Agentic Process Automation (APA) Platform

I have been working with Automation Anywhere for one year. During this time, I worked with one of the clients who was using Automation Anywhere, and I worked with them for nearly one year.

Automation Anywhere has a lot of readymade activities, and they have introduced the queue concept, similar to UiPath, making their workflow much easier now. They have added a few new features that support image-based automation. For database-related activities, they have a queue. They have a lot of new activities, such as a multi-bot architecture that can be created by using queue, which will help resolve business cases. Automation Anywhere is a good tool compared to UiPath, and we can use both as per the requirement.

Regarding the learning curve for Automation Anywhere, I believe they have made it easy for freshers to learn. Initially, when I started in the 2017-18 period, they had not introduced the trial version. Automation Anywhere now has a trial version, making it easy for freshers to learn because most of the activities are drag and drop, and only a small code is needed, allowing a non-technical person to learn and implement the code easily.

Feature-wise, the document understanding and document extraction part in Automation Anywhere is a very good feature, as most of the clients require invoice extraction, PDF extraction, and email extraction. This feature is very good, with high-quality extraction, accuracy, and confidence level.

Automation Anywhere's Co-pilot is good, and I have started learning it. It helps to give accurate results.

Automation Anywhere's ability to integrate with the organization's day-to-day applications depends on the requirement. OpenAI and other integrations are also in the picture. We are using GPT-6 now, so Co-pilot and GPT have mostly similar features that will help to make decisions at runtime.

I believe there is an extra licensing cost in the queue for Automation Anywhere. I have asked many candidates in interviews about the queue side, and they don't have much experience with the multi-bot architecture features. Automation Anywhere should introduce some trials for the queue-based concept because it's an extra cost.

If they offer practical implementation approaches free or a trial version, then people can learn better. UiPath has made everything almost free for learning now, which allows companies to directly tie up and get initial learning trial versions. If Automation Anywhere also provides new AI features as a free trial, they can evaluate and propose good solutions to clients.

Regarding maintenance, I don't think Automation Anywhere requires much. However, I have one suggestion: UiPath has REFramework and other frameworks. If Automation Anywhere can introduce some framework for direct use, that would be beneficial, as everything could potentially be in the framework itself. If we have a multi-bot architecture, the Dispatcher-Performer model manages everything. In Automation Anywhere, we need to develop a different framework for each client, which is an area for improvement.

Looking forward, I expect the next release of Automation Anywhere to include a trial version and a framework tailored to client needs. If they can introduce a queue-based trial version for demo purposes, that would be advantageous. The reduction in cost is a positive aspect, and while support is good, introducing a few of the latest features as a trial version would make it easier for both freshers and seniors. Implementing these suggestions could help Automation Anywhere grow even better.

In terms of scalability, I believe there is no limitation currently. If we want to scale up, there could be an introduction of a package that includes all components as a complete solution. I think this might be sufficient, especially considering the multi-bot architecture, as everything would then be integrated efficiently.

I would rate the technical support by Automation Anywhere as an 8 out of 10.

I have heard from one of the clients that Automation Anywhere's support is very good now, but this was not always the case. If we raise any ticket, the resolution time has been reduced compared to before. I would rate the customer service experience positively, and according to my knowledge, the costing has also reduced. These improvements definitely give an upper hand to Automation Anywhere, especially with their support compared to UiPath.

The initial setup of Automation Anywhere is straightforward. The installation is very easy. Automation Anywhere has introduced a cloud version now, and initially, it was not a cloud version. We can now install the cloud version and utilize web-based automation. We can easily drag and drop to develop applications within an hour, even big applications.

Both tools are very familiar to me, and I think both are good. However, UiPath has an upper hand as they are evolving with the market and offering many free features for training. This is a lack in Automation Anywhere that can be improved.

We have a partner to purchase Automation Anywhere. I have worked with one or two clients where we are the channel partner, suggesting which license is suitable for customers.

Feature-wise, I have not used Automation Anywhere extensively. I have used it for one year as an architect, and while it has easy usability and many new features compared to UiPath, some features are not available in the trial version now. If they can make a few new features available as a trial version for practice, it will benefit trainers and freshers to learn and make suggestions.

UiPath has introduced free features for learning purposes, helping clients easily access POCs and research. It's difficult to find free trial licenses, and having only a few clients for Automation Anywhere is a significant differentiator from UiPath.

I think Automation Anywhere deserves an 8 out of 10.

Upgrading Automation Anywhere is straightforward. An installable is available, and to upgrade to another version, I only have to download the .exe file, click it, and it will upgrade seamlessly. It is easy and not a difficult task.

I am personally seeing life sciences and healthcare as the types of companies for which I usually recommend Automation Anywhere. We work with many customers like Pfizer and others who are using Automation Anywhere. In healthcare, there are a lot of customers using Automation Anywhere, including all top five companies such as Johnson and Johnson.

In the past, Automation Anywhere was definitely more of an RPA tool, which is what we used to see and still see in production as of today, and it is working very well. Nowadays, what I'm evaluating is Automation Copilot, Automator AI, and AI agent studio because these are the areas most customers want to explore, though they are also working with many other partners and evaluating which offers the best features and lower costs.

As a company, we are not somebody who will say Automation Anywhere is better than other solutions. We give customers solutions based on what works best for their needs. We are more into services and solutions, so once a solution is decided, if Automation Anywhere brings a solution which others don't have or if we have seen it works better, we recommend it. However, we are not the ones who give reports or say a product is the best to go with. Our solutions are primarily agnostic of all this.

Regarding the integration of Automation Anywhere with third-party solutions, the APIs are easy to connect, so I don't see any challenges there. Within life sciences, there has always been a challenge with compliance, so we usually don't get into those details. A networking team handles that and addresses how fast and secure the connections are. I don't have direct, real-time information on that front, but from the perspective that integrations are possible, the answer is yes. Automation Anywhere connects to most other destination applications. However, it all depends on the architecture and how we are placing it. If it is doing a single job or certain restricted job, then it is a very good fit.

Regarding training nontechnical employees on Automation Anywhere usage, it is very easy. Within one or two trainings, day-to-day training, I have seen people picking up the product and just playing around with it and starting to build applications. Specifically, with AI agent studio, it is really very good. We don't spend too much time training people. We just give them the basics and access, and they are able to pick it up.

The only thing I see as room for improvement is that the number of products being offered in the product list are too many. I feel there should be a package. Customers want to see less complexity and ease of implementation. When we tell them there are five or six products, one in the studio, one in the copilot, and all those other things, they really feel confused about what each does, how much they have to pay, and what different skills are needed. Once you package them into a single suite and offer all these things within that, it becomes simpler to explain and your package solution becomes better from the customer side. That is one area I think should be revisited because customers are very keen nowadays to look for simplicity and don't want their systems to appear very complex.

I have been working with Automation Anywhere for more than four to five years, and definitely for three to four years in my current role.

However, wherever the largest implementations I have seen in Jira and elsewhere have been deployed, they are going fine. I have not heard any issues from customers. They are able to run it and have also put AI solutions over it. AI needs a lot of data, a lot of compute, and a lot of integrations, and that is where the real products are being tested. Whatever POCs, pilots, or teams are doing, I have not heard about any issues. However, it is yet to be that phase where a lot of AI is happening and where a lot of things are at scale in AI with a lot of compute and messages going through.

Regarding technical support from Automation Anywhere, I work more into architecture and consulting, so we don't go into daily basis issues, but we keep talking to our delivery teams to get information. I feel it is good. Whatever I have heard is nothing bad about it, though there would always be scope for improvement. Primarily, what I have heard is that the support has been there, and as we are partners, we get a lot of benefit. We are directly calling Automation Anywhere architects on calls when we are stuck, which has been very responsive. I don't see that challenge there.

If you ask me which are those top two to three products, Automation Anywhere definitely comes to mind. We have been working with it for the last couple of years now. It always comes to mind that this is something which we should use. It is easy to use and has a lot of a no-code approach, which is where we find it very useful because that is what customers are looking for. It is easy to get the skilled people or train them on these skills. With such a tool, it is always easy to get the right people. Implementations are also easy, and then we can manage it well post-implementation.

I help my customers with the implementation. We are primarily into deliveries.

Automation Anywhere has definitely helped our customers save time and costs. It is a low-code, no-code tool, so the time is saved. The whole life cycle of the development is saved, the whole life cycle of the support system, and the number of people we are deploying during post-production to support it. All these are eventually putting benefits or impacts on the timelines and the overall cost. So customers are benefiting there, definitely. I have not seen a customer who says they want to get rid of Automation Anywhere and get something different or evaluate something different until today, and the last three to four years, I have not found a single customer who does that.

Regarding the pricing of Automation Anywhere, I think it is on par with whatever kind of features it is giving. However, overall as a package, there are some maybe less expensive products which commit that they also provide all these things. Unless I test on a daily basis or specifically talk about identity AI or AI-related functionality, it is very difficult to compare unless we are doing a live project. When we are doing a POC or just testing within our organization, we don't get client data, and client data is very sensitive, so we don't have production data. With that kind of information, it is very difficult to say which is giving better results. There are products which are committing to give what Automation Anywhere can do in a lesser price, so that could be the only thing. But other than that, whatever we know in the past and today, it is offering what it should.

Regarding upgrades to Automation Anywhere, I know that in one of the projects where I was evaluating and doing a review, I found that as a feature, there are all those pipelines in place, the migration pipelines for any upgrades without stopping the system, without going down, or having downtime for a longer period, or maybe zero downtime. There are things which can be done within Automation Anywhere, like upgrades of the applications or any particular components or patches. There would be certain level of issues or tickets which are being handled at the ground level, but it is not something I have seen customers saying is really messy and they want to change it.

Overall, when I consider functionality and pricing, I personally think Automation Anywhere should be rated a nine. The one point deduction is because of certain improvements needed in the packaging of the product. Additionally, the implementation, wherever it has already been done, or where we are trying to go to market to different companies, there are certain areas where providing better knowledge to companies like us would be helpful. If Automation Anywhere can share upcoming roadmaps, we can keep updated on what kinds of things may be implemented in the future, and that makes it easier for us to convince our customers that this is the right thing to go for because it already has maybe a two-year roadmap, and within this two years, they will see all these different features coming up. If that kind of information can be openly shared with partners over calls, I think that will really be very helpful. Product-wise, it is all good.