What is our primary use case?
This is for our end client, who is one of the largest banks in India. There are various branches from the central data center, and we have to connect with all the branches and private networks. There are about 10 locations that are connected.
We are an IT company. We use their products for our end clients. We started this solution with one of our banks. Now, we are extending it to other customers. We have about 200 customers across the world. We are slowly getting this product to other customers.
We use this Infraon IMS for link monitoring, where we want to monitor if the links are up or down. We also needed some alternatives to proactively understand what is required to make the infrastructure strong.
We wanted to automate processes. That is why we bought this tool.
We are using the latest version in the cloud. We are using a few network devices on-premises. For another server, we are using the cloud version. Since it is a private network, we use the on-premises software and SaaS.
How has it helped my organization?
All the information is in one place. It makes our IT teams less busy because we don't have to do anything manually. Using this tool, we are able to give reports to our higher ups. We don't have to manually create reports. This makes it easier for us.
We use the solution to automatically trigger processes to help us resolve issues. The whole IT process has been automated, such as trying to map all the users and the escalation process. So, if any issue happens, we get an SMS and WhatsApp of the report. If there is a critical issue this has to be sorted out, like the entire data center being down, then there is an alarm.
We don't need to hire too many people for support. We have tried to reduce our manpower using this tool and also audits can be automated. Our entire process efficiency has improved.
There is no manual work because the workflows are automated. Everything is transparent with our IT processes using this tool.
What is most valuable?
The product is great. We integrated the ticketing tool with the monitoring tool. The agent ID creation is very easy when using this tool. It is so user-friendly. The user interface is good and also the pricing is great.
The user interface is good, even a business user or layman can raise a ticket.
They provide an all-in-one monitoring tool. If an issue happens, it gets integrated with the email, then proactively that ticket is being raised, which is good.
The reporting is good. It is very clear. It is a customized report; however you want it, you can customize it.
We use the solution’s role-based dashboards. The head of IT wants to use it so he can see holistically what is happening, e.g., what are the tickets being raised, what is a major issue, and what escalations are happening. There are different dashboards that are customized. For our head of IT, we made a separate dashboard. Then, for the executives, we made a separate dashboard based on time, like hourly or daily. All these reports were customized.
While they didn't provide a BI dashboard, they provide a kind of graphical dashboard for whatever the issue is. Once you click on a particular ticket, it drills down to the issue, what it is and when the issue was raised. The drill down is good. It is more like a business intelligence (BI) tool. You can just scroll and zoom in. It goes deep into the issue. Once you click a particular dashboard, it will take you to the next page, then it takes you to the issue.
Infraon IMS provides workflow automation for real-world use cases. This makes our work easier. It is just drag and drop (no coding) to build the workflows. For example, a particular ticket is being raised. It gets routed to three important IT executives within our team. From our team, it gets routed to the next level.
The learning curve is good. Initially, there were no issues. As soon as the users saw the product, they understood what the product was. There wasn't any kind of training required for this product because it is very straightforward.
What needs improvement?
The AI features are missing. Other tools have AI features that automatically predict and understand what is the problem, trying to forecast the problems that might happen. That is not there. I am unsure if there is AI capability in this solution or not, but they should add it, like their competitors.
For how long have I used the solution?
It has been a year and four months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is good because they have a kind of high availability as well as redundancy. If a particular site goes down, automatically the next site picks up. So, there hasn't been any kind of downtime. There have been no issues with it. Even if issues happen, they are just for a minute or so.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We started with 100 devices. Now, we have around 600 devices using this solution. There are 120 IT support people (Level 1 & 2) using this solution. There are around 40 engineers who use this tool to monitor all devices. Then, we have around 10 IT managers who are using this. Also, all the higher ups use it, like the CEO, CIO, and heads of IT.
We will use this solution for a long time. We are adding more users and licenses, so we will grow with this product and not try to take it out of our infrastructure.
How are customer service and support?
The support is good. Once an issue is raised, we immediately get a report from them. Email support is a bit slow. Once you drop an email, it takes time. However, they have a toll-free number. You can call support from that.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using ServiceNow, which is a competitor's product, as well as different tools for monitoring. All of which were expensive, e.g., ServiceNow and SolarWinds. ServiceNow's support was also bad. It took time to get support. ServiceNow came through a partner and did not work directly with us. ServiceNow is the product, but there is a partner below them who resells to us. With Infraon, the partner is not there. We work directly with Infraon.
The good thing about this solution being certified is procedures need to be followed. The certification makes it easier. We were spending almost 10 times the cost of Infraon on ServiceNow, and Infraon has the same features as ServiceNow. I don't think there is any difference between it and ServiceNow. In fact, Infraon was better.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. It took just a matter of a week's time, then we had the tool running. It went live in a week's time.
The configuration for all of the devices was very easy. Configuring all the devices to monitor things, like network devices and desktops. Only the IPs had to be configured, and they were so easy to configure.
The implementation strategy was very straightforward. We wanted all the devices to be configured. We had some clients. Before we had this tool, we were missing a lot of devices. For example, we never knew if something was whitelisted.
What about the implementation team?
Before we had this tool, we spoke to the technical team. They shared the scope of work and made everything very clear.
Our team did the installation.
Maintenance is being done remotely from Infraon.
What was our ROI?
This is a tool just for daily operations. We didn't calculate the ROI for this particular product. It has improved the efficiency of the workforce. We don't use much IT support. We have also reduced the number of IT guys actually using this tool.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
If you are looking for the best product with the best price, Infraon is the best product. We evaluated five to six products and finally felt Infraon was better because of the pricing model, especially because it was more flexible.
The product might have 100 features, but we didn't require those 100 features. We required some 20 or 30 features out of the product, like customizing the web portal. Based on that, the pricing was customized. It is more flexible, in respect to Infraon, but the model was not the same with others. What they do is they give you 100 features, and say, "This is the single price you have to buy."
They don't charge much on the workflow built. Once a product is done, they add some services to it because the workflow doesn't come by default. You need to customize it.
Before you choose Infraon, check all the features that they are providing because their pricing varies based on features. So, you must be clear with them, "These are the features that are required, then this is the cost."
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Zoho, which was a bit complex. Their pricing model was a bit confusing. Zoho didn't have proper certification, i.e., the standard procedures that need to be followed for audits and other things were not being followed by Zoho. With respect to certification, quality of product, and pricing, we felt Infraon was better. Infraon was more flexible in respect to its pricing.
Globally, ServiceNow is a very big brand. ServiceNow is being used for most enterprise customers. Because our customers decide which tool we have to use, we take this solution to our customers, and say, "This is a better tool. Can we replace ServiceNow with this one?"
What other advice do I have?
Before we had this tool, we had to invest a lot on ServiceNow, which is 10 times the cost. I had a bashing from my higher ups, "Why was this tool not being evaluated well before?" The answer was because we always go for brands that are costly. That is something I learned from this particular product. There are companies who sell at lesser cost with good new features.
I would rate this solution as eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
*Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
