IA-Connect channels Robotic Process Automation or code instructions over a Citrix ICA session where they are executed in your Citrix session. This allows you to develop and deploy automated processes as if you were automating locally, reducing development time and increasing reliability of processes over remote sessions. Citrix have certified IA-Connect as ‘Citrix Ready’.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has become a true game-changer amongst organisations across industry sectors, emulating the actions of the end user to automate processes which would otherwise require application redevelopment and re-architecture. However, with the use of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, the automation of processes can be problematic, involving increased time and complexity due to the way in which virtual desktop technology displays applications to the end user. 

Up until now this has involved relying on visuals such as screenshots and image recognition for relatively basic automation tasks, increasing the cost of Citrix-based automation for most, diminishing return on investment and resulting in organisations avoiding the automation of Citrix-based applications altogether. IA-Connect solves these problems, enabling you to leverage RPA with your Citrix environment as if developing on a natively installed application or local desktop.

As one of only a handful of Citrix Platinum Partners worldwide, Ultima has developed a deep understanding of Citrix, and as such has launched IA-Connect. Leveraging our pedigree, IA-Connect has been developed to provide Citrix customers with the ability to automate processes in practically the same manner as any other RPA development, by tunnelling through existing Citrix or RDS connections.

Development – Processes automated through a remote session using traditional methods such as Surface Automation can take two to three times as long to develop when compared with standard automation, increasing cost and time to production. Ultima’s IA-Connect removes this complexity and therefore development time is close to parity when compared with standard automation.

Management – As methods such as Surface Automation rely heavily on images and screenshots, automated processes are not as robust as standard automations and changes to screen resolution, colour depth or placement of windows on the screen can cause processes to fail. This can be mitigated to a degree, but the failure rate is still significantly higher and therefore cost to the business due to higher maintenance and risk of process downtime is increased.  Processes developed through IA-Connect are as robust as standard automated processes and are managed in the same manner.

Security – Cloud-based RPA solutions typically require a VPN to access applications and systems which are located within your perimeter. This invariably results in opening a number of additional firewall ports and giving externally hosted software robots native access to your internal systems. Our IA-Connect solution works over a standard-user Citrix session and therefore removes the need for additional firewall rules or software robots being joined to the domain.

IA-Connect works with mainstream automation solutions (for example, Blue Prism, Power Automate, Logic Apps, PowerShell) as an additional component to augment the existing automation functionality.