Visio Reviews

The solution is easy to set up.

The stability is okay. The performance is pretty good.

It's a very flexible solution. 

It requires a lot of skill to get into it. 

It requires more simplicity. You have two options. Either you go very simple, then it's quite a hurdle to get into it or you go very complex. It's a hurdle too. However, when you decide to go complex, then you know exactly what you're doing. Therefore, the gap between, let's say, a common user and an experienced user is large. For Draw.io, I can point anybody to Draw.io and they can just get in there and do whatever they want to do, and it works for them. Visio requires someone to be more experienced.

There's also a solution called TAG for writing documents, which is awesome. It's mainly used in universities, education areas, and big pharma. It's an awesome tool. It takes a lot of time to get in there, but when you are in there, you can do basically almost every kind of document without any issues. Visio is much more similar to this. There's complexity and yet you can do anything within it.

I'm not used to the new versions of Visio. There is a standard version. Always when I get in there, I get frustrated as I can't do the things that I like. The usability could be improved.

Stencils are always an issue, however, this depends on the vendors.

The stability can get iffy if you are doing very complex things. 

I've used the solution quite extensively during the last ten years. It's been a long time. 

The stability really depends on what you're using and what you're doing. When you get complex, you can get some crashes. I have never figured out why that is. It may happen when you have different cards or registers with a lot of things linked together and grouped. For standard usage, it's awesome. When you do more complex things, well, you might have issues.

I can't say a thing about scalability. 

I can't speak to technical support as I don't deal with them. We have in-house support and our in-house support is abysmal. What happens after them, I really can't say. If you call them to ask questions, they just say, "We have to look it up." And that's the last thing you hear. That, however, is an internal issue. It's nothing to do with the quality of the support in general.

We did not previously use a different solution. 

I do now use Draw.io a lot.

The implementation process is quite simple and straightforward. 

Deployment times vary. It depends on how you manage it. If you do a good management process, with document templates and everything, it takes a lot longer. We basically just made packages and rolled them there, using the variables. I'm not a package filler, however, for us, it was easy.

I can't speak to how many people now manage the solution as it is completely outsourced. We don't manage it ourselves. 

We handled the implementation in-house. We did not need to hire any consultants or integrators.

I can't speak to the cost of the solution. We are using just the standard licensing terms for an enterprise license agreement with Microsoft, where we basically have a lot of things in there. I don't think it's included in any Office Microsoft 365 licenses. We basically just have a subscription for every license we're using, however, I can't speak to pricing or terms. 

I have to let Visio go as most often it's too complex and it takes too much time. I'm rather using Draw.io, which is by far enough for almost everything I do expect if I am really drawing up complex cabling things in a building, for example.

I'm just an end-user. The company I work for is a customer. We don't have a special business relationship with Visio.

I'd give new users the same advice I do for every tool. Be really clear on what you want to achieve. Be really clear that when you do it and do it in a strategical and tactical way. Don't do a single deployment and don't just install it and let users do their thing. Agree on templates, stencils, et cetera, that you're using within the company, and keep it simple and crisp, as simple and crisp as possible.

After using the solution for ten years, I would rate it at an eight out of ten.

I use it for diagramming networks, racks, data centers, data flow applications, etc.

I am using its latest version. We have an M-365 membership, so we can access it in the cloud, but we download the application because it works better.

It is a useful tool to map data flows, network objects, and computer science technology and show to clients. It does what I need it to do. It's a tool I've used the longest, so I know it the best, and that's probably the claim to fame.

Sometimes, there is a little bit of a learning curve with it, especially while doing complex network diagrams and getting the lines to snap the way you want them and not overlap or be confusing. It would be great if there was a built-in tutorial. It is not that you can't YouTube, but it would be nice if they gave you some free training. I've been using it forever, but every now and then, I got to do something complicated with it and I wonder how do I do that again. Maybe they do have such information, and I don't know. I have not done research on it because a bunch of people work for me, and some of them are better at it than I am, so I just ask them to do this for me.

There are some applications that you can run in an environment, and they will run through, do auto-discovery, and map the network environment. It would be great to see something like that in Visio, but Microsoft probably doesn't want the hassle of having to deal with it because all the ones out there don't work that well anyway. In order to work well, you have to give them a ton of access to your routers and switches, and nobody wants to do that because it is a security issue.

I have been using this solution for 15 years.

Its stability is excellent. It is a very stable application.

It is basically a client application, and it has one to one ratio in terms of the application being installed on the client. So, I'm not sure how it scales.

We have 15 users. All are technical architects and engineers. Its usage is moderate. It is just an as-needed tool, but everybody in our two teams needs it.

I never had to contact Visio's technical support.

If I did, it was a long time ago. Sometimes, we use PowerPoint for simple diagrams. Obviously, it's not nearly as powerful, but in a pinch, it works.

It is pretty basic, but I've been using it for 15 years. So, you get some stencils, and you build some templates.

We probably have an M-365 E3 license.

It had the same struggles the entire time it has been around. It is a good tool, but it got a little bit of a learning curve. Sometimes, you got to figure out how to make the line snap correctly so it is not really confusing, but it is a valuable tool. People want to use it.

I would rate it an eight out of ten. It is a really good application for what it does. I'm sure there are one or two other solutions out there that are pretty good, but I don't have a lot of exposure to them.

I use the tool mainly for project tracking. I also use it for the system design of sequence diagrams and the like. I use MS Visio for crafting my flowcharts and network connectivity mock-ups.

Visio is outstanding because it has features that are useful for project management. However, Visio lacks some features that are available on Jira and Trello. If these features are made available on Visio, then they can make your work easy. I was not guided by a person nor did I use any training for working with Visio. I just picked it up and started using it. Visio is not complex since it is a Microsoft product. Visio is always updated with new features that have made it more robust and enterprise.

The modeling features that aid my flowcharting, sequence diagrams, and project tracking are the most valuable. Creating network architectural diagrams has been made easier for me using Visio.

The Burndown chart for easier tracking of the progress of any task needs improvement. I would also recommend that the components of Visio be made to use colors to denote and differentiate them from each other especially when working with large diagrams. This will help to eliminate or at least reduce any form of confusion.

I have been using the solution for the past ten years.

I have not encountered any stability or performance issues with the tool.

Visio is not as scalable as other tools due to the proprietary restriction. You cannot customize it or scale it up like the way you do with Trello or Jira. Microsoft places restrictions on things that you can do with Visio.

MS Visio Customer Service has so far been incredibly professional. I get spot-on responses to my queries almost immediately.

Positive

I had used Enterprise Architect but I found Visio much easier to use.

Visio is quite simple to set up.

I implemented Visio in-house.

The time I invested in learning how to use Visio has paid off because I can use it to complete my projects quicker. My clients are also happy because the delivery timeline for the projects I did for them using Visio has reduced by 35%.

Cloud-based tools are always cheaper since they are subscription-based. I use the on-premises version of Visio hence the price is quite expensive. However, I believe that the cloud version may not be as expensive as the on-premises version.

Yes, I evaluated Enterprise Architect.

I would rate Visio an eight out of ten. The solution is more linear than Trello. Anyone looking to try the solution should go ahead. Visio comes with a trial version which you can use to learn about the tool. If you get familiar with Visio, it is then easy to use more complex solutions that come with a lot of features. However, the advantageous features can be destructive as well. For instance, you want to do something, but you may get distracted, and end up not doing that thing. Visio is quite straightforward and good for beginners.

We primarily use Visio for creating business process diagrams and flowcharts.

Drawing flowcharts is the most valuable feature of Visio.

Visio can be more user-friendly.

I would like to have a drag-and-drop option within Visio.

I have been using Visio for many years across various versions.

Visio is stable.

I believe Visio is scalable.

We have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft that includes premier support service.

Our IT department completed the initial setup and deployment, which was straightforward.

The implementation was completed in-house.

Visio is included with our Microsoft enterprise license.

I give Visio a nine out of ten.

We have over 300 users.

I recommend Visio.

I use the solution for process mapping and improvement.

The solution is user-friendly.

The performance sometimes lags and has room for improvement.

The price has room for improvement.

I have been using the solution for a few years.

The solution is stable.

I give the scalability an eight out of ten.

The initial setup is straightforward. The deployment took under 15 minutes by following the documentation.

The implementation was completed in-house.

We pay annually for the Visio license and it is expensive.

I give the solution a nine out of ten.

Visio is user-friendly and I recommend the solution to others.

We use the tool for creating system plans and some hardware equipment structure.

I find the control flow and settings features valuable.

The control flow feature needs to be improved. I compared Visio to Bizagi and found that control flow is better with Bizagi. The improvements that can be made to the solution depends on the user. We don't want to restrict a user on what he can use and for what.

I have been using the solution for several years.

I have found Visio to be a stable solution.

Visio is a scalable solution. We have around 20-25 users for the tool.

The support for Visio from Microsoft is fine and subscription-based. We have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft so the subscription is for three years. Therefore, we can solve all types of problems that Visio has.

The setup of Visio is straightforward.

The pricing of Visio is much better. It has a free version of the cheapest functionality which is enough for us.

I am using the latest version of Visio. I would rate the solution a seven out of ten.

I use this solution for documenting architectures and workflows.

It's a rich-client application, so it's deployed on-premises.

There are about 10 people who use this solution in my organization. We would use it more if the solution were less expensive.

In the future, I will have other licensing models for infrequent users so that they can pay per use for the solution.

The usability in general is good. The integration of uploading custom stencils is also very nice.

Integration with other software would be an area of improvement, so that it's not just used to document but also as a center plane for information sharing. I would like to have the ability to click on things and be redirected to the application all throughout the process flow.

In the next release, I would like them to provide an application store for stencils from different vendors where we can download new icons and drawing elements.

I have worked with this solution for ten years.

The stability is mature.

It's a one-to-one application. I don't think there's a need to scale. It's expensive to deploy too many seats, especially if people only need it a few times a year. 

Initial setup is simple.

Implementation was done in-house.

The price could be more flexible for infrequent users. If it's your main utility that you use daily, then it's a good price.

I would rate the pricing as two out of ten.

We also evaluated Lucidchart. The cost is the main difference.

One is an online solution, and the other is a native application. There are some functionality differences, but it's a big competitor because it scales much easier, and it has a lower cost for infrequent users. 

If your company usually standardizes on one tool and then you try to exchange information with infrequent users, then obviously the power users move to the tool that's also accessible and usable by the infrequent users.

I would rate this solution as nine out of ten. It's a good tool.

I use Visio for designing diagrams and flowcharts. It is user-friendly and easy to use compared to other options. Although many people in my company use AutoCAD, I am not familiar with it. For all the designing, charts, and diagrams, I use Visio. If someone requests an AutoCAD format, I will design it in Visio and then forward it to our team who is responsible for converting it to a CAD file.

The main reason I choose Visio is that it is easy to use. The user interface is familiar and straightforward. Additionally, it offers a variety of templates, such as those for Cisco solutions, which make it easy to create diagrams for specific use cases. For example, we use a Cisco Meraki switch and we can find the exact template for it, then we can easily drop in the components and connect the cables to create the diagram.

Searching for specific templates within the program can be difficult. For example, if I need a template for an electrical diagram with certain symbols, it can be challenging to find it.

I have been using Visio for approximately three years.

I rate the stability of Visio a nine out of ten.

The scalability could be better for the cloud version.

I rate the scalability of Visio a six out of ten.

I did not use the support from Visio.

I have used some open-source solutions in the past but I prefer Visio.

The setup of Visio is simple.

The solution is expensive. The solution does come bundled in other packages.

I rate the price of Visio a three out of ten.

I rate Visio a seven out of ten.