What is our primary use case?
I use CrowdStrike Falcon for endpoint security and compliance auditing.
How has it helped my organization?
We use CrowdStrike Falcon for discovery when anything goes wrong because it gives us a full history of what's happening. It acts as a preventative model for inappropriate activity. Additionally, we use it for compliance reasons.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of CrowdStrike Falcon is crowdsourcing intelligence.
What needs improvement?
The skillsets needed to run CrowdStrike Falcon are extensive if you want to get the most value out of the tool.
In a future release, the mobile space can use improvement. However, some of those constrained are by Apple and other platforms as to what they can do on the platform. Some of the limitations are industry-based.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using CrowdStrike Falcon for approximately one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of CrowdStrike Falcon is great, I have never had the slightest problems.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
CrowdStrike Falcon is highly scalable.
CrowdStrike Falcon is implemented company-wide on every device.
I have approximately one hundred protected endpoints, but the number of users that log on to the tools is approximately four.
How are customer service and support?
CrowdStrike Falcon needs to better its SE sales engineer team. The people didn't fully understand all the different parts of their solution. It's the endpoint protection and it is the essence of what we're trying to receive, they should know their solution very well.
I rate the support from CrowdStrike Falcon a three out of five.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used an anti-virus solution, but it didn't do all the things I needed regarding endpoint protection. That's why I added the CrowdStrike Falcon piece to the puzzle. I still have the anti-virus running. I don't need it technically, but I still have it running.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of CrowdStrike Falcon is in the medium range of difficulty. You will need a coach and be guided through it.
The time it took to do the full implementation from the beginning to end, from when the contract was turned on, and by the time I turned it on and had everything up was fairly fast because we piloted CrowdStrike Falcon at first. When I bought the solution, it was almost fully implemented. The full process took approximately two months.
I rate the ease of deployment for CrowdStrike Falcon a two out of five.
What about the implementation team?
We had some coaching help from the vendor to do the implementation of the solution. We have three people that can manage this solution.
What was our ROI?
This is not a tool you buy because it gives a return on investment. It's a tool you buy because the cost of not having it is far greater than the cost of having it if you have a problem.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are approximately a hundred different modules you have to purchase, depending on what you want to do. I have most of the modules. How it works is you buy the portfolio, you have to decide all the components you want in it, and then they price out a bundle for you. I have almost all of the package features in my bundle. You only need to pay for the modules you want.
The cost of CrowdStrike Falcon annually is approximately $10,000.
I rate the price of CrowdStrike Falcon a three out of five.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I studied the entire industry before choosing CrowdStrike Falcon. I evaluated many other solutions, such as Manage Engine, Malwarebytes, Checkpoint, McAfee, and Microsoft.
We choose CrowdStrike Falcon because it was fit for the purpose of our business. I needed a cloud solution and I needed it to be a SAS offering that was easy to use. It boiled down to features and fit for purpose, not features and functionality.
CrowdStrike Falcon platform was more robust. It was a true multi-tenant architecture, not a hosted instance. The crowdsourcing nature of CrowdStrike Falcon is a large benefit, all of the threat data is real-time and applied to you real-time from all around the world.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others is to take a serious look at CrowdStrike Falcon. It's a good solution.
I rate CrowdStrike Falcon an eight 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.