Sr. Industrial Hygienist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Helps with organization by facilitating diagramming of complex procedures
Pros and Cons
  • "It works really well for flowcharting, it can label."
  • "It should be easier to transition into a new version without having to spend so much time in just one area."

What is our primary use case?

I am a health and safety professional. I use it for flowcharting, but I also use it for drawing diagrams. 

I will do a technical assessment of a workplace scenario of equipment as well as noise measurements, and I will use Visio to draw out the scale.

There are many images that you can put in there and data to create images of workplace exposures.

How has it helped my organization?

It has improved the way our organization functions.

It's a tool that helped me diagram complex procedures. More as a picture versus words. 

It also for training and letting other people know how to do that same procedure.

What is most valuable?

It works really well for flowcharting, it can label.

Also, being able to pull the finished drawing out and put it in a Word document is easy, and very useful.

It allowed me to do some things and save them really well. And I found many different things to do with it. It's beyond flowcharting.

The latest version has taken some transitioning and it's a bit of a workaround, but it's also been good. I found the ctrl 1,2,3 buttons that I didn't know about and have been very useful. If you hit ctrl 3 it lets you do your line draw.

What needs improvement?

I just uploaded the latest version and using it now, and I'm struggling with it. It's very different than the other version I have used, and I haven't done any tutorials. 

The previous version was easier. It was easy to intuitively figure out what it did. I learned it on my own and it didn't require the review of tutorials. But with this updated version, I am definitely struggling with it. I need to go through the training and go through the tutorials. So far it seems more complex, but maybe it's just different.

It may handle images well, but I don't know yet. It is something that I would like to see in this solution.

It should be easier to transition into a new version without having to spend so much time in just one area. Providing information on what has changed and how to do it would be very helpful.

I would like the option of going back to the way of doing things in the previous version. I don't understand the block system. I had the favorites that I have to build again because somehow they got lost with the upgrade.

In my favorites, I had shapes, fans, and other things. You pull up all of your basic images or search for them, and you could drag them over into your diagram.

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April 2024
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For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Visio for approximately eight years.

We are using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not had any issues with stability. It's a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is easy to scale this solution.

How are customer service and support?

I have never contacted technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, I did not use another solution. It was a discovery. 

I came across Visio, I saw what I could do with it, and I just continued to expand my uses.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. With this new version, it is a bit confusing. 

With the previous version, I was able to have all of my favorites, I was able to pull objects and do an arrow as a connector, and I had to stop and learn how to do that.

I like the way it was earlier, but it could be just my learning curve.

What other advice do I have?

If you have a need for flowcharting, organizing, or creating diagrams, I think you should check it out. It's worthwhile.

Based on my previous experience with the previous versions, I would rate Visio a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
IT infrastructure manager at a legal firm with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 20
A tool that offers plugins with multiple products to offer a range of functionalities to its users
Pros and Cons
  • "The product's initial setup is really simple."
  • "There are some issues in Visio with the connectors, and it gets tricky when you want to connect objects with each other."

What is our primary use case?

I use Visio for high-level network design, and I use it for home planning since it is easy to use.

What is most valuable?

With Visio, one of its core features stems from the fact that you can get plugins for Cisco, Microsoft, etc. In general, Visio provides a plugin for sample diagrams, graphs, etc.

What needs improvement?

It will be a great improvement if Visio gets upgraded to provide its users more in the area of 3D. With Visio, when I plan for a house and the height of its walls, I should be able to view the walls in a 3D mode, which can be a huge product improvement.

SketchUp is a program that is not as easy as Visio to build 3D models. If I want to build a house in 3D mode with Visio, then I should be able to do so with one click that allows me to change the house model from 2D to 3D. I don't have the latest version of Visio, but in the version of Visio I use currently, I don't see any 3D mode provided to users.

There are some issues in Visio with the connectors, and it gets tricky when you want to connect objects with each other. The aforementioned aspect of Visio can be considered for improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Visio for fourteen years. I don't have the latest version of Visio. I don't remember the exact version of the solution.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution. Stability issues only crop up in Visio when there are some normal issues related to Windows or Microsoft Office, which may arise in cases when the system hangs.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I am the only person who uses Visio in my company.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Visio is the first solution I have ever used, which is one of the major reasons why I still stick to it.

How was the initial setup?

The product's initial setup is really simple.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

If I want to buy Visio for myself, I think it will be around 80 to 120 USD, though it is important to consider that I am unsure of its actual costs.

What other advice do I have?

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Buyer's Guide
Visio
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Visio. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
771,170 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Mark Bielz - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Delivery Lead at Arq group
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Intuitive product with easy deployment and maintenance processes
Pros and Cons
  • "The product efficiently visualizes various business processes, including building and networking architecture."
  • "In terms of features, it could provide more automation to display data flowing through architecture."

What is our primary use case?

We use the application for process mapping through architecture. It helps visualize the activities and interactions between 3,000 different systems on the network.

What is most valuable?

The product efficiently visualizes various business processes, including building and networking architecture. It is quite intuitive, and there is a lot of training documentation available. We can import an Excel Spreadsheet with all the essential data, and Visio can build the diagram using it.

What needs improvement?

In terms of features, it could provide more automation to display data flowing through architecture. It should give a real-time data update.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Visio for 20 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable application.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have 30 Visio users in our organization, but soon, we will roll out the product for about 200 users. It is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

I take help from our internal IT staff in case of technical issues. If they need further assistance, they approach Visio’s technical support team.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used Draw.io before. It is free software and designs diagrams quickly. However, it has very limited functionality and is not suitable for enterprises. I would recommend Visio for working on business processes on a day-to-day basis.

How was the initial setup?

The product is easy to deploy and maintain. It takes a few minutes to complete the process and requires one admin executive to work on it. It received automated updates.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product is inexpensive if you already have Microsoft products in your environment. The license encompasses all the required services.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend Visio to others and rate it a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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President at Estrada Technology Associates LLC
Real User
Having the ability to visually depict a concept that we're trying to get across is helpful
Pros and Cons
  • "The thing I like most about Visio is the stencils. As the product has matured over time, it comes with more stencils and objects that you can just pick out of the menu and go with."
  • "It thinks that it knows what you want to do, but it doesn't. It has a way of behaving that can be very frustrating from time to time. Either it moves things about because it thinks its placement should be at a certain place, or it's keeping track of things that you don't necessarily see, so it moves something elsewhere."

What is our primary use case?

I use Visio for visual rendering of technical concepts. I use the stencils that depict different workflows, data flows, or architectural structures from an IT perspective that I could render in other documents like PowerPoint or Word documents.

How has it helped my organization?

Since we work in IT, we deal with very technical abstract concepts. So having the ability to visually depict a concept that we're trying to get across is helpful. When we write documentation, we have to write it for the broadest audience possible. If you can reduce the number of words, either in technical documentation manuals or others, and do it visually, that seems to register with the targeted audience.

What is most valuable?

The thing I like most about Visio is the stencils. As the product has matured over time, it comes with more stencils and objects that you can just pick out of the menu and go with. 

What needs improvement?

It thinks that it knows what you want to do, but it doesn't. It has a way of behaving that can be very frustrating from time to time. Either it moves things about because it thinks its placement should be at a certain place, or it's keeping track of things that you don't necessarily see, so it moves something elsewhere. So when the software requires more keystrokes than one would think to either capture or register a placement, or a drag and drop function that you think should be easily executed, it sometimes doesn't always work that way. Regardless of the skill, the user experience can sometimes be interesting. The predictive behaviors of it at times can be a little bit of a drag.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Microsoft Visio for twenty plus years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

More often than not, stability is not an issue, it's a fairly stable product. I've noticed that when I have multiple products open, like PowerPoint, Excel, Microsoft, and a couple of others, sometimes it begins to act flaky and then I have to start cutting down services or closing things. In general the Office suite, sometimes it can let you know that it's going to start acting funky, or the behavior begins to be flaky. You have to just know by experience that's your cue to cut down services, close windows, close applications, because the robustness of the applications are not allowing you to be as multitasking as you want to be.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is okay. It's like everything else, most people they use at most, 30% of the product's capabilities, so there's a lot of stuff in Visio that doesn't necessarily get used. You don't know that when you do the typical installation, that a good part of the product capabilities are never going to get used. The default configuration is to load everything, as opposed to custom, and it's just easier just to let it deploy everything. As a result of that, there's a lot of functionality that gets pulled in, and memory and CPU that may be consumed that the user would never benefit from. That's just the nature of the beast.

How was the initial setup?

Setup is mostly straightforward, but there are occasions where the installation process can be prone to some issues that may not always be apparent until after you deploy it. Sometimes the installation experience requires expertise. Sometimes it's not always clear if you're going to have compatibility issues with the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version, there's been those type of subtleties in the past.

What about the implementation team?

Since I've worked in different shops, sometimes I have installed it from my own product license that I purchased. So I've deployed it from a physical media and I've deployed it from an on-site provider because I purchased the key and there was no physical media. Then there are other times where the company that I worked for, their end user computing team, or their desktop support team, because they have to keep track of the licenses, they own the deployment and the push down to the user and make it part of their image. Because there's a cost to deploying that product in some variation of the product packaging, they tried to keep control of that. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Just be mindful that the software, while it's helpful, it can behave in ways that can be a little frustrating. A lot of companies say go and find a Visio-like product that can do 70% of what Visio does, for free. There have been companies that I've worked for that said we will not pay the license fee for Visio, go and get a similar product that you can download from the web that can do 70% of what you need it to do. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Visio an eight out of ten. It's a product that's been known. Many people use it. It's got an established install base. It's not flawless by any means, but since it does allow some intimacy with the Microsoft products, that's probably its greatest thing, and in a business environment, that's important. Because of its cost structure, a lot of organizations are trying to figure out if there are alternatives out there, which there are. Those other products can do much of the heavy lifting that Visio does at a cost point that, in some cases, is very attractive.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Kanchi Kh - PeerSpot reviewer
Student at Christ University
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Useful templates, user-friendly, and highly reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "A major benefit of Visio is its user-friendliness. Upon opening the program, you have access to a variety of pre-made templates, saving you time and effort. All you need to do is input your data into the template and you're ready to proceed with your project."
  • "One issue I've noticed is that when working on a shared video link with a friend for Visio, there can be a delay in changes reflecting on their screen after I've made them. This also occurs when we're working on the same document. It would be beneficial if changes could be reflected in real-time. Additionally, I've experienced some text size issues with the flow task feature. Sometimes when I enter text, it appears very small, and increasing the size causes it to extend beyond the diagram, creating formatting issues. It would be helpful if these text and formatting issues could be addressed."

What is our primary use case?

I utilized Visio to craft visual aids for my presentations, including diagrams that visually illustrate data, such as flowcharts. Additionally, the solution was used to generate diagrams that showcase a series of connected ideas using arrow charts.

What is most valuable?

A major benefit of Visio is its user-friendliness. Upon opening the program, you have access to a variety of pre-made templates, saving you time and effort. All you need to do is input your data into the template and you're ready to proceed with your project.

What needs improvement?

One issue I've noticed is that when working on a shared video link with a friend for Visio, there can be a delay in changes reflecting on their screen after I've made them. This also occurs when we're working on the same document. It would be beneficial if changes could be reflected in real-time. Additionally, I've experienced some text size issues with the flow task feature. Sometimes when I enter text, it appears very small, and increasing the size causes it to extend beyond the diagram, creating formatting issues. It would be helpful if these text and formatting issues could be addressed.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Visio for approximately a couple of months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. I did not face any crashing or issues.

I would recommend Visio to individuals who don't necessarily use Microsoft software. With Visio, they can create visualizations and diagrams easily. Additionally, they have the option to download and share their work on their preferred platform, such as Google. Visio can be used for multiple platforms, regardless of whether you use Microsoft, Google, or other cloud-based services such as Amazon Web Services.

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

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In my experience, Visio is highly scalable. I've used it within an organization that utilizes Microsoft OneDrive and Teams for their operations. This allowed for easy integration of Visio with the organization's existing Microsoft software and made it simple to share diagrams and visualizations with anyone in the company, regardless of their position or location within the organization.

We have approximately 1,000 people using the solution in the branch of the company I am working in.

How are customer service and support?

I have not faced any issues to need support.

How was the initial setup?

Setting up Visio is a simple process. You can access it via the website and generate a link, which can be shared with others in just a matter of minutes.

What about the implementation team?

I can do the deployment of the solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

My organization has paid for the solution. However, I have used it personally without payment. There is a free option available.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Visio a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Victor Claveria - PeerSpot reviewer
Logistics Division Manager at 3PL
Real User
Top 10
Easy to deploy, is stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is user-friendly."
  • "The performance sometimes lags and has room for improvement."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution for process mapping and improvement.

What is most valuable?

The solution is user-friendly.

What needs improvement?

The performance sometimes lags and has room for improvement.

The price has room for improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for a few years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I give the scalability an eight out of ten.

How was the initial setup?

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

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was completed in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

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

What other advice do I have?

I give the solution a nine out of ten.

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

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Computing Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Allows us to program in VBA and is easy to use out of the box
Pros and Cons
  • "The fact that you could program in VBA is most valuable."
  • "We need the place and route capability for the lines when we have a database. I use it for architectures, and between the boxes, there are lines or interfaces from one tool to another. I wish those lines could be easily drawn without having to place them mechanically. I wish that there was some kind of place and route capability, so I just press a button, and all the lines get drawn."

What is our primary use case?

I wrote some Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) scripts in the background to graph with my stencils and use the database at the back. In general, I'm using stencils, and I'm using Excel database in the background. With those tables, I am able to grab the data out in the stencils, and then I place it Visio. So, the main drawing area is in Visio, but it uses data in the background.

I am not using its latest version. I am using one version back.

How has it helped my organization?

I use it for computer architecture. I make diagrams of various engineering domains such as mechanical systems engineering and electrical systems engineering. It is used for that purpose, and we're able to better organize our architectures to pictures.

What is most valuable?

The fact that you could program in VBA is most valuable. 

It is easy to use out of the box. It requires little training, which is readily available. You can learn things easily.

What needs improvement?

We need the place and route capability for the lines when we have a database. I use it for architectures, and between the boxes, there are lines or interfaces from one tool to another. I wish those lines could be easily drawn without having to place them mechanically. I wish that there was some kind of place and route capability, so I just press a button, and all the lines get drawn. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Visio for at least 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is definitely good. It works.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It scales, but there is a limit. There is only so much that you can do with the nature of it.

We don't have any intentions to increase its usage, but it is used as a standard tool.

How are customer service and technical support?

I did use Microsoft technical support before but not necessarily for Visio. In general, they're pretty prompt.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In general, I have been using Visio.

How was the initial setup?

It was straightforward to deploy. It probably took hours in reading instructions and so forth.

What about the implementation team?

It was an in-house job.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We have an enterprise license. I'm not sure what the cost is. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Visio a nine out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Mohamed El Wakeel - PeerSpot reviewer
Group IT Business Solutions Manager at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Easy to set up, stable, and has excellent support
Pros and Cons
  • "Drawing flowcharts is the most valuable feature of Visio."
  • "Visio can be more user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

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

What is most valuable?

Drawing flowcharts is the most valuable feature of Visio.

What needs improvement?

Visio can be more user-friendly.

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

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Visio is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I believe Visio is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

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

How was the initial setup?

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

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was completed in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Visio is included with our Microsoft enterprise license.

What other advice do I have?

I give Visio a nine out of ten.

We have over 300 users.

I recommend Visio.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Visio Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Visio Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.