The king but for how long?
February 14, 2019
The king but for how long?
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Visio
Visio is used for all flowcharts in projects in the UK at Fujitsu. As the industry standard in diagramming it's virtually impossible to use anything else. I mainly deal with solution architects who create process flows in Visio to send to myself and fellow developers.
- For users who have been using it since the early versions, the changes between the years have been incremental and easy to pick up. It's an easy learning curve for longtime users.
- A huge amount of different diagram options for every conceivable possibility. There isn't another tool with this much diagram versatility while maintaining a professional feel.
- It's often bunched in with Office 365 Professional meaning that companies don't have to shell out too much.
- It is not very user-friendly for first-time users, such as myself back in 2016. If you haven't had training in the area you will find producing professional diagrams difficult with Visio.
- There are open source alternatives that are catching up with Visio's functionality for free. It may not be long until forking out for Visio may not be worth it.
- Switching between open source software and Visio can cause compatibility issues, and diagrams may be ruined in the conversion.
- Visio has to lead to client-satisfying diagrams, clients often have high expectations especially for technical consultants, and Visio must be used in these scenarios. Visio has thus helped win over clients.
- Forking out money for Visio in the complete Office 365 Business suite is becoming more and more redundant with open source software coming up.
- Visio training is required for users to be sufficiently skilled in it to show diagrams to clients, meaning extra time and money that isn't billable.
It's free! It offers the basics that most users require, without bloat. Did I mention it's free? For most users, this is the best way to create process diagrams, especially if they're only going to be shown to clients as images, or for personal use. Unfortunately, if diagrams need to be shared, Visio should be used. Just make sure everyone is on the same version.