What is our primary use case?
I have been working more than seven years in the AWS cloud solutioning part.
My main use case for Firefly is for AWS solutioning and building the infrastructure as code, because infrastructure as code is a standard for building new infrastructure. I used Firefly for building new code.
A specific example of how I used Firefly for infrastructure as code in my AWS solutioning work is when I was starting a new project and needed to write the entire infrastructure as code from scratch, similar to any Terraform or CloudFormation resources. Firefly helped me from scratch to building a solid infrastructure as code and deploying my resources on the cloud, leading to end-to-end delivery for infrastructure.
Regarding my main use case for Firefly, during the project, we had many resources manually created, making it difficult to find and standardize building the infrastructure code. Firefly's UI and visualization dashboard helped me find those resources, allowing me to transform and build infrastructure code that met the necessary compliance standards.
What is most valuable?
The best features Firefly offers include cost saving and drift detection, which native infrastructure as code solutions do not provide. Drift detection and governance are great features for Firefly that help me identify unutilized resources that can save costs.
Firefly's drift detection and governance help me day-to-day by notifying me of any configuration drifts, such as when developers change configurations that I cannot control. For example, if I have a number of VMs running and their configurations are changed, Firefly alerts me to these changes, allowing me to identify gaps in configurations that can be corrected.
Firefly's accuracy and reliability in output are impressive, with approximately 80% accuracy in building the required code for various services from the foundation services like EKS and VPC.
Firefly has positively impacted my organization mainly through cost savings and governance. It allows me to have a centralized dashboard for a complete view of my AWS accounts to find problems easily. Additionally, it has saved me time because I no longer need to write every Terraform from scratch, as Firefly provides best industry practices code.
For example, I monitored my database instances and found that someone had expanded the ACU size from the required number to ten times more, which began costing me $10,000 monthly extra for one AWS account. Firefly detected this and saved me the $10,000 extra expenditure.
What needs improvement?
In terms of improvements for Firefly, it can be made more AI native, though it already has a powerful Thinkerbel AI agent for recovery. There are initial setup and dependency requirements that could be made easier for broader audiences, and the UI can feel overwhelming for teams just starting their infrastructure as code journey, so more tutorials would be beneficial for beginners.
The documentation could be enhanced to help new users navigate the platform more effectively.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working more than seven years in the AWS cloud solutioning part.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Firefly is stable and I have not experienced any downtime or reliability issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Firefly's scalability is impressive; as we add new AWS accounts and requirements, it has handled the growth well without any challenges.
Firefly's performance and speed when handling large-scale infrastructure have been good, with no noticeable slowdowns, although our initial learning speed as a team was slow.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support for Firefly has been good, as we can easily reach them through ticketing or email, and our issues are typically resolved within the required SLA.
I would rate customer support an eight out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not used any paid infrastructure as code solutions before; we were utilizing Terraform for manual coding of everything. Firefly has made the implementation process easier and allowed for standardized processes.
Prior to choosing Firefly, I evaluated some Terraform Enterprise solutions, but we decided to go with Firefly because it supports multi-cloud environments and offers the enriched solutions we were looking for.
How was the initial setup?
Firefly handles updates, patches, and ongoing maintenance smoothly by following a rolling update process, which has not caused any downtime for my application workloads.
What about the implementation team?
Customizing Firefly to meet my organization's unique needs on the AWS platform is manageable, as best practices are readily available online, so I have not faced significant challenges in this area.
What was our ROI?
I see a return on investment because Firefly allows fewer resources to be needed for project delivery, resulting in a win-win situation for staff efficiency.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Regarding pricing, I feel there should be some free options available for new users, but overall, I find the pricing acceptable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Prior to choosing Firefly, I evaluated some Terraform Enterprise solutions, but we decided to go with Firefly because it supports multi-cloud environments and offers the enriched solutions we were looking for.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Firefly around 7.5 out of 10.
I gave Firefly a 7.5 because it is very good for organizations looking to expand their cost saving and governance capabilities. However, understanding how it fits into existing complex systems can be challenging, so I expect more integration improvements. For greenfield applications or infrastructure, Firefly is a top tool.
Firefly provides helpful security recommendations and notifications about non-compliant cloud resources and can build a dashboard for tracking compliance fixes. I want to further explore how to remediate these issues using their AI agents in the next six months.
Firefly handles compliance and regulatory requirements well by allowing us to define client-specific standards like HIPAA or ISO compliance. Once rules are set up, Firefly helps identify necessary remediation and governance.
I purchased Firefly through the AWS Marketplace.
I believe we have covered most of the improvements needed for Firefly, particularly related to agentic workflows.
I have primarily used Firefly on AWS as I am an AWS native user and have not integrated it with any other cloud vendors, though the documentation suggests it supports multiple vendors.
The learning curve for new users adopting Firefly can be overwhelming; I believe improvements in onboarding and training materials are necessary to facilitate quicker adoption.
My advice for others looking into using Firefly is that if they have a new team developing greenfield environments on AWS, Firefly will provide an extra hand to help start quickly and correctly by following best practices.
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?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)