BotFarm Reviews

• We use the solution for automating a noise cancellation process.
  
  
• In our business, we have a certain requirement to gather information from multiple applications in our customer services team, before we can troubleshoot an issue the support engineer has to handle 14 different applications to get the required information. This means the engineer spends approximately 25 minutes getting the required information even before they can start troubleshooting the issue. In the customer support space, we use this solution for automating the gathering of information from 15 disparate applications.
  
  
• In the customer service space, we have three bots and in the finance space, we have one bot.
  
  
• We have a few use cases where we use the bots to essentially increasing efficiency and reducing manual work in different areas.

The most valuable features I have found to be the screen scraping and the integration with third-party solutions.

The user experience could be made a little better with this solution. I find it difficult to find qualified people to be able to use the solution. 

In the future, I would like to see machine learning built in to support marketing use cases.

I have been using the solution within the last 12 months.

Based on my experience, the solution is stable.

I have approximately 47 users using the solution in my organization. Currently, have this solution deployed in one country and in two departments. Next year we plan to increase have the solution operation in three countries and across 14 departments.

I have previously used Blue Prism and UiPath.

The installation is straightforward.

The license of this solution is on an annual basis. The price is fair. However, what we did initially was a POC, but now we are looking at moving from a POC to expanding it out further. I would appreciate some kind of discount.

I have evaluated Blue Prism and UiPath recently.

Those wanting to implement this solution make sure you have a team that can support you. Getting individuals with the qualified skillsets required has proven to be difficult.

I rate BotFarm a seven out of ten.

We use the Bot Farm solution for two use cases. One is for procurement and the other is for finance. Both use cases required the liquid license availability of the task bot. Therefore, at month-end or the middle of the month, the processing needs to be on a faster pace as we had SLA activity involved with the processing of the invoices and the financial auditing purpose. 

Basically, we use floating licenses which are automatically applied when there was a high peak on the load, and the floating licenses resulted in the shorter processing cycle of the activity.

The scalability is the solution's most valuable aspect. The reason Bot Farm is used is to have only one license availability whenever you have a spike in the transactions. That is a core feature. That is something which we are using to the maximum. It's working well due to the fact that the solution use case is quite structured. The only ask was to have additional bot licenses be present to incorporate it. That way, we don't have to get stuck with the license cost as it's generally on a yearly basis. Right now, it's just on the basis of the usage that we are paying.

The solution has been very user-friendly.

The initial setup is very straightforward.

The interface is seamless.

The solution is very stable and quite reliable.

For the intelligent bots, it is still not quite structured, as far as I can see. I checked for IQ Bot. These licenses are having certain issues. We stopped around the pricing part. It's not just the price, however. It was also not fitting the capability. Based on the on-prem model, if they can include an intelligent bot there, it will be helpful with all the security and the pricing parts involved.

The dashboard needs improvement. For Bot Farm, the visualization is not that good compared to the main Automation Anywhere dashboard.

We've been using the solution at least over the last 12 or so months. We are continuing to use it.

The solution is quite stable. It's very reliable. When you're adding the additional licenses the basic structure is there. It's just the licensing that gets involved. It's more on the configuration side. Otherwise, it is quite seamless with the interface. The preliminary interface is Automation Anywhere, so there are no issues there.

The solution can scale very well.

We have two teams using the solution currently.

We are using this solution specifically in the India region, with the two departments of finance and procurement. We don't have that much load as everything gets outsourced here in India. We are still looking for opportunities where a load of taking Bot Farm license mechanisms can be used. Therefore, I can't speak to if we will increase usage or not.

Technical support has been very good. Many a time, there was an issue with the configuration part, or the licenses were not automatically deployed for the execution of the tasks. We had to connect with them, and we always found them to be helpful and responsive. I would say we are satisfied so far.

We have three RPA solutions that we are using. We also use UiPath and Blue Prism.

The initial setup is very straightforward. It's not overly complex or difficult. We were pretty comfortable with it already. We are already using Automation Anywhere for the past four years and therefore, it was not a challenge for us.

With approvals, customization, et cetera, the deployment took us about 15 or so days.

We have a team of five that is able to handle the deployment and maintenance. We have a two-year maintenance contract lined up.

We pay based on usage, which is quite good for us. We like this licensing model. From the maintenance perspective, we have a contract signed for two years and it has reduced our pay per basis cost.

Real cost savings come with long-term relationships with the company. For four years we have been there. Therefore, the pricing is substantially lower for us.

We are just a customer.

Bot Farm is a cloud solution. We already have A2019, and Bot Farm is one of the products of Automation Anywhere. It's a cloud version we are using and due to it being on the cloud, it is always continuously updated to the latest version.

Bot Farm is for firms that have reached a certain level of maturity. You don't require Bot Farm if you are having applications that are not consuming your licenses. It becomes very useful when you have a use case that has spiked the variation in the load. Regardless, you need to do the math correctly to get the ROI associated with the licensing costs, the value, and the use case intended. 

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

We have basically automated business operations and IT operation processes that require human intervention. These processes are also very repetitive and have chances of error. We have developed bots for such tasks, and as per our needs, we are scaling them up by using BotFarm. We have a hybrid deployment comprising Azure cloud and on-premises deployments.

The purpose of automation is to reduce the manual effort and number of manual users. BotFarm has helped us to reduce the headcount because there were lots of operational headcounts for manual tasks. 

It has also improved operational efficiency. Earlier, we were not getting a consistent response for different users. Now, we have standardized responses, and our customers are getting better, error-free, and on-time responses. So, we have achieved process integrity, and we have reduced human errors and manual human effort. These are the three main benefits.

BotFarm has been working perfectly fine with our business model. Its scalability is the most valuable feature. We can easily scale out bots on a need basis. 

Portability is another valuable feature. We work with different payment systems like Visa and MasterCard and have bots for them. Because of BotFarm, we are able to reuse these bots. 

The only challenge that we have faced with BotFarm is that there is no continuous deployment. The whole world is moving to the DevOps model, but BotFarm is still not on the DevOps model. It should have integration with the DevOps model. The migration of the bots or bots pipeline is currently purely manual.

I have been using this solution for almost three years.

Based on our usage, it is pretty stable. There are minor hiccups, but they are not because of the product. They are because of the hybrid integration that we have. We are planning to move to version 8, which is a pure cloud model. 

Its scalability is very good. We currently have 120 live bots.

We are in partnership with Automation Anywhere, and they are providing us good support. We haven't faced any challenges with them. They are able to help us when we face any technical challenges or need support for upgrades.

It was straightforward. It has the same kind of implementation that any other software has. It wasn't complex.

Automation Anywhere is more reasonable than Blue Prism and UiPath in terms of cost.

We evaluated Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, and UiPath. We chose Automation Anywhere because of the features and the cost. It was more reasonable than Blue Prism and UiPath.

I would advise others to do a thorough discovery and walkthrough of processes and then decide based on what suits their requirements. Sometimes people think that they can go to a pure cloud model, hybrid model, or on-premises model, but they should first identify the requirements and processes. They should go for what is required for their organization's needs. They shouldn't go for BotFarm just because it is good. It should also meet their needs.

I would rate BotFarm an eight out of ten. It is a good and evolving technology, and it can be very helpful for different business operations. I have good words for Automation Anywhere and BotFarm.

The primary use case is to use the bot peer-to-peer (P2P) billing. 

We deal with a few customers where we automate billed services for accounts received with invoice, debit and credit notes.

An additional feature that is missing from BotFarm is the ability for complete, AI-driven automation.

Automation can be divided into two types, namely, full automation (does not require human intervention) and semi-automation (requires human intervention). However, most companies are not able to give all their data from their ERP system to perform full automation. There is a missing feature in the software which allows for this solution to be solved.

Additionally, by using AI, I would like the bot to pull reports automatically from the ERP system, but at the moment I have to log into the system to retrieve reports.

Another area that needs improvement is with regards to machine-bound licenses. When installing the solution on a clients laptop or desktop and creating a license, that license is bound to that computer. I cannot use the users ID or password on any other machine.

I have been using the solution for about 8 months and we have developed around six process automations.

The system is stable and very little maintenance is required, assuming the bots process is perfectly designed.

For example, if the interface of the ERP system changes, maintenance would be required to adjust the bot settings to point to moved buttons/features.

I have called customer service three times and the experience has not been good. They do not offer 24/7 support, which forces us to wait till the next working day to solve a problem.

The initial setup is simple. However, creating a bot requires development experience.

The deployment does not take much time, assuming you already have a complete process that has been defined and approved.

The solution was implemented in-house.

It is too expensive and not worth the price.

We primarily have different use cases within finance and HR as well as in IT operations.

The solution's dashboards are very helpful to us.

We find the analytics aspect of the solution to be excellent.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward.

We've had a few issues with the APIs.

We have connectivity and integration with pretty much every single tech stack across the table that we have in the world, and there are a few areas that they don't do that well yet. I'd be looking for some improvement there, in terms of their integration with certain products.

I've only been using the solution for six to eight months. It's been less than a year. It hasn't been too long.

The solution is quite stable and very reliable. We haven't had any negative experiences in relation to stability. If doesn't crash or freeze. There aren't bugs or glitches.

We haven't tried to scale the solution just yet. Therefore, I can't speak to how easy or difficult scaling the product may be.

From the perspective of business processes, the product is being used in at least eight to nine different business process areas so far.

We don't have plans to increase usage. I would say from what we had originally anticipated, we are about 20% to 30% usage. It's got a lot of scope for improvement still.

We didn't previously use a different solution.

We didn't find the implementation to be too complex. For us, the setup was simple and straightforward. We really didn't face any issues in that regard.

The deployment itself was also very quick, which was nice.

I maintain the solution myself. You don't need a lot of staff to maintain it.

We actually had Automation Anywhere handle the setup for us. They were quite helpful and very knowledgeable.

I don't have any details in relation to the licensing of the cost of the solution. It's not an aspect of the product I take care of.

I personally did not evaluate other solutions, however, an internal team did. They looked at UiPath, however, they decided on this product instead.

We're just customers. We're using the latest version of the solution right now.

I would recommend the solution to other companies if they are looking at an extensive integration across the tech stack within their organization. I would advise that if a company seriously considers the product, that they speak really clearly with Automation Anywhere. They need to ensure that their company will have the support they need, and if they do, they should consider proceeding. 

Overall, we've been happy with the solution. I would rate it at a nine out of ten.

Our main customers are in the financial, banking, and insurance sectors. They use the co-location on the credit processes and insurance claims.

The solution has a lot of great features inside of it that clients can take advantage of.

The concentration of bots is great.

The solution is pretty out-of-the-box and is a great component of the greater Automation Anywhere platform.

The licensing schemes could be more competitive. They need to be much more flexible in their pricing.

It would be ideal if they increased their capabilities in process mining.

I've been working on the solution for six months. It hasn't been too long.

The solution seems to offer high stability. We haven't seen any bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.

As a cloud platform, the solution is able to scale well. That's the benefit of the cloud.

Our clients tend to be large-scale businesses. They are not small enterprises.

In the future, we do have plans to increase usage. That is why we are hoping that the company can be more flexible with their licensing offerings.

The technical support is very good. They have a high rating on Gartner, for example. We're quite satisfied with their level of service.

We're still in the exploratory phase of trying out the solution. We haven't fully implemented it yet.

It's my understanding that the initial setup isn't complex, and is instead rather straightforward.

Currently, we are integrating different services for clients around the RPA console.

The pricing could be more flexible, especially if a company wants to scale.

We have looked at different RPA products. We are evaluating a few options and comparing features and pricing.

We are a consulting services provider. We are working on automation.

Often deal with public cloud and hybrid deployment models.

Overall, I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

I have used BotFarm to automate web applications and Microsoft products. I have also automated mainframe applications for a healthcare product. I automated around five to six processes for them. All together I have automated more than fifteen processes with this solution that we have deployed in-house.

The task bots are good features. I also like enabling the IQ bots to read PDF documents and automate PDF projects and invoices. Because we employ so many people, it is very useful to automate any processes compatible with Automation Anywhere.

We are not permitted to use web applications, so we find ourselves using Object Cloning and web control commands instead. Sometimes I feel like it doesn't work properly and we are not able to provide the dexterity needed. Also, on multiple occasions, the service bot deactivates without reason and Automation Anywhere will not function properly until it is reactivated.

In general, everything is fine but they should remove the unattended or attended bot feature. This can be confusing to customers because an unattended bot license costs around $5,000, whereas an attended bot license costs roughly $1,500, which can cause customers to think: “why should I purchase an expensive unattended bot license when I can purchase an attend bot license for much cheaper?” Also, if I want to install my runner license on another machine, for example: if you install your license on a specific machine and a second vendor (like we did), you’re now installed on machine B but you can’t log in on machine B with your credentials from machine A. This is meant to be a security feature, but it makes things very difficult for customers and clients.

I've been working with BotFarm for the last four years. I started with version 10.10 and currently, I am exploring A2019 which was just launched by Automation Anywhere.

Scheduling bots has been an issue. For example, if you want to schedule automation and it’s set for 5:00 pm, it means that you would need to execute it on the client’s machine every day at 5:00 pm. The issue though, is that it fails a lot because I could have it scheduled but sometimes the bots don’t get involved. That’s an issue that has been a struggle.

The scalability is good. We have a team that uses Automation Anywhere on a daily basis, automating processes.

In terms of customer support, they are very good. I am an Automation Anywhere vendor and if I have a problem, I can create a ticket on their portal, they will call or set up a Zoom or WebEx meeting within half an hour, and they always provide a solution. 

They give very active support and will definitely help you and provide the solution to the issue you are experiencing. They are very, very good.

I used to use UiPath, Kofax and Blue Prism. Automation Anywhere is great for people who are not very "techie". For example, the code can easily be read and understood, line by line, by anyone with or without a technical background.

Automation Anywhere provides and facilitates cloud service, which means you can access your license from anywhere, easily executing and developing your bots from anywhere in the world.  

Any RPA tool provides the commands to automate any process, but what is the difference between them? How can you understand a new product? Automation Anywhere provides a very flexible UI. It allows you to easily read and build code.

Depending on the system that you are installing, the setup can be complex. Installation time is not predictable and you may have to pay customer support for help with the installation procedure.

If I am installing on five machines but one is taking too long, then they all will take a long time, but if all five machines are installing at the same time, then the procedure can be done within five minutes. These ongoing issues make it very complicated to predict how long the installation will take. Someone has to create a ticket with Automation Anywhere customer support and pay for service personnel to help. Installing Automation Anywhere is complex.

In regards to deployment, it's quite simple. Anyone can deploy a bot on a client's machine after one or two days of training.

Also, Automation Anywhere now provides the facility for cloud service, because of this, you can access your license from anywhere. For example, if you are in London and you are heading to another country, you can easily access your license and execute and develop your bots from anywhere. In 2011, this was a desktop application and the client’s version was based on a desktop, but right now it’s not based on a desktop, which is a good thing. The main reason to choose Automation Anywhere is because no one else is providing cloud service.

I purchased a package from Automation Anywhere that included one control room, two developer licenses, and two bot-runner licenses. I think payment can vary but it's a re-occurring fee that needs to be paid every year. 

In RPA, we have so many products available to choose from which we can use to automate any applications. I have used Blue Prism, UiPath and other third-party applications. I have used all of these tools to automate various processes under RPA technology.

It’s hard to give any advice without seeing the project you are working with. If you want to purchase any RPA tool, then I’d have to check the project or your process so that I can identify the requirement and I can see which product will completely fulfill your requirement. Make sure to choose your solution based completely on the project you wish to automate. In other words, I can’t give you any direct answer. If you’re automating a web application, then I would use UiPath. If you’re also automating their applications but you have to automate PDFs as well, then I would definitely choose Automation Anywhere, but the selection of the tool is completely based on the project you wish to automate.

I am rating Automation Anywhere 7.5 out of 10 in terms of their activity. Sometimes, when I am in the middle of something, I experience issues or my work gets stuck. This rating is based on my three years of experience with Automation Anywhere. Although they give very good support, I still wasted a lot of time because of the above mentioned issues. So, for this reason, I am giving Automation Anywhere a rating of 7.5 out of 10.

The best aspect is the UI, as it is very user-friendly. A business user can employ the tool as efficiently as a full developer.

The intelligent and cognitive controls that they offer are helpful.

The machine learning needs to be improved so that they perform better in terms of predictive analysis and sentiment analysis.

The documentation needs to be improved because it does not shed much light on how the product can be used. In general, the support can be improved.

The stability can be improved.

Having the ability to control the system from the cloud would be helpful, rather than setting up the environment locally.

I have been working with BotFarm for between four and six months.

Stability is something that they need to work on.

This is certainly a scalable tool. It is spread throughout the organization and our user count is perhaps in the hundreds. The roles of our users are varied. For example, it is used by the service processing team, and it is also used by the client where the product is implemented. There are also administrators who manage the overall control.

I would rate the technical support a six out of ten, as there is improvement needed.

In terms of RPA, I have experience with both Automation Anywhere and UiPath.

The initial setup is straightforward. I did not look at the cloud-based implementation, but the MSI installer for the on-premises deployment is a quick one. If the firewall and other things are set up correctly then the deployment will take between 15 and 30 minutes to complete.

My advice for anybody who is considering this solution is to have a proof of concept first. It is important because it may be that some of the features required by the client are not included in BotFarm. As this is a very user-friendly product, it can scale into the organization once the PoC is complete.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.