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IFS Cloud Platform vs N-able MSP Manager comparison

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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

Automation Anywhere
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
662
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (2nd), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (2nd), Process Mining (1st), Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) (1st), Agentic Automation (1st), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (2nd), AI Legal & Compliance (1st), AI Finance & Accounting (1st), AI Procurement & Supply Chain (1st)
IFS Cloud Platform
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
CRM (29th), Customer Experience Management (11th), Field Service Management (2nd), Help Desk Software (16th), ERP (20th), Activity Based Costing Software (10th), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) (4th), Local Government CRM (9th), IT Asset Management (13th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (14th), License Management (2nd)
N-able MSP Manager
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (24th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (22nd)
 

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash - PeerSpot reviewer
Management Consultant at Accenture
Has significantly improved document-driven workflows and reduced processing time across finance and HR functions
Automation Anywhere has evolved significantly and upgraded itself to provide agentic AI and AI-based automation solutions for document automation. The product has matured considerably over time. We can create workflows that can call an API. We can include prompts in particular workflows for ChatGPT-related functions, connecting to an LLM and RAG to perform tasks. For document automation, modern features are available to train documents, ensuring high accuracy and repeatability over time. The system is very easy to use. I recently completed a course in document automation, typically designed for people involved in coding and technical aspects. Though I understand coding comprehensively, I don't do actual coding. The course was very accessible. Currently, extensive coding isn't necessary due to the hybrid model incorporating GenAI aspects, low-code, no-code capabilities, APIs, and numerous pre-built objects in Automation Anywhere. The features include GenAI-driven prompting methods and workflow creation capabilities. In these workflows, we can create decision boxes and call APIs without coding. We simply pull objects, drop them, connect them, and add minimal coding when needed. The most crucial aspect isn't coding but rather sizing the automation and fleshing out the details. Automation Co-pilot takes notes and performs automated analysis. It can extract details from videos, summarize conversations, and provide detailed information. During calls, it identifies instructions and performs tasks such as preparing reports and reconciliation. Automation Anywhere can also connect with Microsoft Co-pilot. Through Co-pilot, real-time operations can be executed, allowing direct interaction between vendors and automation through this component.
reviewer2268153 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Operations Engineer
Integrated planning has improved production scheduling and now reduces downtime and costs
The biggest friction point I have run into with IFS Cloud Platform is user adoption, which has been the biggest challenge, as different users in the organization need to get accustomed to the new processes after years of using spreadsheets and legacy systems, requiring training and a mindset shift, along with challenging data migration and process standardization. My advice to someone considering IFS Cloud Platform with a similar workflow is to spend sufficient time understanding and standardizing their business processes before implementing it, as the technology is very powerful, but the real value comes when processes, data, and teams are all aligned. I would rate my overall experience with IFS Cloud Platform as a 9 out of 10.
GK
CTO at InTTrust SA
Ticketing has helped prioritize support tasks while contract and project management have required better integration and pricing flexibility
I don't know if N-able MSP Manager could have some additional features in the future to make it more competitive because it might already be available and I'm not aware of it.I cannot say that N-able MSP Manager dashboard is intuitive, but I don't see any big difference with ManageEngine. From the deployment perspective with N-able MSP Manager, I cannot have higher expectations because it is a SaaS solution, so it was deployed as is from the technical perspective. From the business perspective, the deployment is complex, but I cannot tell you that it is less complex than ManageEngine. The main reason that made me change my mind and proceed with ManageEngine is the availability of add-ons in combination with their pricing.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Object cloning is one of the main features that are using. We are very happy with it. as It has enabled us to capture a lot of things on screen and use them."
"Automation Anywhere's most valuable features include its end-to-end capabilities within a single platform. It offers desktop automation, unattended automation, a recorder for tasks, and advanced IDP capability, which means that I can handle everything from basic cutting and pasting to advanced use cases. With Automation Anywhere, I don't need multiple other tools to automate end-to-end processes. I only need one additional chatbot tool, assuming conversational AI is part of the solution. If I don't have chatbots, all the capabilities are built into the platform."
"The most valuable feature of Automation Anywhere right now is its low-code, no-code framework, which allows us to build a lot of templates that are both repeatable and reusable over time."
"By implementing the Automation Anywhere robot, we have reduced the FTE count and it was able to process 800 invoices per day with 100% accuracy."
"For most of the cases that we have worked on, the application has been stable."
"We recently switched to document automation that comes with the bundle. It is a good feature because earlier, we needed to purchase a separate license for IQ Bot, but now the enterprise license includes the DA license. This eliminates the need for an additional license for document automation."
"All RPA tools used in the market have similar features and aspects that can be developed, however, specifically for Automation Anywhere, the ready-to-use templates which can be used as plug and play are a great feature."
"Automation Anywhere is the best."
"The financial posting controls are quite handy. The user interface is really friendly, highly flexible, and pretty intuitive for end users."
"Apart from the pressures of meeting 14 go-live dates, this has been a very positive experience and has led to a streamlined and effective business."
"IFS Cloud Platform has impacted my organization by allowing our team to spend less time reconciling data and more time executing business operations, as resources are utilized more effectively, reducing waste and improving productivity, while also resulting in reduced downtime and lowered maintenance costs, allowing management to make informed decisions based on actual data rather than historical reports."
"Field Service Management is definitely a wonderful product that IFS has developed because it caters to field services."
"IFS Applications is based on industry standards that are using a multi-tier deployment model, making it much easier to integrate IFS Applications with other enterprise software packages, while its modern, easy-to-learn user interface offers many features for filtering, searching, and navigating."
"The main reason for the ERP project was to bring together our fourteen sites, which had until then worked in separate silos."
"The product is quite flexible."
"Some of the strengths are Enterprise Management Solutions and the series of Management solutions which is number one in Gartner's report and has been for the last five years."
"The best advantage for us, since we use all N-able products, is that the MSP portal centralizes everything."
"We are an MSP, and for what we do, we have one centralized dashboard, and even though we're a small IT team, we can manage a ton of clients with a lot of automated processes, even for patch management."
"This is a premier product and it has been around for a long time."
"Don't get scared of the price tag because it's definitely worth it."
"At a significantly lower price, I managed to get project management modules, contract management, and CMDB, which were not all available in N-able MSP Manager."
"I am impressed with the tool's integration with our mail system."
"I like that you can do all the things with it. You can patch, and you can run the scheduled tasks. You can remote in, upload files, and download files. You can log onto a computer PowerShell, or command prompt, without having to log into RDP. I also like its ease of use."
 

Cons

"The GUI can be improved by making it more user-friendly."
"20 percent of the bots need to supervised because sometimes errors occur during the run. Most of the errors that I have encountered have been because the object cloning did not capture the buttons properly."
"Their support also needs improvement."
"We've struggled with some of the new features Automation Anywhere added in the latest version. For example, they added a new OpenAI package, but it took a while for me to find it in the actions menu."
"Automation Anywhere can include database commands like insert row, bold row, etc commands in 11.x"
"Copilot is an area with a lot of scope for improvement. It's the number one thing to improve."
"There was a time when I would have rated it at around fifty-fifty percent, but now Automation Anywhere uses AI for customer support."
"Enhancing the support tiers might be beneficial, and pricing has been a primary challenge, with a need for cheaper options and more tiered support."
"Documentation-wise, they need more."
"The customer service is not good as expected but we can say its fair."
"The solution needs to improve its documentation and user-friendliness."
"The initial setup or implementation was a little more complex than I expected."
"There should be some improvements in the predefined templates in IFS Applications."
"The integration is a bit complex, and post-implementation support services need to be improved. They have a service center based out of Sri Lanka. The support aspect is good, but the response time is a little slower than we anticipated. In the next release, it would be better if Warehouse Management could be improvised. They have a product line that's a data warehouse management system, but it's still premature and requires a bit of enhancement."
"IFS uses Crystal Report mostly, which isn't too user-friendly. Developing reports isn't easy and requires a lot of dev time. Since SAP bought it, Crystal Report has become more complicated to use on IFS. You have a dashboard for reporting that is good, but it's incomplete. Most of our clients use Power BI or some additional tooling for BI."
"The pricing could be a bit better. It's a little high."
"Comparing the pricing of N-able MSP Manager to ManageEngine, it is a little bit too high."
"Its reporting is lousy and bad. It is not as good as it should be. There is too much work involved to get what you want. Most times, you have to call them to customize some stuff. I just don't like that part. They need to work on their reporting. They have a way to go."
"I'd like to see a way to import contacts in bulk using an Excel sheet or another import method."
"Its reporting is lousy and bad. It is not as good as it should be."
"There are too many products out there. What I would like to see is a simplified solution that is packaged better, where you can easily implement or turn on the functionality that you need."
"The tool needs to improve its customization of the user interface."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you look at the capital expenditure, Automation Anywhere is number two to UiPath. But if you take a long-term view, on a scalable model of a large number of bots coming out, it slowly goes on to become the costliest tool. There is something they can do about that. The capital expenditure goes out right at the point of buying the tool. For Automation Anywhere, I would need to spend $20,000. UiPath can give me something for $6,000, while Blue Prism will come in at $300,000."
"The starting price, which is a one-off fee is a bit high and this may deter mid and small-sized companies from acquiring and decide to shun the platform."
"Automation Anywhere is costlier than the general competition. That is aligned with the share of the market it has."
"The cost of Automation Anywhere is high in Turkey due to the weak economy."
"I do not know the price, but I am told that it is cheaper than UiPath."
"I advise others that even as of right now, the setup cost and licensing cost to automate bots on Automation Anywhere is steep but it is worth the investment!"
"From my experience, I can say that the initial setup cost is easily recovered over a period of time once the bots start running in production."
"Our annual licensing costs are around $100,000 a year."
"We pay for a license to use the solution, which is not very expensive."
"The pricing of the solution may appear to be expensive for smaller companies with only tens of users; however, for larger and mid-size industrial companies, IFS is able to win deals and the pricing is competitive in the market."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"IFS Applications are competitive in terms of pricing compared to other vendors, such as SAP, Oracle, and Epicor. They are generally cheaper, especially for licensing costs."
"There are varying license levels that you can purchase."
"I consider it to be a well-priced solution compared to other mid-range or high-end ERP solutions."
"Ask for all-inclusive pricing, as they are pretty flexible if you ask for custom models."
"IFS Applications is expensive software, but it's on par with SAP and Oracle. It's for large enterprises and government entities and not for small and medium-sized enterprises. They have one licensing model, but if you want to have a module-specific license, they provide component-based licenses. Unlike SAP and Oracle, it doesn't have different levels of licensing. It's one level of licensing."
"I would rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten since it's not the cheapest one in the market."
"I don't know the exact cost, but I know it's reasonable. Its cost of entry is not bad. I've had other organizations sign up for it. I don't know how much they paid, but it wasn't bad. You charge for every object. You charge for AV, and you charge for servers. There is a charge for everything or every object in that. I know we make money from it, but I don't know what it is."
"Don't get scared of the price tag because it's definitely worth it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Construction Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
20%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Media Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business157
Midsize Enterprise81
Large Enterprise558
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise10
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It depends on your use case. Is it simply to automate a couple of processes? Is it to augment a human team? AA is ver...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
From my experience using AA tool, it depends on the applications that you want to automate, because there some applic...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It is a highly preferred RPA tool. You can check my Automation Anywhere Review to know more.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IFS Applications?
The product is reasonably priced. The costs are justified by the value provided, considering the comprehensive featur...
What needs improvement with IFS Applications?
There are features that came up during implementation that we are not actually using today, such as field service man...
What is your primary use case for IFS Applications?
My main use case for IFS Cloud Platform is for production planning, where I typically use it for production schedulin...
What needs improvement with N-able MSP Manager?
I don't know if N-able MSP Manager could have some additional features in the future to make it more competitive beca...
What is your primary use case for N-able MSP Manager?
I am deploying it for my company.I inherited an implementation with N-able MSP Manager that was not quite good. I fac...
What advice do you have for others considering N-able MSP Manager?
I use N-able MSP Manager ticketing system.It has helped to prioritize tasks. At the level that I am aware of the prod...
 

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)
IFS Applications, Assyst, IFS Cloud
SolarWinds LOGICnow, SolarWinds MSP Manager
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
China Airlines, Electrolux Group, Babcock, Cimcorp, Sky, Multiplex, Veolia. 
Longleaf Systems, ITproMedia, Choice Technology, Halski Systems, Allixo Technologies, Nettech, Concept Technology
Find out what your peers are saying about IFS Cloud Platform vs. N-able MSP Manager and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.