actions make the bot to run smoothly. This saves the users' time and compared to manual processes, the bot reduces the effort and time, with it safely run from the control room.

Automation Anywhere has brought fantastic changes in the process workflows, by automating the maximum number of processes with end-to-end solutions, some of them with 80% of the complete process.

We're able to automate most of the tasks with ease and in less time. We can test seamlessly, before delivering the end product, and once the bots are live it is very easy to maintain.

AA commands are tremendous in obtaining the object properties dynamically once it is captured, and we can select the required properties from the automatically generated ones.

The Object Cloning command is the most useful feature. Through the use of this command, between 30% and 40% of the process automation is complete.

The Excel commands are useful for fetching the cell values and then running specific commands. With this feature, we can invoke the existing macros wherever it is required and once it generates the outputs, the results can also be used for further decision making. This helps the process to run uninterrupted and avoids manual intervention.

We have observed that AA gets locked sometimes. After being used for hours with the same bot, while still using the Run Window command and having it in an open state, the users received a prompt to log back into the control room. This is not correct, leading the bot to fail at certain times.

In the next release, once the bot is triggered, the system should always recognize the active state and not prompt the user to log in again before the bot finishes all of its tasks.

We have been using Automation Anywhere for more than three years.

It has high scalability and can fit into any organizational environment.

Always, we receive prompt and very good service from the AA Technical support team.

Prior to using AA, we used Macros to automate certain processes, but we were only able to automate 50% of the entire end to end solution. This is because of its lack of consistency to when interacting with the web-based and Windows applications.

Automation Anywhere has excellent features that resolve all of the above problems.

The initial setup is very user-friendly, making it easy to install and ready to use software.

We implemented in-house by following business guidelines.

We've delivered approximately 150+ bots and saved about 200 FTEs worth of time per annum. 

Regarding the price, licensing, and maintenance, Automation Anywhere provides its customers with its best and affordable value.

We did not evaluate other RPA solutions.

I would suggest that if you offer RPA services then you should advertise it well because it will take you further.

The AA architecture was as suggested by the AA technical support team. We had one server dedicated each for the control room, bot creator, bot runner, and DB server. The servers were hosted on cloud services offered by Microsoft Azure.

Our primary use case included mostly the internal operations orchestrated by the IT team. It included processes like automation of AD ID creation, updating, and deletion.

Other services were offered to the Business and Finance groups, Human Resource department, and marketing department.

Automation Anywhere has played a pivotal role in expanding the current portfolio of the company by integrating with new Aae technologies like AI and ML and increasing the efficiency of the existing processes.

Some of the changes the organization has observed and appreciated the RPA services implemented by AA are listed below:

Regulatory and Compliance Standards: Prior installation of RPA services, there used to a lot of transcription errors through out the processes which proved quite fatal during periodic audits and in meeting compliance standards. Plus, detection and rectification of these errors was quite time and resource consuming.

Improved Efficiency: Post RPA services, the efficiency and accuracy of the processes have increased tremendously and now the employees can focus more on important research and analysis work.

Customer satisfaction: RPA has automated the repetitive and time consuming tasks which has eased off the pressure from the employees. Now the employees can concentrate on client specific requirements and in order increasing the client satisfaction by responding quickly in a periodic manner.  

Automation Anywhere is fairly easy to use and understand. It requires no prior coding experience. Personally, I started my RPA journey with AA learning about RPA as a technology and AA tool from Automation university and found it quite useful.

The bot store feature is quite useful since it provides pre-built bots for complex systems and it helps a lot when starting the RPA journey.

The AA commands provide a drag and drop option which is quite easy to use.

The Bot insight provides a lot of information ranging from bot deployment, success, and failures, and bot efficiency. This is quite informative and easy to understand which can be directly presented in front of business leaders too.

IQ Bot provides AI and cognitive capabilities that prove extremely useful in extracting texts from scanned images and unstructured invoices and documents.

Automation Anywhere provides more than 300 commands but it lacks in certain areas like Excel automation. For eg: there is no command to add, rename, or delete sheet. However, meta bots can be utilized for the same.

AA sometimes poses compatibility problems with new web browser versions like Chrome.

The AA control room is fairly difficult to understand and maintain initially.

Integration with new technologies and scripts like Python. However, I have heard that A2019 supports Python scripts.

The license prices vary drastically depending upon the partnership with the client.

Debugging of SQL queries is hard. The error description is not accurate. I have to initially test the queries on Access and then only I paste them on AA.  

I have been using this solution for more than two years now.

Automation is quite stable even with Citrix environments. However, it posed some problems when in the production phase. We encountered some random errors which used to come on a random basis.

AA was quite stable when used with Window applications and other applications like SAP, proprietary software, and databases.

The solution is quite scalable and best suited when used for processes involving a high volume of data.

The existing infrastructure can easily be migrated to the cloud and upgraded to a higher version too with minimal effort.

The configuration can easily be scaled up when being used in a cloud environment. A lot of bots can easily be run on the same bot runner server while being maintained by the control room.

The technical support team was cooperative and quick to respond to any query. I am highly satisfied with the AA support team. 

I started with AA v 10 and switched to v11 later on.

The initial setup was provided with installation documentation which was detailed. It posed no problems and in case of queries the support team was there to help.

I implemented it through a vendor team who were fairly new to both the RPA domain and AA tool. 

The ROI of AA is best when utilized for processes involving a high volume of data. 
It plays a pivotal role in cost saving by replacing the existing time and resource-consuming project with a fast and efficient RPA solution.

Since it can be utilized 24/7, the ROI is pretty high with minimal efforts and resources by using unattended automation.

Automation anywhere is best suited for processes that have high volume and are repetitive.
They offer good discounts when purchased in bulk or they provide extra bit runner runners with the existing prices. 

The setup cost basically depends on usage. They can be installed both on-premises or on the cloud depending upon the user's requirement.

Not specifically. We were already AA partners by the time I joined the practice.

I have been using the IQ bot and the latest A2019 version and still exploring new features. I personally liked replacing the various recorder and object cloning command with a single recorder command.

The solution sometimes poses problems in the production phase.