Microsoft Power Automate Reviews

We use this solution to automate small parts of procedures in our workflows. Particularly, linking when emails are received, as well as picking out documents and loading them into SharePoint folders. From there, it feeds things like Power BI dashboards.

In general, they are specific things that we automate in order to reduce manual tasks. We have not applied it to any sort of more sophisticate process, like an approval process, or a supplier engagement process.

Implementing Microsoft Power Automate has made our development team more efficient. They are the ones who tend to have used it and applied it to help automate micro-tasks. It has made their life easier. We have not deployed it beyond our development teams.

The most valuable feature is that it is pretty low-code, so you don't need much coding expertise to use it.

I like that Power Automate is bundled with Office 365 and that it integrates with it pretty well.

The user access level and user account part of this product needs to be developed.  For example, if I'm a line manager and I have multiple approvals that are automated then I can't log into a dashboard and see all of my requests. I would like to have a user account so that the staff can see all of their requests, including the status and other details for each one, on the dashboard.

This solution does not work well with external people who are outside of the organization, like suppliers. It needs support for external email addresses. It would be difficult to do a supplier onboarding with Power Automate, whereas you could do it with Nintex, and this is a big drawback.

I would like to be able to set security and permissions on who can see request-specific details.

I have been using Microsoft Power Automate for less than six months.

In terms of stability, I think that it is going to be fine. We use Power Automate on a daily basis.

I think scalability is kind of limited by its features. If you're doing lots of little bits and pieces then it's fine. However, if you want to scale it to engage external suppliers or vendors then you can't really do that.

The security aspects and lack of user accounts in the interface are challenges for scalability. For what it can do is fine, but if you want to scale out across a business then I think it will struggle to have that breadth of features that enable you to scale it properly.

We have fewer than ten people who use Power Automate in the company, and they are all SAP HANA developers.

I have not been in touch with technical support.

We use Nintex, which does the same thing, but better. We have not switches solutions. We are dabbling with Power Automate to see if it can do a better job, or alternatively, be a cheaper solution for the really simple stuff.

The initial setup was very simple. The deployment probably took about half an hour. It isn't deployed as much as you pick a process and automate it.

We did not have a deployment team for this particular tool. Rather, we have business users who just picked it up themselves. They were SAP HANA developers to start with, so they were predisposed to knowing about this technology and having some kind of technology skills.

The number of people required for maintenance depends on how widely you've deployed it. In our case, it is self-maintained because people have automated their own workflows and they just tweak them as they need to. If you have a widespread deployment then it would depend on how many processes were changing that needed to be updated. It really depends on the situation. In general, it is not difficult to maintain, but it does require maintenance.

This solution is bundled with our Office 365, so there is no additional licensing fee.

We did not evaluate other options before using Power Automate.

We suspect that Microsoft is going to invest pretty heavily in this area. It might be strategic to start using Power Automate now because I suspect it will develop a lot of features over the next few years.

The suitability of this solution depends on how complex the processes are. My advice to anybody who is considering Power Automate is to make sure that it has the capabilities to support that, particularly versus a more established player like Nintex or AgilePoint.

I would rate this solution a six out of ten.

We primarily use the solution for back-office activities and processing.

The ease of use is the solution's most valuable aspect. It's easy to configure and write code on it.

The solution is simple, it's not complicated.

The pricing of the solution is competitive, which is good for the Romanian market.

The solution could offer more specific training. There should be more examples of what the functions can do and more instructions and explanations to the process.

I've been using the solution for about one year.

The solution is relatively stable. I'd rate it seven out of ten.

The solution could be scalable, but it depends on the design process. Currently, I'm the only one using the solution in our company. I use it every day.

Technical support has been okay. They are quite prompt, but I was hoping they would provide more in-depth explanations concerning the process.

We didn't previously use a different solution.

The initial setup was straightforward. Deployment only takes a few minutes.

We handled the implementation ourselves.

We did a bit of market research before ultimately choosing this solution. Most of the information we found was in the public domain. We found that costs were transparent when looking at this solution.

The solution is web-based. We're partners with WinAutomation.

I'd advise others to be patient and learn how to program it properly. The results will come, but there will be a learning curve.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

The solution has drag and drop features, and a development console that's in simple English, so even a non-tech can understand what the code means.

It has controls in boxes, just like Automation Anywhere, which helps alert the developer to take care of the smaller-level details which reduce errors. It's a very good feature.

The solution is comparatively quick to deploy for making smaller automation processes.

The solution's recommendation feature needs improvement. So many times it fails, which tells us that although the hardware configuration and software configuration and the environment stay the same, we should expect the automation tool to recognize images correctly, but it does not. There have been issues in which it has failed, and it remains a concern. At times, it crashes, for some unknown reason. We avoid automating any complex automation processes. 

We find the solution to be not that user-friendly, and might be using the older version, which really did not have a lot of features, so my review is mostly based on the older version.

WinAutomation could work on a simpler process of providing a development of something that proactively tells us what is wrong in the code, because what is happening right now is that we make the scripting code in some other place and some other control, and we identify errors over there. We simply copy it to this control, which is not even providing any color-coding, or any other assistance to the developers. Copying it from elsewhere is necessary to pick up any errors with ease.

We were really fortunate to use the version which has extended the EXEs, so once we make a development in the studio and we compile it, and make an EXE out of it, that EXE can be used on any number of systems. When it comes to identifying images and creating logic based on those images, or moving the mouse to an image, the image recognition randomly fails for unknown reasons, although we've had a lot of assistance around it, and the developers have put a lot of effort to make a way around it, but when the image recognitions fail, it just stays on the system. 

It definitely is a scalable solution. The components that we use enable us to deploy as many  EXEs on the system as we would like. 

We have about four people working on the solution. In terms of execution, so the development team develops robots and creates and compiles EXEs, and the execution team actually executes manually. It is an assisted automation, it's not fully automated, so the trigger has to be done manually.

In terms of technical support, response times were not that great, and the technical documentation provided was very limited. There is no forum where one could read other experiences or share advice.

There was a community when WinAutomation formed, but eventually, when the older versions ended support it went away. 

We're pretty much left on our own to find solutions to problems at this point. They should at least provide documentation.

The initial setup is very straightforward.

It was easy to wait for the deployment of the mission tasks. It's a quick implementation. When it comes to complex processes, there's a lot of handoffs required, and that's when it becomes a little bit difficult to manage. I'm sure with the new version they have improved this feature.

How long deployment takes depends on the complexity of the processes and the amount of testing planned. It takes a couple of days for a smaller process, and possibly up to two weeks for complex ones.

We've used versions 4.0, 5.1, and 6.0 as well. We use the on-premises deployment model.

In terms of advice I'd give to others, I'd say, first of all, they should make sure they are implementing the most recent version, not the old version that I have used.

However, I'd suggest having a limited scope and to plan to work meticulously because if there is a bigger project, instead of making something wherein you're not able to reuse the components which you have already done for one project, and reuse it for the other project, a lot of time is wasted in copy-pasting code.  

I'd rate the solution six out of ten.

I use the product for automation. 

Microsoft Power Automate's basic activities are not strong. 

I have been working with the solution for a year. 

I rate Microsoft Power Automate's stability a nine out of ten. 

I rate the tool's scalability an eight out of ten. 

Microsoft Power Automate responds quickly. 

The tool's deployment is easy. 

The product is for small and mid-sized companies. I rate it a nine out of ten. 

We are using Microsoft Power Automate for repetitive desktop automation.

The solution can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise.

The solution has helped us automate tasks that would have taken us time to complete.

The most valuable feature of Microsoft Power Automate is the ability to automate tedious tasks.

Microsoft Power Automate could improve by offering recurring execution on the desktop.

I have been using Microsoft Power Automate for approximately five years.

I rate the stability of Microsoft Power Automate a nine out of ten.

We plan to increase our usage of the solution.

I rate the scalability of Microsoft Power Automate a nine out of ten

I rate the support of Microsoft Power Automate a nine out of ten

I have used another solution prior to using Microsoft Power Automate. We switched to Microsoft Power Automate because most of our customers use it.

The initial setup of the solution is straightforward.

We have seen a return on investment using Microsoft Power Automate.

I rate Microsoft Power Automate a nine out of ten.

We use the solution in insurance and pharma.

I use SQL Server connectors to connect SQL Servers for data integration.

The most valuable feature is the Office connector, which connects to Excel and Exchange.

There could be more communication with third-party cloud tools. Also, if they can use libraries, I can recycle functions without having to rewrite them in any Power Automate system.

I have been using Microsoft Power Automate since its inception.

The solution's stability is good. Everything works fine.

The solution is scalable.

When the first versions were released, some issues needed to be addressed. However, after those were resolved, everything started to run smoothly.

Positive

Deployment takes around three or four days, and one specialist is required.

I rate the initial setup as seven out of ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.

It is a low-priced solution and costs around 15$.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight-point five out of ten.