I've been working in the IT department team, and my use cases are mainly about automating most of the repetitive tasks using bots. 

At first, I was using tools such as Blue Prism and UiPath, and when I did the comparison between Automation Anywhere and the previous tools, I saw a great change and impact, especially in the user-friendly interface. The interaction with the tool is quite good. 

Automation Anywhere is quite easy to use for users who are not technical, especially business users.

Automation Anywhere has helped with productivity, especially in the delivery time because while working in the IT department, interacting with the finance department and the HR data entry, it helped me deliver quick results. I was automating the roles from the HR data entry and the finance department.

By using Automation Anywhere, I have seen a great change in my time savings and in delivering my product. 

Its licensing can become too expensive for a small startup company. 

During deployment or initial development, more elaboration about particular features of Automation Anywhere would be helpful when knowledge is limited.

I've been using the Automation Anywhere tool for around two years and six months.

The performance of Automation Anywhere is quite fast and good. 

Regarding scalability in Automation Anywhere, I was working on a small project initially, and I'm currently on a large project. If I compare the efficiency of handling both projects small and large, I can say that it fully accommodates the scalability of projects depending on their size.

I have never contacted the technical support or customer support of Automation Anywhere because when I visit the FAQs and through the guides of the bots such as ChatGPT and Co-pilot, I've been getting my solution. I haven't encountered a significant problem that would require contacting support. In the future, I'm looking forward to having a conversation with support if I encounter any difficulties.

Positive

Before I started using Automation Anywhere, I was using the Blue Prism software. Comparing the features I have interacted with most in Automation Anywhere, I would say that Automation Anywhere is the best option. When comparing the cost, user-friendly interaction, automation, and quick delivery of results, I've seen a huge impact compared to Blue Prism.

It was easy. The full deployment of Automation Anywhere took approximately three to four weeks.

Updates are done automatically, so maintenance is not hard to handle. 

It required approximately five people for the deployment of Automation Anywhere.

As a beginner, I would suggest starting with small workflows, as starting with a huge workflow can become overwhelming.

I would rate Automation Anywhere a ten out of ten.

We are into the financial industry. We have 14 different business units using Automation Anywhere, including HR, digital finance, pensions, and similar areas, primarily within the financial sector.

It's easy to use, and with less experience, anyone with the business knowledge can automate easily. We can see that it's beneficial to integrate other applications and use the API to trigger any of the Automation Anywhere bots from the client-specific application.

The monitoring and reporting aspects are currently not very standardized, specifically regarding the on-premises setup. I’m not entirely sure if the cloud version has the necessary capabilities. If something goes wrong or is about to go wrong, it doesn’t help to only rely on dashboards or monitoring tools to assess the situation.

Additionally, businesses typically want detailed reporting. Right now, we lack the ability to monitor transaction-level statuses and tracking, which is a significant limitation.

Their support also needs improvement.

I have been using the solution for around eight years.

Performance-wise, it is okay now. Stability-wise, if they add new features and AI-related stuff, there are hiccups in each release. They used to do monthly releases as well as quarterly releases. Clients aren't confident due to issues in each release.

I would rate it an eight out of ten for scalability.

Technical support also has a pricing model. With non-premium support, it is hard to get immediate responses. Premium support responds immediately. 

I would rate their support a five out of ten as the resolution is delayed.

Positive

I have used UiPath and Power Automate. Automation Anywhere is user-friendly for business users, while UiPath is more suited for programmers due to complexity. Power Automate has powerful document automation. Pricing is a drawback for Automation Anywhere compared to Power Automate.

The setup can be pretty easy unless there are multiple components integrated or organization-specific standards. 

For a single server in a regular control room, it may take a couple of hours. When implementing a control room and IQ Bot, it may take approximately five hours.

Usually, one person is required to maintain our infrastructure, making it easy to upgrade and resolve any issues. I do all infrastructure-related things in my organization.

For maintenance, we need downtime from the business, usually on weekends for prod, and a platform outage for non-prod environments.

When comparing automation tools like UiPath, Power Automate, and Automation Anywhere, Power Automate often comes out as the most cost-effective option. Recently, I've noticed that Automation Anywhere has been charging separately for its various components, such as APIs, agentic processes, and business document automation. This pricing model has led many clients to reconsider their choices, especially those with limited budgets.

I've observed a significant trend where not only financial clients but also smaller businesses are migrating back to Power Automate due to its affordability. Power Automate offers a premium plan starting at just $25 per user, making it a more accessible choice for many organizations.

 I would rate this solution an eight out of ten because of their support.

My use case for Automation Anywhere is for vendor, customer service automation for the organization to drive improved customer service that relates to business growth.

The best features in Automation Anywhere are that it is easy to use and easy to suggest, and it's a wonderful product because it is very handy and it makes life easy. It is definitely a tool to use in our development when it comes to our businesses, which is retail. The features that I appreciate in Automation Anywhere are that it automates and inputs AI, which we call artificial intelligence.

Automation Anywhere stands out because it has brought productivity to the organization, improved customer service, accelerated business growth, and allowed for faster innovation. When it comes to AI, it offers an AI process automation that empowers and drives productivity and faster innovation whenever it is incorporated with artificial intelligence.

Automation Anywhere has improved our organization in terms of customer service, and there is an improvement in customer service and faster innovation, especially when it comes to innovating the ways of doing business.

For people who don't have technical skills, Automation Anywhere may take time when it comes to browsing or loading time, and sometimes becomes very buggy with unwanted failures.

Automation Anywhere has room for improvement in cost because it's high, and it can be a drawback for small industries or organizations that are coming up. Also, adopting Robotic Process Automation looks high, so it can be improved; perhaps the cost could be adjusted to favor even the small industries that are coming up. The browsing loading time in Automation Anywhere should be addressed, which sometimes can bring unwanted failures.

I have been using the solution for about two and a half years, three years.

The stability of Automation Anywhere is good, and I rate it eight or nine out of 10.

Automation Anywhere is scalable. I would rate the scalability of Automation Anywhere an eight.

I do use the Automation Co-pilot. Co-pilot makes work easier, and the time required to do work is really reduced, resulting in accomplishing more in just a few moments.

Co-pilot helps to increase productivity because whenever you use it, there's time saving and the energy that was supposed to be used for other things can be redirected to other tasks within the organization. In half a day or a few hours, Automation Anywhere saves me time, so as an organization, we are at least somewhere better in terms of productivity.

Regarding technical support, they are doing good work and work closely with customers to design solutions that align with organizational goals as well as improve efficiency. I give the support from Automation Anywhere a nine out of ten.

We haven't really tried other products because Automation Anywhere was required when we began this organization, and when we first tried it, we saw it working better for us; thus, the integrity of it is good.

Currently, in my organization, we have about four departments using Automation Anywhere. Automation Anywhere doesn't require any maintenance. I purchased Automation Anywhere through a direct purchase.

The deployment of Automation Anywhere involves a support team that assists in deploying the product in our systems and makes the process automation easier while also helping other staff understand the product.

Automation Anywhere has improved our organization in terms of customer service, and there is improvement in customer service and faster innovation, especially when it comes to innovating the ways of doing business.

Automation Anywhere has room for improvement in cost because it's high, and it can be a drawback for small industries or organizations that are coming up. Also, adopting Robotic Process Automation looks high, so it can be improved; perhaps the cost could be adjusted to favor even the small industries that are coming up.

We haven't really tried other products because Automation Anywhere was required when we began this organization, and when we first tried it, we saw it working better for us; thus, the integrity of it is good.

The vendor can contact me if they have any questions about my review. I would be interested in being a reference for the vendor. I would recommend Automation Anywhere because it's easy to suggest and it's a good product. I would rate Automation Anywhere a nine out of 10 compared to other similar products.

The automation of workflows, APIs, applications, and documents in Automation Anywhere is good. I spend about half a day to a day on maintaining bots in Automation Anywhere. It is easy to upgrade Automation Anywhere, but when it comes to the costs incurred when upgrading the product, it can be a drawback; it sometimes takes time because we need the funds to upgrade the system. However, when it comes to upgrading, it is very easy.

Training a non-technical employee on Automation Anywhere will take a day or two days, depending on what you're trying to train them.

I have been using Automation Anywhere since last year. I have used Automation Anywhere in several automations. For one of my precious clients, we had to trigger the bot when a mail arrived with PDFs, and there was a web portal where we needed to store the data from PDF. I use many Excel automations with Automation Anywhere and web automation majorly, and sometimes I use it with API integration as well.

Document automation is really helpful, even for a developer who is using the tool. I have used Automation Anywhere in several automations.

In Automation Anywhere, they could improve certain aspects. I also used Microsoft Power Automate where we have one initialization of variable that can be used anywhere in any subflow. If there are 10 subflows, we can use one variable everywhere without creating a new one. However, in Automation Anywhere, if you have created a flow, subflow, or subtask, you will create one variable STR name. Every time you have to use input-output scope for that variable to use in other subtasks as well. Automation Anywhere should implement this feature. They should also decrease their cost. Automation Anywhere is good, but Microsoft Power Automate offers unattended machines at a very competitive cost.

I have been using Automation Anywhere since last year.

I have never come across any lagging, crashing, downtime, or any sort of instability with Automation Anywhere.

Regarding scalability, I have used Automation Anywhere for many small clients as well as complex bots. It is scalable as we can work for small and complex bots, and we can run attended and unattended processes.

Support for Automation Anywhere is wonderful. I had an issue related to Chrome not working with the latest update. Automation Anywhere released a patch or updated version. When Chrome was not working properly, I contacted support and they were really good. They helped me extensively and even came on call to support me.

When comparing Automation Anywhere with Power Automate, it is sometimes a client need or developer choice which tool is used because both tools have their own pros and cons for a particular project. I appreciate both tools as they provide similar capabilities.

For the initial deployment of Automation Anywhere, it was a new thing to learn. For about a month, I found it difficult because I did not know about the various actions available in Automation Anywhere or other RPA tools. Now most things are clear. Whether using Power Automate or Automation Anywhere, I know which actions to use for specific tasks.

Automation Anywhere does not require any maintenance on my end.

I do not know the exact numbers regarding the pricing of Automation Anywhere, but through discussions with leads and higher management, I learned there is a vast difference in pricing.

Automation Anywhere is good, but Microsoft Power Automate offers unattended machines at a very competitive cost.

When developing automation or software bots, it is sometimes a client need or developer choice which tool is used because both tools have their own pros and cons for a particular project. Both tools provide similar capabilities.

I started my professional career in the RPA field using Automation Anywhere. When I entered this field, I was completely new and came across various RPA tools, with Automation Anywhere being one of them. When developing automation or software bots, the choice between tools often depends on client needs or developer preferences, as each tool has its own advantages for specific projects. I rate Automation Anywhere 9 out of 10.

We have used Automation Anywhere across industries such as banking, finance, health care, and manufacturing, mainly for back office automation. We have used it for traditional reconciliations, invoice processing, purchase order processing, currency exchange, data scraping from a portal, and pulling and pushing data between multiple applications, including integrations such as SAP, Navision, and Oracle. On the front office side, customer service engagements where the customer agent is on call and takes a query are another use case, allowing agents to submit queries into the system and receive responses based on a generative AI model.

We've utilized Automation Anywhere in some front office use cases as well as in certain agent tasks. For users who have processes with numerous manual interventions, Automation Anywhere has introduced the Co-Pilot feature, which provides a chat-like interface for interaction between user queries and backend systems. For instance, in a PO processing scenario where invoice data has been extracted, you can place a form in the process to view the extracted data. If you need to make any changes, you can easily update it on the front end. After that, the data can be sent for approval or posted in a system like SAP or Oracle. This feature brings significant advantages to attended automation.

Previously, before the full implementation of Co-Pilot, we relied on unattended automation. In that situation, the bot would send us an Excel file, asking us to check the PO details, which we would then update and send back to the bot. However, if I weren't available at that time, the file could get overlooked. There were often delays of one to two hours before I checked the file and sent it back. With the integration of the Co-Pilot feature for attended automation, data appears directly on our screen, eliminating the need to wait for an email or worry about missed emails. This integration has significantly saved us time within the operations team.

Additionally, by streamlining these manual processes, we were able to redirect our efforts toward more effective brainstorming sessions. We could discuss what the bot could do and explore further applications of attended or unattended automation. By saving one or two hours, we were able to engage in these discussions with business users—who are responsible for the initial automation—allowing us to gain insight into how the technology and processes work. As a result, more use cases emerged during this brainstorming, as users recognized the capabilities of the attended feature and how it could facilitate additional automation. Overall, this approach has enhanced our efficiency, as automation handles data quickly and accurately, minimizing errors in our processes.

Before Automation Anywhere, clerical errors were quite prevalent, particularly during the finance team’s year-end or quarter-end book closings. While some team members took longer to complete their tasks, others made mistakes, especially with calculations. To address this, we implemented a bot to handle manual reconciliation and book closing processes, significantly reducing errors and saving time. The bot follows its own logic, which minimizes mistakes unless the logic itself is altered.

It's much easier to integrate with applications using this low-code platform. For example, if you want to connect to an SAP application, you simply need to drag and drop the Automation Anywhere SAP Connect action, enter the credentials, and you’re all set. On the other hand, while Power Automate has an SAP integration, it is still in preview mode, and its functionality is not as extensive. In UiPath, some operations within SAP still require coding knowledge to understand how the actions work and how to retrieve data. In Automation Anywhere, the process is straightforward: just get it set up and go. 

Additionally, they have integrated document automation into their control room, which previously was part of a separate suite called IQ Bot. Now, you simply need to purchase licenses for document automation, and it’s available directly in the control room. In contrast, Power Automate does have a native AI builder, but it tends to be more expensive, and many documents are not easily processable. For UiPath, you need a separate tenant to access document understanding and AI capabilities.

The latest feature I want to highlight is the integration of an agentic component with traditional automation, and I believe it's the best one yet. Unlike Power Automate, which currently lacks this feature, Automation Anywhere has successfully incorporated it. They provide a dedicated portal for creating your own agents using a simple drag-and-drop functionality. Users are guided through prompts to select the agent, formulate their question, provide an answer, and determine the scope of the agent. Once that's done, connecting to the control room is straightforward; you can simply drag in and link your agent. This means that any business user, even those without a strong technology background, can create an AI agent and seamlessly integrate it into their existing business processes to automate tasks. Overall, this recent update is incredibly significant—it’s the best feature I’ve seen compared to other tools, making automation both effective and accessible.

I find Automation Anywhere pretty easy to use for business users without tech skills. I have experience with various automation tools, and when it comes to Automation Anywhere, I find that its user interface is quite straightforward. Every automation tool typically includes drag-and-drop functionality, but Automation Anywhere takes it a step further by being more user-friendly. It operates more as a no-code platform rather than a low-code one. In a low-code setup, users might need to drag and integrate components, like dragging in an Excel command to work with an Excel file. For example, if you're creating a pivot table, you can easily select a pivot action. Similarly, sorting or resizing a column is simplified. What Automation Anywhere does exceptionally well is allowing users—especially those without a technical background—to navigate easily. If you know how to work with Excel or Word, you can simply type commands in plain English. For instance, typing "save Excel" will bring up the corresponding action. If you want to "open Excel" or sort a column, you can easily find those commands. Compared to other platforms like UiPath or Power Automate, which may require some scripting and include more technical terminology for their actions, Automation Anywhere is much more accessible for business users lacking a strong tech background.

As for the learning curve with Automation Anywhere, they offer a structured learning platform, akin to a university model. Their educational content is organized into playlists, specifically tailored for different user types. For instance, there are playlists designed for business users and others for developers. These resources are well-categorized, making it easier for users to find relevant information. If you’re a developer interested in admin controls or support services, you can sign up for the developer track to access this specific content. This organized approach simplifies the learning process and makes it easier to understand how to use the tool effectively.

There is still room for improvement in document automation because sometimes it goes into validation unnecessarily. When inputting the field names for extraction, it occasionally misdirects into validation loops, which should be addressed for better efficiency. Nonetheless, the recent updates have made it more stable than in the past.

I would love to see a native integration of GenAI capability within the Co-Pilot itself in future releases. Currently, we must retrieve details from Co-Pilot, send them to the LLM for a response, and then return the information. I would really appreciate it if this integration happened. It would be a significant enhancement, similar to how Microsoft Power Automate functions as a traditional virtual assistant. Such an integration would be very beneficial because clients often request use cases that are closely related to chatbot functionality. Currently, this aspect is somewhat lacking in Co-Pilot. If it gets integrated, it would offer a considerable advantage.

I have been working with Automation Anywhere for around about five and a half years.

I have not experienced any downtimes, crashes, or stability issues with Automation Anywhere.

Automation Anywhere is indeed scalable; you can add as many licenses and bots as needed. The only consideration is to avoid running multiple bots simultaneously on a single machine, as this would cause them to queue until the first one completes.

We had a lot of questions during our initial phase. For non-fatal issues, such as development problems related to actions or agents, they typically respond within a day. At first, when you create a support case, the portal recommends relevant articles that address similar issues. If you find a solution in those articles, you won’t need to wait for a support ticket response, as the information is already available. If it is indeed a development issue, a response is expected within a day. For fatal production issues, you can expect a response within an hour.

Positive

I have worked with UiPath and Power Automate. As compared to UiPath, the implementation is very easy with Automation Anywhere. In terms of going into production, it is much simpler compared to Power Automate and UiPath. With UiPath, you need to transfer it to an environment and handle various moving parts, pushing it to a pipeline, and so on. However, with Automation Anywhere, you simply deploy it to a public workspace, and it runs very efficiently.

I also find that workload management in Automation Anywhere is superior to Power Automate. While Power Automate does have its workflows, they are not as efficient as those in Automation Anywhere. The three major advantages of Automation Anywhere are its workflows, deployment process, and the overall ease of use and user interface it offers.

When we talk about RPA automation, the terms "no-code" and "low-code" come to mind. With Automation Anywhere, it truly is a no-code solution. In contrast, with UiPath and Power Automate, you need at least some understanding of coding. For instance, with UiPath, familiarity with C# or VB is essential, as their layout depends on that knowledge. Similarly, with Power Automate, a foundational understanding of logical programming is necessary. However, with Automation Anywhere, you only need to learn how the tool works to create your automation bots. 

On the downside, UiPath is a more stable tool, mainly due to its recording functionality, which includes both web and desktop recorders. Sometimes, in Automation Anywhere, the recording process takes longer when capturing tasks on websites or applications, and there can be internal errors. In contrast, UI Path provides a fast and smooth recording experience. Power Automate also boasts a good web and desktop recorder, an area where Automation Anywhere needs improvement. Aside from the recording challenges, Automation Anywhere has been working quite well for me compared to other tools.

I have worked with both the cloud as well as on-prem versions. In Automation Anywhere, setting up an on-premise environment is quite straightforward, similar to installing MS Office or MS Excel on your system. You simply need to specify the location where the software will reside and configure the database connection. The installation process takes care of everything else, including registry keys, making it quite simple to set up. In contrast, if you're opting for a cloud-based solution, there’s no setup required on your part. Automation Anywhere provides a URL that allows you to access the control panel. All the enterprise-level configurations are managed on their side. You only need to connect to a bot agent, which is also available for on-premise setups, from your local machine. Overall, the cloud option is much easier to manage, as everything is handled by Automation Anywhere.

After setup, Automation Anywhere's cloud version does not require any maintenance. Upgrades and patches are managed on their side, only notifying us beforehand of any scheduled downtimes. However, if you use the on-premise version, you need to uninstall the older version and reinstall the new release yourself. 

Bot maintenance in Automation Anywhere is minimal because the packages can be easily selected and handled within the bot creator. Once in production, changes in logic or UI are the only things requiring attention, which typically involves checking components rather than extensive maintenance effort. If you undergo the upgrade phase, you need to check the packages to ensure they are all set to default. This process takes around 10 to 15 minutes. If any packages are not set to default, you must adjust them accordingly before running the upgrade. Overall, it doesn’t take much time.

In Automation Anywhere, upgrading is similar to reinstalling the Control Room. You need to stop the services, then uninstall and reinstall the software. Since the database is already established, when you install a newer version, it automatically creates new tables in the SQL database, which then run smoothly on their own. Therefore, the upgrade process is essentially just a reinstallation.

Initially, we experienced a small amount of savings due to high licensing costs and streamlined processes. However, as we entered an accelerated phase with more use cases, we realized greater efficiencies. For instance, we had four people performing a repetitive task every day. With the bot taking over this task, we were able to reassign those four employees to different departments where human skills were still necessary. We trained them to adapt to their new roles, engaging them in tasks that required brainstorming, idea generation, and collaboration—activities that contribute to their growth. As a result of this transition, we have significantly reduced salaries and payouts in the affected department. Now, 50-60% of our costs go toward licenses, while the remainder contributes to savings. We no longer need to hire externally for new roles; instead, we are training our existing employees and placing them into new departments.

We started with just three or four use cases, which is typical for any company embarking on automation. After successfully implementing these cases and demonstrating reliable output, the return on investment (ROI) began to materialize. Initially, the ROI was modest, but as confidence in the automation system grew, we expanded our use cases, leading to more substantial ROI.

On average, it takes about five to six months to see significant results. The first one to three months are dedicated to setting up the initial infrastructure and developing the bots. By the fourth and fifth months, we typically start to see the ROI.

Our organization's strategy regarding automation focuses on leveraging existing case studies from Automation Anywhere to educate clients on AI's impact and advantages. We demonstrate use cases already implemented to provide a framework for understanding before conducting process discovery exercises for potential new implementations.

My advice for other users looking to implement Automation Anywhere is to prioritize finding a tool that is easy to deploy and works well for business users. Automation Anywhere offers a user-friendly design that allows actions to be executed using layman's terminology, making it accessible for everyone.

I would rate Automation Anywhere a nine out of ten.