Adobe Workfront vs. IBM Business Automation Workflow

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Workfront
Score 7.5 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Workfront, acquired by Adobe in late 2020, is a web-based project-management tool. It is designed for both IT and marketing teams, but can be implemented for any kind of project. Workfront offers all the features standard to project management platforms, as well as resource allocation, automation, and agile workflow.N/A
IBM Business Automation Workflow
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
IBM 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
Pricing
Adobe WorkfrontIBM Business Automation Workflow
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe WorkfrontIBM Business Automation Workflow
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe WorkfrontIBM Business Automation Workflow
Considered Both Products
Adobe Workfront
Chose Adobe Workfront
IBM was the old system. When the time came for a new contract, better products - like Workfront - were considered. As an online business, the interface and the ability to sync up with Agile workflows was a big plus.
IBM Business Automation Workflow

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Adobe WorkfrontIBM Business Automation Workflow
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Workfront
6.5
303 Ratings
14% below category average
IBM Business Automation Workflow
-
Ratings
Task Management7.5302 Ratings00 Ratings
Resource Management6.7274 Ratings00 Ratings
Gantt Charts7.2242 Ratings00 Ratings
Scheduling7.3270 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow Automation6.7272 Ratings00 Ratings
Team Collaboration6.0292 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology6.1185 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology6.3199 Ratings00 Ratings
Document Management6.6275 Ratings00 Ratings
Email integration4.8230 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Access6.1233 Ratings00 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking6.4219 Ratings00 Ratings
Change request and Case Management6.6210 Ratings00 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management6.3188 Ratings00 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Workfront
5.4
173 Ratings
31% below category average
IBM Business Automation Workflow
-
Ratings
Quotes/estimates5.381 Ratings00 Ratings
Invoicing5.271 Ratings00 Ratings
Project & financial reporting5.7171 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with accounting software5.462 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Workfront
-
Ratings
IBM Business Automation Workflow
10.0
4 Ratings
20% above category average
Dashboards00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Process Engine
Comparison of Process Engine features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Workfront
-
Ratings
IBM Business Automation Workflow
10.0
4 Ratings
18% above category average
Process designer00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Process simulation00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Business rules engine00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
SOA support00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Process player00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Support for modeling languages00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Form builder00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Model execution00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Collaboration
Comparison of Collaboration features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Workfront
-
Ratings
IBM Business Automation Workflow
10.0
3 Ratings
20% above category average
Social collaboration tools00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Content Management Capabilties
Comparison of Content Management Capabilties features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Workfront
-
Ratings
IBM Business Automation Workflow
10.0
4 Ratings
21% above category average
Content management00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Adobe WorkfrontIBM Business Automation Workflow
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Medium-sized Companies
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Enterprises
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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User Ratings
Adobe WorkfrontIBM Business Automation Workflow
Likelihood to Recommend
5.9
(354 ratings)
10.0
(8 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(60 ratings)
8.0
(4 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(18 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(12 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
In-Person Training
5.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
8.9
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.3
(10 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.2
(3 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe WorkfrontIBM Business Automation Workflow
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
I write music and sound design for multiple projects at the same time, all within the same company, sometimes as much as 8-10. It can be hard to keep track of and stay on top of notes and changes, but Adobe Workfront is great at keeping everything organized, and informing you of deadline changes as they occur.
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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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Pros
Adobe
  • Fosters communication between team members.
  • Serves as a virtual "to do list" for me personally - I can track where I am with projects and what there is left to do, and when it's completed.
  • Sharing documents between team members that can be updated.
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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
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Cons
Adobe
  • Notifications (sometimes I am emailed when I am tagged, other times I am not)
  • Certain file formats do not render correctly in Workfront Proof (eg, .XLS files)
  • It can be difficult to manage projects if you have not been assigned the correct permissions.
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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.
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
All that I've said already is why. I suppose the clearest way to say it is that at this point? I cannot imagine running the 300+ active projects in eMarketing without AtTask; it simply wouldn't be possible and even more; I wouldn't imagine why we'd try to find an alternative tool when we have one meeting our needs.
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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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Usability
Adobe
I gave a rating of 10 on overall usability because Workfront is cloud based and very easy to use. Workfront also provides collaboration on projects which is critical to a projects success. The tool gives everyone high level visibility in their projects down to the smallest detail. Wonderful project management system, allows you to cut down on emails, meetings and no more spreadsheets for tracking your projects.
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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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Reliability and Availability
Adobe
Maintenance is required, but usually after work hours, Some days the proofing tool function is not operational, but this is a new function of the tool that WF is working out. the kinks on. Chrome is the best browser to use the system in and we find Firefox and Explorer lose some view functionality - Gantt Chart, Resource Grid
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IBM
No answers on this topic
Performance
Adobe
Workfront's performance has been very good. Everything always feels very fast and snappy in my experience. We have integrated it with custom scripts to create folder structure for media managing our projects. It works very well.
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IBM
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Adobe
It would be nice if the support forms were more dynamic so you could add more information to the support ticket when you enter it to reduce back and forth with the support team member. Also communication on escalated tickets isn't always great. It's gotten better over the years but still needs improvement. Other than that, initial response on support tickets is really quick and the people I've dealt with have always been very professional.
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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.
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In-Person Training
Adobe
It was from my boss, not a rep from AtTask.
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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.
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Online Training
Adobe
The training is very easy to use and you can simply choose the topics included in the course(s) that are most important to your training needs. After each training course, you are tested on what you have learned. If you need a refresher course, they provide Course Catalogs as well as instructor-led courses & workshops.
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IBM
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Adobe
Most people learn as you go, a lot of this stuff requires trial and error throughout so my suggestion is to provide as much information in the upfront and keep it as simple as possible. You can add other tools and features as you go but everyone should have the basics down so no bad habits can start to develop. Be persistent with everyone, and don't be afraid to correct and talk through steps again so everyone is on the same page
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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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Alternatives Considered
Adobe
Jira is mostly used as a bug locking tool or to track any new development for any specific region/EPIC. But Workfront has a lot of other features which are beneficial in project management. I still consider Jira and Workfront my top two options for project management and believe both have some of the other useful features which are required to manage any team.
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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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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Adobe
As I stated earlier, I didn't have to pay for Workfront myself- I'm a user under a large organization. I know it's not cheap to implement, I don't know how the price scales for a small-business, but I do like the product enough that I'm going to look into it in the future for my own company.
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IBM
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Adobe
Our organization has thousands of users that use Workfront and it seems to hold up very well. I have not encountered any issues using it and I think it makes it very easy for multiple people to be involved in a project and keep things organized and clear for everyone involved.
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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
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Workfront allowed our company to have multiple offices and work remote and still have projects continually move through the agency
  • The platform allowed streamlined project management needs so PMs could look at a higher level of timing for resourcing needs for a given team
  • Workfront's ease of integration with other tech allowed for a lot of flexibility to meet the needs of individual wants/needs so that each person could do their best work
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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.
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ScreenShots

Adobe Workfront Screenshots

Screenshot of Agile StoryboardScreenshot of Assignment RecommendationsScreenshot of Custom DashboardsScreenshot of Gantt PortfolioScreenshot of My Work QueueScreenshot of PM Portfolio Milestones