Automation Anywhere Reviews

It’s mainly for back office tasks, such as accounting and supply chain management (SCM). Currently, we are implementing RPA for these back office tasks. 

We are not just doing RPA. We are tackling it along with the review of a business process as a set, improving the process and automating simultaneously.

The most valuable feature is that a job by RPA can be done three or four times faster
than a human without human error.

E.g., when the robot handles tasks, there are triggers. It could be triggered when it receives an email, when it finds a file, when the specified time comes, etc. As there are many outside points of contact, it’s hard to understand how they are prioritized when a trigger priority is the same. Since I wouldn’t know which trigger is being prioritized unless I actually give it a try, I want a clear understanding of it. 

Also, please make it possible to set a trigger with the control room. 

As far as the stability is concerned, some unknown errors do occur. While I am sure the Automation Anywhere is working to improve this, there is room for improvement. 

It is very scalable. The structure is a client server, so we can expand the environment quickly, if needed.

Currently, we are getting it through a vendor from who we purchased a license. So,
when we have questions, we contact them, then they contact Automation Anywhere’s headquarters. We always get answers, but it is a bit time consuming. Here is where I think some improvement can be made. 

We were given the manuals, so we did it ourselves. It was not hard or challenging. We
did receive support, but there were no issues. 

This initiative is not something that we expect will have a quick, huge impact. We are still in the process of expanding and penetrating the solution. We will enter the phase where we see targeted impact shortly. In order to achieve this, we would like to see the support by Automation Anywhere reinforced along the way. 

We did look at two or three other solutions. In our company, the people in each business unit would be creating robots rather than the IT programmers or specialists. With that in mind, Automation Anywhere can be user-friendly and simple since business unit staff can even create robots, and that’s one of the big reasons that we chose it. The other reason is that we wanted to have control and governance over the task assigned to robots. Those two points made Automation Anywhere’s structure a great match for our needs.

We have started using the solution overseas, and in some areas, including Asian Pacific, robots are made by the local staff. When they have questions, they want to ask questions in their native language, but the support is not available in some of the languages as of now. I’m hoping these language improvements will be something improved going forward

In regards to advice, if looking to reform your business process and automate in the same way as we did, they would need something appropriate. We chose Automation Anywhere. If you have a lot of simple tasks, you may want to process with speed and obtain something else. There are different tools for different purposes. Get the right tool and think about the way to do it for whatever you are aiming for.

Foreign Language: (Japanese)

この製品を主にどのように使用していますか？また、パフォーマンスはどうですか？

主に会計系、SCM領域のバックオフィス業務を主にRPA化しています。

当ソリューションはどんな点において最も役に立ちますか？

人の3-4倍くらいの速さでミスがなく業務が自動化される点と考えています。

当ソリューションを使用するとどのようなメリットがありますか？御社が機能する上
でどのような改善をもたらしましたか？

単なるRPA化だけではなくビジネスプロセスの見直しもセットで取り組んでいます。
プロセス改善も同時にできています。

当ソリューションの安定性に関して、どのような印象をお持ちですか？

安定性で言うと原因不明のエラーというのは多少発生しています。この点については
改善の余地があると考えています。

当ソリューションのスケーラビリティに関して、どのような印象をお持ちですか？

拡張性は非常にあると思います。クライアントサーバー型なので、増加したい部分を
必要に応じて迅速に拡張できると考えています。

このソリューションにテクニカルサポートを利用したことはありますか？ある場合
は、サポートをどのように評価しますか？

今は弊社がライセンスを購入しているベンダー経由でサポートを受けています。確実
に回答は頂けていますが、時間を要する部分もあり改善する余地があると考えていま
す。

初期セットアップには関与されましたか？セットアップは簡単、それとも複雑でした
か？どういった意味で簡単、あるいは複雑でしたか？

マニュアルを頂き自分たちで実施しました。セットアップは難しくなかったです。支
援も頂きましたが特に問題はありませんでした。

当ソリューションの次のリリースに含まれていたらいいなと思うのはどのような機能
ですか？また、それはなぜですか？

例えばロボットがタスクを動かす際にトリガーがいくつかある。メール、ファイル、
時間を指定など。トリガーの優先度が一緒の場合、これらトリガーの中でどれが優先
されるのかがやってみないとわからないところがあって、そういった所がクリアにな
っていると良いです。また、トリガーをControlRoomで設定できるようにしてほしい。
こういった点を含め、管理ツールの機能がもう少し強化されると良いです。

どのようなROIが見いだせていますか？データを提供してくださいますか？

初期段階から大きな効果を出そうという取り組みではないと考えており、現在は社内
にRPAを浸透させている段階です。これから狙った効果が出るフェーズに入ると思って
います。Automation Anywhereさんのサポートもより強化して頂く必要があると感じ
ています。

他にどのようなベンダーを検討していましたか？最終的に当ソリューションを選択し
た理由は何ですか？

他に2つ、3つ検討しました。弊社では、ITプログラマーやスペシャリストというより
も、業務部門の人にロボットを作成する前提です。Automation Anywhereはユーザー
に対して非常にシンプルで分かりやすく、業務部門の人でも作ることができるという
ことが一つ大きかったと思います。もう一つは、ロボットがやる仕事、タスクをコン
トロールするガバナンスの観点がありました。これら2点から、Automation Anywhere
のストラクチャーは弊社のニーズに合っていたため、選定しました。

このソリューションに1から10の評価（10＝最高）を付けるとしたら、どのように評
価しますか？そしてその理由は何ですか？

8

海外でも利用を開始しており、APACの現地スタッフが開発しています。質問がある場
合、現地の言葉で問い合わせをしたいのですが今はそれができない言語もあります。
こういったところで今後改善もあると思いますので、期待も込めて残りの2点。

他の会社でソリューションまたは同様の他のソリューションについてリサーチしてい
る同僚の方がいたら、どのようなアドバイスをすると思いますか？

色々なやりかたがあって私共みたいに業務プロセスを改革するのとセットで進めると
いうことであれば、…我々はAutomation Anywhere を選択しました。

本当に単純な業務が沢山あって、スピードを持ちたい、出したいというのであれば、
違うツールかもしれません。狙う業務形態にあったツールは変わります。

何を狙おうとしているのかによってツールは選ぶべきですし、やり方も考えるべきだ
というようなことは申し上げるかなと思います。

RPAs are often used in administrative processes, but we have applied it to our master data management for manufacturing. At manufacturing plants, there are not a lot of administrative processes. However, there are many tasks dealing with what we call our master data, so that’s where we have implemented RPA, to collect, search, as well as register the data.

In our efforts to efficiently manage the master data at our factories, the biggest benefit is the fact that we have been able to rein in what was an increasing number of engineers who were needed. We have been able to do so on the order of some 100 people, so that’s a major result.

The most valuable feature is the ability to define the RPA tasks automatically. There is a major benefit in the fact that it can be done without human effort. As long as the instructions are error-free, the bots will make sure it gets done. That’s where we see a big advantage.

I have submitted requests to Automation Anywhere regarding feature expansion. There are two major issues. The first is that I would like to see functionality that will improve development efficiency.  The second is to be able to schedule the management of bots. I asked for functionality that would reinforce the scheduling.

One of the characteristics of RPA - and it really can’t be helped - is that it is easily influenced by the application that works along with it. This is something we need to be aware of. For example, we had an occurrence where it stopped due to an error because the application it works with had been changed and there was a lack of communication with the IT department.

The capabilities for developing similar tasks are there and it's relatively easy to do. However, to accomplish that we’d need a group of IT engineers. That’s where we are not up to par.

We do utilize Automation Anywhere’s technical support via our partner. Since Automation Anywhere's Japan office was only recently opened, it seems the support has not been as good as support for other package applications. I feel that we haven’t been able to fully take advantage of the support yet.

It’s important not to just implement bots just for the sake of implementing them but to think about how bots can be used to make processes more efficient.

The reason we chose Automation Anywhere is that it’s easy to develop with it. It also covers the widest range of functionality and it is enterprise oriented. Furthermore, a group in Toshiba started using it too, which made it possible for us to share information with one another. That’s why we decided on Automation Anywhere.

The setup itself did not take that much time and effort. In general, members of our IT staff do the actual setup, so we had no issues with it.

We do see ROI in the sense of staff reductions. However, if we are to apply it to the general administrative area, I think it’s not as easy to get a real ROI.

In our line of work, we don't have that many simple administrative processes. I’m sure companies like banks have enormous numbers of such processes, but in our company, our staff would spend less than an hour per day on delivery slips. If we got RPA and a bot, that would end up being more expensive. 

Foreign Language: (Japanese)

この製品を主にどのように使用していますか？また、パフォーマンスはどうですか？

一般的にRPAと言われると事務処理に使われるところなんですけど、我々は製造のマスター管理と言われているところに適用しました。製造業で実際の工場の運営ではですね、事務処理的な要素は非常に少ないんですね。ただ、マスターと呼ばれているデータを扱う業務は非常に多くあって、そこでのデータの収集検索だとか登録という業務のところにRPAを適用しました。

当ソリューションはどんな点において最も役に立ちますか？

RPAのタスクと呼ばれている部分ですけれど、その定義が自動でできる、人の手をかけずに自動でできるという所に大きな効果を感じています。で、さらに指示する情報さえ間違えなければ、ロボットが確実にこなすという所でも、大きな効果を得ています。

当ソリューションを使用するとどのようなメリットがありますか？御社が機能する上でどのような改善をもたらしましたか？

工場の先ほどのマスターデータの運用の効率化という意味では、エンジニアの増員抑制ですね。百人規模の増員抑制が可能となったと言うことが一番大きいと思います。

当ソリューションの安定性に関して、どのような印象をお持ちですか？

安定性ですか？RPAの特徴と言うか、構造上やむを得ないんですけど、相手のアプリケーションの影響を受けやすいというところではその注意が必要だなと感じています。

そういったアプリケーション側の影響で安定性の問題が発生したことがあるということですか？

IT部門で連携が不十分で相手アプリケーションの変更があったのが情報がなかったりすると、エラーをして止まるということがありました。

当ソリューションの拡張性に関して、どのような印象をお持ちですか？

考え方だとか、類似作業への展開は比較的容易だと思います。ただ、それを実現する上でITのエンジニアの部隊を育成していくと、そこがちょっと今の所、なかなかうまくできていないところかなと思っています。

このソリューションにテクニカルサポートを利用したことはありますか？ある場合は、サポートをどのように評価しますか？

パートナーさんを経由してAutomation Anywhereのテクニカルサポートを受けているんですけれども、日本法人がまだ立ち上がったばかりということもあって、若干他のパッケージアプリケーションに比べると、まだ弱いのかなというのは感じています。

感じているというか、まだ十分、我々も利用できていないんじゃないかなとは感じています。

初期セットアップには関与されましたか？セットアップは簡単、それとも複雑でしたか？

セットアップ自身はそんなに手間がかかったとは思ってないです。基本、我々のITのメンバーがセットアップを実施していますので、さほど問題はなく、セットアップはできました。

テクニカルサポートと安定性の改善点以外に、当ソリューションの次のリリースに含まれていたらいいなと思うのはどのような機能ですか？

先ほどの発表でもちょっと最後に付け加えましたが、Automation Anywhereに対するさらなる機能の拡張をお願いしたいです。そこは大きく2つほどあって、開発効率を上げるための工夫が欲しいと、いうようなことと、あとボットのスケジュール管理ですね。スケージューラじゃなくて、スケジューリングをしたいというところを機能として強化して欲しいということをお願いしました。

RPAをお使いになって投資対効果は見られていますか？

先ほどの省人化という意味では非常に効果があったという風にみています。ただ、一般の事務職的なところに、投資してやろうとすると、なかなか投資対効果で良い結果を得られるのは難しい状況もあります。

事務関係では難しいのはどうしてですか？

我々の会社の社員がやっている業務は単純な事務処理っていうのが少ないんですよね。証券会社や銀行だったりすると、膨大な事務処理があると思うんですけど、例えばスタッフの調達部門であっても、調達の伝票の処理をするのは、本当に一日のうち、一時間もないくらいなんですよね。その作業をRPAに1台、ボットに1台にしたら、ボットの方が高くついちゃうとかですね。

Automation Anywhereの前に別のソリューションをお使いでしたか？

RPAを導入する上では、代表的な5つのパッケージの検討を合わせて行いました。

Automation Anywhereを選ばれた理由は何ですか？

Automation Anywhereを選んだ理由はですね、開発する上での容易性が結構高かったということと、あとエンタープライズ志向と言われることで、機能的に網羅している範囲が広かったなというところ、でさらに、東芝、会社のグループの中で導入を始めたところがあったので、情報を共有しながら進められるかな、という点でAutomation Anywhereに決めました。

ベンダーを選ぶ上で最も重要な条件は何ですか？

機能とサポート体制、この2つが大きな…

実際に導入をしてやっていくと、サポート体制はまだまだ。これはRPA全体ですけど。

このソリューションに1から10の評価（10＝最高）を付けるとしたら、どのように評価しますか？そしてその理由は何ですか？

8ぐらいですかね。

サポート体制の強化というところと、もう少し機能が欲しい、先ほど言ったような。

このソリューションあるいは同様なソリューションを探している、同社あるいは他社の同僚の方に、どんなアドバイスをなさいますか？

RPAを、ロボットを導入するということでなくて、業務の効率化にロボットをどう使うかということを考えて進めることが大事だなと思います。

TestingAnywhere is an Scriptless Automation Tool which is easy to learn and implement. A lot of features present in this tool are effective during automation. Test cases are created using one of five methods (web recording, object recording, image recognition, Smart recording, editor). These test cases are recorded, saved, and can be edited and enhanced. 

One more feature that is very unique is the conversion of Automated TestCase in to Executable (EXE) files so that testers can run them on remote machines too. 

We wanted to run the Automated TestCase prepared in TestingAnywhere from another tool. So the *.exe file came in handy.

I haven't gone deep in the tool, but so far it looks good.

There are several features that are very valuable to me, and these are the main reasons I was attracted to it.

1. It has a very wide array of built in functionality. I am able to test against SNMP (v1 and v2), Telnet, SSH, Command Line, Web Browsers (IE, Google, FireFox), email, Microsoft Office, Windows integration, etc… On top of all that I can write other apps in other languages and have Testing Anywhere control them when necessary.
2. The scripting language is easy to learn and very quick to build on.
3. The server side allows for multiple developers to be involved and all their work is saved to a single repository.

We chose this product because we had an extremely aggressive timetable to develop automation from scratch. In a traditional setting it would have taken several developers months to develop a full of suite of tests for just one feature set. Using Testing Anywhere we were able to leverage the built in capabilities such as Telnet and product a quick turnaround in developing a Telnet menu test that took a matter of weeks to develop.

There are a few areas that this product really needs to bring to the next level. First, the server is good but very basic. It does a great job of storing all the test files in a central location for all developers to use. However, it lacks all the standard features a normal “code” repository has such as Check In/Check Out, Branching, Version Control, etc…

Second, the IDE – or development interface is simple and easy to use. But if you come from a coding background such as myself you’ll find that it is a little too simplistic. I've become accustomed to the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE where it is very functional and helpful in developing your code. The Testing Anywhere IDE lacks all the bells and whistles you get in a full features IDE such as Visual Studios.

I have been using this solution for about 1 ½ - 2 years now.

Testing Anywhere offers two licenses for deployment – a runtime license and an EXE license.

The EXE license is such that I can create “executable” files from the developer machine and deploy it. In creating the EXE you include all of your scripts necessary for it to run. However, there is no control on how or when those are created and the file that you created can only be deployed to one system. SO if you wanted to deploy this test file to say 10 test systems you would need 10 licenses.

The runtime license is basically the same as a developers license without the ability to edit. I've come to believe this is very useless as I have to manually put in all my scripts and manually check them every time I run (because there is no way to verify what is running is the latest). One of our tests involved 200 scripts, so this can be a rather tiresome venture. To Testing Anywheres' credit, there is supposedly a different server than I am using, and that allows you to update the scripts on a remote machine but we are not using that nor have I seen it so I cannot comment on its abilities.

We have encountered a few. My company was one of the early users (if not the earliest) of the Testing Anywhere product. I'm told we used the product in ways that was not anticipated and pushed the boundaries of the product and development teams at Testing Anywhere. Because of this we uncovered a number of bugs that we were able to work with the developers at Testing Anywhere to get resolved.

We have run into a few. First, the server we purchased is limited to just a handful of licenses - six I believe. This includes developers and runtimes. This may seem like a lot but if you include all your test machines (the run times) that quickly dissipates. We are currently discussing evaluating the next level of server offered called Test Lab which is supposed to resolve this issue.

I would rate them as 5/10, and only because I have had most of my interaction with technical support and our product manager. I have not had to contact customer support much at all – Which is a good thing!

I would rate them as 8/10. They are always responsive. I am often in contact with someone on their team ensuring that they can re-produce the issues and working with them to find a solution.

I come from a background where we developed all of our test tools internally. I’ve used mainly Visual Studio. The only reason I entertained and then chose this solution was because of the time table and resources made available by my management.

I found the initial setup rather easy and straight forward. I think coming from a programming background made it that much easier but others that I have worked with that did not have a programming background have not had much difficulty either.

This was done through an in-house team.

Yes, we did look into several other options. We looked at an internal team of developers developing in some type programming language. We also looked at Selenium, Squish, and a few others.

If you are looking for a fast solution using minimal resources not requiring an advanced programming skill set this is your product. It’s easy to learn and quick to deploy.

While it has some really great features and is extremely easy to use it is still fairly new to the market and has its bugs. (Not that other solutions do not).

1. Avatar Repository: Created for an individual script, shared to Global Avatar Repository and can be reused by other testers. Avatar Repository can be locked and given access to those who grant authorization with an appropriate username and password
2. Easy to create scripts by drag and drop commands
3. Running Batch files – Easy to add files in the Run Suite and align to the order by drag and drop to run.
   
4. Result Log window – displays the result for each statement also when called in a loop, checkpoints
5. Saves the test result for each run and also displayed in the Visual Logs
6. Triggered to run the script and the script run when the tool is closed

1. Easy to create Reusable scripts and Main scripts
2. Easy to save the scripts in the Testing Anywhere server
3. Easy to retrieve scripts created by other testers in different locations
4. Easy to view files in the Testing Anywhere Client window

With 7 months experience, I couldn't find any need for improvement.

7 months

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

I would rate the level of technical support as 8/10.

Yes, I worked with QTP in a different company and I switched when I moved jobs.

The initial setup was straightforward.

Implementation was done through a vendor team. Their level of expertise is 9/10.

This Testing Anywhere is a good tool for the functional testing and also good for the beginners in Automation who don't have knowledge in scripting.

We use Automation Anywhere for automating our processes.

Automation Anywhere improved our organization since it saved us a lot monetary value.

SMART Automation Technology is the most valuable feature.

The IQ Bot could use improvement. 

I have been using AA for 13 months.