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Process engineer at Siemens Industry
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Basic process diagramming tool
Pros and Cons
  • "The valuable feature about Visio is it has all the basic tools for creating processes."
  • "Visio's scalability could be improved. I had a license through my school and it would have been great to be able to collaborate with more people."

What is our primary use case?

My primary use case of Visio is diagramming. It's useful for diagramming any type of process you would want to describe. 

What is most valuable?

The valuable feature about Visio is it has all the basic tools for creating processes. 

What needs improvement?

Visio's scalability could be improved. I had a license through my school and it would have been great to be able to collaborate with more people. 

As for additional features, all these tools differ and Visio has the basics. I don't think it needs to be something more because it's Visio, it's a Microsoft product. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Visio for two years. 

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is okay. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability could be improved. When I was in school, it wasn't possible to collaborate with others. 

How are customer service and support?

I have never contacted Microsoft's technical support. 

How was the initial setup?

The installation was straightforward and I had no problems. It's the same installation process as other Microsoft software: you pay for it, a few clicks, and you're there. 

What about the implementation team?

I implemented this solution myself. 

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

Visio is the cheapest solution because it has the basics. Everyone starts with Visio for designing processes because doing it in PowerPoint is a mess. I'm still a student, so I don't pay for licensing. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Visio a five out of ten. When I need to do something simple, Visio is okay. I would recommend this solution to others. 

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1655025 - PeerSpot reviewer
Portfolio Architect at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Uncomplicated installation, many templates available, but modern update needed
Pros and Cons
  • "Visio has allowed us to create good diagrams for our technical employees to consume. The solution provides templates, is straightforward, and has tools for the easy creation of diagrams."
  • "The solution could improve by making it more modern."

What is our primary use case?

We use Visio in my organization to create architecture diagrams.

What is most valuable?

Visio has allowed us to create good diagrams for our technical employees to consume. The solution provides templates, is straightforward, and has tools for the easy creation of diagrams.

What needs improvement?

The solution could improve by making it more modern.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used Visio for approximately 15 years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Every group in my organization can use Visio and approximately 150 people use it. It is a tool that design engineers and architects teams use most. We have approximately 150 people that use it.

How are customer service and support?

I have not needed technical support.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is not complex.

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

The price of Visio is reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Visio a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Visio
June 2025
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Business Process Manager at a maritime company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Very good process modeling and very stable at a reasonable cost
Pros and Cons
  • "Process modeling is a good feature."
  • "Lacks an interface with workflow capability."

What is our primary use case?

I'm the business process manager and we are customers of Visio. 

What is most valuable?

The process modeling is a valuable feature for us.

What needs improvement?

The solution could include better modeling and an interface with workflow capability, better integration would make the Visio to Power Automate connection a lot better. I'd like to see a feature that would enable the creation of a library of process models that could be linked to roles within the organization.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for ten years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. 

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

I think licensing costs are reasonable. 

What other advice do I have?

If you're looking for a business process modeling tool, there are other options out there designed with that in mind. Visio is a good general diagram tool, but not specifically for business process management.

I rate Visio eight out of 10. 

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1621242 - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
A standard and easy-to-use solution, but it needs more flexibility
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a standard and easy-to-use solution from Microsoft, and you benefit from the general functions of Microsoft solutions. It integrates easily with SharePoint, which is a useful tool from Microsoft."
  • "It is not flexible in terms of functions and modeling deliverables. When you speak of processes, the program has to describe the activities and the deliverables. You have to tell your robots how to deal with and input something, and you should have something more flexible from this point of view."

What is our primary use case?

We use Visio for mapping all the processes. It is a BPMN solution for us.

We are most probably using its latest version. 

What is most valuable?

It is a standard and easy-to-use solution from Microsoft, and you benefit from the general functions of Microsoft solutions. It integrates easily with SharePoint, which is a useful tool from Microsoft.

What needs improvement?

It is not flexible in terms of functions and modeling deliverables. When you speak of processes, the program has to describe the activities and the deliverables. You have to tell your robots how to deal with and input something, and you should have something more flexible from this point of view.

For how long have I used the solution?

I got Visio just a few months ago.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I don't know. At this moment, it is just used to map and see where we are. We are just trying to use this. At this moment, we like it, but we'll see with time.

How are customer service and technical support?

I didn't have to call Microsoft so far, but I might do so in the future.

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

I have used MEGA, and I feel Visio is better than MEGA because it is a BPMN tool, and it is standardized.

I have also used the free version of Camunda. It is a service, and it is easy and very fast, but it is not so well known. 

How was the initial setup?

It is easy.

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

It is a free solution for us. It is integrated with our pack. We are trying to use the solutions that we already have. 

What other advice do I have?

I am not sure if I would recommend this solution. It is not perfect, of course, but it is also not so bad. It is just a modeling system. If you want to go further and simulate the processes, you will have to use other tools. 

I would rate Visio a seven out of 10.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1616451 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Architect at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
MSP
Extremely flexible and easy to customize; simplicity is a key feature
Pros and Cons
  • "Great at illustrating advanced topics which helps my team understand what I'm trying to get across."
  • "Lacks stencils for new technologies in the solution."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case of this product is to create diagrams for the solutions I'm designing. Others may use it to provide graphical explanations of complex topics, or even for organizational charts. We have around 20 users in very different roles - IT, processing, design, or those in more technical roles. We are a customer of Visio and I'm a solution architect. 

How has it helped my organization?

Visio helps to depict what's on my mind, it flows between the different components that we're designing. Visio is very good at illustrating advanced topics which helps my team understand what I'm trying to get across

What is most valuable?

The valuable feature is the simplicity of drawing shapes and connecting them. It's very easy to customize and then group the activities so the solution offers a lot of flexibility. It really provides value. 

What needs improvement?

I'd like them to include more stencils for new technologies in the solution. There are plenty of stencils available on the web but it requires researching, downloading, and testing what works. There are some common ones such as when you're working with technologies like Microsoft but it takes me some time to download clip art and try to make them myself.

I would love to see an option to drill down collapsed sections of the diagrams as well as an option to navigate through different pages of diagrams, something that can be more easily summarized, and then go on to the details.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for 10 years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable solution and there's very little maintenance required. We have a software specialist in the company and that person takes care of all the laptops.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward, it takes around half an hour. 

What other advice do I have?

This is a very powerful and useful tool. You can create all types of diagrams and I consider it a must-know option.

I rate this solution a nine out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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IT Project Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Not user friendly out-of-the-box but is fun to use and is very stable
Pros and Cons
  • "It's my understanding that the initial setup is straightforward."
  • "It's not the easiest software to use. It's not user-friendly out-of-the-box."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for tasks such as work charts, network diagrams, and process flows.

How has it helped my organization?

Process flows are probably the task we do the most. It's just how she diagrams, how a piece of software or a process should work. It's improved our organization.

What is most valuable?

It's pretty basic and fun to use.

You can go to YouTube and watch training videos. There's lots of information online about the product.

The solution can scale.

The product is quite stable.

It's my understanding that the initial setup is straightforward.

What needs improvement?

It's not the easiest software to use. It's not user-friendly out-of-the-box.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for about 20 or so years. It's been two decades; it's a long time.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is excellent. It never breaks, and I've used it for 20 years. Its performance is reliable. It doesn't crash or freeze. There are no bugs or glitches. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution can scale. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so with relative ease.

We have around 200 people who use it in the company.

As of right now, we do not have plans to increase usage.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is fine, as long as you can get a hold of someone. that can be tricky.

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

Prior to this solution, it's unlikely we had a different product. It was 20 years ago, and therefore it's been a long time.

How was the initial setup?

I didn't directly deal with the initial implementation. We have a team in-house that handles deployments. I can't speak to what the process was like or how easy or hard it was. Likely, setting it up was pretty straightforward and deployment takes a day. At least, that is my understanding.

We have a dedicated team that handles deployment and maintenance.

What about the implementation team?

We have our own in-house team that can manage the implementation. We did not need the assistance of an integrator or consultant.

What was our ROI?

After 20 years of using the solution, our company has definitely seen an ROI. I don't have exact details, however.

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

We have an enterprise license. We renew it on a yearly basis. We don't pay any extra fees and we partner with the Gartner group to help us when we have to renegotiate.

What other advice do I have?

I'm using the latest version of the solution. I can't speak to the exact version number.

We use both cloud and on-premises deployment models at this time.

I'd advise any company considering using the solution should first have a Microsoft team in place.

I'd rate the solution at a five out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1537254 - PeerSpot reviewer
Executive Director, Global Technology Director at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
A stable diagramming and vector graphics application with a useful automation feature
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the way you can hypertext across tabs so you can actually create an interactive that you can export as a website. You can also extend it to a monitoring tool if you really wanted to."
  • "The price could be better."

What is our primary use case?

We use Visio extensively for creating architecture, network and workflow diagrams. Also used for UML Class diagrams and various types of flow charts 

How has it helped my organization?

We use it to create diagrams used for architectural review. It's a great tool to create diagrams to show how an infrastructure or software architecture has being designed and then review that with the other domain architects.

What is most valuable?

I like the way you can Hyperlink objects to a URL, local file or other tabs within the same diagram. I use this to create an Overview tab with a high level digram and then link objects in the Overview to other tabs with more detail on that object. You can also save the diagram as a html page and then host on a local server to create an interactive diagram. You can also automate the creation of diagrams with PowerShell

What needs improvement?

Would be nice if visio viewer didn't require active-x.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Visio for over 15 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable solution. It's Visio. It just works.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is fine. It runs on each individual client. I haven't used any of the team integration hooks. We have a lot of technologists that use it and we're trying to make a move to move those architecture diagrams to be more driven by code by leveraging C4 and then model driven design through MagicDraw and that's a new journey for us. I think there are still going to be a large number of teams that still end up using Visio as it's very versatile. 

How was the initial setup?

It's all automated for our firm by our department. I run it on my Mac as well, and it's super simple to set up.

What about the implementation team?

We do everything ourselves. We set up and deployed this solution.

What was our ROI?

It's better than using PowerPoint or something else to draw the diagrams. 

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

It's not the cheapest product, but it's extremely valuable.

What other advice do I have?

I would tell potential users that it depends on how you use it. You can use Visio for everything from designing networks to organizational charts. You can also use it for so much more as it's a very versatile tool. There are a lot of Visio stencils that are available on the web. Use those.

Just do your homework. But there's just a lot of people who have contributed to creating various open-source Visio stencils. Most product vendors have already created those stencils. You don't need to go and recreate it on your own. You can go to NetApp or VMware, or Cisco and download the stencil for their products. Then it makes it very easy to use and integrate.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Visio a nine.

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?

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1544973 - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure Architect at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Real User
Phenomenal built-in templates, very stable, and easy and quick to deploy
Pros and Cons
  • "A lot of built-in templates are really phenomenal. They cut down the time when you're trying to get something out. They reduce the complexity that technical folks like to put into things that have to be given to technical folks."
  • "Some of the improvements that have been made in Visio have not been beneficial, at least to me, personally. Too many things have been added to it, and it makes it kind of clunky sometimes. There is an overwhelming desire or competition to continue to improve it when the product is and has been pretty good, and some of what is done tends to clutter it. In some cases, the updates make it more difficult to use. It is already pretty feature-heavy and continuing to add stuff is not productive from my perspective."

What is our primary use case?

Company-wide, it is used a lot for flow charts. From an IT perspective, we use it quite a bit for network diagrams and documentation. The Human Resources team uses it for organizational charts.

In terms of deployment, we have a kind of mixed deployment. I tend to use an on-prem version that is loaded directly on my machine. We are all Office 365, so a bulk of our users use it as a cloud-based downloadable solution, which is a part of their Office 365 implementation.

How has it helped my organization?

It helps us to secure business and C-suite leadership approval on projects. For lack of a better term, it dumbs down technical solutions so that everybody can understand them. It provides a nice middle ground. We have a lot of really talented engineers on staff, but they tend to get lost in the technical minutia, and the business gets bored with that. 

What is most valuable?

A lot of built-in templates are really phenomenal. The templates assist in translating very complex design elements into understandable diagrams that non-technical folks can grasp.

What needs improvement?

Some of the improvements that have been made in Visio have not been beneficial, at least to me, personally. Too many things have been added to it, and it makes it kind of clunky sometimes. There is an overwhelming desire or competition to continue to improve it when the product is and has been pretty good, and some of what is done tends to clutter it. In some cases, the updates make it more difficult to use. It is already pretty feature-heavy and continuing to add stuff is not productive from my perspective. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for 10 to 15 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I don't have any input on that. In terms of the number of users, we probably have a couple of hundreds of users of Visio. They are from the IT and the infrastructure side. We have Applications users and Human Resources users. We have a manufacturing organization, so we have program managers who manage various customer products, and they use it as well.

It is used fairly extensively throughout the organization. Our usage is okay for now, but we're always one acquisition away from that going out the window.

How are customer service and technical support?

I've never used technical support for Visio.

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

It has always been Visio. Prior to using Visio, it probably was Paint or whatever program was available at the time.

How was the initial setup?

It is straightforward. It takes very little time to deploy.

What about the implementation team?

It is done in-house. In terms of maintenance, because we're loading it from the cloud, if there's an update, that's taken care of with the regular Office updates. So, pretty much everything is on the front end, that is, getting it from a business standpoint, getting the approval for the license and the cost associated with the license, and getting it installed. Once it is in, it is usually off to the races.

What was our ROI?

We have definitely seen a return on investment.

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

We're in a Visio plan that is like $15 a month per user. At the moment, it is just the standard licensing fees that I'm aware of.

What other advice do I have?

Be aware that it is easy to get lost in all the different things to do with it.

I would rate Visio a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Visio Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: June 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Visio Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.