HCL Workload Automation vs Tidal by Redwood comparison

HCLSoftware and Tidal Software by Redwood are both solutions in the Workload Automation category. HCLSoftware is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.7, while Tidal Software by Redwood is ranked #20. HCLSoftware holds a 2.0% mindshare in WA, compared to Tidal Software by Redwood’s 4.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of HCLSoftware users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Tidal Software by Redwood users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

Tidal by Redwood and HCL Workload Automation compete in enterprise workload automation. Tidal by Redwood is noted for cost-effectiveness and strong customer service, while HCL Workload Automation is recognized for comprehensive features justifying its higher price.

Features: Tidal by Redwood offers robust scheduling and cloud capabilities, making it well-suited for hybrid environments. It excels in providing a user-friendly experience with seamless cloud integration. HCL Workload Automation delivers extensive job automation features, strong integration capabilities, and sophisticated event-driven processing, offering a more powerful automation suite for complex workflows.

Room for Improvement: Tidal by Redwood could enhance its advanced functionality and flexibility to compete with more sophisticated systems. It might also expand its feature set to handle more complex workflows. HCL Workload Automation exhibits a complex deployment process, suggesting a need for simplification. User training could be streamlined, and efforts to reduce initial complexity might improve accessibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Tidal by Redwood is praised for straightforward deployment processes, minimizing downtime with responsive customer support. HCL Workload Automation, although comprehensive, has longer implementation times due to complexity, but is supported by in-depth technical assistance, giving Tidal an edge in service accessibility.

Pricing and ROI: Tidal by Redwood is recognized for lower upfront costs and quicker ROI, appealing to budget-conscious users. HCL Workload Automation requires a higher initial investment but offers significant ROI with extensive features and scalability, catering to enterprises with complex needs that prioritize long-term value over initial expense.

To learn more, read our detailed HCL Workload Automation vs. Tidal by Redwood Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

HCL Workload Automation vs. Tidal by Redwood

January 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

JAMS

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Workload Automation category, the mindshare of JAMS is 2.6%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HCL Workload Automation is 2.0%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tidal by Redwood is 4.6%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Workload Automation Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
JAMS	2.6%
HCL Workload Automation	2.0%
Tidal by Redwood	4.6%
Other	90.8%

Workload Automation

Featured Reviews

reviewer2770605

Cloud Engineer at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees

Has streamlined complex job scheduling across scripting languages while reducing manual effort

JAMS could be improved with a web client that is accessible and as fast as a normal website, eliminating the need to RDP to the servers to access the JAMS client. A functionality running on the JAMS server to continuously check the JAMS agents would ensure they are working properly. If an agent is not responding, a feature to restart the service from the job server machine would be beneficial. The upgrade process, particularly when switching from V6 to V7, could be clearer in terms of documentation, ideally with screenshots showing exactly what needs to be done on each screen.

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reviewer2783334

SME at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Automation has streamlined critical workloads and has reduced manual reporting efforts

In the future, I would like to see enhancements, particularly in the GUI console, the TDWC GUI console for the end user. We do not have many complaints, but I believe there is some slowness, which may be due to network connectivity. However, in some cases, we do experience lag in the TDWC console, which I think needs to be considered for improvement to speed up the end-user console. As of now, I do not have much clarity on any additional features that I would like to see included in HCL Workload Automation in the future or any functionality that requires enhancement at the moment.

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Jim Gillingham

Batch Production Manager at a consultancy with 201-500 employees

Its versatility, ease of use, scalability, and cost-effectiveness make it a 10/10 and the best of the breed

The company is not really big. One of the areas that they are working on is improving the process of migrating jobs from the lower environment to the upper environment. They had used a tool called Transporter, which was a little difficult to use, but they've now released a new tool in August, which I've not yet used, to do that. It's probably called Repository or something like that, but it's a tool for migrating jobs from the lower environment to the upper environment. That's where they needed to improve, and it looks like they may have, but I haven't tried the tool yet. They can do better reporting in terms of production statistics reporting.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Being able to create a series of chained jobs, which are basically linked jobs is valuable."

"I like how you can add new execution methods on the fly. It isn't overly complex to add Python script support to an execution method in the JAMS system. The scheduling is excellent. You can schedule a maintenance window and take that resource unit out of everything. It halts all of the jobs."

"I appreciate JAMS for its readily available templates that allow me to create and deliver stand-up presentations within minutes quickly."

"One of the things I like the most, as a SQL DBA, is the fact that we can manipulate tables in the background. Also, the fact that you can have your own views and work with the product the way it fits best is a very helpful feature."

"It makes everything that we want to do so much easier. We have had a number of instances in the past where we have had developers who have been working on a project, and even though we have had JAMS for all these years, they will create some SQL Server Agent job, or something like that, to run a task. When it is in code review and development is complete, the question always comes around, "Can JAMS do this?" The answer has always been, "Yes." Pretty much anything we have ever developed could be run by JAMS."

"Our company is based on data. Everything we do is data-driven, so it has been very valuable having one place where we can process all of the data and do batch schedules with chunks of data."

"The most valuable aspect of JAMS is its robustness."

"The user-friendly and adaptable scheduler allows us to manage various scheduling scenarios."

More JAMS pros

"Easy to set up, it doesn't require a lot."

"We have good features, good utility, and excellent feedback from all our stakeholders and end users."

"The scalability of HCL Workload Automation is essentially limitless, as I have worked with corporations running over a million flows per day without performance issues when scaling according to HCL's documentation."

"HCL Workload Automation is more stable and secure, helping to avoid incidents and meet SLAs, making it a dependable tool."

"With the varied features in the varied adapters provided, we use Tidal Enterprise Scheduler because we want everything to be scheduled in one place. Tidal provides that for us with its tools and varying platforms in our organization. Tidal provides all the connectors to the platforms. This is very useful because we don't want to look for another scheduler for scheduling certain jobs. We don't want to look at those schedules manually between platforms."

"With other tools, you do not have the ability to schedule jobs on their own. You need to create a group and then assign everything to that group. Only then will the job be able to execute. In Tidal, you can schedule a single job and there is no need to create a group. That's what I like the most."

"Tidal helps administrators and users to see the information that is relevant to them in that single pane of glass. They can see jobs running, they can see job history, and they can see job progression. If you look at alternatives like Airflow and clouds, you'd have to design your own UI to monitor the progress of the different jobs that you've created in Airflow. So Tidal is huge for us."

"Thinking of all the people involved in checking jobs on a daily basis, manually running jobs or auditing them through standalone tools, and trying to connect them. We have saved hundreds of hours weekly, which is substantial."

"We wouldn't be able to do many of the complex scheduling that we do today without it. For us, it is a mission-critical app. Because if it doesn't work or has a problem, then SAP doesn't function. It is that critical. So, it's an essential tool for us to manage and run SAP jobs."

"Tidal Automation allows organizations to automate complex workflows and processes, reducing the need for manual intervention and improving operational efficiency."

"The most valuable feature is the job scheduler, where you can schedule thousands of jobs to execute at specific times."

"Especially in the newer versions of Tidal, the segmentation of user permissions enables us to give people operator permissions for their jobs, to rerun jobs, but view-only for other groups' jobs. We're able to keep people from hurting themselves or other groups accidentally. The permissioning is really good."

More Tidal by Redwood pros

Cons

"The error messages from JAMS often need clarification, hindering our ability to resolve issues swiftly."

"Fortra is getting much better with documentation and examples, but there is still room for improvement."

"JAMS could be improved with a web client that is accessible and as fast as a normal website, eliminating the need to RDP to the servers to access the JAMS client."

"When looking at a folder in JAMS with many jobs, it would be good to have better information in the list display of what's inside those jobs. We get some information, but other important details are missing."

"As an admin, I would like to have a web-based GUI instead of a client application that we have to install on our PCs."

"Improvements could be made in the service desk's knowledge and communication skills among engineers to better address customer needs and ensure issues are fully resolved."

"The JAMS automation code isn't so clean."

"I would like a simple web interface that I could give to my team to go in and kill jobs or see why jobs died so that we don't have to drill down deeper into the application and know everything about it. It would be good to have a really clean web engine that would say here are the jobs running. We can then click to see the time running and whether any of them fails and other similar things. I know they have one, but it's not very simplistic."

More JAMS cons

"In the future, I would like to see enhancements, particularly in the GUI console, the TDWC GUI console for the end user."

"The interface needs some improvements."

"For increasing infrastructure or adding users, while the application is good, I do not think its current capability can handle the large volume of scripts at HDFC because critical applications require high performance when many scripts are running at night."

"To improve HCL Workload Automation, I recommend focusing more on testing new features before release, as the aggressive roadmap has resulted in some features not being properly tested and working as expected."

"Some users have complained that the initial setup process is complicated and time-consuming, while others have suggested that the software could offer more freedom in customizing processes."

"For the most part, the drill-down and the logging are really good. But if we take an Informatica job, for example: We have the ability, and the operators have the ability, to actually drill down and see, at a session level, where the failure is. There is, unfortunately, no way to extract that into an actual output email or failure email. It's not that that information is not available, but extracting it into an email would be a nice-to-have."

"The software's performance and scalability could be improved, particularly when dealing with large-scale workloads or complex business processes."

"I know they are working on it, but there needs to be better reporting. Currently, there are only three or four reports that we can get off of the system. That needs to be improved. They already have a solution to this in the new version. I.e., a schedule of all the jobs running for one day, specifically calling out what dependencies that job relies on. It would be like a flow chart of how the day's jobs would run."

"One area for improvement is the command-line interface and the API to bulk-load jobs. It's a little bit kludgy, but we still manage without it. They're working on it and it's getting better all the time. In addition, the documentation for their API for creating jobs needs to be updated. It's a bit of a learning curve."

"Setting up the initial product was a little hard."

"It takes a lot of time to learn the product. I have admins and developers who are working on the products for the last three to four years and still don't know all the functionalities. Tidal has really great things about it, but people are focused on their day-to-day job and the solution is not intuitive."

"One of the weaknesses of the product is, when something happens, it's difficult to find out the root cause. There are a lot of logs you can take a look at in Tidal. Sometimes, they are useful, but other times, they're not. That is mostly relegated to the administrative team. Users for the most part don't see that and don't know anything about that. They just know they have a problem, then it's up to the administrative team to see what happened and figure out the problem."

More Tidal by Redwood cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing of JAMS has not been an issue for us, as it has allowed us to save time."

"Fortra's JAMS pricing structure has deteriorated significantly since its acquisition by Fortra."

"JAMS is priced competitively compared to similar solutions and offers flexible licensing options to cater to user needs."

"Our licensing is pretty cheap because we have a state solution. So, we pay only $1,000 a year."

"Take advantage of its scalability. You can start small. The initial cost is very reasonable. Once you have started picking up the tool and adopting it, then you can scale up from there and buy more agents."

"It's certainly a lot cheaper than Tivoli and Control-M. In comparison to them, you get a lot more bang for your buck. You get pretty much the whole functionality and more, in some cases, when compared to Control-M, but at a fraction of the price."

"The licensing model for JAMS is straightforward and based on the number of agents, not the number of jobs you run. It's cheap and fairly simple."

"The product is reasonably priced, and we don't have any add-ons."

More JAMS pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"We think the pricing is very fair. We have been happy with the pricing compared to some of the other solutions in the space."

"We are satisfied with the pricing of Tidal. It's in the moderate range and it feels very achievable for us."

"There are project, system, and server costs. Some of the things that they are doing is introducing new products. They are introducing what they call their Repository, which is a way for you to move a job. That doesn't cost anything to us, because it is reusing a tool called Transporter. The repository is the successor to Transporter, so we already own it and are sort of grandfathered in. But that new product requires a server and database, so now we have to go out and get a server and database. So, there is a cost there."

"There have been pricing increases, but with the reduction that our company obtained from Tidal this year, the pricing has become very acceptable for this type of product."

"Our licensing model for Tidal is on an annual basis. It is very good and works well for us. Tidal's licensing is very transparent and simple. It lets you know, for the amount you use, that's the price that you pay. So, we buy X number of licenses, and we know that this is where we are. I'm very happy with that. I saw the licensing modules on other platforms, and I didn't like them. Other companies and solutions would calculate the connections, adapters, and instances. I think that's the reason that BMC was pretty expensive: They just didn't understand what our needs are."

"Tidal is a low-cost tool and not expensive in comparison to other tools."

"Right now, we are in a good position with the licensing model that we have with the Tidal vendor. So, we won't have any issues. even if we double in our current production. Initially, Tidal provided us some specs where if you have these number of jobs, then you come under this category. They usually provide a range of jobs from 2,000 to 10,000. You can use these specs for your infrastructure. Whether you have 2,000 or 8,000 jobs, Tidal should support it."

"This solution is a bit expensive in the current world where everybody is trying to cut down on certain things."

More Tidal by Redwood pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Performing Arts

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	18

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	38

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about JAMS?

I find the historical tracking feature of JAMS invaluable for reviewing past events.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for JAMS?

They recently switched to subscription-based pricing, which increased. The price is fair considering the functionalit...

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What needs improvement with JAMS?

As far as we are using JAMS version 6, it looks good and there is nothing major to add about it. Everything is functi...

See all answers

What needs improvement with HCL Workload Automation?

In the future, I would like to see enhancements, particularly in the GUI console, the TDWC GUI console for the end us...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for HCL Workload Automation?

I use HCL Workload Automation for several use cases. In 2022, we had a migration where we needed to upgrade from 9.4 ...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering HCL Workload Automation?

Regarding the impact of using HCL Workload Automation on reducing human error in operations, there is a checkpoint fe...

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Comparisons

Control-M vs JAMS

Compared 18% of the time

AutoSys Workload Automation vs JAMS

Compared 10% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs JAMS

Compared 10% of the time

Stonebranch vs JAMS

Compared 9% of the time

ActiveBatch by Redwood vs JAMS

Compared 4% of the time

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IBM Workload Automation vs HCL Workload Automation

Compared 35% of the time

Control-M vs HCL Workload Automation

Compared 29% of the time

Automic Automation vs HCL Workload Automation

Compared 10% of the time

AutoSys Workload Automation vs HCL Workload Automation

Compared 9% of the time

ignio AI.Workload Management vs HCL Workload Automation

Compared 5% of the time

More HCL Workload Automation Competitors

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs Tidal by Redwood

Compared 23% of the time

Control-M vs Tidal by Redwood

Compared 13% of the time

Automic Automation vs Tidal by Redwood

Compared 8% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs Tidal by Redwood

Compared 7% of the time

VisualCron vs Tidal by Redwood

Compared 2% of the time

More Tidal by Redwood Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

JAMS

January 2026

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Buyer's Guide

HCL Workload Automation

January 2026

Download HCL Workload Automation product report

Buyer's Guide

Tidal by Redwood

January 2026

Download Tidal by Redwood product report

Also Known As

No data available

Tidal Workload Automation, Cisco Workload Automation, Tidal Enterprise Scheduler

Interactive Demo

JAMS Software

Demo not available

HCLSoftware

Demo not available

Tidal Software by Redwood

Overview

JAMS is an automation and job scheduling solution designed for workflow optimization, catering to businesses large and small with flexible licensing and integration options.

Offering both Core and Advanced packages, JAMS supports a range of environments from small teams to large-scale operations. Its standout features include integration with platforms like PowerShell, SQL, and SAP, coupled with capabilities such as dependency management and natural language scheduling. JAMS simplifies job management, centralizes workflows, and boosts productivity with its robust automation features. Customizable workflows and insightful logging make it adaptable for diverse needs, supported by responsive customer service ensuring seamless operations.

What are JAMS's key features?

Automation & Scheduling: Flexible automation helps manage complex job schedules efficiently.
Integration: Connects seamlessly with platforms like SQL Server, SAP, and Python for diverse applications.
Centralized Job Management: A unified interface for handling thousands of jobs daily.
Dependency Management: Supports complex workflows with efficient dependency tracking.
Insightful Logging: Provides detailed logs and notifications for precise task execution.

What benefits should users look for in JAMS reviews?

Enhanced Productivity: Automates repetitive tasks, freeing up resources for strategic initiatives.
Scalability: Flexible licensing models grow with business size and needs.
Efficient Workflow Automation: Streamlines job orchestration across environments.
Responsive Support: Helps ensure smooth operations with quick troubleshooting.

In industries, JAMS is employed for automating workflows and managing batch jobs. Organizations utilize it for SSIS, SQL Server tasks, file transfers, and integrating with vendor systems, achieving efficient file automation and data management. Scheduler enables precise execution of thousands of tasks daily, enhancing operational efficiency.

JAMS Software

HCL Workload Automation orchestrates complex processes, streamlining tasks across systems, improving efficiency for demanding environments.

Designed for robust workload automation, HCL Workload Automation integrates seamlessly into existing infrastructures, enabling precise control and management of workflows. Its scalability and adaptability suit enterprises seeking operational excellence, aligning processes with strategic goals. Users experience enhanced productivity through efficient job scheduling and workload execution, catering to enterprise demands.

What are the most important features?

Integrated Control: Provides a centralized platform to manage jobs across diverse platforms.
Dynamic Workload Management: Adjusts to fluctuating workloads with dynamic resources.
Cloud Capability: Extends automation capabilities to cloud environments, enhancing scalability.
Script Customization: Offers scripting flexibility for tailored job executions.
Predictive Analytics: Utilizes predictive tools to anticipate workload needs and optimize resources.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Increased Efficiency: Streamlines task execution, saving time and resources.
Cost Reduction: Reduces operational costs by automating repetitive tasks.
Scalability: Supports growth without significant infrastructure changes.
Enhanced Reliability: Minimizes errors through automated job scheduling.
Improved Strategic Alignment: Aligns IT processes with business objectives.

In healthcare, HCL Workload Automation efficiently manages patient data by integrating disparate systems, essential for timely treatment. In finance, it automates transaction processes securely, ensuring compliance with industry standards. In manufacturing, it optimizes supply chain operations by automating inventory management and production scheduling.

HCLSoftware

Tidal Software is a leading provider of enterprise workload automation solutions that orchestrate the execution of complex workflows across systems, applications and IT environments. With a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, Tidal optimizes mission-critical business processes, increases IT cost efficiencies and satisfies legal and regulatory compliance requirements. Hundreds of customers around the world count on Tidal for modernizing their workload automation and driving their digital transformation. Tidal Software is headquartered in Chicago with offices in Houston, London, Minsk, Belarus and Chennai, India. For more information, visit tidalsoftware.com.

Tidal Software by Redwood

Sample Customers

Teradata, Arconic, General Dynamics, Yum!, CVS Health, Comcast, Ghiradelli, & Boston’s Children’s Hospital

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

HCL Workload Automation vs. Tidal by Redwood

January 2026

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