Microsoft Power Automate Reviews

We are using it for approvals and flow history. We are using the latest version.

The approval feature is the most important feature. We also use the flow history feature.

It is a very useful product as compared to other products. We can automate easily when a list is updated. We can also handle approval-related issues and integrate it with emails.

It can have customizations like enterprise solutions. In the approval section, there should be an option to reassign approval to some other employee. It would be good if we are able to create custom tables by linking to an item, and there is an integration with the HTML table through HTTP calls or Swagger connectors.

I have been using Microsoft Power Automate for around three and a half years.

It is stable.

I don't know. We have only four users. 

I never contacted them. I am purely on the development side.

It is sometimes complicated and sometimes very easy. It requires integration with a lot of connectors, such as SharePoint, PowerApps.

I highly recommend this solution. I would rate Microsoft Power Automate a ten out of ten. I am a fan of this solution.

We use SharePoint to collect information from tests, exams, and similar things that we do in our office. When people complete the tests, we use Microsoft Power Automate to collect the results and email them to appropriate people. We are currently using the latest version of Microsoft Power Automate. 

Its integration with SharePoint and Outlook is the most valuable. 

I found it very easy to use. I could do everything that I wanted very quickly, and I didn't have any complications at all. I never had a problem in using Microsoft Power Automate.

If someone was just about to start using it, it would be better if it was a bit more user-friendly in terms of understanding function references. I come from a bit of development background. To me, it all makes quite a lot of sense, but someone using it for the first time would probably battle understanding how the functions work. This might be something they could improve on.

It would be really useful if it could publish data to Power BI. We like to use Power BI for our reporting, but we can't directly integrate the data across. If there was a way to automate the collection of the data and push it straight into the Power BI platform, it would be quite useful.

I have been using Microsoft Power Automate for about three months.

It seems to be very stable. It has been running now for about three months, and it regularly gets used, probably about 30 times per day. I haven't had a single missed event. I have received all the emails, and everything works great. Today, funnily enough, I have started building a new solution for something similar. So, I went back and actually checked the records for the last three weeks, and everything was perfect. I haven't had any issues with it at all. 

I am sure that it is going to be perfectly fine for what we need. We are looking at about 30 people using it in one day over the last three months, which is not a very high volume. We are not going to do more than probably a maximum of 50 users a day. 

I did not have any need to contact them.

Previous to this, I used Microsoft Flow, and before that, I used the SharePoint workflow. We switched from Microsoft Flow because Microsoft actually changed their product and went from one to the next. It used to be Microsoft Flow, and then they revamped it and re-introduced it with a new name. I just carried on basically using the same platform. It is better than what they used to have. That's for sure, but I'm still effectively using the same product. They had advertised through emails and other mediums that they have switched to a new product, and it has been rebranded. I thought I'm going to try it, and I just found it very friendly and easy to use. So, I just stuck with it.

It is integrated completely with our Office 365, so I didn't have to set up anything. Everything just works automatically. The security works from the first time. When I logged in, it straight away identified me. I could immediately get a list of all the people to whom I needed to send the stuff. It connected straight away to the SharePoint. I didn't have any problems at all.

The original product was set up by the consultant firm that looks after our IT. We don't do it on our own. They set up everything and configure it. All I had to do was just log in and make sure everything works the way I wanted it to do.

I don't deal with the financial side. I know that we pay for a per-user license. It is probably less than $20 a user, but I am not sure about the exact figures.

To use this solution, you need to maybe brush up a little bit on how to use the function references that are available in Microsoft Power Automate. The code that you use for the functions is a little bit different from what you would use if you were using Excel or anything like that. So, you just need to brush up on how the functions work. Once you understand them, it is pretty simple.

I would rate Microsoft Power Automate a ten out of ten. Everything has been perfectly fine. I am a happy user.

This is one of the solutions we sell to our customers. I'm an automater and we are customers of Microsoft. 

The connectors are a very good feature in this solution because they allow you to connect to multiple applications within the Microsoft environment. The solution is readily integrated. 

I'd like to see an improvement in the execution of workflows, which is currently an area of concern. It takes a lot of time and when you integrate these workflows, you have to be very careful because even a tiny error can break the workflow. Microsoft needs to make it more resilient.

An additional feature should be interoperability. It's the idea that you should be able to leverage other Microsoft technologies, let's say .NET, C#, VB macros, so that they can be integrated. It will make the solution more powerful, and they could provide a facility where we could run scripts written in other languages through Power Automate seamlessly. That would make this a very powerful product. 

I've been using this solution for 18 months. 

It's not stable yet, because it's still in development. There are a lot of things happening right now. If they bring in a new feature, an old feature can change and that's why we're not able to deploy it fully on all our client premises.

It's scalable because almost everything which is available within the Microsoft environment can be connected. But when you go outside the Microsoft environment, with respect to legacy systems and with third-party applications, the scalability is a somewhat limited right now. You can't connect very easily to Oracle or SAP or even third-party standalone custom applications. We don't have plans to increase usage for the time being. 

We haven't contacted technical support, mainly because we've been in a Microsoft related environment for the last 30 years. Most things that we solve ourselves, rather than talking to Microsoft.

We have not yet fully switched to Microsoft Power Automate. We still consider it an option for clients who are purely in a Microsoft environment. It's definitely an option, but we also have seven other RPA tools we use including UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Kryon, Kofax. We also have an option for customers who don't want to go for any RPA tools that enables them to get custom automation.

The initial setup is complex. You need to know what you are doing, because it connects to so many things on your system which could be different for different systems. It took us about half a day to understand what we needed to do, and then after that it took just an hour. We did it ourselves. 

The solution is affordable and supportable, but the licensing is complex because you're paying for multiple services. You pay a license for Automate and a license for Azure Cloud. There could be a situation where you're managing more licenses than the bots.

We have evaluated 22 options in this area. 

Choosing a solution really depends on what the customer needs. If they're looking for something that's easy to maintain, we might go for UiPath or Automation Anywhere. And if we don't have the budget we tell them to look at Microsoft Power Automate. If you don't have a budget for that, then you look at a custom automation which doesn't need any RPA tool. It all depends on the customer's requirements and constraints.

This solution has the potential to go further, but for now I would rate it a five out of 10. 

The use cases for the solution would be banking related, typically, and specifically surrounding BFS, Banking Financial Services.

The sequencer programming mode's ease of use is its most valuable aspect. The ease of calling out the functions in a sequence, basically from the functional side, is great.

The solution lacks certain items.

I'm not really qualified for judging the solution. A developer could give better pros and cons. 

We would not miss Microsoft Power Automation that much. As still has a long way to cover tasks when it comes to the ease of use like UiPath, which is pretty user-centric.

The solution needs to improve its integration with SAP and Oracle models.

The solution's automation is still evolving and still has a way to go.

The solution could benefit from mirroring Oracle's use of videos and community forums to help users get acquainted with the product. It could use better online training and/or documentation.

We've been using the solution (as Softomotive) for four years now. It's only recently become Microsoft Power Automate. Previously, Microsoft didn't have a similar solution.

The solution is pretty stable.

The solution is scalable, but there are issues. It's not perfect.

We have about 100 users on the solution currently.

We do plan to increase the usage of the product in the future. However, we do have our own internal tool we also plan on using more often.

I myself have not contacted technical support. It's the development team that does any outreach, so I cannot answer on their behalf.

The initial setup was not complex. It was pretty straightforward.

In terms of deployment, how long it takes varies. It depends upon the nature of the use case. Usually, it ranges between six weeks to 12 weeks. We used ten to 12 people for the deployment process.

We handled the implementation internally with our own team members. We didn't need the assistance of integrators, or consultants.

There are licensing costs, however, I do not know the exact pricing. It's not part of my scope of work.

We're simply customers. We don't have a business relationship with the solution.

We use the solution, however, not in its full capacity. It's just there as and when there is a need. The product earlier was in Softomotive. Microsoft just took over Softomotive, which has WinAutomation, so yes, technically, it is now Microsoft.

We're using an earlier version of the solution, not necessarily the latest.

I'd recommend the solution. We don't have very complex use cases to compare it to, however, for small to medium complexity projects, it would work well.

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

We use this product for automation.

Using WinAutomation helps us to reduce our resource costs.

The most valuable feature is that you can run multiple automations at the same time, in parallel.

It is possible to capture the video, which is better than saving only a snapshot or an error message.

It would be helpful to have features that are fine-tuned for Microsoft products because most of our clients are using products like SharePoint and OneDrive.

The OCR functionality needs to be improved. We are not getting the same accuracy as other tools when reading things like PDFs.

I have been working with WinAutomation for six months.

One of the biggest features is scalability, as we can run multiple activities in parallel.

We work with several RPA tools including UiPath, Blue Prism, Automation Anywhere, and we are also implementing Microsoft Power Automate.

UiPath has a very good OCR that can read PDF files well. It is more accurate than WinAutomation.

The initial setup is straightforward. It is easy to install, and it works in a plug-and-play fashion.

My advice for anybody who is considering WinAutomation is that it is a very good tool. They definitely need to use it. 

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

The primary use we have for this product is a solution we created for a client to download daily data from a big company's website. It is a website tool for helping the company monitor the channel for managing their associate or partner responsibilities. They needed to visit the website every day — or as often as possible — so they could get information from the parent company, or collect orders or complaints from there.  

The most valuable thing about the product is that it is simple. When you go into the UI — and probably because Softomotive has about a 20-year long history in the IT industry — there are small details in the features that simplify how you work with it. It has all the big features like competing products but the detail is the kind of thing that makes users feel more comfortable using the product than if the details were not there. So those kinds of ease-of-use details are good things for Softomotive. The design is a GUI interface which is really for non-programmers. There is only the graphic user interface so it is simple to use.  

I think the primary thing that needs improvement in this product is the stability. It looks like it is easy-to-use and that is very nice, but it is more important to have a stable product and not just one that is easy-to-use. If I am working to create a simple process, odd errors occur quite often and in the middle of creating the process.  

The additional features I might like to see in the next release would be adding in some capabilities that other products already have. For example, some RPA process management framework. UiPath has something like that, RE Framework (Robotic Enterprise Framework), which is something in Softomotive we have to develop by ourselves. They have some premade processes in WinAutomation, but in running a process they should have some kind of error handling. For example, if there are tasks that should be run like 100 times and maybe it will freeze up at the 50th cycle, then the process should start again from 50, not from number one.  

If they can come up with some kind of framework and error handling, that will enhance the stability of the running processes made out of their solution. Right now I cannot resolve these main issues on my own and they should be added to the product.  

I started testing it out three months ago and have been using it for about two months.  

The stability of the product is not always good even when working on simple projects. This is not a bad product — I still use it — but the stability is something that they need to improve.  

Scalability is just buying more licenses. I worked for RPA consulting company and a development company and then I worked as an RPA developer. Then I was dispatched to a company to develop a process for that company. That company at the time purchased ProcessRobot, and then recently WinAutomation — I think five copies. They tested it and they are now trying to expand usage.  

I have been in touch with the technical support for WinAutomation by Softomotive a lot, really. The support is good and they provide the information or answers I need.  

I have used other products in the past. For example, by comparison, UiPath might be a little bit more stable but it is also a little bit more complicated in the UI/UX (User Interface/User Experience) than Softomotive. UiPath has not got some of the fancy features — just the basic ones. You just collect your UI elements or web elements and use the basic features. But say you maybe run a process 1000 times in both tools. UiPath seems to me in our testing to have fewer errors than Softomotive. But the complexity of the project or the stability would make me choose one product over the other.  

The setup in WinAutomation is kind of straightforward. I did not experience any trouble in the installation. ProcessRobot is a bit different and then UiPath is a little bit more complicated in the installation, but I think it is manageable as well.  

To actually get the product to work from the point of installation to where I could start running some processes took maybe a month the first time. But this included learning the product. Development with a little experience using the tool usually takes 15 days or about two weeks.  

We did the deployment of this by ourselves.  

Because I am in this industry, I am gathering information about different tools all the time. I use mainly WinAutomation and ProcessRobot and maybe UiPath for only a month. It is sometimes just to collect information and other times to consider other products.  

I think the advice I can give someone considering this solution has to do with making a smart choice. If someone wants to do some RPA project without already knowing a product, then he or she needs to take quite a long time to learn about RPA. You can look at the subject to learn about it and then learn a little bit about programming. There is not just one place to find this kind of tutorial and educational material. A single vendor will only provide what you need to use their product. Each vendor has different educational materials from different perspectives and different methods of teaching.  

If they want us to use Softomotive as a solution, they may have to do less work in learning about RPA because it is easy to use. But they should probably also visit the UiPath website or maybe AutomationAnywhere to compare the products and features. In many ways, the products are the same with the ultimate goal being that of creating a working RPA process.  

But I think there is a difference in the availability of information and user communities. UiPath has a little bit more structured education system and their community is larger. Because Softomotive is not as widely used it is more difficult to ask other users questions. You may have to direct your questions to the software team. But with UiPath, they can ask questions through a web portal like forum.uipath.com. It is less stressful to ask a question and get an answer from other users.  

ProcessRobot users also have a smaller community but they cannot ask questions from support unless they have the license for the product. WinAutomation is different. It is kind of a semi-commercial product but it is not totally free like open-source. There is also a little restriction on which questions you can ask of support before you invest in the product. They are very responsive and also helpful and their company helps people directly. You go through a sort of process. Maybe Softmotive might not always find an answer or give you a particular solution. Then you can also be a little creative and look for how something is solved using other RPA tools like consulting UiPath Academy. This might give you some hints about what you are trying to accomplish.  

Sometimes I have found that I kind of I reached a dead end. I had no answer as to where to go. I was just confused and then I could not find any answer from the Softmotive website and there was nowhere to ask the question that I had. Other vendors also have wonderful features and then I tested those to see what they could do. It is kind of a long process to develop a stable process and you have to continue to learn.  

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate this product as a seven. Of course to rate this software higher, they would need to work on the stability issues, enhance the available resources for users, and fill in some of the features that are missing which other products already have. 

* Added on 2020-07-17 : Now that Softomotive is acquired and WinAutomation have become a part of PowerAutomate and the price has gone down almost to half of its original price, the future is quite promising for this product.

Our primary use case is the automation of tasks.

The most valuable feature is the ability and ease of linking multiple connectors within the same flow. For example, you can have the same flow connections with Outlook, SharePoint, and DLLs.

It is a low-code environment, which means that it is more agile in terms of automation. You are able to start with one automation and then easily modify it for other uses.

The interface is user-friendly. It took me perhaps a month or two to understand what the dynamic is and how it works, and then how it can be linked to the sprint. I would say that it takes two or three weeks to learn the basics, but then it becomes easy to work with. The more you learn, the more you can evolve the flow, and you can implement additional scenarios.

I would like to have chatbot assistance available, where you can open it and receive help on the spot. For example, if you are struggling in the middle of implementing a flow, you can easily communicate with the chatbot, perhaps providing the error message, and it will search for a resolution. In my case, I posted my error message on Google and saw that other people had similar problems. I was able to check the community platforms and I found the solution in one of the posts.

The documentation can be improved because although they do have a manual of about 500 pages, it does not cover all of the possible scenarios. It would be good to have one that covers different scenarios or different commands, provides basic knowledge about the commands, and even basics about JSON. Also, the user manual and learning guides that they have can be made more user-friendly.

I have been using Microsoft Power Automate for about six months.

I have had some issues with stability where I received a surprising error message and still don't know why it happened. While it has been primarily stable, so far, we are not yet in production so I am not fully certain how it will perform. If the performance is good and there are no glitches or automation errors, then I will feel confident in the stability.

My impressions at this point, from what I have experienced, is that the stability is high.

With respect to scalability, because we haven't implemented the solution yet, I am not sure if it will scale or not. My feeling is that it will scale because it already has multiple connectors for what most organizations frequently use.

It is fully designed but until it is implemented and I see the results, I will not feel comfortable commenting on whether it will scale well. My feeling at this point is that it is of medium scalability.

At this point, as the solution architect, I am the only one who is using it. In the future, we will have other people in my team using it.

I have not posted to the community, so I don't know how reactive they are. From what I have seen, as I searched the forums, it seems that people are responsive. My feeling is that community support should not be an issue.

At the same time, I still think that they should have more friendly documentation and chatbot assistance.

I would rate the support a three out of five.

I would say that the initial setup is easy and user-friendly, but you should still have basic knowledge in advance to do it properly.

Power Automate is included with Office 365.

In terms of resources and in terms of cost, this solution is efficient.

I see Power Automate as a quick-win solution for many enhancements that can be used in any organization. Rather than a task that involves heavy coding on a third-party application, such as a CRM or with Salesforce, Power Automate can be leveraged for good results.  Overall, I would say that my experience using this product has been good.

My advice for anybody who is considering this product is to create a prototype or a proof of concept, first. At the end of the day, management needs to buy into the solution. They should see, however, that it brings value to the business. It is a product that I recommend, although they do need to fix the small glitches that I experienced in the flow.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

The most valuable feature is that it is integrated into the browser, which means that you don't need a development environment.

Power Automate is intuitive and easy to use.

There is a broad community so you can find a lot of information on the web about how it works. It is also well-documented.

The licensing model is difficult to understand and is something that should be improved.

When you are implementing a project, it's quite difficult to comment on what it is that you are doing. For a simple project it is fast, but to have a better overview then it gets complicated.

I would like to see more integration with other products.

We have been using Power Automate for about two years.

The stability is good.

Power Automate is a scalable solution. We have between five and ten developers who are using it.

The technical support from Microsoft is good.

We primarily use UiPath for our automation.

The initial setup is straightforward and it took us about two hours to deploy.

There are many different ways to license it.

This is a good product and one that I recommend. For anybody who is considering it, my advice is to do a proof of concept at each phase.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.