Fortra's Automate and Blue Prism compete in the automation space, catering primarily to different segments of the market. While Fortra's Automate is favored for cost-effectiveness and ease of use for smaller businesses, Blue Prism's robustness makes it more appealing for larger enterprises handling complex processes.
Features: Fortra's Automate is appreciated for its no-coding functionality, cost-effective pricing model, and seamless integration with platforms like Microsoft Azure. It features drag-and-drop interfaces that simplify automation tasks. Blue Prism is preferred for its ability to handle complex processes with features such as work queues and custom object creation. The platform's strong security is a significant advantage for enterprises.
Room for Improvement: Fortra's Automate could enhance its user interface and improve handling of web automation tasks, along with expanding third-party integrations. Additionally, better documentation and error messaging are needed. Blue Prism's AI capabilities and attended automation support are lacking. Users also desire improved OCR functionalities and more user-friendly interfaces in its control room.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortra's Automate offers both cloud and on-premises deployment, with a highly responsive customer service team. However, advancements in debugging tools could improve the service. Blue Prism emphasizes on-premises deployment and receives positive feedback on customer service, yet could benefit from strengthening its support knowledge base.
Pricing and ROI: Fortra's Automate is cost-effective with a one-time licensing fee, offering significant ROI due to reduced manual tasks. It is particularly beneficial for small businesses. Blue Prism has a higher pricing structure but justifies its cost for enterprises requiring high reliability and security. It facilitates economies of scale with its simple licensing model for large deployments.
In terms of cost, we participated in projects achieving two to three million dollars in annual savings.
As a return on investment, we have achieved a 250% ROI in six to nine months, and sometimes it increases up to 380% percent.
Automation Anywhere has helped us save money.
In Blue Prism, there are multiple security benefits compared to other tools.
We paid back within less than six months, and our cost for Blue Prism hasn't changed for the last 10 years.
Regarding ROI from Blue Prism, it is evaluated from a business perspective, with break-even timelines generally around six to nine months for large implementations, depending on client size and scale.
The tasks Fortra's Automate is doing can be done by many employees, saving us from employing many people to monitor these servers 24/7.
Fortra's Automate has effectively replaced the workload of an entire employee, saving us significant time and money.
It has reduced our expenditures in terms of purchasing more products and employing more technicians.
Whenever we need help, we can reach out to them, and they help us out.
We also have dedicated account managers and technical experts to solve our problems related to Automation Anywhere.
We just have to raise a ticket, after which we receive a call, email, or ping from the Automation Anywhere team.
If we need to learn something about fixing a problem, improving a solution structure, they have something called knowledge management hours, where we can tap into their expertise to improve our processes or find different ways to build our solutions.
My experience with Blue Prism's technical support has been largely positive, with them being very responsive when needed, especially during the early stages of tool evolution.
I would rate the technical support by Blue Prism as ten out of ten because we have dedicated support for Blue Prism.
They don't always understand the processes I'm trying to implement.
They handle customers like me to get to the exact issue, detailing where that issue originates from a technical point of view, the resolution, and the summary they provided.
I would rate the technical support as a nine out of ten because it is quite fast and courteous.
As we are using Microsoft Copilot for our AI agents, I look forward to integrating it with Automation Anywhere and its solutions, seeing it as a beneficial partnership as Automation progresses toward AI as the main solution.
The centralized control room allows us to orchestrate and manage bots seamlessly.
I can scale it in terms of hundreds of bots and configure hundreds of parallel robots easily.
The digital workforce of Blue Prism has pioneered capabilities for scaling digital workforce members based on varied requirements, such as during the tax season when more digital robots are needed in the tax department, showcasing its scaling ability effectively.
I rate the scalability of Blue Prism as nine or ten.
The scalability of Automate also scores a ten out of ten.
I can deploy it on multiple infrastructures such as cloud, on-premises, or in a hybrid model.
Fortra's Automate automates the work, but it needs continuous monitoring.
With the latest applications, there are no significant issues like freezing or crashing.
From a stability and reliability perspective, we can remain confident that the product performs as an enterprise solution and meets expected standards.
If you have good best practices, reusable code, an effective framework, and a solid development methodology, bots can be very stable.
I would rate the stability of Blue Prism as definitely ten.
The stability of the solution is a ten out of ten.
For stability on a scale from one to ten, I would give it a solid nine.
It has very robust features, and it is not prone to instability.
It is better to write a Python script instead of using Automation Anywhere's package when dealing with Excel because it is buggy and tends to break.
Making the product more lightweight by reducing its dependency on infrastructure could greatly help in the long run.
It would be beneficial if the platform provided options for power developers to integrate seamlessly with languages like Java or C#, allowing them to write their own scripts and code.
Only each bot level logs are possible, which will not help when maintaining one hundred plus or two hundred plus bots.
If we increase or improve the efficiency of archiving while running the production environment with a huge database size, that would be much more helpful for managing the state and the performance.
One thing I definitely did not like about Blue Prism was the challenge regarding unstructured data related to some applications or some PDFs.
This is a significant concern, especially with critical workloads where visibility into errors is essential.
My major recommendation would be for easier upgrade paths between major versions.
When new employees join our company, we created automation so they receive AWS credentials and all their AWS access and cloud access.
It is more cost-efficient compared to all other RPA platforms.
Automation Anywhere costs are aligned with UiPath and Blue Prism, which are also expensive.
It is not cheap, with costs ranging between 700 to 800 dollars per month.
They don't charge per user or per environment, so you get everything you need included at one fixed cost.
While the licensing cost is something I haven't checked in a while, I find that although it initially seems costlier than competitors, Blue Prism's licensing model is simpler and proves to be cost-effective over time.
The price of Blue Prism is costly, but I believe the quality should increase.
Competitors are often more expensive than Automate.
It offered what we wanted at a good, competitive price.
It does a lot but also costs a lot.
I can set it up to provide users with a form to fill in all required information, and then the bot operates based on those specifications.
For example, the email module has been enhanced over the years to support all the latest authentication technologies. That is very important as we move away from username and password and embrace multi-factor authentication.
Automation Anywhere has undergone drastic changes over the past five years, transitioning from version 10 to A360, including desktop-based and cloud-based options.
The tool is very robust and, being a pioneer in the sector, it is also very stable, particularly in finance where many companies rely on Blue Prism for its reliability and security standards.
Blue Prism's compliance with high-security standards has helped my organization greatly.
All features, such as PDF automation, web applications, window applications, mainframe applications, Excel, and Outlook, are being used for automation.
Automate's non-reliance on additional orchestrators makes it quite cost-effective.
In my opinion, the best feature Automate offers is the scheduling.
Automate's compatibility with existing IT infrastructure has impacted our business operations positively by providing smooth integration with other software that we use, such as Gmail, Jira, and Microsoft 365 apps, which gives us a unified platform instead of having to keep switching from one software to another, saving a lot of time and streamlining the whole workflows.
| Product | Mindshare (%) |
|---|---|
| Automation Anywhere | 5.5% |
| Fortra's Automate | 2.8% |
| Blue Prism | 4.0% |
| Other | 87.7% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 154 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 82 |
| Large Enterprise | 536 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 19 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 6 |
| Large Enterprise | 77 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 31 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 14 |
| Large Enterprise | 10 |
Automation Anywhere offers ease of use, robust system connectivity, and GenAI-driven document automation through a cloud-native platform, significantly enhancing productivity across multiple industries with advanced AI features.
Delivering a comprehensive suite of tools designed for easy integration and rapid deployment, Automation Anywhere drives efficiency by reducing costs and automating repetitive tasks. Its cloud-native platform supports broad industry adoption, including advanced AI features like process automation and Co-Pilot, streamlining complex workflows with minimal technical skills required. Users benefit from robust integration capabilities, which facilitate seamless interaction with multiple systems. However, there is room for improvement in areas such as user-friendliness for beginners, stability, flexible licensing, and enhanced OCR functionality. Organizations in sectors such as banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare gain from the improved operational efficiency and ROI Automation Anywhere offers.
What are the important features of Automation Anywhere?
What benefits should be evaluated in reviews?
In the insurance industry, Automation Anywhere is utilized for automating processes such as enrollment management and compliance checks. Its applications extend to supply chain management, financial transactions, and business performance monitoring across sectors like banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare, helping organizations to automate routine tasks, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.
Blue Prism offers advanced automation features with integration capabilities and robust exception handling. Its scalability and reliability make it ideal for automating complex and repetitive tasks across industries like banking and manufacturing.
Providing a user-friendly design studio, Blue Prism stands out with enhanced automation features such as unassisted bots, strong security measures, and Visual Basic Objects. Its integration capabilities with analytics tools like Tableau and a simplified licensing model contribute to its appeal. Despite its complexities in UI design and training resource limitations, it remains stable and reliable. Blue Prism addresses tasks such as invoice processing and data entry, but improvements in AI, cognitive capabilities, and customer support are needed. Enhancements in OCR technology, unstructured data handling, and web-based interfaces could significantly boost its accessibility.
What are Blue Prism's most important features?
What benefits or ROI should be evaluated?
Organizations in industries like finance and manufacturing harness Blue Prism to automate repetitive tasks, boosting efficiency in back-end operations. In banking and insurance, it's used for auditing, compliance, and report generation, enhancing accuracy and reducing manual efforts.
Fortra's Automate offers a user-friendly platform for task automation, featuring a drag-and-drop interface that aids in scheduling, file management, and integrating with services like Azure and AWS.
Fortra's Automate provides substantial ease in automating complex tasks through its intuitive design. It offers seamless integration capabilities, especially with Azure and AWS, and comes equipped with strong error handling. Cost-effective and requiring minimal coding, it supports a broad range of industries by effectively automating tasks such as HR operations, invoice management, and data processing across servers.
What features stand out in Fortra's Automate?
What benefits should users consider in reviews?
In industries such as healthcare and transportation, Fortra's Automate facilitates the automation of client management, HR operations, and data processing, boosting efficiency. Banks utilize it for managing extensive invoice workflows, while distribution sectors rely on its capabilities for insurance checks and system support. Its applicability across servers makes it a valuable tool for any sector seeking to reduce manual workload and improve task accuracy.
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