What if creating custom workflow applications didn’t require coding expertise or overreliance on developers? Leading no-code platforms like HighGear and Decisions have made this possible.
With no code, anyone in an organization can build workflows, digitize processes, and automate tasks by simply dragging and dropping elements. No longer restricted by technical skill sets, organizations can modify and deploy solutions faster without depending on IT teams or the need for programming languages.
HighGear and Decisions stand out as two of the top no-code platforms businesses rely on. However, they differ in their specific capabilities and ideal customer base. This comprehensive comparison will assess their respective strengths and limitations.
Company Overviews
Before comparing the capabilities and features of HighGear and Decisions, let’s briefly introduce these two influential players in the no-code automation space.
HighGear Overview
Founded in 2003, HighGear provides the leading no-code workflow automation platform tailored for enterprises. Headquartered in Frederick, Maryland, it was conceived by co-founders Vaughn Thurman and Josh Yeager as an internal tool called JobTraQ to manage audited work. However, demand from early clients like NASA and Beazley Insurance quickly transformed it into a full-fledged product.
Nowadays, HighGear’s primary focus is granting non-technical teams the capabilities to build complex workflows themselves. By handing over the reins to analysts, managers, and subject matter experts, they can easily create, manage, and connect process automation without coding requisites. This transfers ownership of automation tasks away from specialized IT personnel over to the business teams.
After refining itself through feedback from the financial services, energy, and government sectors, HighGear now bridges the automation skill gap prevalent in enterprises.
The platform also stresses exemplary customer support for HighGear, and customer success remains central, not just the technology itself.
Decisions Overview
Decisions, headquartered in Virginia Beach, entered the no-code market in 2010, intending to bring intelligent automation to organizations across sectors like financial services, healthcare, and insurance.
At its core, Decisions offers a blended automation cocktail – part rules engine to codify complex decisions, part workflow manager to optimize processes, and mining agents to detect any issues. The idea is to take the problem-solving burden off organizations so they can direct their focus toward progress and growth.
Decisions’ motto says it all – “Technology should enable, not hinder.” Their mission revolves around using automation as a tool for unlocking better performance rather than creating roadblocks.
Decisions certainly provides a solid automation toolkit, but face stiffer competition from end-to-end enterprise solutions like HighGear.
HighGear vs. Decisions – Quick Guide
| Feature | HighGear | Decisions |
| Ease of Use | User-centric design – Intuitive interfaces – Drag-and-drop visual workflow builder | Versatility for IT professionals and business analysts – Customization potential |
| Workflow Design | Visual Workflow Designer – Collaborative features | Workflow management tools – Advanced rules engine |
| Enterprise-Grade Capabilities | Built for large enterprises – Rigorous security measures | Versatility across company sizes |
| Analytics & Reporting | Real-time reporting – Custom reporting options | Basic reporting features |
| Integrations | Extensive integration capabilities – Open architecture | Robust integration options |
| Deployment Flexibility | On-premise and cloud-based options | Hosted and self-managed options |
| Pricing and Plans | Starts at $63/month per Licensed contributor | Pricing hidden from public – direct inquiry required for pricing specifics |
| Training and Support | Exceptional training and support – Monthly training classes hosted by HighGear are free for clients. | Comprehensive documentation – Onsite workshops – Intensive 3-day in-person course |
| Customer Reviews | 5.0 out of 5 on GetApp | 4.4 out of 5 on GetApp |
Platform Features and Capabilities
HighGear and Decisions are both packed with promising capabilities.
Let’s scrutinize what’s under their hoods. We’ll explore all the essential capabilities like user-friendliness, visual workflows, AI aptitude, and enterprise-grade qualities to understand where each solution shines or falls short.
Ease of Use
Let’s face it – if an automation platform isn’t intuitive and accessible, no one’s going to want to use it. Complexity is the bane of adoption. Both HighGear and Decisions recognize this and work to provide the perfect balance between automation power and user-friendliness.
HighGear
HighGear stands out for its relentless focus on user-centric design and intuitive interfaces aimed at business users. The platform prioritizes simplicity but doesn’t compromise functionality, so virtually anyone can start leveraging it regardless of technical proficiency.
The highly visual drag-and-drop workflow builder fosters hands-on automation ownership without a single line of code. Supported by dedicated expert support, guided tutorials, tooltips, and intuitive features, HighGear has mastered the art of reducing the learning curve. It benefits from a clean interface that gets users automating rapidly.
Decisions
Decisions offer versatility that appeals to both IT professionals and business analysts who value advanced configuration options. Decisions don’t shy away from complexity, aiming to strike a balance between simplicity and a high degree of customization potential.
Users can tailor Decisions to display the most relevant tools and data for their needs. There are also templated workflows and guided setups to assist those newer to automation.
While Decisions offers customization and guided features, HighGear outshines it with business user simplicity. HighGear’s visual and intuitive interface is hard to beat for straightforward automation adoption.
Visual Workflow Design
HighGear
One of HighGear’s biggest strengths lies in its Visual Workflow Designer, which makes creating workflows astonishingly easy. Whether it’s simple approval processes or highly complex cross-departmental workflows, HighGear users can map out and customize end-to-end solutions.
The Visual Workflow Designer includes such features as color-coded sections that automatically drive metrics, pre-built process templates to accelerate automation, and real-time analytics for data-driven insights.
Another of HighGear’s strengths is multi-user workflow design. Rather than siloed creation, it encourages collaboration, teamwork, and optimization from multiple perspectives. Conflicts are prevented and changes are quickly shared, ensuring alignment with the desired process flows. This visual approach means minimal training is needed to get started designing workflows.
Decisions
Decisions have a complete suite of tools for workflow management. Using the separate Design Studio application, trained admins can create, modify, optimize, and monitor workflows. Decisions offer a range of templates for those unfamiliar with workflow design to serve as a starting point so users can quickly set up common workflows.
Decisions also brings accuracy to automation with its advanced rules engine that codifies business logic down to a science. Administrators are able to visualize which processes are working and those lacking.
At the end of the day, both HighGear and Decisions deliver potent automation to optimize workflows. But HighGear’s visual interface, collaborative features, and focus on business users really set it apart. For rapidly empowering teams to own and innovate their automation, HighGear hits it out of the park.
AI Integration and Advanced Features
The promise of AI is certainly appealing, but many businesses are still getting acquainted with the technology. Prematurely introducing AI can overcomplicate matters if the need isn’t there yet. As with any technology, timing and fit are everything. Jumping into AI too soon may hinder more than help. It’s about walking before running – get familiar with automation fundamentals first, then assess if advanced AI capabilities are truly called for right now.
Decisions
Given Decisions’ deep integration with AI, it’s fitting to discuss this platform’s capabilities first. They make connecting AI tools like ChatGPT to existing workflows smooth sailing. ChatGPT’s text generation skills can be tapped to automate customer service messages, documentation, and more.
Overall, Decisions focuses heavily on blending AI algorithms with their automation workflows. Businesses can experiment with the technology and assess where it can augment processes rather than overhauling them.
HighGear
HighGear also embraces the power of AI, providing easy no-code integration with over 120 AI applications, including ChatGPT, Microsoft AI Services, Google Maker Suite, and many others. The HighGear team is also dedicated to pursuing how they can further couple state-of-the-art AI technologies with their leading no-code workflow platform to provide robust work management solutions.
Enterprise-Grade Capabilities
HighGear
HighGear’s platform is specifically built for enterprises grappling with intricate processes and compliance demands.
The platform ensures companies can handle even the most stringent regulatory requirements efficiently without compromising adaptability. Its infrastructure scales to accommodate enterprise expansion and growth. Importantly, HighGear meets rigorous enterprise-grade security requirements, as evidenced by the trust it has earned from organizations like NASA, Beazley, TC Energy, and various Department of Defense (DoD) organizations over its 15 years. The platform’s top-tier security measures safeguard uninterrupted data integrity and protection.
This purpose-built approach for the big leagues is what HighGear was designed for.
Decisions
While Decisions provides features suitable for enterprises, its focus differs from HighGear. Decisions aims for versatility across company sizes rather than specializing in just enterprise-scale. Its flexible platform can adapt to fulfill the unique needs of both smaller businesses and larger organizations alike.
In essence, HighGear zeroes in on enterprise-grade capabilities purpose-built for large complex organizations. Decisions features don’t match HighGear’s sophistication for global corporations with advanced requirements. There can be no doubt for the big players, HighGear has the capabilities and experience required to meet their demands.
Analytics & Reporting
HighGear
HighGear’s real-time reporting and analytics features greatly outpace Decisions and are in a league of their own. Its dashboards give instant enterprise-wide visibility into status and operations, so expect dramatically improved business efficiency and responsiveness.
HighGear offers extensive custom reporting in bar charts, pie charts, trend lines, and tabular data presentation formats. Users can design, schedule, and export detailed reports in various formats for automated distribution.
HighGear delivers full audit trails and activity logs as a trusted system of record for compliance needs. It also integrates with other business systems like ERP and CRM to efficiently share data.
Decisions
Decisions has basic reporting features like business metrics dashboards, threshold-based alerts, and visualizing statistics within workflows. While decent for simple use cases, it lacks the depth of HighGear’s real-time reporting and analytics features.
Integrations
No business can afford siloed standalone tools that don’t play well with others. When assessing automation platforms, integrations must top the checklist. Even the most powerful standalone solution will underdeliver if isolated.
Both recognize seamless integrations are non-negotiable. As leading no-code automation platforms, expect extensive integration options to meet enterprise needs. Neither solution leaves businesses stranded with isolated islands of automation.
Both HighGear and Decisions aim to intertwine themselves seamlessly into the heart of operations through modern integration architectures.
HighGear
HighGear delivers the extensive integration capabilities needed for enterprise environments to link disparate systems and data. Users can seamlessly sync with thousands of apps through native integrations with platforms like Zapier and Microsoft Power Platform, or connect with any custom homegrown solution through HighGear’s open APIs.
Non-technical users can simply drag and drop to connect workflows across systems. Notable integrations include Office 365, Salesforce, SharePoint, DocuSign, Active Directory, PeopleSoft, SAML, Power BI, Power Automate, and more.
Decisions
Decisions supports a variety of out of the box connections.
Pre-built modules integrate with databases, web services, and REST APIs. For advanced custom needs, the platform features a Software Development Kit (SDK) for developers to create tailored integrations or flow steps integrating with external platforms.
Deployment Flexibility
HighGear is available as an on-premise enterprise solution (compatible with AWS, Azure, Azure.gov, and Azure DoD) or a cloud-based SaaS platform hosted on Microsoft Azure. It can be easily accessed via any device and is scalable across deployment models.
Similarly, Decisions offers hosted and self-managed. It can be self-managed on platforms like Azure and Amazon EC2 or hosted in the cloud.
Pricing and Plans
HighGear
HighGear offers transparent pricing on its website. Plans range from Team, for simple workflows, to Global for enterprise-wide orchestration. Volume discounts are available.
The Team plan provides a blank slate for small teams or proof of concepts. The Department plan supports moderately complex workflows, while the Business Plan handles multi-department automation. The Global plan scales workflows across the entire enterprise.
HighGear also provides a la carte pricing to add workflows, forms, transactions, or storage incrementally as needed. Organizations can easily contact HighGear for personalized pricing, consultations, or to schedule a demo.
With tiered plans scaling from small teams to enterprise-level, plus flexible a la carte options, HighGear’s pricing aims to align affordably with any organization’s needs. They also make it easy to discuss requirements and get pricing questions answered by phone or email.
Decisions
Unlike HighGear’s transparent multi-tiered plans, Decisions does not provide upfront pricing information. Interested organizations must inquire directly with Decisions via email to view pricing.
While HighGear openly shares pricing details on its website, Decisions takes a more closed approach requiring direct contact. Potential customers can schedule pricing meetings or product demos to discuss requirements and obtain quotes.
If we evaluate the options, Decisions have less upfront visibility and require direct inquiry for pricing specifics. HighGear’s openness regarding pricing models gives enterprises more immediate clarity.
Training and Support
When deploying enterprise-level software, comprehensive training and support is a must-have, not just a nice-to-have. The complexity of solutions at this scale means expert guidance and assistance will be required, especially during the initial ramp-up.
Without proper training, enterprises can’t fully utilize the platform’s capabilities. Lackluster support results in solutions languishing when issues arise. The vendor’s commitment to knowledge transfer and customer success is essential.
HighGear and Decisions recognize this truth. From onboarding to ongoing education and issue resolution, both aim to set organizations up for automation success.
Let’s take a look at how they compare when it comes to the two imperative pillars of training and customer support.
HighGear
HighGear provides exceptional customer support and training services to its clients. Their team is comprised of experts who care deeply about helping customers and are empowered to invest as many resources as are needed to ensure customer success. The team is readily accessible through various communication channels, including email, phone, and screen-sharing sessions.
As an added support resource, HighGear also offers a dedicated Customer Success team. A Customer Success Manager is specifically assigned to each client (at no additional cost for the Department license tier and above) who serves as a client’s business process and workflow management coach, mentor/advisor, and client advocate. They are accountable for proactively engaging with each client’s key stakeholders on at least a quarterly basis, and ensuring clients have access to all of HighGear’s vast experience, knowledge, best practices, and personnel to finely tune the platform to solve even the most unique business need. When it comes to training, HighGear offers an integrated set of self-service help resources, which include step-by-step instructions, videos, and comprehensive documentation for troubleshooting.
For those who prefer hands-on learning, HighGear offers complimentary instructor-led training sessions designed to enhance proficiency in process design and effective feature utilization.
Furthermore, HighGear’s support system contains a vast repository of detailed help articles, tutorials, and videos. This extensive resource empowers customers to independently search for answers to their queries.
In addition, the close collaboration between the support team and product development ensures an in-depth understanding of the platform, providing expertise that spans every aspect of it.
Decisions
Decisions arms users with a variety of resources – this includes comprehensive documentation, forums to swap insights, and videos delivering training through demos, webinars, and tutorials.
For live training, Decisions provides onsite workshops to deliver hands-on team sessions. They also offer Submerse, an intensive 3-day in-person course on their platform.
If users still need assistance, Decisions provides email and phone support with their knowledgeable team.
Testimonials and Case Studies
Searching for enterprise-grade software platform reviews often yields less feedback than expected. Rather than reflecting poorly on platforms, this actually stems from the difference between business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) solutions. Enterprise products have much smaller customer bases than consumer apps. And large organizations tend to be more discreet about sharing details publicly.
So the nature of enterprise-grade platforms explains the scarcity of reviews, but that makes the testimonials that are available incredibly insightful for potential buyers with serious use cases. Based on available case studies and testimonials, let’s examine what users highlight about HighGear and Decisions.
HighGear
HighGear showcases an impressive case study portfolio with detailed examples from global finance, healthcare, and technology leaders. Enterprise implementations are highlighted, with examples like an investment management firm managing over $1 trillion in assets using HighGear for major operational consolidation. Reviews on sites like GetApp further validate HighGear’s capabilities, with 20 reviewers scoring the platform a perfect 5 out of 5.
Decisions
Decisions have a similar range of case studies on its website, where you’ll find examples from healthcare, insurance, and financial services firms. Additionally, 16 reviews on GetApp rate Decisions positively, with an average score of 4.4 out of 5.
In Summary
After reviewing HighGear and Decisions head-to-head, a pattern emerges.
For business users seeking uncomplicated enterprise-scale solutions, HighGear delivers with its supremely visual interface and cutting-edge real-time analytics.
Decisions is a capable starting point for basic workflow automation and will appeal more to technically-adept teams wanting greater configuration control.
Both platforms have their place but needs dictate which is the better fit. For enterprise-grade power sans coding complexity, HighGear emerges as the automation juggernaut.
Schedule a customized demo today to see how HighGear can optimize workflows across your business.