46% of IT employees perceived the increasing pressure on their IT infrastructure and operations to be constant, while 32% saw it as rapid. 1: Workload automation is one of these IT automation tools that can take the pressure off by automating these processes and controlling the IT infrastructure.
However, choosing a WLA tool that meets business goals and objectives in a complex market landscape can be a challenging activity. For example, Control-M, along with ActiveBatch, Redwood RunMyJobs, Stonebranch Universal Automation Center (UAC), and JAMS WLA, are among the market leaders in 7 different data sources.
Therefore, this article presents the pros and cons of Control-M and compares the top 4 Control-M alternatives to help business leaders and IT professionals identify the best tool for their organization.
Disadvantages of control-M
Control-M is WLA software developed by BMC Software that can automate and manage complex workflows across IT infrastructure, including on-premise, cloud and hybrid environments.
In Control-M user reviews:
- Automation possibilities. Overall, users have given positive feedback on Control-M’s automation capabilities. However, Control-M alternatives such as ActiveBatch and Redwood perform better in terms of scalability, workload processing, and intelligent automation.
- Functionality. Across all sources we collected, 7% of all reviews focused on Control-M WLA features.
- Work schedule. The work schedule in G2 gets the highest score of 9.4. However, the Control-M alternatives, ActiveBatch and Redwood, score higher than Control-M in every category under functionality.
- Integrations/APIs: One user cited the API and integration with other applications as the only downside to the tool (Figure 1).
- Ease of use. Control-M ranks as the easiest to use and navigate (see chart below). Across all B2B review platforms, Control-M software is rated as user-friendly by 15%. Also, 4% of users mention the drag and drop feature.
- Management. Control-M works well for every category of administration, but especially for workflow management, active workflow, and error alerts. However, it did not score higher than its competitors such as Redwood or ActiveBatch in all of these categories.
Top Control-M Alternatives
When deciding on Control-M alternatives, we considered two factors:
- Number of B2B reviews. B2B reviews show the rate of adoption of the tools and help to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the tool. Therefore, we excluded sellers without revisions. Additionally, we expanded our comparison to only the top 5 Control-M alternatives that have a total of over 100 reviews in review sources such as G2, Gartner, Trustradius, and Capterra.
- The number of employees on LinkedIn. The number of employees indicates the revenue and overall success of businesses, as more staff can support the company’s products and services. Therefore, we excluded vendors with fewer than 10 employees on LinkedIn.
The table below shows the total number of B2B reviews, their average score and ease of use score:
| Solutions: | Ease of use | Total number of reviews | Review unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| ActiveBatch: | 8:7 | 259: | 4.5: |
| Redwood Run My Jobs | 9.3: | 174: | 4.7: |
| BatchMan: | 9.2: | 16:00 | 4.7: |
| CA AutoSys Workload Automation | 8:9 | 38: | 4.0: |
| Control-m | 8:8 | 159: | 4.1: |
| IBM Workload Automation | 9:00 | 19:00 | 4.1: |
| JAMS: | 8.6: | 204: | 4.5: |
| OpCon by SMA | 8:9 | 103: | 4.8: |
| Stone branch | 8:7 | 72: | 4.4: |
| Tidal by Redwood | 9.3: | 61: | 4.6: |
| Visualcron: | 8 o’clock | 18:00 | 4.7: |
1. ActiveBatch
- Automation possibilities. 29% of the total B2B reviews of ActiveBatch mention the high quality of the features. On G2, ActiveBatch performs better than Control-M in terms of scalability and workload processing.
- Functionality. ActiveBatch has higher functional scores for job scheduling, integration, and API integration than Control-M.
- Ease of use. Although ActiveBatch ranked slightly lower than Control-M in G2 for ease of use, installation, and ease of administration (see Figure 2), it was described as easy to use by 16% of the total B2B reviews we collected.
- Management. ActiveBatch has similar scores for each administration-related attribute. However, it ranks first among all Control-M alternatives for workflow management.
2. Redwood Run My Jobs
- Automation possibilities. Redwood performs best for all automation features according to G2 reviewers (see Figure 4).
- Functionality. Redwood scores the best for job scheduling and integration among all Control-M alternatives.
- Ease of use. In G2, Redwood outperforms Control-M and other alternatives in terms of ease of use, ranking first with 9.3 (see Figure 3).
- Management. Redwood has the highest scores for all administration-related activities, such as error alerts or service management (see Figure 3).
3. JAMS WLA
- Automation possibilities. 13% of overall reviews mentioned JAMS features positively. In G2, scalability and workload processing are automation capabilities where JAMS scores higher than Control-M.
- Functionality. JAMS is a top API/integration performer. Additionally, it ranks better for integration of other tools and job scheduling features compared to Control-M (Figure 4).
- Ease of use. 5% of reviews rate JAMS as easy to use and 2% as user friendly.
- Management. In G2, JAMS can only be ranked better for service management compared to Control-M. Additionally, JAMS is the only top-of-the-line tool that does not provide a proactive workflow (Figure 3).
Explore alternatives to JAMS to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of JAMS.
4. Stonebranch Universal Automation Center
- Automation possibilities. According to G2’s B2B reviews, Stonebranch performs slightly better than Control-M in workload automation (see Figure 6).
- Functionality. Stonebranch is rated higher than Control-M for integration and API integration. However, Control-M scores higher for job scheduling than Stonebranch (see Figure 8).
- Ease of use. Stonebranch has a slightly lower performance for ease of use compared to Control-M (see Table 1 ).
- Management. in G2, Stonebranch UAC has the best service management and control panel scores (see Figure 7). For other important aspects of control, Control-M and the top 3 Control-M alternatives perform better.
Learn more about the pros and cons of Stonebranch UAC and compare it to its alternatives.
5. SMA OpCon
- Automation possibilities. According to reviews, workload automation is the only automation feature OpCon scores above Control-M.
- Functionality. In G2, OpCon scores higher than Control-M for API integration.
- Ease of use. SMA OpCon scores slightly better for usability compared to Control-M (see Table 1).
- Management. Although there is insufficient data on OpCon management capabilities, Control-M performs better than SMA OpCon for workflow and service management (see Figure 7).
Further reading
Read more about other workload automation tools and other IT automation technologies:
Transparency Statement
AIMultiple serves multiple technology vendors, including Redwood, which powers Active Batch, RunMyJobs, and Tidal.
- “Impact of Automation on IT Operations”. Freeform Dynamics Ltd. July 2017. Reviewed May 26, 2023.
Hazal is an industry analyst at AIMultiple. He is experienced in market research, quantitative research and data analysis. He holds a master’s degree in social sciences from the Carlos III University of Madrid and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Bilkent University.
