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IBM Business Automation Workflow vs. Microsoft Power Automate

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    IBM Business Automation Workflow

    Score9.7 out of 10
    N/AIBM Business Automation Workflow is a solution that helps users automate digital workflows to increase productivity, efficiency and insights — on premises or on cloud.N/A

    Microsoft Power Automate

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft Power Automate is an advanced automation platform offering a range of features, including AI-powered automation, robotic process automation (RPA), business process automation (BPA), digital process automation (DPA), and process/task mining. The platform aims to empower organizations to securely automate their operations at scale by leveraging low-code and AI technologies.

    $15

    per month per user

    Pricing
    IBM Business Automation WorkflowMicrosoft Power Automate
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Power Automate Premium
    $15
    per month per user
    Power Automate Process
    $150
    per month per bot
    Hosted RPA add-on
    $215
    per month per bot
    Process Mining add-on
    $5,000
    per month per tenant
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    IBM Business Automation WorkflowMicrosoft Power Automate
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    IBM Business Automation WorkflowMicrosoft Power Automate
    Considered Both Products
    IBM
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Would buy again
    69 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    66 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    69 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    46 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    53 Answers
    Features
    IBM Business Automation WorkflowMicrosoft Power Automate
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of IBM Business Automation Workflow and Microsoft Power Automate
    Feature
    IBM Business Automation Workflow
    10.0
    4 Ratings
    20% above category average
    Microsoft Power Automate
    -
    Ratings
    Dashboards10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Standard reports10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Custom reports10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Process Engine
    Comparison of Process Engine features of IBM Business Automation Workflow and Microsoft Power Automate
    Feature
    IBM Business Automation Workflow
    10.0
    4 Ratings
    18% above category average
    Microsoft Power Automate
    -
    Ratings
    Process designer10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Process simulation10.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Business rules engine10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    SOA support10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Process player10.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Support for modeling languages10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Form builder10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Model execution10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Collaboration
    Comparison of Collaboration features of IBM Business Automation Workflow and Microsoft Power Automate
    Feature
    IBM Business Automation Workflow
    10.0
    3 Ratings
    17% above category average
    Microsoft Power Automate
    -
    Ratings
    Social collaboration tools10.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Management Capabilties
    Comparison of Content Management Capabilties features of IBM Business Automation Workflow and Microsoft Power Automate
    Feature
    IBM Business Automation Workflow
    10.0
    4 Ratings
    20% above category average
    Microsoft Power Automate
    -
    Ratings
    Content management10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    IBM Business Automation WorkflowMicrosoft Power Automate
    Small Businesses
    IBM Blueworks Live
    Score8.9 out of 10
    airSlate WorkFlow
    Score7.5 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    TIBCO® BPM Enterprise
    Score7 out of 10
    CMW Platform
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    IBM Blueworks Live
    Score8.9 out of 10
    ServiceNow Now Platform
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    IBM Business Automation WorkflowMicrosoft Power Automate
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (8 ratings)
    7.8
    (82 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.0
    (4 ratings)
    9.3
    (9 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    7.9
    (12 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.9
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.5
    (36 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    IBM Business Automation WorkflowMicrosoft Power Automate
    Likelihood to Recommend
    IBM
    Have your process first on paper Its important to first document the process before venturing into BPMS. It will save a lot of pain and heartaches. A BPM tool is no magic bullet, it merely automates your process. Its upto you to put visibility and tracking on top of it. Provide monitoring so that you get a chance to improve your process continously. BPM is not an application If you are trying to build an application with BPM, chances are that your are alraedy failing. BPM must be a strategic initiative for an organization. Yes, you build Dashboards, Reports and other software in BPMS, however you do it at a process level not at an application level. http://bpmstech.blogspot.com/2011/05/bpm-initiative.html Know the difference between process data and business data http://bpmstech.blogspot.com/2011/05/lombardi-best-practices.html http://bpmstech.blogspot.com/2012/02/bpm-system-architecture.html
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    Microsoft
    If you are in a team that needs to develop automated solutions but have no coding experience and no access to a developer, Power Automate is one of the best places to start. It is incredibly flexible and likely has triggers and actions that can connect with your platforms, especially if you use the Microsoft stack. Additionally, using webhooks, you can connect to many different endpoints to get systems working together.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    IBM
    • System does a great job normalizing business process and automating order processing tasks. Before TeamWorks, the process was much more manual and more expensive staff ($65k to $70K) were required to manage the process. Since implementing TeamWorks, we need much lower-skilled workers to manage order processing.
    • System ensures that we have consistent data across all systems.
    • Rules engine is really the “company playbook” – it is the heart and soul of how the company works. It handles thousands of orders per day
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Sending confirmation email to clients and user once the flow is triggered.
    • Fetching or Dumping files from one location to another if the flow is triggered.
    • Schedule flow helps to send alerts and triggers the flow at a specific interval of time to carry out the required task.
    • Power Automate also be used to convert any file format to a specific file format and save it to the required location
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    IBM
    • The system gets crashed when many instances go into the queue stage. The system even crashes and sometimes restarts automatically when the load on the server increases. We had to develop a separate software for this and maintain the same.
    • We cannot manipulate the data during run time. It is difficult to develop user-interfaces with complex functionality.
    • In order to consume external services that follow HTTP protocol, we need to use IDE for that, and consuming services from IDE takes a lot of time to give a response.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    • I REALLY wish I could just drop in a block of python or PowerShell code sometimes. The visual low-code things are great for moving around data but sometimes it would be faster if I could just tap out some code.
    • The DOM (Document Object Model) is not entirely apparent and takes a lot of trial and error, and sometimes it's even different between different connectors. I would love to be able to just see the path to access some specific variables from earlier processes.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    IBM
    This particular decision will be made by other people. Overall IBM BPM is the best BPM engine that I have worked with. It is implemented at our company and IT and business are already somewhat familiar with it. Therefore if asked I will recommend renewal as long as the price is reasonable.
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    Microsoft
    The tool is very useful when used with its various native connectors, taking great advantage of the integration between the components and systems of the Office365 universe. However, its cost is still high, and automation using more advanced components containing AI resources becomes unfeasible for some companies. Due to the financial crisis that many companies are currently experiencing, investment in automation systems or tools is taking a back seat.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    IBM
    • The system is easy enough to use but, by definition, is a complex tool. However, they have done a good job generally balancing tool complexity / capability with usability. When comparing to MS Biz Talk, for example, Biz Talk has less functionality but is actually harder to use.
    • Software is very flexible. For somebody with the right technical background, it’s quite easy to write some Java code to overcome any hurdles or make the product do what is needed
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    Microsoft
    Power Automate features a clean and intuitive user interface that allows users to create, manage, and monitor workflows easily. The UI is designed to be accessible to both technical and non-technical users, with drag-and-drop functionality for building workflows. Power Automate supports integration with a wide range of Microsoft and third-party applications. This flexibility in integration allows users to automate workflows across various systems, enhancing overall productivity and efficiency.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    IBM
    Issues can be raised through tickets and it works based on the priority of the issue. The Support Team response is also good and the solution is provided in a short span of time. In a case where the issue is serious, they try to find out the root cause and provide an alternative for it.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    both Community support and Microsoft official support typically respond to (and resolve) reported issues in a VERY expedient manner, usually going above and beyond for education and bugfixing. I have been thoroughly impressed with the level of support I had been provided in the past.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    IBM
    • Attended on premise sysadmin training for 4 days, 8 hours per day. Although further follow-up training was available, I never felt the need to go back. Training was very hands-on with real modeling (rather than just following a manual). Very effective.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    after reviewing the main features of Power Automate, the Microsoft trainer focused on some of our real life use cases implementation, from simple to more advanced.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    although it was productive, it is more difficult to stay focused and in a 7 hours a day online training (including screen share issues and the fact that the trainer just can't precisely show the exact location of your mistake)
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    IBM
    • Very satisfied – not too difficult at all.
    • We had a consultant available as part of our contract, but we didn’t really need to use (except for some advice on ActiveDirectory and single sign-on)
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    Microsoft
    I was part of the migration of classic SharePoint workflows and Nintex workflows. We didn't spend much time learning the new platform because of its user-friendly interface and intuitive drag-and-drop functionality. We have mostly O365 E1 and E3 licensed users, so they can participate in our Citizen Development program and utilize Power Automate to build day-to-day business processes.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    IBM
    Pega Pega is a comprehensive suite which offers a unique theme of BPM development in the market. A no-coding approach based on rules with inheritance makes Pega a very powerful product. However Pega, falls short on integration centric capabilities and very rigid to customize. On the other hand IBM comes with array of products which suits needs of varying degree. Advanced integration is solved by BPEL Process Server which has support for state based patterns and mediation. Dynamic rules and event management can be solved with WODM, Cloud to on-premise connectivity with Cast Iron, Enterprise gateway and security usecases with DataPower, Social BPM with IBM BPM , WODM, mobify with Worklight. Pega has a little bit of eveything here and there. It solves the dynamic rule management, brings out the flavor of Social BPM and mobility with Antenna ( I guess) and predictive analytics as well in one single suite. There are certain usecases which needs to have a little bit of everything, however this little bits and pieces of functionality when its blows, Pega would have problems to scale. With IBM its a bit nightmare to maintain a variety of technologies, however you can wish to go for one without the other and go for something only when you truly need it. Pega vs IBM Its difficult to pick a winner. In nutshell when you want a full scale BPM with rich integration capabilities go for IBM BPM. On the other hand if you hava mature integration capability already, Pega can yield quick results for you as well. Pega's strength is its methodology. IBM BPM's strength is integration. Actually you can't go wrong with both in terms of implementation. My strong recommendation is to invest time to process analysis and pick a good vendor to support consulting and implementation.
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    Microsoft
    I have many years of experience with Nintex applications and it stands up very well against Microsoft Power Automate. I hope Microsoft Power Automate can become the better workflow application. With the Integrated AI builder and continuous updates I expect they can become the better one in a few years.
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    I have not done any participations
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    IBM
    It scales from small team interactions to business processes serving thousands of employees, as well as straight-through-processing needs that go well beyond. Of course, scale is always in the eye of the beholder, but IBM BPM does a good job of giving you all of the hooks, APIs, and data that you need to take on whatever scaling approaches you need to meet the load
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Professional Services
    IBM
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Microsoft's professional services provide hands-on support throughout the implementation lifecycle of Power Automate.This includes initial setup, configuration, integration with existing systems, testing, and deployment. They ensure that workflows are correctly designed, optimized for performance, and aligned with security best practices.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    IBM
    • It has added value to the upper management to give visibility into what is happening at any time in the enterprise.
    • Boosted employee morale because it gives them all the information to work the case/task in a single location.
    • Identifies bottlenecks and improves the turnover.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    • It has encouraged everyday users to get a feel for low code no code without the detailed technical programmings skills
    • This has encouraged the use of Power Automate to replace what was once an excel filled with complex macros and VBA!
    • It has significantly saved time for someone like myself from chasing people for information and now I can create an auto alert using PA
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Microsoft Power Automate Screenshots

    Screenshot of Microsoft Power Automate (Interface Screenshot) - Work Queues, Initial pageScreenshot of Microsoft Power Automate (Interface Screenshot) - Signed-in web portal home pageScreenshot of Microsoft Power Automate (Interface Screenshot) - Signed-in web portal create pageScreenshot of Microsoft Power Automate (Interface Screenshot) - Desktop designerScreenshot of Microsoft Power Automate (Interface Screenshot) - Hosted RPAScreenshot of Microsoft Power Automate (Interface Screenshot) - Display of DLP violations (on Run)