Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT Reviews

We're using GoAnywhere mostly for file transfers to different sites. Normally, we allow any incoming transfer. We go out and grab the files and bring them in through the GoAnywhere system.

GoAnywhere makes it easy to move files around. We have quite a bit of information we have to transfer to around 300 different companies that require us to send data on a regular basis. If we did this manually, it would require several employees. 

With GoAnywhere's workflow features, we don't need to write custom programs and scripts for file transfers. We could write them, but it would cost more time and man-hours to get done. By centralizing everything in GoAnywhere, we're able to eliminate 100 or so custom programs and scripts. 

GoAnywhere automates all of the file transfers, so we don't have to do it manually. We're sending out files every minute. It has reduced our workload tremendously and made everything less complicated. We're not necessarily sending out more files, but we're saving time. If I had to quantify it, I would estimate that it cuts our workload by about 80 hours a week.

GoAnywhere centralizes the data exchange, saving us quite a bit of time.

GoAnywhere's interface could be a little more intuitive. It can be hard to grasp at first, but once you have a decent understanding, it's pretty straightforward.

We've been using GoAnywhere for four or five years.

The program is great. We've never really had a problem with stability. We did have an issue with the old server we were running it on, but that's not GoAnywhere's problem.

I've never had any issues with scalability. I'm sure we'll add more jobs to GoAnywhere in the future. We add them every now and then, but it's not frequent. We're already using it fairly extensively. However, we probably don't know what features are available, so we could possibly do more.

We've worked with HelpSystems support, and it has always been excellent. I rate their support 10 out of 10. They helped us transfer several jobs to the new server because the syntax of setting it up wasn't exactly the same. We were migrating from a pretty old version.

Positive

I wasn't involved with the initial deployment, but it takes less than an hour to set GoAnywhere up and move it to a new server. Most of that time was spent moving the jobs over because we had preexisting jobs to move from the old server. It takes one systems analyst to manage GoAnywhere, and it's not a full-time job. 

GoAnywhere is low cost for what it does, and we save a lot of hours with it.

I rate HelpSystems GoAnywhere MFT 10 out of 10. It's a great product that does everything we need it to do. I would advise anyone implementing GoAnywhere to get some training and learn how to build different jobs.

The primary use for GoAnywhere MFT (Managed File Transfer) is to provide control for file transfers.  

Until now, I think the solution very good for me and my clients. If I had to name one thing that I think should be improved, I think it is that there are quite a lot of features and we do not use all of them. So a thing that could be done to improve this situation is maybe for HelpSystems to offer a lite version that also costs a bit less.  

It has only been a couple of weeks now that we have rolled out the product in our company. We did the product selection a few months ago and then we started on a test license. I would guess we have been using it as a company for about four weeks.  

From our experience up until now, I think the product is both stable and scalable.  

We currently have somewhere between a minimum of five and a maximum of ten users. We may be expanding that in the future, but not in the coming year or so. We do plan to continue to use the product.  

For the most part, we have been in a test evaluation phase and we have not needed to use the technical support until now.  

This is actually the first product of this type that I am using.  

I think that GoAnywhere is moderately complex as far as the initial setup. It is quite manageable for our experienced IT employees. We deploy it just by using people who are in our software development team. There is a consultant assigned to our team who could help us if we wanted to use their services, but until now it has gone quite well and we have not had to engage that level of support. We can ask for support if we want it. We just have not had to up until now.  

The cost of the product is a one-time licensing.  

I think it is a bit cheaper than Axway MFT (part of the AMPLIFY platform), but not by much. It could be cheaper if a few of the features that we are not using — and that most of our customers do not use — could be left out.  

I recommend this product for other users who wants to start using it, and we do recommend it all the time.  

On a scale from one to ten (where one is the worst and ten is the best), I would rate this product as an eight-out-of-ten. To improve it in order to rate it higher, it would have to be cheaper. To accomplish that HelpSystems could consider reorganizing the product in a more modular way. In that way, we could just make the solution fit to particular needs and pay for what is used. For most situations, we just need a few small modules instead of the entire solution in one big chunk.  

We are a partner of HelpSystems. They have a branch office in Argentina for all Latin American countries, and we work with them.

We use this solution to connect internet applications that traditionally are isolated. Instead of trying to build very costly interfaces or things like that, we send information from one app to the other app in the easiest but the most secure way possible. We just use MFT, and it does the work for us, but recently, we are being asked to connect not just internal applications but also external web services for government or other regulatory companies. With this type of solution, we are able to integrate not just the internal apps but also the external services. This is pretty much what we do with this solution.

Its speed is the most valuable because every integration used to take months with old SOA tools, integration buses, and that type of stuff. Now, we do integrations in a matter of days.

Security is another valuable thing because every step in the workflow has an audit trace, which is great. This also brings a lot of confidence in automating business process workflows through this type of solution.

Its user interface can be improved. The current user interface is a little basic for some of the use cases. We have to use an external component to enhance it. When we need a more appealing user interface, we use an additional component, and that works okay.

I have been using this solution for around four years.

Its stability is very high because it is installed in a cluster. When used this way, it is pretty stable. It uses a lot of cluster implementation, and the business processes start to be very critical.

Scalability is associated with the hardware. This solution is based on Java technology, so it is able to scale both vertically and horizontally. It has good scalability. 

At this time, we've got two nodes. If we need more, we can add more components. We are not a very big company. So, at this time, it is not an issue for us. If we grow or have more integrations, we would need the scalability there, and I am not afraid of that.

This tool is used to automate processes. It doesn't handle end users. We are automating about 10 to 20 business processes that affect different kinds of users. About 100 to 150 users get to benefit from those automations. They are not necessarily direct users of this solution.

We receive direct support from HelpSystems. Their support is good. I would rate them a nine out of ten. A few cases were handled by the regional team. For a few cases, we received support from their first-level team.

The initial setup was easy. The provider has a lot of knowledge, which made it easy. The deployment is an ongoing process. The initial installation took about one month or so, and the training and being skilled took maybe one or two months more. Since then, the need for automation and newer workflows is there all the time.

It is a good solution, but of course, you need to have the knowledge to be able to automate very quickly. 

I would rate HelpSystems GoAnywhere MFT a nine out of ten.