What is most valuable?
All the features are useful. When it comes to application monitoring, AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring provides smooth connectivity to different applications. There is an EEM module that is highly visible and ensures a good user experience when customers access their applications on the cloud for a long time. In general, the features are a good fit for our operations.
What needs improvement?
In user monitoring, AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring should provide a better user experience. It needs to offer an end-to-end experience, including the internet layer and third-party elements that come into play on websites. Instead of focusing solely on the performance of the application web layer, it should have the inclusion of other domains like the internet, DNS, third parties, and caches that affect the user experience.
There should be more options for more options for customizations to third-party visibilities.
Another area of improvement is faster support. The response time could be faster.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using AppDynamics for five years. However, we do not use the very latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Even in terms of stability, AppDynamics have fine-tuned features. They provide frequent updates, twice a year. So the product is pretty stable.
I would say the stability of AppDynamics is an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
You can easily scale it. So I would say the scalability of AppDynamics is an eight out of ten.
AppDynamics is quite a mature product. You can even increase the scalability without affecting your environment.
How are customer service and support?
Customer service and support are pretty good. The aligned support and customer support experience is quite good. If you raise an issue or a request, they will get back to you within the estimated time and resolve it for us.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have explored other options. There are other solutions in the market, like CatchPoint. But the problem is we wanted an end-to-end solution that integrates well with our existing systems, and AppDynamics fits that requirement.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup depends on the environment. For example, if a customer wants a secure setup, I would say it's moderate, not overly complex.
If a customer doesn't prioritize security policies based on the security architecture and they don't care much about it, then it's an efficient tool.
I would rate the initial setup a five out of ten for the average user, where one being difficult and ten being easy. Five is the highest rating I would give. It's more towards excellent, I would say.
What about the implementation team?
We have it on-premises because that's where we can slice and dice and offer to the customer. That's what I suggest. If it's ISPs or CSPs, it should be on-premises. If the customers want, they can go with SaaS.
The deployment time varies from company to company. If it's fast, it probably takes a week to get it up and running. But if it's on-premises, it takes around four weeks.
Just two people are required for the deployment. If it's not an existing timeline, then it may require more people. If it's an existing timeline, then it may require more people.
The implementation does matter based on how many applications you want to monitor and how complex those applications are. If it's an on-premises setup you want to pursue, or if it's a SaaS version you want to pursue. All these factors contribute to the overall resourcing. So, how do you want to add into it? If we take a simple scenario, like a single application with two tiers, I would say two resources are more than enough. But if it's on-premises and you have twenty-five applications and a timeline to achieve it within three months, then more resources are required. That's how it works.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring is costly. If I have to rate the pricing, I would say seven because it's really expensive, with one being low and ten being high.
The pricing needs to come down. Many customers find it expensive, so that's why I'm rating it a seven.
What other advice do I have?
If you want to have end-to-end visibility into your applications, from users to endpoints, I would recommend using AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring. It's also a good choice if you want visibility into customer conversations.
Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner