Bonitasoft, a provider of open source process automation tools, has released an updated version of its software that has expanded the number of features it has made available for free. The new update focuses on providing development tools that users of both the open-source model and the commercial edition can use while abiding by strong governance principles.
The update has also made Bonita’s visual programming capabilities open source, enabling users to define processes graphically, define the UI that helps people interact with those processes and go into production for free.
“We made the decision to go open source to make the technology available for free to help people start using automation technologies like business process management and intelligent process management,” Miguel Valdés Faura, founder and CEO of Bonitasoft, tells RPA Today. “We believe there are a lot of people who are interested but don’t have immediate access to those technologies.”
In addition to access, Faura says collaboration and governance are key to effective process automation. The company’s approach to delivering that is by clearly separating visual programming capabilities from coding. This allows professional developers to externalize the code and gives them the freedom to continue to use their existing tools while ensuring a smooth collaboration and project governance with citizen developers.
“We have a platform where we try to address the two personas,” he explains. “For non-developers, everything is visual. For developers, they will continue to code, but we make it very easy for them to use their own tools and own methodologies.”