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IBM Blueworks Live vs SAP Signavio Process Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

IBM Blueworks Live
Ranking in Business Process Design
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP Signavio Process Manager
Ranking in Business Process Design
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of IBM Blueworks Live is 3.6%, up from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Signavio Process Manager is 9.1%, up from 8.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

AjarMathur - PeerSpot reviewer
An easily scalable and affordable solution that enables users to document and digitize processes with ease
IBM Blueworks is BPMN 2.0 compliant, but it does not adapt to the overarching BPMN 2.0 concepts. There is only one kind of BPMN 2.0 diagram. It is a process diagram. It doesn't have the concept of separate tools, which other products offer. If I had to do a hardcore BPMN 2.0 modeling, the product would have its own reservations. There were features we could not explore from a BPMN 2.0 perspective. Most of the time, people who are shifting from Microsoft Office tools to a digitized way of working still want the reporting capabilities to be strong. Some tools, like ARIS or Signavio, offer customized solutions from the reporting perspective. If I have documented my whole finance process and want to fetch out a complete SOP report in a very customized manner, IBM Blueworks cannot provide it. We have to rely on some other services. So that's one area in which we always struggled, how to really customize the reporting aspects. I understand that we need to keep the tool a little more asset-light. It's very difficult to keep adding many options, but at least a few BPMN 2.0 options were needed. We have been suggesting to IBM that we should have some way of customizing the reporting. At least we should get a custom way of reporting it into different formats like Excel or putting up a logo for one of the clients so that their SAP can be printed that way.
Cirvesh-Daga - PeerSpot reviewer
Good visual representation for modelling and business process mapping but room for improvement in reporting functionalities
There is room for improvement in analytics. People don't realize it, but the world has changed in the last six to eight months. Customers want to see AI like ChatGPT and ML capabilities in all aspects of business processes and reporting. That would be my recommendation for any OEM in this value chain. Reporting could definitely be improved. I would like to see new features in analytics. I like that they analyze the process and give it to me visually, but I'd like the option to use DPMM instead of just DPC. I'd also like the option to have the process map laid out top to bottom instead of horizontally. Especially a choice between DPMN and EPC as a format. Because there are some people who are very comfortable with the EPC notation. The process is very clearly event-driven. There's an event, there's an action. It's very simple to understand. BPMN, which is the most popular business process notation, generally tends to have multiple frames. Actually, in multiple swimlanes rather. And those frames could each represent a particular kind of entity. Maybe it's an action, maybe it's an actor, maybe it's an event. So there are two different ways of notation. I just like Signavio to give us the ability to choose that notation. Because some companies use BPMN and some use the EPC. And then, if the minute you make that change, I'd like them to give us the flexibility of having an already plotted or vertically plotted option. Moreover, I would like to see improvement in the visual part. It's the piece that needs improvement. Currently, you can plot the diagram horizontally or vertically. However, I'd like the option to change the way the diagram is created, like switching between different notations.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like the two-tiered approach, that is, discover and then drill down to the main steps. You can right click and attach risk, policies, and much more. It is a user-friendly solution."
"The solution is stable. All the refreshes run very well."
"Collaboration is most valuable. You can collaborate online with many people. People can comment, and you can comment back. It is just like a social network, and that, for me, is very good."
"Valuable features include real-time modeling and design work, the ability to perform workshops with clients in real-time with the tool, and getting instant output."
"The ease of documenting and digitizing the processes was valuable to us."
"Business users understand it really well, which means we can then help them automate their business processes."
"The business process discovery is excellent. The diagram or blueprinting functionality of the solution are very good. It's quite easy. You can link the sub-processes and get a big overview of the whole process then."
"The solution is easy to operate. Also, there is an automatic mode to make the business flow. You don't have to put any lines or arrows in a decision point in IBM Blueworks Live; it's very automatic."
"The most valuable feature for me is usability."
"The most valuable feature for me is the collaboration point of view, where everybody has a single view, or source of truth, and everybody sees the same thing. Everyone can comment, contribute, and discuss the processes itself, which makes it easier to funnel down the most value adding comments and make the relevant changes to the processes. This leads to the next best iteration or version of your process."
"The product's most valuable feature is the transformation process."
"The feature that I like the most is the collaboration hub, where every user or every employee can see the process in the overview."
"The Collaboration Hub is especially useful for collaborative tasks and ensuring transparency across teams."
"The Signavio tool is very easy to use and it is one of the reasons why I like it."
"The solution is user-friendly."
"The interface is very intuitive and includes a drag-and-drop function."
 

Cons

"Some of the import functionality was a bit restrictive, in terms of loading data in from other data sources. Something as simple as Excel, loading data tables from Excel, wasn't great. And vice-versa. Some of the export and import functionality with something like Visio - which, I know it's a slightly different tool - but being able to work seamlessly with those other tool sets would've been quite useful. I know it was something that was in the pipeline to be looked at. So that would be useful."
"We'd also like to see it be Six Sigma or Lean compatible, a lot of people have asked about that."
"Spaces are not well organized; space controls are lacking."
"The ability to create a very structured rule. With the capability that we have right now, Blueworks Live is more process focused. We should be able to enhance it to include a lot more of decisions as well."
"The font size is really, really small and it's really not useful to print out process models because you cannot read what's written in different boxes. This makes it necessary for people to have access to the tool. We view licenses to see how the printing or output is. It's not very good."
"In the solution Signavio, they have a customer journey mapping feature that should be added to IBM Blueworks Live. It's valuable to map or document the customer journey to identify the pains and opportunities in this process."
"In the Blue Works Live software boxes and lines are automatically placed by the programme and can't be easily manipulated."
"IBM Blueworks is BPMN 2.0 compliant, but it does not adapt to the overarching BPMN 2.0 concepts."
"It could use a better user interface, one that is more efficient."
"The free trial needs to have more options for end users, such as including Process Intelligence as a trial version."
"I would like to see the inclusion of some document management functionality so that we don't need to integrate with a second solution to accommodate this."
"I think the interface itself can improve a bit. I think the interface is still stuck about a decade in the past, if I may be so brutal about it. Some of the buttons are really small, so you can't even see them. I think it needs upgrading to the 21st century with apps and the way we use mobile phones."
"The licensing model could be better."
"There are a lot of challenges with Process Manager. For example, we wanted to create a process map from an Excel sheet, but Signavio doesn't have that capability. I have raised this issue with Signavio support, but it is one of the bottlenecks we are currently facing."
"The collaboration and commenting are great. However, I think it would be more useful for people to get notifications of comments straight-away so we can react even quicker to them than we already can."
"There is room for improvement in analytics. People don't realize it, but the world has changed in the last six to eight months. Customers want to see AI like ChatGPT and ML capabilities in all aspects of business processes and reporting."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are editor licenses that are around 50 euros per month, and contributor licenses that are around 30 euros per month."
"Price wise, IBM Blueworks Live is in the middle range, and I would give it a five out of ten."
"The solution is very, very cost-effective."
"Making it less expensive would be good."
"They have a free subscription model that gives a lot of power to the users."
"The solution is not very expensive."
"Based on the licenses purchased, from a footprint perspective, you can have as many people as you want. You have multiple different categories of licenses to keep the cost low."
"We are seeing ROI from this solution. The solution has saved us time."
"The customer Journey Modeler is more than twice the price of Process Manager, which is a lot."
"The solution is quite expensive compared to other vendors."
"We are using the free trial version."
"This solution provides really great value for the money."
"Comparatively, it is a bit costly when you look at similar tools with similar features."
"We are only able to use the free academic licenses because we have a financial constraint. We are not able to pay for commercial licenses to use this kind of tool."
"I think that the price of the licenses is between $2,000 USD and $3,000 USD per license per year, plus the hub usage. I cannot remember the exact cost, but it is affordable."
"The product is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Blueworks Live?
The solution is easy to operate. Also, there is an automatic mode to make the business flow. You don't have to put any lines or arrows in a decision point in IBM Blueworks Live; it's very automatic.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Blueworks Live?
The solution costs around 600-700 dollars/year, which is quite affordable.
What needs improvement with IBM Blueworks Live?
Sometimes, the tool is automatic, which can complicate it, but once you're accustomed to manipulating it, you can use it very effectively.
Which is better - Signavio Process Manager or Celonis?
SAP Signavio Process Manager is a very robust industrial-grade business process modeling tool. It is easy to use and does not require too much technological involvement. This solution has a collabo...
What do you like most about Signavio Process Manager?
The visual representation is extremely powerful and easy to use in process modeling and analysis. I can show it to someone who doesn't know business process mapping, and they still understand bec...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Signavio Process Manager?
Due to its SaaS nature, it is slightly challenging as a BPM tool. The pricing could be reduced further. I don't have the exact figures, but I believe it can be lowered because it's cloud-based.
 

Also Known As

IBM Lombardi Blueprint
Signavio Process Editor
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cloudsoft Corp. Ltd., Bayer, S¾SS, Essex County Council
DHL, Coca Cola EP, Prudential, Zalando, T-Systems, Jabil, Endress+Hauser, Rakuten
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Blueworks Live vs. SAP Signavio Process Manager and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.