Appian is a low-code development and business process management platform. It features drag-and-drop design for app building, automated work processes, unified data management, and cloud-based deployment.
$0
Nintex
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Nintex offers a platform that helps companies discover, automate, and optimize business processes.
$480
Minimum 1,000 users per user
SS&C Blue Prism
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
SS&C Blue Prism provides a combination of technologies that offer intelligent automation to deliver transformational business value.
N/A
Pricing
Appian
Nintex
SS&C Blue Prism
Editions & Modules
Appian Community Edition
$0
Application - Input-Only
$2
per month per user
Application - Infrequent
$9
per month per user
Application - Standard
$75
per month per user
Platform
Custom Quote Priced per user with unlimited apps.
minimum 100 users, no maximum
Unlimited
Custom Quote Priced per development with unlimited apps.
unlimited
Platform
Custom Quote Priced per user with unlimited apps.
Minimum 100, no maximum
Unlimited
Custom Quote Priced per development with unlimited apps.
Have not used many BPM tools but we are using RPA to automate many technologies and business processes. We are also using Servicenow for incidents and change management.
Perceived as easier to operate and significantly lower cost to implement when originally implemented. I do believe Pega has become more competitive in this regard.
It’s more robust for enterprise usage; UIPath had an awful demo when we talked to them. Automation Anywhere focuses on desktop automation with its recorder capabilities. Work Fusion focuses on intelligent use cases as opposed to automating the commonly used manual processes. …
Appian works great for automating manual processes and integrating multiple systems through its toolset. It gives great flexibility for establishing rules for approvals, routings, escalations, and the like. Because of the low code toolset, it's very easy to deploy and make changes as needed as processes evolve and as the organization learns to utilize the system better. Minimal maintenance is required to support the applications build on the platform. Some of the automated testing integration with tools like Jenkins is limited so that may be an issue for some.
We use Nintex to automate fundraising outreach at scale. It helps us send personalized emails to a large contact list, and we’d also like to automate follow-ups when there’s no reply. If you need highly customized solutions or clean, fully controllable code, I wouldn’t recommend Nintex. It has many features, but it’s not the same as building your own system from scratch. That said, it can save a lot of time for standard automation workflows.
Blue Prism Cloud is an ideal cloud automation solution for organizations with a significant number of remote workers or geographically disparate teams since its accessible from any web browser. It is also beneficial for organizations that need to quickly outsource part of their process automation without having to purchase additional software licenses and equipment.
However, Blue Prism Cloud is less suited for companies that have large volume data processing needs as its base cost may quickly become prohibitive in those situations. Additionally, this solution may not be suitable for organizations that need more complex solution-specific configurations since its integration options are limited.
Allows at a glance workflow documentation which assists in the need we have for information readiation.
Drag and drop interface for workflow development greatly speeds our apps time to market.
Using the advanced features of Appian, we are able to create working sites in a fraction of the time it would take to do so using "traditional" development.
Integrations with other services using various secure authentication methods, along with the seamless integration with SharePoint, are the icing on the cake. This makes it superior to other BPM tools available in the market.
Flexibility in application development - The diverse configurable properties offer multiple ways to utilise the controls and events, affording the flexibility to expand your scope and enabling the creation and use of processes in a myriad of ways.
The streamlined and efficient deployment process significantly accelerates release management, allowing for faster and smoother implementation of updates and new features.
The user interface of the pages offers a more refined and appealing look and feel compared to most other BPM tools.
Search issues when type ahead and database search are used in the same field.
Buttons implementation where user is require[d] to click on the button description - if clicks on the button outside that text - button will not work.
Problems with using certain off-the-shelf performance tools like WebLoad or Neoload. That is because of different dynamic variables being used internally in Appian - which these tools are unable to correlate. We are still investigating using other tools like Jmeter to overcome dynamic correlation problem for performance testing.
If you are creating a process with parallel subprocesses, there's no way to see, in a single view in Nintex, all the steps for the subprocesses. You have to view each sub-process in its own view, so it's hard to see what's going on at a high level.
There isn't an easy way to filter the processes by another user (not yourself) in Nintex. There is a report that shows processes and objects by user, but that's not as convenient. This is something that I've seen in other tools (OpenPages by IBM) so I am surprised that it is missing.
Nintex doesn't really have a way to capture iterative processes (which we have a lot of). It's designed for linear processes.
We recently renewed our license with Appian. We are convinced that its flexibility, relative ease of use, the support they provide, there mobile advancements and their general willingness and desire to see us succeed all contributed to our reason to renew our agreement with Appian
We are currently investigating which collaboration platform best suits our needs. Chances are that we move to SharePoint Online and then we're going to also consider the microsoft power platform (power automate and power apps) to develop forms and workflows. Aspecially the pricing model for the cloud is currently a blocking factor to go for the Nintex solution in the Cloud.
Appian is a low code environment, because of this, a very good visual interface is required. Appian is providing a feature-rich dashboard [that] we can use for building the dashboards and other interfaces. Appian also provides patches and releases to enhance these features. A developer can start off development just by going through a basic course from the Appian learning community.
Based on the on-prem experience with this tool, I believe that they have a lot of potential to help the online version catch up to where the on-prem left off. Nintex developed their online version and it is not as fully formed or capable compared to the on-prem version, and the licensing model scales back what we would have liked to be an expansion or at least continuous improvement of existing flows. It is also not near as user friendly specifically to non-developers and has an uncanny similarity to Microsoft Flow in the online instance. Consistent with my reviews of the tool - I believe they have some good approaches to design thinking that, if translated well from on-prem to online, could make this a clear winner again.
Usability wise the Blue Prism tool can be utilized to its 100% which include the control room, schedulers, work queues, Release managers, studio for process and object development, we use all the features in blue prism and is well suitable for the development and deployment, All the system are wisely controlled and connected the same SQL database and all the data can be accessed with ease and all the things can achieve in the systematic order.
The Nintex Process Platform has never crashed or had any availability issues during my usage. However there was an issue that was of my own making that caused a slowdown of the system. I had set up a process to run once a day and check for employees on a list that had certain parameters selected, and for some reason that I had to troubleshoot, the process instead ran constantly, which filled the cache quickly. I ended up having to dismantle that process so the system didn't crash.
Unlike any other process automation product out there. Not only is it a low-code, easy to use tool for building processes in environments like SharePoint or Salesforce, they have really started to expand their tool-set by offering tools to manage other things like process mapping, RPA, mobile,etc.
Appian is one of the leading low code business automation platforms that support RPA, decision rules, case management, workflow automation, and machine learning all in a single bundle. But it is also harder to implement and replace the traditional business process.
The support team works as fast as they can and they are usually fast to solver the issues. Sometimes they need more time to solve one of them because our workflows and so on are more complex than usual clients.
Support is good and now with time online support in other forums is becoming available as well. Blue Prism support in itself is also good. Documents and blogs can help to find the solution. Since it's relatively new, sometimes if I'm stuck it can take time to find the solution or connect to their team.
As analyst I participated in a developer boot camp. At times it was hard to keep up but most of the time it made sense. Trainer took the time to explain and slowed pace down to answer questions etc.
I used the Nintex training software, it was easy to watch and follow along. It didn't go too fast and was descriptive enough to understand what the steps needed were in order to produce efficient workflows and user friendly forms.
1.Start with Simple Workflows: Begin with basic workflows to gain user confidence before tackling complex processes. 2.Involve Stakeholders Early: Engage business users and IT early to align workflows with real business needs. 3.Comprehensive Training: Invest in user training to ensure smooth adoption and reduce resistance. 4.Leverage Prebuilt Templates: Use Nintex’s templates to speed up implementation and maintain consistency. 5.Iterate and Optimize: Continuously improve workflows based on user feedback and performance metrics.
Appian has enormously transformed and keeps on updating the product every quarter to meet the latest needs of the world with new innovations & technologies being integrated within the platform. What gives more pleasure than a product that keeps on continuous[ly] improv[ing]?
Microsoft environment does not have the scalability of Nintex; it is perfect for small and medium-sized companies, especially in environments where Microsoft environment is almost entirely used. Although Microsoft offers options to connect to other applications, its platform lacks the development and robustness that Nintex provides. Nintex not only covers Microsoft environments but also Google and other important platforms.
Better User Interface.Better customer service.Easier to learn and use. But has greater risk compliances. Less preloaded automation. Less editing features and a big no while working on big projects. Fluidmesh is better in pricing and better management of multiple projects but I believe Blue Prism is perfect for beginners and small-scale companies.
The scalability is really bottlenecked by the imagination of the user. I was able to make processes for my own personal usage, making my daily tasks easier. I was also able to make processes that affected hundreds of employees, making large standardization and efficiency gains. So either way, the system is used the same way, and I was the limiting factor.
I believe it has negatively impacted our release dates. There may have been a misunderstanding as to the learning curve, even though it is "low code."
The look and feel of the applications created using Appian have uniformity and it's easier to have "reuse" between applications.
There is less developer control when it comes to features. I think this mainly has to do with the amount of plugins available. I would think there should be many more available plugins. But again, our use case is probably different than most others.
People have woken up to the amount of overlap after mapping their processes.
People can be resistant to process changes. You need to have the support from above or support from the 'business' that you are process changing to be able to see the positive impacts.
Numbers talk. if you can get a general salary figure from your HR dept to show savings for 'employee bands', then when you present reports, they will be all the richer in data.
For a level of medium projects, Blue Prism performs well, and the speed of execution is good. In our organization, we are applying for medium projects, where we can increase the workforce of our employees.
Blue Prism's Client Server Architecture is good, because we need such a feature to implement automation.
When it comes to pricing, I personally feel that it is costlier.
