Software AG Universal Messaging vs. webMethods Business Process Management Suite (BPMS)

Software AG Universal Messaging is best used in conjunction with Software AG webMethods integration platform, as it works seamlessly with other components of that platform such as webMethods Integration Server and webMethods Trading Networks. It can be used with any messaging client developed in Java or .NET and supports JMS clients, however, it is best suited to being used as one component in an organization that is going to implement the entire webMethods platform to implement their Enterprise Service Bus integration solution.

Incentivized

Where webMethods Business Process Management Suite (BPMS) is well suited is for any use case where there is a business process that can executed over a long period of time (days rather than seconds) and that traverses multiple business applications and/or multiple lines of business and requires manual input from end users to approve or action specific steps. It is not well-suited for any business processes that can be distilled into a traditional integration solution between business applications that does not involve manual end user input, these types of uses cases will execute more efficiently on a traditional integration broker or enterprise service bus style solution.

Incentivized

• Low latency high performance messaging and event handling
• High availability
• Horizontal scalability
• Seamless integration with Software AG webMethods integration platform

Incentivized

• Great process design user interface and usability
• Excellent tools for monitoring processes at runtime
• Business rules can be managed and updated by non-technical resources

Incentivized

• Logging
• Administration
• Observability

Incentivized

• Pricing is opaque and higher than we'd like
• Some of the user interfaces are outdated and looking their age
• Require buy in from business to achieve return on investment

Incentivized

Software AG Universal Messaging has excellent performance characteristics, a good high availability story, and works great when you are using the other products in the Software AG webMethods integration platform, as our organization is. It has relatively high licensing costs, which is a large negative when compared with open-source solutions such as Apache Kafka. However, Software AG provides good support services, and is a market leader in the integration space, giving some surety for risk-averse organizations that if something goes wrong we have a vendor we can rely on to help fix it.

Incentivized

We found webMethods Business Process Management Suite (BPMS) to be the most feature complete product in the BPM market when we evaluated it against other products available in the market. It provides the most features, the easiest to use process design and simulation tools, and the most efficient runtime process and rules engine. Just be aware that its pricing reflects this position in the market, but you get what you pay for.

Incentivized

• Enables disparate software systems to be integrated, reducing manual data entry
• Enables high performance event handling for data lakes and analytics
• Has relatively high licensing costs

Incentivized

• Initial adoption of BPMS was slow and required buy in from the business, which was only achieved through upper management buy in applying KPIs down the line
• Once a critical mass of business processes being automated with BPMS is reached, any processes that remain manual will stand out like a sore thumb and the business will be invested to automate those remaining processes too, so adoption of BPMS is like a slow snowball effect
• Not requiring technical resources such as developer to design and build out processes is a pipe dream and impossible to realise. You will always need experts in the automation tools you apply in your organisation, and webMethods BPMS is no exception

Incentivized