Likelihood to Recommend I think it is wel suited for a business with a lot of one on one relations in the database. For example a supermarket that sells products to a client and gives a reduction on that product. It is nice if the selection process is not to complex and does not involve to many calculations. It is also nice if it is very clear what you want to follow up. In our environment we have lots of many-to-many relations. for example one product is held by more then one client. And that client might have more of those products with other clients. These kind of situation demands for a lot of calculations with derived fields(*), and there things go far too slow. Unica is probably not such a good solution for us, because our environment is too complex, and so is to process of creating the selection, we often have to change things in the selection flows. Because of the complexity it is difficult to see what the flow is exactly doing afterwoods, it also takes to much time to modify existing campaigns. The interface is not handy to work with, if you have long lists of variables, of tables or derived fields(*) you have to scroll through trough them, you can not really search them or reorder them. You can not drag and drop fields or other objects like derived fields in the flow, what would be easy if you have to make frequent changes to the proces flow. When you copy objects something the content of the object changes because the links with other objects or lost. (*) derived field: field to calculate something
Read full review Autopilot has a friendly and bright appeal offering a code-free automation experience that makes it easy to build complex automated workflows. Anyone can start creating workflows using the drag-and-drop builder even without technical knowledge. Teams utilize the notes and graphics feature to collaborate on automation workflows providing a much easier way to understand workflows created by someone else.
Read full review Pros Ability to translate Multiple SQL queries into a very easy to use visual GUI. Provides the ability to pre-define segments, run them once in off hours, store them in their own system tables for quick youth and a significant reduction in CPU utilization on the database. It’s use of Reusable objects. Including user variables to pre-define calculations one time, macros that you can create and pass values to parameterize the SQL code And the creation of templates to easily replicate work. It’s ability to bring in external data on the fly that can very easily be mapped into any flowchart. It’s flexibility and creating UNIX script via triggers to automate sending of files to multiple vendors with different FTP sites It’s flexibility in the output layouts that it can create. Read full review Very easy to use automation builder with many great options and integrations. Lets us tailor incredibly precise campaigns through use of Autopilot's own features, plus its tight integrations with data from sources like Segment. Easy and powerful email editing and creation built-in. No need for email template coding. Autopilot allows marketers to have full control and implement new web forms to capture leads quickly with its automatic form detection. No need to save custom form data to our own backend saves our development team time. Read full review Cons Greater integration of real time (Interact) capabilities with outbound channels, in particular IBM eMessage Email & SMS delivery. Additional outbound channels to be integrated into eMessage, including Facebook Fanpage & Twitter DM broadcasts. At the moment these are possible only through custom additional integration. Support for additional marketing database technology, e.g. MySQL, Exasol, ParAccel, WX2. Provision of database technology with software purchase, as Web technology (IBM WebSphere Express) is supplied for free, but no database is supplied - since IBM also market DB2, which is a supported technology it seems a shame. Read full review Limited Design Customization: If you're an experienced marketer and are used to the unlimited customization capabilities of larger platforms (or coding your own templates), you might find Autopilot's options to be limiting. It's great for a beginner user who shouldn't be encumbered with those options, but I could see if being frustrating for others. Read full review Likelihood to Renew There are three main factors to renew a licence: 1) Cost to migrate to another platform would be rather expensive and time consuming, plus the requirement of retraining employees to use a new tool 2) It has been proven time and time again that it is a market leader in the space (10 years +) 3) It can be built upon, with the addition of additional IBM EMM modules - despite theories it does have very strong digital capabilities.
Brent Banning Most recently Senior Client Services Manager & Client Services Team Leader
Read full review Usability I think it is easy to use, if you don't have to do to complex selections.
Read full review Support Rating I didn't use the Unica support since it is with IBM, only before.
Read full review Implementation Rating - We had to rebuild a part of the datamart afterwards to tighten up and simplify the selection process. But as it was too time consuming to rebuild all the existing campaigns, we no run campaigns on different versions of the datamart. - The response tracking of the campaigns never worked out well, it was impossible to implement a direct response where there is a link between the lead and the response in our operational process
Read full review Alternatives Considered The contact history and the response history are so powerful. You can track whatever you want to help the call center to push relevant offers to our customer. In addition, predictive models can be built, with patience, in IBM Campaign. If you have some complaints from the call center about any campaigns, you can easily validate it into the contact or response history.
Read full review How would I say this, for me Autopilot is a whole other tool then the other MA tools I use. Most other MA tools focus on a lot of options and things you can do with it. But Autopilot seems to mainly focus on the visual builder to make automations, and they do that really well! The other tools are also great but more a "complete package solution" with a lot of options. And that can be overwhelming. So if you want a great easy-to-use workflow/automation builder and less of all the other options Autopilot is a great start.
Read full review Return on Investment It helps my clients drive their business which in turn, drives more profit for them. It helps my clients determine what works, and what doesn't work, in terms of their social marketing campaigns. It helps navigate proper budgeting through determining what clients' users respond to, and what they find unique. Read full review Not sure. I cannot put a $ on it for ROI as I was the administrator and not part of the team that procured it. Time-wise I would say I spent less time using it than I previously had used in CloudPortal Services Manager. Read full review ScreenShots