Automation Anywhere Reviews

I automated an application launched through the Citrix environment. The application was running on the SIT environment. Our application was a legacy desktop telecom domain application that runs on a Citrix environment. It was a very difficult task to automate our legacy application and we have seen only one tool which was able to successfully implement the automation. I have come to know about the AA tool and wanted to try this tool. And we are successfully able to automate a few of our flows with high accuracy and we have since then used AA for some of our functional executions on our legacy desktop application.

I have also implemented AA for the business process of logging into the work machine, opening remote desktop, and triggering some jobs during odd times. We have also made use of AA to keep our remote desktops active so that they do not get logged out and become a hurdle for our tasks during non-office hours.

After using AA for some of the flows, we identified that the execution time was reduced by 70% when compared to the other automation tool that we have been using for 8 years. As we didn't find any other tool that supports our legacy application automation, we have been using the existing one for the past 8 years. But once we tried with AA, our POC was successful and we are able to automate some of our flows and execute them. We have been saving huge man-hours by using AA. AA has made us to implement a new automation tool for the testing of our legacy application.

Automation Anywhere provides the best application to use for RPA and other automation requirements. It's very easy to use and easy to understand. It's UI(user interface) is user-friendly and easily understood by users, it is very easy to install Automation Anywhere. Simply click on next to install. It is easy to develop a bot, and no coding knowledge is required to develop. 

AA has another feature BOT STORE which contains pre-built bots for most commonly used applications like sap, oracle, etc and last but not least IQ bot features which are used to extract unstructured or semi-structure data from pdf, images, emails, etc. Automation Anywhere also provides a dashboard so you can check your bot details like bot accuracy, bot failure details, and ratio, etc. It helps to find errors. It also provides error handling commands so if you know the bot may get any error so you can handle it.

Configuring A2019 and using it is getting a little difficult because of frequent errors of compatibility. It is not so user friendly like the enterprise desktop version. Sometimes the A2019 platform takes too much time in the pre-processing and deployment process which is too time consuming and to solve this we need to restart the services and also sometimes need to restart our machines. This is extra overhead. AA-client is too heavy software. AA-client should support multiple languages. Sometimes the client software needs to login, again and again, every hour and so.

Advanced Machine Learning and AI features with visualization capabilities should be included in the tool so that the product can offer many new use cases and 

I have been using Automation Anywhere for 1 year and 6 months.

The bots automated were very stable and was not needed a lot of maintaining effort.

The solutions were easy to implement across many machines and using the cloud to run the bots on remote machines was a great feature.

We have been using a different solution and finding an alternative tool to help improve productivity. After the AA solution worked for us, we have been using both solutions to improve productivity even more.

It was completely easy and we didn't face any issues in setting up the software for the first time.

We implemented the bot through in-house team.

We have evaluated Tricentis TOSCA and we couldn't be able to automate our legacy application flows with it.

My primary use case is the automation of manual tasks involved in Order to Cash and Procure to Pay.

During the digital transformation of a company, the number of internal portals and applications increases leading to an increased number of data silos.

TCPL has successfully implemented a bot to synchronize data flow (including document files viz. docs, pdfs, images) between its in-house developed install portal and Microsoft Navision ERP.

TCPL has automated the AWB tracking of all outbound shipments to get latest updates on all our shipment movements, take timely corrective measures to ensure our customers receive shipments on time. This helps in ensuring timely order deliveries which results in higher customer satisfaction and lower DSO as we can collect on time only if we deliver on time.

Other bots are:

Vendor Invoice Processing and Data Entry

Accounts Receivables Data Entry

• AA RPA has drastically reduced speed of execution and thus turn around time of processes, ensuring all service level agreements are met and our customers get a great experience.
• Savings of fives Full-time Equivalent or 160 manhours.
• Lower Daily Sales Outstanding as we now meet SLAs and can collect all payments in time.
• Reduction in errors as bots never do wrong calculations or get distracted
• Higher Employee productivity as they are now free from the repetitive mundane work
• Important financial decisions based on updated and accurate information in-hand.

I find the graphic user interface and ease of usability to be the most valuable feature.

The wide range of functions and drag and drop workflow designer makes it easy to learn and work on, for both developers and business users. Being completely web-based makes it even easier and more comfortable to work on, for everyone. From a personal experience, I could learn and start building RPA bots using automation anywhere community edition in less than one month due to the good quality training material available at AA university and the use of usability.

Though IQ Bot is the most powerful and effective cognitive OCR platform for data extraction in the market, still, there is a lot of scope for improvement as there are a lot of non-standard documents which do not give a high straight-through processing rate and accuracy.

Additional features to be included in the next release should be the option to develop basic web portals through which business users can view and run required bots on demand. Secondly, some features of BPM should also be included in the RPA platform itself so that business workflows can be defined and automated easily.

I have been using AA for eight months.

We use AA for automating ServiceNow tickets in Caterpillar.

We get tickets for the configuration requests. Using AA, we auto-download the excel attached to it and do all the necessary cleanup and conversions. 

The entire process in steps as mentioned below:

1. A ServiceNow ticket is created by the client that needs a configuration request related to Caterpillar machines.

These machines are called lane 2 and lane 3 because they are manual configurations

2. Once we get the configuration we then try to match the configuration with all the parts and whether the configuration would be possible or not.

For that, we use SOAP where all our latest data is loaded.

This data is compared with the Excel sheet that client sends us.

The cleanup is done in Automation Anywhere, compared to end to end, and then output is thrown out. This output is then given back to the clients in the form of a ticket attachment to let them know if the configuration of the machine that they have requested is possible or not.

Automation Anywhere has saved us a lot of time, money & efforts by automating our ServiceNow tickets.

We expect to save more time by expanding to other verticals very soon. The other verticals include sending automated replies to the executives using the Power BI dashboards through alerts. We have not yet explored this aspect completely but sooner or later we have a lot of BI needs that will be catered by Automation Anywhere.

In the past, we have also done PoCs for the client that helped the executives run automated scripts every Monday using pre-built SQL commands in the data warehouse.

• Create automation tasks like recording keyboard strokes and mouse clicks.
• Distribute tasks to multiple computers.

Also, the document management processes that IQ Bot gives has very good functionality of how you can actually take unstructured data and make sense out of it, connecting inferences, then making the data available to the user. So, IQ Bot is one of the best tools that I can think of in that aspect. This solves the problem of various document structures, document formats, etc.

Hoping to see AA get more robust with time.

Handwritten documents are still a drawback to read.

Regarding the UI, once you're on some of the screens there are fixed dialogues, they are a set size, so there's a lot of horizontal scrolls and vertical scrolls. If I want to do something that is purely business-related and is somewhat complex to write or is nuanced, I sometimes have trouble implementing that inside of the Automation Anywhere script. I feel limited at times with some of the looping and some of the branching and some of the ways to make procedure calls when I have a complex business issue.

Also, there's a loss of overhead of the computing resources in Automation Anywhere. If you have an encrypted bot, the Automation Anywhere software has to read it first, decrypt it, and run it. So there is a potential that, if the logic of the bot isn't good enough, a lot of CPU and memory overload will happen. This is something that Automation Anywhere should look at because it takes a lot of computing resources. I have seen CPUs running at 100%.

I have been using AA for three years. 

Very good.

Very good.

Very good.

We have only used AA as AA has a partnership with Deloitte and Deloitte promotes using AA. 

We have liked AA very much.

The setup was straighforward.

In-house.

We have seen at least 30 % savings in time and 12% saving in costs.

We are not into advisory. We only use the tool.

We are waiting to see AA progress further with more robust solutions.

I start using automation anywhere for my first project to automate HR process. For HR, one of my customers uses a lot of manual processes in their company. They manually update reports in Excel and have a lot of use cases that trigger emails to staff.  Examples of emails are applications for training or requests to top management for approval.

By using Automation Anywhere, we can help our customer manage their data by connecting the Bot to the database and automate emails that are sent between staff and the top management.

When implementing RPA with AA for an organization, we can figure out the spaghetti processes and align the business process so that they become linear. This is possible because RPA uses rule-based automation. Ultimately, it means that the organization will be more structured.

Having AA also helps to improve time-savings, as it is able to complete the whole process faster. The accuracy of the data posted in the system also increases.

In terms of cost, AA reduces the cost of hiring workers because the number of workers can be fixed after implementing RPA.

The most valuable features are object cloning, image recognition, assignment value, and automation for databases, OCR, PDF, Excel, and email.

Excel automation is especially helpful because a lot of small companies are still using Excel as their data storage.

Database automation is really important for executing report queries.

PDF automation is useful because a lot of companies still use PDFs as fillable forms. To automate a PDF, it uses the OCR function to extract data, from either a soft copy or handwritten-scan form.

Last but not least, the assignment value command is really needed to help with the manipulation of variable datatypes. Without this, it is quite hard to manipulate the data.

The assign value function is not there in the A2019 Community edition, which makes it hard for a developer to manipulate the data. For example, using a data table record, when I want to assign a value to a record variable, I am not able to assign it properly. I am only able to define a hardcoded value inside that variable, whereas the requirement is to put the value inside that variable dynamically using another variable. 

In the next release, I am hoping to have a feature where the developer can use a programming method like ".Double/.toString" to make programming faster. As it is now, one has to pull commands one by one for assignment.

Next, I am hoping that AA can have an explanation and directions for each command and how it is to be used by developers. For example, with the OCR function, it would be helpful to know what data is compulsory for the developer to enter, and what data is optional. By having guide like this, it would be more developer-friendly. This would be better for beginners who are using AA for the first time. 

We have been using Automation Anywhere for less than one year.

the stability of the studio is ok and some features is easy to use. but sometimes i feel to automate excel is quite hard and developer need to make many repetitive steps just to insert dynamic data into each cell in excel.Hopes in version 11.3 will have read range and write range function instead need to loop many times and set the cell one by one.btw, i like dictionary data type and impress with AA because no need to read file and just put the path it can already work. but i hope for dictionary variable data type also can support .xlsx file to save as dictionary and able to add dictionary key and value that outside from the file by able to add keypair value by assigning them  as temporary value during process.

Quickly scale to thousands of bots in the front and back office, no matter the type—attended, unattended, or intelligent automation.

The modern microservices architecture enables the platform to scale both vertically and horizontally, delivering fast ROI.

We do not yet have experience with customer support. We have been using AA for less than one year.

In another company, I previously used a different RPA solution. I have switched because I have changed companies, to one that is using AA.

To install the application is easy, but you need to prepare a few accounts during the initial setup. These include a Creator account for developers, a Bot Runner, a server, and a database.

We deployed with the assistance of a vendor team and we are satisfied.

Some of the factors that contribute to ROI are the low cost, ease of maintenance, and automatic updates.

This is a comprehensive automation offering with a scalable architecture and flexible pricing models. This keeps the RPA TCO low and you can automate with confidence.

We evaluated UiPath before choosing Automation Anywhere.

Overall, this is a great tool because it's easy to maintain and it can reduce hiring costs, leading to reduced overall costs in the future.

We are using this product for the development, running, and monitoring of automated processes. We are using IQ Bot for advanced tasks using cognitive technology.

Automation Anywhere has helped in automating business processes for simple to complex business cases. It also helped in understanding, learning, and discovering new automation ideas.

The features that I find most valuable are:

1. There isn't much scripting.
2. It is easy to learn and implement.
3. No prior programming knowledge required to learn and develop.
4. On the server-side, multiple developers working on a single project can save their individual works and have them stored in a single repository.

Custom models with advanced features can be included in the IQ Bot models for unstructured and semi-structured data.

We have been using Automation Anywhere for between eight and nine months.

Our primary use is to provide a digital solution with a view to delivering robust, time-efficient, and error-free solutions to business customers. The requirements for every customer are quite different depending upon their return on investment measures, the need for automation in their organization, etc.

Other than that, I as an individual have found a fondness towards the product, which helps me automate all of my day-to-day activities. They are monotonous and the bot can jump in and make my work life such that I can breathe a little easier.

My environment varies from customer to customer.

Automation Anywhere has not only my organization but several customers as well. Particularly the organizations from the automobile industry have benefitted from AA in their vision to transform their business objective towards the path of digital transformation. 

In fact, there are more than 25 customers that we have or will have partnerships with. These groups are willing to invest more in automation so that their valuable resources are not wasting their time and energy with monotonous work. Instead, they are better utilized in improving their employee value and thus helping the organization grow.

It is very difficult to automate Telnet and Terminal screens using Java or Python. Automation Anywhere has made the automation of these processes pretty much hassle-free and easy to use.

The robust and flexible nature of the product gives it the capability to automate almost all rule-based processes in each and every ERP application that is currently available in the market.

Another added advantage of this product is its capability to automate web-based processes and its ability to automate all processes without compromising a single bit on security.

As a developer, I would like to have copy commands available from one bot to another. It is a tedious task to write the same snippet of code in different bots again and again, whereas I could simply copy and paste the patch of code, like in the older versions.

As a business user, I would like to have a feature wherein the bot is run on demand, whenever an email with a specific keyword or whenever a specific person sends an email to the bot's email address. Thereby, I need not worry about setting up a schedule in the WebCR.

We have been using Automation Anywhere Enterprise for two years, and the A2019 version for five months.

The software can automate almost all web based or desktop based applications. Its wide range of commands makes it possible to automate almost any rule based process with ease. 

Scalability is pretty good as it covers pretty much all of the applications and almost all processes can be automated.

More often than not, I have a quick response from their support team. Hence, I would say I am pretty much happy with the way they are organized as a support team.

I have always been a user of Automation Anywhere and did not work with another RPA product.

The Express mode installation is pretty straight forward. However, the SSO (Single sign-on) enablement, which is a requirement for many customers, is a bit complicated because the certificate needs to be installed.

For customers, we have the Automation Anywhere team to support us in case we need any assistance. Otherwise, we do the installation on our own.

As far as the expertise of the Automation Anywhere team, I must admit that they know their product and are very skilled at it.

I think the organization has been making some real profits with the help of this product, although I don't really have access to the numbers.

My organization had a partnership with Automation Anywhere and hence did not have much of a choice.

We have so many use cases. One of them is in finance. We have a finance portal where the team updates the billing records. Based on the Excel input, the file bot creates entries in different modules based on conditions. One error bot maintains a log. It takes value input dynamically and the tool is very flexible so in case of any changes in the future, the developer or user doesn't have to change the code. They can do it with the help of configurable files. At the end of the process, the bot sends an intimation mail to the end-user with the bot execution status.

With the help of Bot, it has increased the productivity of the current process and we do not need to spend more time on error resolution and rectification.

While doing processes manually, the user has to manually open all the Excel files and needs to check each and every row one by one to check a few validations and conditions. For that, the user has to filter all the unique records that were very time-consuming. In case of invalid records, the user has to manually update a few fields into that. Now, with the help of Automation Anywhere Bot it's being handle automatically, and work that would take one week is now being completed within an hour.

There are many valuable features available but the Automation Anywhere learning portal has very good learning materials and videos in place which is very user-friendly and can be learned easily.

From a Commands perspective, below are some most valuable features:

1. Metabot (User can develop the code offline just after capturing the screen, easy to drag and drop commands, reusable, and easy to use).

2. Object cloning (helpful to capture most of the controls with its Object properties)

3. Excel operations, Emails, Default Error handling features, Version control, etc...

Many clients use the Citrix environment but AA has very low functionality to automate a Citrix environment.

I would like to see improvement in advance Excel commands like lookups, Pivots, etc. 

After changing the name of the ATMX file, the developer has to remap all the variables again manually at all place and it does not auto handle the renaming of ATMX or variable. In older version 10 it worked fine but from version 11 due to enhancement, this function does not work and faces issues during the development.

I have been using AA for the last three years. 

Automation Anywhere is the best in terms of customer service/technical support. 

We have used Ui Path, Python with Selenium. Automation Anywhere provides effective training videos and material which helps users to understand the tool easily and we can easily drag and drop commands to automate with a user-friendly user interface. Automation Anywhere also has better customer service support.

The initial setup was easy with the help of Automation Anywhere team support.

They're very flexible around pricing and licensing.

We have evaluated Blue Prism, Ui Path, and Workfusion.

Within just a few years Automation Anywhere has different versions and closing their support to the older version soon. Migration of each bot to a new one becomes a bit difficult for clients.

Automation Anywhere should have a single and stable version which can be easily accessible and easily migrate the processes.

We use Automation Anywhere to automate web-based administrative tasks. For example, we have a task to extract Excel reports from a site to gather issue tickets information, filter and compute the data, and store it to the SharePoint site. This is done manually and takes five hours to complete daily. Using Automation Anywhere, we created a bot that extracts the data from the site, filters and computes the extracted data to generate the report according to required output and format, and uploads the report at SharePoint.

With Automation Anywhere bots, we are able to cut down the manual efforts by 80% in generating Excel and Power BI reports, extracting and uploading files to various sites, and many other web-based administrative tasks. This also makes our report more accurate since it eliminates miscomputations of reports due to human error. Automation Anywhere also allows us to train our team members in creating bots of their own since it is very easy to use and has a user-friendly interface and it requires less coding.

The most valuable features for us are the Image Recognition and Object Cloning. We used this feature to automate our web-based tasks with repetitive actions or complex conditions. These features are very easy to use and do not require you to have deep knowledge in programming to understand since it has a drop and drag feature used to control it. It is also very reliable in recognizing images and locating objects on a web page, client software, or local files, so we have very little hiccups in completing the tasks with the bot we have created. 

The Web Recorder should also include a feature where the user can select what browser you want it to run since it is currently using the Internet Explorer browser as default. Some of our web-based systems are currently not compatible with Internet Explorer and can only run using Firefox or Google Chrome. Image recognition can be improved if it can still run the created bot in a different PC with different resolution sizes as it is currently very dependent on it and will not able to recognize the image you need if there are changes to resolution size.

I have been using Automation Anywhere for two years. 

The stability of the automations created using Automation Anywhere is very impressive. It provided us reliability in running the bots using Automation Anywhere where we have problems in using our previous RPA platform.

Automation Anywhere allows a very wide scale in terms of providing automations to our daily tasks that we thought were not possible before.

We previously have an RPA platform but it is not very reliable especially in recognizing images.

It lessens the FTE required to complete our daily task and provided more time for us to expand our capability to accept additional tasks.

I am not in charge regarding this matter.

No. Automation Anywhere was our first choice.