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UiPath Robot

UiPath Inc.

Reviews from AWS customer

25 AWS reviews

External reviews

309 reviews
from and

External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.


    Manish Kumar Sah

It drastically reduces our turnaround time

  • September 13, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

Our use cases are generally related to front-end UI-based automations that emulate tasks done by teams. For example, we do front-end SAP automation for data entry and scraping or posting data to websites that are related to the organization. We use UiPath for other automations like extracting and manipulating data from Excel. The primary use cases are in finance, HR, and operations. In logistics, it's used in full-sprint solutions.

How has it helped my organization?

UiPath's ability to do end-to-end automation is crucial. If we do the automation in bits and pieces, it's challenging to integrate it. The best part is that the turnaround time is drastically reduced because the process isn't being put on hold in between two manual interventions. The more permissions we apply, the more we reduce the turnaround time. However, the smaller automations don't impact the turnaround time that much. If the logic is set correctly, it can completely eliminate human error. 

The UiPath community development forum is helpful. Developers can access all the information they need if they get stuck. For our use case, we refer to OpenMedia, not any particular program. To understand what are the RDP use cases. I personally follow primary and secondary research forums as well as McKinsey's technology consulting newsletters and documentation.

The UiPath Academy explains various use case scenarios through videos and training sessions. It's all practical, hands-on instruction instead of purely theoretical. That made a significant difference by increasing our confidence in the product and ability to create our own automation. You can track each team member's training steps in parallel because everyone needs to be on the same page.

Uipath doesn't necessarily reduce our on-premise footprint. We use UiPath to automate configuration integration, so I can't say there is any direct impact because RPA is now just part of our on-prem ecosystem. The solution doesn't require expensive or complex application upgrades, but certain applications need scripts to be enabled to get UiPath working on their front end.

It saves time, but the amount varies. Each process has a different impact depending on the frequency of that process. If a process is running daily, the values are high, but sometimes it's low. The organization aims to have one bot per person, so everyone has one attended bot that can replicate their monitor network. It's the equivalent of adding one FTE per year by default per person. Every person can have a bot, scale up the work, and get more done in a day. 

The amount of money saved also depends on how often the process runs. We pay per bot, so if the bot isn't running frequently, we might not save any money. However, if the requirement is to do many more tasks than a single person can handle, it makes sense to use a bot, and we can save a lot of money that way. Sometimes, we have different goals beyond just saving money or reducing the time that our staff members spend on tasks. We might deploy a bot to improve the user experience and save the user some time. In some cases, we might not see short-term savings, but we'll see a benefit from it in the long run as the process volume increases.

What is most valuable?

The feature I like the most is ONEWEB UI automation. UiPath's OCR technology also works well. There is another feature called Action Center that lets you decide what happens after the data is captured. It passes the data into Action Center, where a person can review and approve it before it goes to the next step. It helps us manage our attended bot processes.

It's generally easy to build processes because of the drag-and-drop configurable suite. However, more complex expressions may require some kind of functional coding. UiPath also has some prebuilt functions in its training module that can be utilized to enter the expressions and get the job done. That's one workaround.

What needs improvement?

UiPath's built-in integration with Python scripts could be more robust so that I do not have to depend on another technology and I can do everything on one platform. 

Each program you write on UiPath contributes to bot consumption and utilization. As you add more bots, your costs will increase for more actions. Python is open-source, so it is totally free. Depending on our automation needs, we go back and forth between these two technologies. Better integration between these two tools will help organizations cover all areas of automation without more cost-effectively. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used UiPath for approximately two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate UiPath nine out of 10 for stability. We haven't faced any challenges with UiPath's stability because it is a SaaS product. It runs on the UiPath cloud, and things are working fine. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

UiPath is fully scalable. I haven't faced any challenges in terms of scalability because the cost is not per user or per process. It is priced according to the amount of bots being consumed, so it all depends upon the complexity of your own project. If the complexity is lower you can reuse and share 

How are customer service and support?

I rate UiPath support nine out of 10. They always respond with solutions within the time established by the SLA. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were working with Power Automate. It has benefits from a cost perspective. The cost per developer is much lower relative to UiPath. Power Automate is a more cost-effective solution for larger enterprises. However, UiPath has more technological capabilities, and it's more user-friendly for developers, which is why UiPath is being adopted more over Power Automate. At the same time, Power Automate is continuously improving, so it may reach the same level as UiPath in the future. 

How was the initial setup?

We are using the cloud version of UiPath, which is hosted by the UiPath team themselves. We do not use a private cloud. The network configuration didn't take much time. The deployment involves setting up a UiPath account and configuring permissions. It is a SaaS platform like Office 365.

The deployment time is just the amount of time required to develop processes for the project. It depends on the size and complexity. A project with hundreds of activities might take a few months, but a simple project with only two processes can be done in a few hours. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate UiPath eight out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud


    Harishbabu Suresh

Prerecorded and scripted processes can eliminate human error from majority of transactions

  • September 13, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We use it for automation with different applications and use Document Understanding, AI Center, and Action Center.

How has it helped my organization?

There is a good chance that people will make mistakes in manual operations, especially in whatever data-entry operation they do. By defining a solution in UiPath that is prerecorded and scripted, there is a lot of reduction in manual errors. If you have 100 transactions, 80 to 90 of them can be automated because they are straightforward cases. That means we can eliminate human error from 90 percent of the transactions.

In addition, the automation solutions that we, as a partner, implement for our clients reduce the amount of manual work and they are able to use their critical human resources for other useful processes.

What is most valuable?

The prebuilt AI models that are available in AI Center are valuable to us for things like invoice processing.

UiPath is also a solution that is user-friendly for developers with a lot of prebuilt activities and ML models. It enables developers to quickly develop a solution.

We can also implement end-to-end automation.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using UiPath for the past four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's absolutely a stable product. It has been in the market for more than six years. Whatever solution we develop for a client is completely stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's definitely a scalable solution.

How are customer service and support?

The first level of support is that we search for solutions in the forum of the UiPath user community. Most of the time, we'll get a solution there. If not, we'll contact the technical support.

If I raise an urgent ticket, they quickly respond. Within an hour I'll get a call, and they'll arrange a team within two to three hours.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used Automation Anywhere. Out of 10, UiPath stands somewhere around 8.5 to nine, while Automation Anywhere is around 7.5. The reason for that difference is UiPath's user-friendliness and versatility on the development side. For example, if you want to integrate it with VB code, UiPath provides a lot of options. And on the Excel automation side, UiPath is more reliable than Automation Anywhere.

In RPA, UiPath is far ahead compared to Automation Anywhere.

How was the initial setup?

For some clients it's on-prem and other clients have deployed the cloud option.

The amount of time it takes to set up depends on the components a client purchases. If they only purchase the basic components of Orchestrator, a robot, and Studio, it may take only two to three days, or a maximum of five days, for the deployment. But if they go for high availability and some kind of DR setup, that would take an additional week of deployment. And for AI Center, it will take another week. Deployment usually requires two to three people. We involve the infra engineer, the database engineer, and a solution architect.

As for maintenance of UiPath itself, there are updates that may impact a solution and we will need to upgrade the packages, for example, legacy Windows. UiPath updates very frequently, and they don't support the earlier products. Officially, they are not supposed to support three of the versions. That means customers have to update within a year or two years.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

UiPath solutions fit European and American clients, but especially for medium- and small-sized businesses in India, the cost may be the one factor that constrains customers. That's especially true when it comes to AI and ML solutions. It would be helpful for small and medium businesses if there were a reduced level or some kind of modified licensing.

On a scale from one to 10, where one is cheap and 10 is expensive, UiPath is an eight or nine for the region that we work in. But in other regions, it is somewhere around six to seven.

What other advice do I have?

The solutions we provide to clients to automate their business processes need maintenance. They can usually take on a few processes on their own, but if it goes beyond 10 processes, some level of bot admin is required.

We don't need a proof of concept for a product that has been on the market for a long time. In the past three or four years, UiPath has been a proven solution. Customers can rely on the solution. We just have to make sure that their requirements can be met by the solution, and the other aspect is the cost. If these two aspects are taken care of, we can recommend that people go with UiPath.

UiPath is one of the leaders in RPA technology, and we get more business from it. Customers either want UiPath, Automation Anywhere, or Power Automate. But most of our business is with UiPath. They keep on updating it and are building their own RPA ecosystem. That makes it very easy to convince clients to stick with this one platform for multiple solutions.


    reviewer2275326

A reasonably priced solution that can be used to automate all activities and internal applications for businesses

  • September 12, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We have been using UiPath to automate regular activities for a business. I'm currently working for a vendor that has a contract with a business. We are using the UiPath solution to automate all the activities that they have been doing on a regular basis. These activities have simple functions, mostly with Excel data entry and some internal applications that the client needs.

So we use UiPath to take some input, and then we process the activities for the business. Then, we share our output with them as a report on a daily basis or a monthly basis.

How has it helped my organization?

There are multiple angles to look at this. UiPath has helped the senior level with cost savings it has done to them by just putting the licensing in a robot and using it for all the manual activities. From the mid-level management perspective, efficiency has improved, error has reduced, and transaction turnaround time has reduced. A robot can be available 24 hours a day, and it can be used at any moment. Human users can be available, but robots have proven to be more efficient.

Turnaround time has improved for this transaction, and errors have been reduced. A bank is a service provider, and its customers use its services. From the end user's or the customer's perspective, the turnaround time for each request has reduced, the errors have reduced, and everything has been going on faster. So, these are the multiple perspectives to look at, and everyone seems to be equally happy with the UiPath solution for automation.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of UiPath are data entry, data reading, and some simple logical calculations. Also, the solution's ability to use Excel and to read or add data to Excel has been very useful to us as a vendor. We have been proposing solutions to the clients through these good features that we utilize to the best.

What needs improvement?

UiPath can improve its AI and optical character recognition or OCR. Currently, reading digital images or PDF documents by UiPath is a huge challenge. I request UiPath to improve the OCR recognition.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using UiPath for around eight months. Earlier, I was using UiPath for personal uses, but I recently started using it professionally.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

UiPath is a pretty stable solution. We have never had any stability issues with UiPath. It's in excellent condition as of now.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

UiPath can be scalable. Currently, AI is being implemented in UiPath, and that's a huge boost to UiPath's features and what UiPath can do. It can be scaled to a bigger picture in multiple ways.

How are customer service and support?

I have never personally contacted UiPath's technical support, but my team members have been contacting them for support. From what I understand, their technical support is pretty good.

What about the implementation team?

I have overseen the deployment but wasn't involved in the deployment. From what I know, there will be a virtual machine, and bot licenses will be allocated. The UiPath automation will be installed on that virtual machine, and the bot will be allocated to that machine and run in a completely virtual environment. That's the only detail I'm aware of, but I was not involved with any process deployment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

From what I know, UiPath's licensing has a reasonable cost. Compared to the huge benefits the solution provides, it's still a huge saving to the organization even after the licensing cost.

What other advice do I have?

We are using a virtual machine and running the UiPath bots on that virtual machine. A little bit of cloud is involved, but mostly, it's on-premises because it's a sensitive environment.

From my end, UiPath does require some maintenance. A dedicated team oversees all the existing processes that are running live. In some cases, there will be some maintenance required.

For example, if the bot's accuracy level has reduced because of some internal applications being updated or changed, the bot has to be recalibrated to adapt to the new environment. In some cases, the bot will stop, and it has to be monitored and fixed. A dedicated team is monitoring and maintaining the bots as of now.

I advise users to consider the environment where the solution will be used, the features of UiPath, and the challenges. They should consider how much UiPath would benefit that environment and how much benefit the end user will receive by implementing UiPath. UiPath has its own challenges and benefits. Do the proper research, and if you believe UiPath will be a good solution, go for it by all means.

I will say it's fairly easy to do the automation. It's fairly straightforward and easy to use. Everything is simplified to the basic ground level. Everything is in the UI elements, and using those automation tools in UiPath is quite simple.

I believe UiPath can do some automation for a good cause. Since most transactions running today are digitized, UiPath can automate all those transactions and activities, usually in an efficient environment and workflow. That would, in turn, have a huge impact on everything around it, like the environment or supporting NGOs and other organizations. UiPath can be used in such situations and will be very productive.

Since we are a UiPath vendor, we have been doing all those end-to-end automation for our clients. We have been implementing end-to-end automation for a long time now. For each case, we are supporting businesses to move from a manual workforce to a digital workforce. I can share a few live scenarios where we implement the automation for the client.

Currently, there are some cases where the customer has to replenish an ATM for a banking corporation. We are automating it end-to-end, starting from the request to replenish the ATM until the replenishment has been done. Then, the data has to be reflected in the internal application related to the bank.

We start with taking the request, passing it to a third-party vendor who will do the replenishment, and we'll take the reports from them. Then, we'll do the data entry in the internal application, which will, in turn, be stored in the organization's back end. It's a huge database where all the data is monitored closely. So, we have implemented this solution of automating their ATM replenishment.

Another use case is fraud calls, which some clients receive from outsiders. We are helping the bank mitigate all the risks and reduce the damages caused by those fraudsters by automating all their required actions, as proposed by the bank's policy, in dealing with all these fraudsters. I cannot disclose more since there is an NDA between me and my clients.

The UiPath's user community is very helpful. There is the forum, and there is the UiPath support. Most of the time, we reach out to the UiPath support for any concern we have related to the UiPath's functionality. The forums are also a great help. They have many topics, and a lot of knowledge can be gained from those forums, with everyone sharing their knowledge.

So, both have different uses and different scenarios to reach them. One is the support, and one is the forum, but both are very helpful in everything they provide.

As a vendor, we are supposed to develop and maintain the solutions we provide, including UiPath. The on-prem footprint is increasing as we implement more automation. However, the on-prem footprint has been reduced from a manual workforce because everything is automated and fully digitalized. So, there are two different angles to this. The on-prem footprint is increasing from the vendor side and reducing from the manual workforce side.

We have been using UiPath Academy courses for different roles. As a vendor, we are required to take these courses as and when they are available or updated. So, my team members and I take those courses on a frequent basis, at least once a year.

UiPath's AI functionality is something we are exploring now as a vendor. We have not implemented it in any client-side projects, but we are exploring that angle to see the possibilities of combining UiPath and AI. We plan to use AI along with UiPath in the foreseeable future.

UiPath does increase the speed of digital transformation because we are digitalizing the workforce and all the transactions carried out internally in the bank. It incurs a cost, but I wouldn't be able to answer whether it has increased or reduced the cost of digitalization. A mid-level to senior-level management employee will be able to answer it. As of now, I'm a consultant, but we are not aware of such commercialization details.

UiPath has greatly helped reduce human error by a huge margin, up to 80% to 100%.

One of the huge advantages of UiPath is that it frees up a lot of employee time by taking a huge workload from the employee and passing it to the bot. The main aim of implementing UiPath automation on any project is to reduce the workload on human users.

Overall, I rate UiPath a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises


    Talha Hussain.

A user-friendly solution that minimizes FTEs by automating repetitive jobs done by employees on a daily basis

  • September 12, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is most valuable?

UiPath is a user-friendly solution.

What needs improvement?

Sometimes, the company's processes are very complex, and it's very hard to implement UiPath. 

It also makes mistakes. Understanding your systems by yourself and implementing UiPath into your company processes is the hardest part. This could be improved so that the companies can easily implement the solution.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

UiPath's stability depends on how you implement it. If the solution is implemented correctly, it will work properly.

How are customer service and support?

UiPath's technical support is quite good and better than other solutions.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

What about the implementation team?

The first step in deploying UiPath is to learn the system you need to automate and then decide what can be automated in it. Sometimes, the processes are complex, and it's very expensive to automate them. When you know how to implement UiPath, it's easy to implement. So, the main study of your processes is necessary for the solution's implementation.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We had to select between Blue Prism and UiPath for our automation processes. We chose UiPath because it was more user-friendly.

What other advice do I have?

UiPath is deployed on our company’s internal cloud.

It is not that difficult to build automations using UiPath.

UiPath does enable us to implement end-to-end automation.

While implementing automation in your company, UiPath gives many benefits, like minimizing FTEs. Many of the employees are doing repetitive jobs on a daily basis, which can be done by robots or automation. Time reduction and error reduction are the main benefits we get from implementing UiPath.

UiPath has freed up employee time for our organization.

UiPath’s user community is very nice. Whenever you have some problems, you can get help from UiPath’s user community. UiPath is also very user-friendly, with many options to search on your own for YouTube videos that will help you.

UiPath has helped minimize our on-prem footprint by decreasing the FTEs and saving employee time, which is important to us.

We have used the vendor’s UiPath Academy courses.

The solution speeds up digital transformation, and it does not require expensive or complex application upgrades to do so. It depends on your work system because sometimes, you have to implement the whole automation system into your computers.

UiPath has saved costs for our organization.

Overall, I rate UiPath an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud


    reviewer1642455

Provides the ability to recognize screen elements, saves us time and costs

  • September 12, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We use UiPath to automate business processes.

We use UiPath Orchestrator and other products in the cloud, but we deploy the robots to our own internal network. The robots are managed by the cloud, but they run within our applications on-premises. The UiPath administration system and configuration are also done in the cloud.

How has it helped my organization?

The ease of building autonomous automation depends on the design. In our organization, we have developed a good design that recognizes the business process and the design features. We want to develop it in a way that is easy to follow. If we do this well, it will be easy for the developer to understand what needs to be built. The studio product, which is UiPath's development product, is also a very easy product to use to build the automation.

UiPath enables us to implement end-to-end automation.

They have a large and active user community. If we are a large enough customer, UiPath assigns dedicated account managers, pre-sales staff, and developers to work with us. They also organize community events, such as the one where one of our senior managers was invited to give a keynote speech from a customer perspective on their experience with UiPath. These events are positive and beneficial. UiPath is a large company and is probably one of the top three RPA vendors. As a result, they have a large and active user community.

UiPath has helped us reduce our on-premises infrastructure. We used to have an on-premises administration or orchestration system that consisted of databases and application services. We no longer need that system, as everything is now in the cloud. This is beneficial for managing upgrades, capacity, and costs. UiPath costs us less overall, even though their cloud licenses are slightly more expensive than on-premises licenses.

We use certain UiPath Academy courses to train our developers before they start working on projects. The Academy offers consistent and quick training in all the core elements of UiPath. This saves us time and resources, as we don't have to tie up valuable staff in maintaining training materials or delivering training. The courses are self-paced, so new employees can complete them at their own pace. They are also up-to-date with the latest features of UiPath, ensuring that our developers are always learning the latest skills.

UiPath does not speed up our digital transformation as much as it reduces the cost to a level where we can afford to do our digital transformation. I always consider the RPA solution to be feasible until such time as we can properly transform the business behind the scenes. I refer to it as system automation rather than RPA automation which is a true digital transformation.

It reduces human error by automating repetitive tasks. This means that we no longer have to train people on how to do these tasks, and they can be performed consistently and accurately every time. This is especially important for tasks that require data entry into fields or applications that do not have validation. By automating these tasks, we can avoid the cost of hiring and training people, and we can also reduce the variation in the process. This leads to a more efficient and error-free operation.

UiPath has helped free up our employees' time by automating repetitive tasks that were previously done manually. For example, employees were previously responsible for entering information into multiple systems, which was a time-consuming and error-prone process. UiPath robots can now perform these tasks much more efficiently, freeing up employees to focus on more high-value work. In addition, UiPath has helped us to eliminate the need for some contractors who were previously hired to perform manual data entry tasks. This has saved us money by eliminating those contractor positions. In the last four years, we have used robotic process automation in 90 percent of our processes and fully automated ten percent. This has saved us the equivalent of 200 full-time employees.

We have saved approximately $18 million over the four years we have been using UiPath. These are real savings, as people are no longer doing those tasks. In particular, we have been able to eliminate 100 full-time equivalent contractors. These are hard savings that we can actually measure. UiPath has a tool that allows businesses to identify a process, enter the key steps, and calculate the amount of time spent on those steps. UiPath then magically calculates the potential savings. These savings are real because they are based on the amount of time that people would have spent on those tasks if they were not automated. The results of this analysis are then stored in the Automation Hub tool. This tool allows us to see which high-value processes should be automated first. UiPath is smart enough to tell organizations they don't need to analyze all of the processes themselves. They can let UiPath do it for them. The Automation Hub tool does not go into the details of the design or the automation of the processes. It simply captures the processes that the business has identified as being manual and in need of automation. This gives us a pipeline of work that UiPath can then sell us licenses to automate.

What is most valuable?

The ability to recognize screen elements and their robot technology are both very valuable features. The ability to recognize the screen element that we want to input or extract data from is very good. It is also very extensive. We also like the way that the unattended mode allows us to run it as a background process on a desktop. We can run these things quite well. UiPath's robot technology is very reliable. 

What needs improvement?

I see UiPath as a practical product that is trying to achieve end-to-end automation or end-to-end processing. They are playing in this space and bringing their AI connectivity or components into their product. However, I think the only downside is that, as we have seen recently, for some of the processes we have automated, we have documentation on the technical elements that we have automated, but people have forgotten the business rules. UiPath has a task capture product or a process mining product but it could be improved by capturing the business process and then how the automation that we have developed feeds into that overall business process, and making that available to the business so that they know what the business processes are. UiPath does not have a delivery product. For example, when we go into Microsoft DevOps, UiPath does not do that. Once we have identified the process and have coded it in UiPath, there is nothing to tell us about how we deliver that process, and who is assigned to a task to build the components. There is no project management or DevOps delivery pipeline model inside UiPath, so we cannot manage the development.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using UiPath for four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

UiPath is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

UiPath is extremely scalable.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is excellent.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The on-premises deployment of UiPath is complex. We had a lot of network issues because we have a secure network architecture. We had to split up our database elements, application server elements, and virtual machines that run the robots. This was complex. High availability was also complex to achieve, as we had to set up load balancing and failover. Finally, upgrading the system was a nightmare. It took forever, and UiPath releases a major release every year. Deploying in the cloud is much more straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The license cost for UiPath is about $500,000 per year.

I always say that the price of UiPath is too expensive. But if we identify a high-value business process to automate, UiPath becomes a very cost-effective product. A robot license costs $6,000 USD per year, or $10,000 NZD. This is about one month's salary for one person. If we can automate a process that would otherwise require ten people, the investment in UiPath will pay for itself quickly.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Automation Anywhere and Blue Prism before deciding on UiPath. We are a large organization and can afford the cost of UiPath, but it was more about the functionality of the product at the time. UiPath consistently ranked ahead of the others in terms of functionality, according to Gartner and Everest. I believe we made a wise choice. It is also easier to get developers for UiPath because of their Academy.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate UiPath nine out of ten.

UiPath's AI functionality can be used to help developers build automation processes, but it can be expensive. We use the open-source TensorFlow technology from Google, which is the same technology that UiPath uses. Our developers are willing to build and manage this technology themselves, which is a cost-effective solution. However, if we use UiPath's AI functionality, it will be managed by them.

I am an architect. I have worked as an integration architect, infrastructure architect, and network architect. When I first saw UiPath, I thought it was just for scripting the front end, but it is much more powerful than that. I really like it because it allows me to find slow, expensive, and inefficient business processes and automate them. This can lead to real savings for the business. With traditional applications, there is often a business case that needs to be made before the application is built. But with RPA, we can see the savings every day. For example, if we automate a process that used to take ten full-time employees, we can see that we are saving ten FTEs every day. I enjoy using UiPath because it is a real solution within IT that can drive out real costs from the business.

I recommend that those who want to use UiPath do not treat it like any other IT system. Do not simply implement it and expect it to be of high value. The most important thing is to understand the business well enough to use the tool to its full potential. In other words, automate high-value or high-benefit processes.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud


    Surya Avantsa

Enables faster process automation, reduces human error, and improves the quality of work

  • September 11, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

Unattended Automations are the best value from an RPA solution to an organization. It makes sure human employees are now more productive 95X.

What is most valuable?

Robotic process automation is one of the most interesting features. RPA allows us to automate what people do manually. It appeals to me from a technical and a business standpoint.

What needs improvement?

I want UiPath Data Service to be expanded. It must include many more features as an online database. Many online databases like QuickBase and Force.com are 100 times better than UiPath Data Service. Not sure why UiPath is not adding such features to Data Service.

The product does not provide features for chatbot development. It is one of the reasons why people do not use UiPath because they have to use a different tool for chatbot development. Competitors like Microsoft have all process automation capabilities in their Power Platform. They have RPA, attended bots, unattended bots, application development, databases, and chatbots. UiPath has not gotten into chatbots for several years. They are doing many things except chatbots.

I express the need for chatbots in every insider event I attend. UiPath’s team says it will take it to the product management group. But nothing happens after that. I want a product for chatbot development from UiPath without having to purchase licenses from a third-party company.

The documentation needs a lot of work. The documentation is "boring". They just mention a feature and add one line about what it does. I wish the documentation had examples. The document should be associated with a video or sample code. The documentation is too minimal. People give many sample codes and links to their YouTube videos in the forum. The uipath forum is much richer than the documentation.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for the last six years.

How are customer service and support?

UiPath provides support only when we have an Enterprise license. I have contacted support several times.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I use Microsoft Power Automate to develop chatbots because UiPath does not have such features. I have to buy extra licenses from Microsoft for chatbot development.

Although I can use UiPath Data Service's online database, creating forms and screens in it is hard. UiPath doesn't have some preliminary computation features for creating formula fields, so I use third-party tools like QuickBase.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I also evaluated Automation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Platform, and Pega Robotics.

What other advice do I have?

The ease of building automation depends on the developer, the size of the process that is being automated, how many applications there are, and how many systems there are. Compared to high-code environments, we can build the product much faster in a low-code environment.

Automation can be done ten times faster in a low-code environment than in a high-code environment due to the number of syntax errors that we have to encounter in a high-code environment. All these things are completely eliminated in a low-code environment. We drag and drop activities. It's like a prebuilt code. We just have to fill in the gaps. On average, the tool is five to ten times faster than other RPA platforms.

UiPath does not do digital transformation. It works more on process automation. However, it does contribute toward digital transformation. From the face of it, everything looks end-to-end. I have used AI Center to learn machine learning skills and build training datasets and evaluation datasets. I have developed ML skills and used them in bots. UiPath Academy has a whole set of courses on AI Center. I want to complete the courses diligently.

The solution has reduced human error and increased the speed and quality of our work. It reduces the time taken to get things done. I use UiPath Academy courses all the time. If we go to similar content on YouTube or Instagram and try to find videos, the information might be right or wrong. It depends on the experience of the person in the videos. The content in UiPath Academy is official. UiPath creates the videos. We can be assured that the information is correct and reliable.

There could be a lag between the product released and the videos on Academy. Sometimes, video creators on unofficial channels like YouTube and Instagram come out with videos faster than UiPath. However, UiPath's videos are complete, authentic, and reliable. I assume UiPath uses professional training software in the platform. The format of the courses is similar to those of The Wharton School.

The community is excellent. People help each other out. UiPath encourages users by welcoming new joiners, incentivizing answering questions, providing links to external or internal documentation, and celebrating anniversaries. The solution has a wide variety of topics that the forum members can take advantage of.

We can learn about Studio, different parts of the platform, and different functionalities. If we have a question, Google will show all the relevant links to UiPath with just a single word search. We usually find a good answer to our doubts in the forum eight out of ten times. I like the forum and encourage people to use it.

People looking to buy the solution must try it out. They must look into the documentation if they cannot do it with the tool. They must also visit UiPath's forum. The forum is more helpful than the documentation. UiPath also has a search facility to search for activities. They can also look for UiPath Marketplace. If we face bugs, we can go to the forum.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud


    reviewer2274327

Provides excellent features for automating processes, reduces human error, and frees up employee time

  • September 11, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We work with the government on HR-related data and banking reconciliation. We use the solution in the insurance industry for claims management.

We use the product in different use cases. We use it for automating repetitive tasks, email and document parsing, and posting data from different systems to centralized systems. In most cases, we use it to compare different Excel sheets for reconciliation and updating the master system.

How has it helped my organization?

The tool helps us to envision the automation processes and gives us an edge in offering our solutions to the customer. UiPath keeps innovating new technologies. It also localizes technologies like OCR for extracting data from documents to the regional market. The reporting tools are fantastic. It also helps us calculate ROI and manage bugs.

What is most valuable?

UiPath Document Understanding and Task Mining are valuable features. I am satisfied with the product overall.

What needs improvement?

Saudi has two calendars. UiPath does not support the Hijri date. They should add it in future releases. We also face regular issues while parsing from right to left and left to right. The Arabic language is not related to the platform. We have Arabic scripts which are sometimes difficult to understand. Also, the license is complicated.

The add-ons are not well documented. When we offer and pitch to the customer, sometimes we get confused about which one to offer based on the third-party tools. The solution must focus on microservices and web-based platform building. It would be fantastic if they could produce web applications connected automatically to UiPath.

OutSystems is a low-code platform for building web-based and mobile applications. If such features are available in UiPath, it will eliminate the need to integrate with different applications. We can directly build applications using UiPath.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for the last four or five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is very stable. When we deploy it in the cloud, there is no need for maintenance. UiPath manages everything. Maintenance of the configuration has to be done by us.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

When we need a technical team member's support, they join the call and try to guide us. I rate the technical support a seven or eight out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have worked with Automation Anywhere. It is a good solution but not on par with UiPath. Automation Anywhere has a lot of features, which is very nice. However, UiPath exceeds our expectations.

UiPath has better support, resources, and scalability. UiPath provides very good vendor support. Automation Anywhere allowed users to download preconfigured processes already deployed elsewhere so that we could just fine-tune and use them.

How was the initial setup?

The product can be deployed both on-premise and on the cloud. I worked as a solution architect. So, I get involved in the conversation if there is any conflict in the deliverables. The tool is easy to deploy. The time taken for deployment depends on the complexity of the processes. It takes two to four weeks for simple processes. For complex processes, it takes six to ten weeks for deployment. After the project's completion, our engineers are on standby to resolve any issues on the project's go-live date.

We focus on high-value solutions and look at the repetitive processes we can use. The HR initiative we did is on-demand in our region due to the regulations. We can develop the process once and deploy it multiple times with zero or minimal adjustments. We focus on the high return to the organizations, the shortest ROI, and the highest value to the business so that the customer would realize the importance of such technologies. When we build trust with the customer, we have very big upsell opportunities and referrals from them.

What about the implementation team?

We need one or two people to deploy the product for a small project. For large projects, we need a team of six or seven. Our team has 10 to 15 people, including developers, solution architects, and support personnel. The tool requires maintenance. Our support people are responsible for different services. Around 10% of the resources in our company are involved in maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

UiPath gives pretty good discounts.

What other advice do I have?

The ease of building automation using the product is fantastic. The product speeds up and reduces the cost of digital transformation. I haven't seen many major upgrades to the customer's infrastructure or applications. I design and modernize the processes. If we can’t extract the data from databases, the customer will put that data in a flat file or Excel sheet and add it to a folder. We pick them up and do the processing.

We are not supposed to touch the core system in the banking industry. So we may get it with APIs. Sometimes, APIs are not available when we do the implementation. It takes some time for the banks to build those APIs. UiPath is equipped with different integration tools, whether it is native or not.

The solution has helped to minimize our on-premise footprint. It is very important to many of our customers. To minimize the cost and provide more streamlined processes across different customers, we have created a shared pool Orchestrator to connect multiple customers to the same Orchestrator. They pretty much share the same processes, but they have different system endpoints. We can clone the processes and modify the endpoint interactions and input data. Sometimes, they use flat files. We change the configuration minimally. The rest of the processes are cloned, enhanced, and supported.

The solution enables us to implement end-to-end automation. We can automate end-to-end based on the scope, expenses, and processes. The implementation could be lengthy or short, based on the processes involved. End-to-end automation provides an edge to us as a consulting company to provide our customers with very advanced automation tools. We have different services and products that we can integrate UiPath with.

We have a content management system. When we use Document Understanding, we relieve the users from indexing documents. UiPath would do the indexing using Document Understanding and archived document repositories. We sometimes do integrations with archives, too. It depends on the context of the implementation. Sometimes, we can automate 60% of the process because some are not UiPath-targeted processes, but we can automate the other process with other systems.

We do not use AI much. We rely on Document Understanding, which is part of AI. In the next couple of years, because of AI's popularity, I believe UiPath will provide more features and enhancements related to AI. The tool has freed up employee time by 70 to 80%. UiPath has saved costs for our organization.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a case about HR contracts in the Ministry of Labour in Saudi. By the end of this year, they want to digitize their contracts and link them to their official portal, where employee contracts are issued. They currently rely on Excel sheets to do the entry. UiPath processes that we support have proven that there are zero percent errors in them compared to human data entry errors.

The as-is process was that an HR personnel must log in to the platform and do the data entry so the contract would be issued and sent to the employee. The HR personnel would interact with four or five pages and provide data like employee ID, mobile number, date of birth, position, salary, and increments. If there is an error in the data, it has a negative impact on the company. It's an official contract that is issued to the employee. If there are any discrepancies, they would have to rectify the whole process again. Besides, it would affect the company's reputation in the market.

For example, if the HR personnel enters 50,000 instead of 5,000, the employee can claim that money. To avoid this, companies can export the HR master data into Excel sheets and put it in a folder. We can program UiPath to pick all the information and paste it into the Ministry of Labour portal. We can verify the data, do a quality check, and post it to the system. This process used to take three to five days to finish, along with an error margin. With the help of UiPath, we shorten the time by 80% with zero error margin.

We have subscribed to UiPath Academy. All our engineers are certified in different UiPath certifications. I am a solution architect. I have done a lot of courses and certifications. In addition to the certification courses, UiPath Academy provides us with resources, information, built-in demos, and process standards. We deal with all the stakeholders in the customers' company.

The product must empower localization. People who want to use UiPath must ensure that the processes they are targeting to automate are fulfilling the conditions for automation. Sometimes, a customer would expect to automate everything. We need to ensure the processes we are targeting to automate are repetitive. We also need highly skilled people to manage the automation. We must automate the high-value processes of the organization to see the results and recognize the return on investment immediately.

Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.


    Nishat Ahmed.

We can automate without code, save costs, and time

  • September 07, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We use UiPath to automate daily repetitive tasks.

How has it helped my organization?

I would rate the ease of building automation with UiPath a nine out of ten. It saves us a lot of development time, and the drag-and-drop feature is very useful. The cloud version's orchestrator is also amazing, as it can host our robots.

UiPath enables us to implement end-to-end automation, which is one of the most crucial parts for our customers. Most of our users are not technically proficient and do not know how to deal with these things. They want the automation to be complete without any manual intervention.

The UiPath User Community is really helpful and has helped solve a lot of problems.

The biggest advantage of UiPath is that a lot of time is saved, which can be used for other projects.

UiPath Academy courses are helpful. They help us gain a deeper understanding of the product.

UiPath's AI helps us perform more complex processes in automation.

It has helped us speed up our digital transformation by removing a lot of manual work.

Speeding up the digital transformation process does not require any expensive upgrades or much IT support to keep UiPath up to date.

UiPath has helped to reduce human error. This indirectly allows our customers to focus their employees' time on more productive projects.

It has helped us save time.

UiPath helps reduce costs, especially for accounting companies. They are able to automate basic tasks reducing the number of people required for daily tasks and can also have those tasks running twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.

What is most valuable?

UiPath is a no-code automation tool that saves me a lot of time when developing workflows.

What needs improvement?

UiPath is very slow for scraping. If they could make it faster, that would be great. We are currently using custom robots to scrape data, which is faster.

The initial setup of UiPath can be complicated. It would be helpful to have an executable file to simplify the deployment.

Integrating UiPath can be a complex and error-prone process, especially when it comes to calculations. A helpful feature would be the ability to add simple workflows using executables, which would be especially beneficial for small projects.

UiPath needs to be more compatible with MacBooks.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using UiPath for three and a half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The UiPath software is generally stable, but some of the packages within it can sometimes be unstable. For example, we have had to switch to older versions of some packages in order to get them to work properly.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would give the scalability a rating of seven out of ten. As we scale, we involve more users and machines, which means ensuring compatibility.

How was the initial setup?

To deploy, UiPath needs to be installed on the production machine and the extensions need to be ready. One person is enough for the deployment.

The initial setup of UiPath can be complex, as we sometimes need to explain to customers that it is not as simple as copying and pasting an executable file. UiPath requires some setup and configuration in order to work properly. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate UiPath an eight out of ten.

The decision of whether or not to use UiPath depends on the customer. If the customer is a Windows user, then UiPath is a good choice because there are many third-party packages available that make tasks easier. The orchestrator cloud functionality is also very helpful.

UiPath is easy to maintain because it integrates with other applications.

I recommend UiPath for Microsoft Windows users.


    Sanjay Shankhla

Enables users to build and implement end-to-end automation easily

  • September 05, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

I am a UiPath developer. I have automated web-based processes like HR and finance. I have also worked on a use case consisting of web-based automation, Excel automation, and email automation.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution reduces FTEs in processes that require 100 people for repetitive tasks. It really helps customers to reduce human effort and guides the robot to do efficient work within the schedules.

What is most valuable?

It's very easy to manage and automate Orchestrator because it allows plug-and-play models and drag-and-drop approaches.

What needs improvement?

UiPath should be able to adapt to other operating systems like Linux or macOS. The tool must reduce the activity required for workflow design. It should be made similar to Visual Studio. It should provide a better way to analyze the recursion functions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Compared to Automation Anywhere or other open-source tools, UiPath's stability is very good. However, when it comes to very complex hybrid automation with high-density bots, where we require many third-party applications, UiPath cannot handle such scenarios.

PDF automation is very complex. Either we will have to use a third-party Python script, or we will have to build a custom OCR. We require good programming knowledge. The product must improve its stability. I don't see much stability. Though it is available in an environment like Mac, it is not up to the mark as it is in Windows.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

First, we validate with the logs. In logs, we have to identify certain categories of errors. From there, we identify the root cause. During development, we rename all the activities to appropriate annotations so that we can backtrack them accordingly. If there are any exceptions, it is passed on to the Global Handler. If any error occurs, we email the support team with a screenshot. For example, if ten transactions have been processed and there is a system exception, we immediately send a screenshot to the support team.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. It did not include the CI/CD pipeline. There were two machines. One was the developer, and the other was the production machine. We had to deploy it into the production machine. An Orchestrator admin and a developer are enough to deploy the solution.

What about the implementation team?

To deploy the solution, we create the package and describe the overall process. We compress it into a new package and assign the robots with the machine key. Then, we create certain asset queues for the processes and upload them into Orchestrator.

Once all the assets are created, we assign a VM to the package. Then, we upload the package and map it to the process name. We add triggers if required, and if any change request comes, we raise the request, the manager approves, and we proceed with the implementation. It is very easy to maintain the product if there are no version changes in the applications.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing cost is very high.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

UiPath's cost is very high. When we transfer the knowledge of a robot to another, certain images are not available. It's difficult to identify the XML collectors. A proper annotation or guidance must be given to the user. When a new version is updated, the tool becomes slower. It is very difficult to maintain version history because of the bulk update activities. If we want to convert from Windows to Windows legacy, it is very difficult.

What other advice do I have?

We get the input files from emails. We read the input files, extract data from the template, and open it in the browser. We worked on an engineering product. We used UiPath to get information about the testing and the model's integrity. Certain information was in the Excel file. We had to extract information on whether the model had to be tested with plastic or without a plastic cover. There were drop-down messages. We captured the values and injected the JavaScript modules to autofill the data.

Once the testing was created, we created a sample order. We filled out a form from the input file, gathered all the details into a summary, and wrote an HTML code for it. Then, we sent it to the client and informed them that the test had been created successfully.

For SAP, we did an auditing type of automation. For example, we automated payments and filled in all the information from the template. Then, we had to propose, settle, and release the payment. In SAP, we are using VBScript also. It has some complex scenarios.

If it is a PDF type of automation, I would recommend the latest technology called Document Understanding. I can define and train the fields using certain anchors and then go with extractions. Machine learning models are also possible. It would be the best way to do a PDF automation.

Calling an API would be the right choice if it is an API approach. If we have been asked to download certain files from SharePoint, we create a custom Azure application. We define secret keys, certificates, and IDs. We define certain API permissions. Then, through UiPath, we install Microsoft 365. We can then download the file. If the process is more complex, ABBYY is the best choice.

Building automation using the solution is easy. We need a little bit of programming knowledge for complex or hybrid automation. For easy automation, plug-and-play connectors and activities are readily available in the solution. We just have to get trained and use them.

UiPath speeds up digital transformation and reduces the cost of digital transformation up to a certain extent. We required a ticket-tracking system where we needed additional third-party software like OneDrive and Office 365 to be installed. For Box drive, we had to install SDK. We also had other solutions like Google Drive, spreadsheets, and Zoom APIs. The solution has helped a lot to minimize our on-premise footprint.

It enables us to implement end-to-end automation. It is important for customers because they want to avoid repeated tasks. If a customer wants to search for an email and upload it in a different portal, they might have to open multiple pages. However, if we choose end-to-end automation, things can work in the backend. The Picture-in-Picture mode in UiPath allows the user to work parallel to automation. So, while the robot runs, the user can do their work parallelly.

I have not used the AI functionality much. I have used AI for a POC of a custom model where I had to identify objects from an image. There were many questions like how many people were in the image, how many cars were there, how many street lights were there, and how many fruits were there. I had to find the count of the people or objects and their confidence scores. It was a small POC with the object detection model built with Python.

The product has helped to stabilize standard and structured processes. If the data is unstructured or unorganized, we use ABBYY as a third-party application. We have to train and classify all the assets and forms. The robot trains the modules using the connector and converts the semi-structured data into structured data. We can make automation more scalable using third-party applications. The cost is very high, though. UiPath is not that stable.

I have used the Academy courses. I have also completed enterprise training and acquired a certificate as an RPA developer. UiPath has a very good community. If we get stuck on anything, we can get solutions for our problems. Currently, ChatGPT is also helping us in many ways. My UiPath skills are really good. I keep doing R&D on AI Fabric, automation, and other features. The community helps me to learn.

A little bit of programming knowledge is a must to use the tool. A level one automation or a straightforward case with repetitive tasks does not require much programming knowledge. The user can use the solution if they have knowledge about the dynamic selector and wildcards. They should have a little bit of fundamental knowledge of computers and automation.

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

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises


    reviewer2269383

Reduces human error, frees employee time, and offer excellent support services

  • September 01, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

I've used the solution within the healthcare system in the past. At this time, I use it for mortgages. 

I use the solution to automate any digital processes that have specific rules and steps to follow and can potentially save the company a lot of time and money.

What is most valuable?

The Studio is extremely user-friendly.  All of their products are user-friendly. I use the Orchestrator a lot as it's so simple. 

My assessment of the ease of building automation using the product is positive. The UI of the application itself is very easy to use and navigate. It's very easy to debug. The fact that they're constantly listening to the feedback from the customers and the developers in the developer community is great. They're constantly pushing updates to fix things or add new features based on that feedback. They are really a company that listens to their users.

I have done automations for good causes. It was for responsibly disposing of medications. I didn't stick around to see the positive impact. I implemented it and then left. This was for a Fortune Top-Four company. There were a lot of people who ultimately received the notifications that came out thanks to this robot that let them know how to dispose of medications and the requirements. It also went as far as to locate the two nearest facilities based on their physical address within the closest driving distance. Hopefully, it caused a lot of people to be able to easily know where they could take those medications to dispose of them.

The solution enables us to implement end-to-end automation. It's extremely important. If you're going to automate something, you need to go all in. It's not necessarily black and white. There are exceptions to that rule. However, if it can be automated and it makes sense to automate it, then it should be automated. There shouldn't be human intervention if it's not absolutely necessary. Otherwise, it defeats the purpose of automating.

The user community is great. I see several people who are very trustworthy in their responses. It's very, very active. Everybody's helping each other out as far as giving them solutions to their issues, so it's something that I turned to quite a bit. 

We've seen large time and money savings. As you start doing more and more processes, other people talk to other people, and then you get other people coming to you saying they have processes that should be automated. It's simply a matter of knocking down those walls and getting people to understand that we have this tool at our fingertips. And once they understand that then the opportunities are limitless.

I've seen some minimization in the on-premises footprint thanks to UiPath. In some companies that I've worked at, yes. In others, no. Where I'm at right now, they're still on-prem there, however, they are planning to go to the cloud next year.

Whether it is essential or not for customers to go to the cloud to reduce this on-premise footprint depends on the customer. Some customers, especially in the healthcare space, are afraid of the cloud for security reasons even though there is a lot of documentation to prove otherwise that it is very secure. The healthcare industry is always behind when it comes to that stuff. It takes a lot of building up of trust. The same is true with the government. However, there are others that embrace leading-edge technologies, and those are the ones that are using the cloud.

I've used the Academy courses. I was able to get my advanced RPA developer certification. It allows me to stay current on all of the updates that are being done across all of the products. It's very easy to filter and find the course that you want to watch depending on the product or your level of expertise. The actual format of the courses is very well done. The person who speaks is very clearly spoken, and easily understood. They do a combination of reading, videos, and hands-on in all the courses. It is a little bit for every type of learning style, and I've gotten a lot out of it.

I do not use the solution's AI functionality in our automation program much. I have used document understanding, which is one of their AI products. It opens up a whole new world of possibilities. There's already so much that can be done very easily and there is nothing that's too difficult to implement. Once you do understand how to build processes that use AI, it opens up many other possibilities that could get even bigger in terms of the value that it brings to a company. I gained a lot of knowledge and new skills from going through the process of building out a document understanding process and understanding how to learn all those new tools. It also integrates with the action center and a couple of the other UI top products as well. It's a really good learning experience. 

It has enabled me to automate more processes. It can contribute to the end-to-end automation that we implement. It just depends on where the company is at and their automation journey if they have processes that would be very high returns in terms of value and require more AI integration.

The product can help speed up digital transformation and reduce the cost of the digital transformation. Having these tools in your toolbox allows you to do a lot more so long as you have the digital input.

We no longer require any expense, complex application upgrades, or IT application support. It's very easy, especially with the cloud. I did have some difficulties recently at a company that goes through a proxy on their VMs, which made it a little bit more difficult to install the machines and get them working. However, overall, when you have to install what is needed to build and run the automation and you're on the cloud version, it's simply an executable that you download. You click through a couple of screens that are very self-explanatory and well-explained. And that's it. There's nothing special to do as everything else is hosted in the cloud. As long as you have the wherewithal to set up a VM with the basic requirements that are needed, it's extremely easy.

I've seen a reduction in human errors while using UiPath. A robot is programmed to do what you tell it to do. It's not going to make the same type of mistakes that a human would make. It would make mistakes only due to the way that you program it. Therefore, it absolutely should and does reduce the errors that you would see otherwise from a human.

The solution has freed up employee time. The most recent report that I got from some automation that has been done in the past shows that, over the past five or six months of automation, that I have built there have been two full-time employees at 60 hours a week who were let go, and then there were at least two other people that were are now spending at least half their time doing manual inputs. Now, they are doing other things. There's a direct impact that I've seen just from recent automation.

The money saved from manual labor is a clear cost savings. Other times, it's more about cost avoidance. Sometimes there is some additional value that it brings that's almost unable to be calculated - such as customer satisfaction, customer retention, or customer acquisition. Those things are a little bit harder to calculate. For the most part, it offers a clear time equals-money type of cost-benefit.

What needs improvement?

Unfortunately, I used to be a lover of their Slack channel and people don't seem so responsive there anymore. Unfortunately, I've gotten away from using their Slack channel. That would have been a really good way for me to get some help from the community, yet I don't find it helpful anymore.

They're working on integrating their version of a chat. They're starting with Studio Xpress or StudioWeb. I don't use StudioWeb and I don't use StudioX, however, I would love to have that type of feature in Studio. I could use it across the board, not just in Studio, but in Assist. 

Their error messaging could use some improvement. More times than not an error that you receive is accurate or not clear.

In terms of missing features, I can't think of any. They are always ten steps ahead.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution since 2018.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable and reliable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is 100% scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

It's very easy to open an issue with support. I've learned over the years that you don't need to necessarily say that you have a high-priority issue in order to get a quick response. They are very responsive. They are very clear in the steps they need you to take to give you what they need in order to fix your problem. If they're unable to fix it by requesting that information. They get on a call with you to troubleshoot. They follow up with you after. They give you a survey to make sure they did well. Every part of their support process is great. I have no complaints at all.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have only scratched the surface of RPA. With Blue Prism and Automation Anywhere, I've only worked with them enough to see where they are in comparison to UiPath. I also fully trust the reports that Gartner puts out, and UiPath has been on top for so long now and always is and always keeps that spot. I don't want to waste my time on anything else. I want to stay in this lane with a product and a company that I know and love - one that has done an amazing job - and be an expert in that rather than go around and only know a little bit about a lot of things.

How was the initial setup?

It's very easy to implement the solution and I've done it multiple times. I'm not somebody who typically installs software. I'm not a hardware person. I'm not even good with other types of software necessarily, and yet I find the installation process to be very simple.

I didn't need a lot of staff to handle the deployment process. There are companies that I've been at that have to follow certain protocols for auditing purposes and have to have somebody that's designated DevOps in order to do the deployment. In which case, it requires a little bit more hand-holding or documentation to explain how to do that to somebody who's not in the position like I am who knows how to do it, and you have to explain it to them. I don't think that it's needed or necessary, and it actually hinders the process, especially when we deploy something to production. It doesn't work quite the same in production as it just did in development, and you need to make changes, and it really hinders that process when you have another set of hands to go through.

Maintenance has the potential to be a little bit difficult. That said, I've done big upgrades twice now. For the most part, things have been backward compatible. I haven't had an issue. I didn't need to go back and fix any previous processes that were deployed. I just started using the newer versions of things on new processes going forward and the old ones still ran with no issue whatsoever, it very clearly states things that have been deprecated or things that will be deprecated by a certain date. 

With the cloud version, there is not much maintenance required. However, they did just do an upgrade on the cloud. I was not aware that it was coming, and it would have been nice to at least see something on the site to catch your eye, some type of scrolling banner or flashing to tell you, "Hey, this is updated. Click this link to see what the updates are." In the cloud, if you're not using the automation suite, it will just update without you knowing about it, which I'm not a fan of. I understand that's how that works. If you don't have an automation suite, however, I would like to know. Don't make me go search for it. I'm on Orchestrator every day. I'd prefer if they put something there, or put something in Studio so that I know it's coming since the changes did affect us. They had some role and permission changes that affected my developers, and they weren't able to publish anymore, and I had to figure that out. Ultimately, you do have to make sure that you're staying up to date with your studio and assistant.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is very fair. They have adjusted their pricing model so that several variables and volume base could be one of them. I'm not too sure. A lot of times I'm cut out from those conversations. The company itself has to sign off on contracts or make the decision on that. That said, it's my understanding the pricing is very fair for what they give you. You see your benefit and the return from it quickly.

What other advice do I have?

I'm a developer and an architect. 

The ease of usability and implementation for UiPath as well as the wide array of products that they have to support their automation journey make it a great product. The amazing support they have is great. The community that they have is bigger than all the other options, so you're going to find more resources when it comes to needing help with any type of issue. I'd advise those considering the product to look at the ratings and pertinent reports to get an overview of who's the best.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.