There are plenty of use cases for Workato. We have a vendor management system, which is a different SaaS product, where Atlassian as a company onboards our vendors. We put a purchase order, they address that purchase order, and then they raise invoices, all on the vendor management system. We need to sync this information to our ERP system, as we use a different ERP for financial management. We sync the data of vendors getting onboarded and raising invoices into our financial system for payments. To sync the data from the vendor management system to ERP, we use Workato for integration. This includes invoices, credit memos, supplier onboarding, and changes to supplier bank details for payments. Internally, we also have an employee expense management system where employees submit expense details for reimbursement. Since this financial information needs to be synced, we sync employee details and expense claims into our financial system, which is again an Oracle product.

I have utilized Workato's real-time data synchronization feature for managing vendor invoices sync to Fusion, which is our ERP application. Previously, we did batch syncing, meaning data synced weekly or daily, causing finance team members to have to review a bunch of invoices at once. With Workato, as soon as an invoice is put in our vendor management system, we sync it within two to three minutes, providing a real-time experience. This process improves vendor relations as it prevents delays in payments that could lead to breaches of payment terms or dissatisfaction.

I find the automation building in Workato quite easy, which is a general feature I appreciate. Unlike other automation iPaaS tools I've used that require installations on my laptop, with Workato, I only need a browser and an account to build automations. They also provide an easy way to parse XML, CSV, and JSON files without needing to know any programming language. If you're familiar with these data formats, you can navigate through building automation easily. Additionally, there's something called SQL queries; it's not a database but an app where developers can parse a collection of data using SQL, which many in IT are familiar with. If a transaction fails, I can replay that transaction with just a click of a button, making it much easier compared to other systems requiring additional setups for failed transactions. Workato is also rolling out amazing features such as workflow apps, allowing easy building of UI-based forms that operate within business processes requiring manual interventions, such as approvals or rejections.

I can assess that Workato's recipe-driven automation has saved the finance AP team around 780 hours of their time in just the last year through a couple of automations for vendor management. That's a quantifiable number focused on just vendor management that I've recently presented to the business.

In my opinion, Workato's licensing model could be enhanced. They have evolved from a recipe-based licensing system to a task-based one, which can be limiting for productivity. An open licensing option would allow for unlimited usage, which would simplify management, although there could be downsides such as paying for unused capacity. Additionally, Workato currently cannot handle huge loads of transactions, which is a significant drawback.

I have been working with Workato for roughly four years, predominantly three and a half, and three to four months on exploring the platform. Overall, it has been roughly four years in total.

Before Workato, we used MuleSoft and custom integrations developed on a Java framework and Spring Boot. The leadership team decided to switch because MuleSoft was becoming costly and lacked the innovation expected following its acquisition by Salesforce.

Workato defaults to AWS for its cloud infrastructure, and we don't have options to deploy it on-premise or on other cloud providers such as Azure or Google, as we do with MuleSoft.

I would rate Workato's stability at 99.999%. I haven't faced downtime, but the open agent component that connects Workato cloud to secure networks shows instability. This component is about 95% reliable, requiring occasional restarts. Workato manages its upgrades efficiently, providing advance notifications and guidance.

As for scalability, if there is a sudden burst of transactions, Workato struggles to handle it efficiently. While I can adjust configurations easily to manage expected loads, it's not ideal for sudden spikes.

I would rate Workato's technical support a 10 out of 10. The customer service has improved significantly over the last two years, making it easy to approach them without ticketing. They provide immediate assistance through a chat option on the platform.

Positive

Before Workato, we used MuleSoft and custom integrations developed on a Java framework and Spring Boot. The leadership team decided to switch because MuleSoft was becoming costly and lacked the innovation expected following its acquisition by Salesforce.

I work for a company which uses Workato to build our automation, and I use the platform to develop certain automations. I am a Senior Integration Engineer at the current position, and as an individual contributor, I write certain automations on the platform itself.

I don't know how Workato was purchased, but not through AWS. To give context, we had MuleSoft with us, and the prices of MuleSoft were increasing, which is one of the iPaaS platforms. The leadership team wanted to see what other emerging iPaaS platform was coming at a lower cost, and if it solved our problems, we would use it. That's when the interest to look out has come in, and I believe it's through the leadership team who knows somebody at Workato that pitched in that idea. It took two to three months of assessment, and then we decided to go with Workato.

Onboarding new resources into our development team is easy due to Workato's usability, enabling them to start delivering projects within a week if they have a couple of years of experience in the integration domain. This is much quicker compared to other tools I've used, which required thorough training and hands-on experience that could take much longer.

I use many of Workato's pre-built connectors including Fusion, Salesforce, SFTP, HTTP, Database, File, S3, SQS, and DynamoDB—probably more than 10 connectors. We even built a custom connector with support from Workato to meet specific needs. The pre-built connectors facilitate real-time sync, helping developers who don't need to know the system behind the connector. They can efficiently deliver automations, enhancing overall developer productivity.

I have experienced Workato's AI-driven insights, particularly for data mappings and document processing features using OpenAI LLM. We also utilize the Insights API to track how many recipes are consumed and our total task assignments under our license. Through custom-built integrations, we receive notifications about sudden bursts of traffic flowing into Workato, thus allowing the operational team to review potential causes for these spikes. We use metrics related to our task budget from Workato to ensure effective resource management.

I consider Workato's pricing to be mid-range, not too expensive but not too cheap either. As they release more features, such as workflow apps and the document processor, these come at extra costs. Currently, I would categorize Workato as moderate in pricing. My overall rating for Workato is 8 out of 10.

The usual use cases for Workato include real-time data processing from either SFTP or SAS, and we have implemented multiple use cases for our clients in the past 3.5 years. For example, the employee data processing, where they use Workday to hold employee details, is the source for us to integrate data from Workday to multiple target systems, such as communications through Slack or meetings via Zoom. We also utilize ITSM tools such as remedy force services and several other core systems, syncing employee master data on a daily basis for onboarding, offboarding, and data changes.

Another use case includes the security systems, where we implement badge access for new onboarding or visitors coming to the office. We have integrated various systems, from Workday to JumpCloud to Genentech and ITSM tools such as Freshservice. As a middleware, Workato helps us automate business workflows and reduce manual work, thus enhancing productivity and efficiency. Additionally, we have another client for whom we implemented financial transaction data integration from SAP to Kupa and different systems, showcasing Workato's role in data integration and business workflow automation.

Real-time data synchronization is being used for multiple clients, where many SAS applications have real-time triggers. In Workato, we have triggers to receive data from sources, whether from an ERP system or any other system, and we have successfully implemented that real-time data sync.

We use many of the pre-built connectors in Workato on a daily basis. There are numerous connectors that enhance our interaction with Workato. The number of connectors we typically use depends on the use case; for complex use cases, more connectors are required. It entirely depends on business requirements and specifications, so we cannot define a specific number of connectors.

The most valuable feature of Workato is that billing is based on task actions; whatever actions we take on the Workato platform will determine the task consumption and billing for each workflow. More optimized workflows lead to less billing for clients. Furthermore, they have introduced a Copilot feature for automation, helping build recipes and code with simple prompts. Additionally, they are developing AI solutions for clients. These are some top features, along with various others implemented per client specifications, such as CICD implementation and runtime connection changes.

The benefits of using Workato for our customers include automating business workflows and data integration. By addressing their manual efforts, which are time-consuming and prone to errors, Workato helps clients reduce costs while increasing productivity. We implement solutions that enable seamless data integration between different systems, minimizing time-consuming manual processes. A positive impact we see is cost reduction, as manual efforts are significantly lowered. For example, in production support teams, manual processes are streamlined through CICD implementation, allowing for a seamless integration of different environments with minimal errors and faster deployment.

In Workato, there are some limitations regarding very high transactional data in file formats. For instance, we have a 90-minute job timeout, and queues larger than 10,000 size will be purged. Additionally, processing large files requires chunking them into smaller sizes. The team is actively working on customizing the platform per client requirements and is rapidly releasing features to address these limitations.

I have been currently using Workato and implementing the solution for the clients for more than 3.5 years.

Workato is quite stable, and they are continuously improving the product's stability by implementing various connectors that are already available.

I am not sure about Workato's scalability, as that falls under the Workato team's expertise. We focus solely on implementation.

We have communicated with Workato's technical support in the initial days. I would rate the technical support from 7 to 7.5; it may also depend on the different people we interact with, but I would rate it up to 8.

Positive

The initial setup for Workato is relatively straightforward because it is a cloud application. The Workato team provides the necessary support for setup; we just need to specify our requirements, and they will create the access for us.

I have been working with clients for Workato implementation, focusing on consulting and implementing solutions for their business needs. We automate basic workflows and handle various complexities to seamlessly integrate different SAS applications and other applications. Regarding the pricing of Workato, I don't have much knowledge because I haven't purchased it; that information primarily comes from their implementation team that handles client solutions. My overall rating for Workato is 8 out of 10.

Positive