As a technical admin, I use Flexera One for a single source of truth so I can see my entire technology estate. While I am beginning my journey with Flexera One, I use it for visibility by ingesting data from endpoints, clouds, and SaaS connectors. I use it for compliance and risk by mapping what is installed against what I am supposed to use. Given my security background, I use these tools to identify shadow IT and unauthorized software. It also helps me identify vulnerabilities tied to software versions or unpatched applications that may not be showing up in my primary security scanners. I also use it for planning by focusing on identifying wasted spend, finding underutilized licenses, or cloud instances. This helps me in these ways and it is working quite well so far.
IT Asset Management
FlexeraExternal reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Gained unified visibility and continuously optimize spend while improving compliance and risk posture
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The best feature of Flexera One is the latest feature about AI. I can speak to Flexera One AI by logging into the Flexera One portal, clicking on the AI, and asking it questions, which really impresses me. Beyond that, several other features have helped me greatly. The documentation is very helpful, and the single pane of glass feature is invaluable because everything is accessible from one place.
I have noticed the reports look similar to Snow License Manager, so the value for money is really impressive. The fact that most organizations have their SaaS, cloud, and on-premises data in silos is what makes Flexera One special because it has a single pane of glass. I can see everything from one place without jumping from one portal to another portal just to see the same information for different types of software.
Implementing Flexera One typically acts as a major turning point for any technical team given the scale of the tool. We gain normalized data because of all the discovery that happens. There is a lot of cost optimization, and wasted spend is reduced by using usage metering. I can identify shelfware licenses that have been paid for but never used, which costs a lot, so paying for a tool that helps reduce this cost one time will save a lot of money in the long run. Flexera One identifies shadow IT and tracks end of life support technologies, which helps me proactively identify assets that are no longer receiving patches and hardens my attack surface as well, creating a win-win situation.
What needs improvement?
Flexera One is an amazing tool, but I feel the UI could have some more upgrades and look a bit more modern with all these applications coming up. Flexera One does the job, but if something were to be improved, the UI could be upgraded. I would also appreciate if it could be a bit faster because sometimes it lags.
Maybe with integration, you could introduce a bigger portfolio to integrate tools with. I have been trying to integrate with some ITSM tools, but they are not available. Reporting could be a bit more intuitive with more filters and more metrics to filter by. Integration is not just about connecting APIs; it is about data trust. Data normalization gaps exist, and I cannot integrate what I cannot identify. There are some software in the bucket that they do not have. I would suggest stopping accepting default tool mappings, actively building custom normalization rules, and having a common convention for naming those tools.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Flexera One for approximately one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Flexera One is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is decent. I can assign a lot of user roles and send it out to many different places. People are able to use it, understand it, and pick it up fast, so it is pretty good.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support is good. Although they do not answer questions right away, they do eventually answer them. What is good is that they reply at the very least. They might not be the most experienced, but they are at least trying.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used Snow License Manager, but it was way too slow and had limitations in terms of dashboards and reporting. There was very limited reporting and I could not customize the dashboards as I can in Flexera One. Snow License Manager had very limited reporting and dashboard capabilities, had a few bugs, and was on-premises. I chose Flexera One next.
What was our ROI?
In terms of money, I have helped achieve around thirty percent reduction in software spend through rightsizing and optimizing usage. This has paid back in approximately six months. Thirty percent over six months is a pretty good return on investment. I also have lesser problems coming up because I know what is working, what is not working, and what is actually up and what is not in terms of licenses and URLs.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Flexera One is a value for the money. It was a good experience. Although I am not involved actively in the procurement and licensing and purchasing process, I am more of a technical admin.
What other advice do I have?
There was a clear win when I used Flexera One to identify shadow IT across the SaaS estate. I had a hunch that departments were spinning up project management and file sharing tools out of IT oversight because people would share files without using designated tools. By using Flexera One's discovery methods, specifically looking at browser-based usage, I actually discovered and uncovered a significant amount of unauthorized application usage. I found three different redundant project management tools being used by different teams. When I was junior, I myself would actually use file sharing tools which were not supposed to be used in the company, and this still happens in my organization. I consolidated this report and used Flexera One to find this out.
Secondly, Flexera One made a huge difference in our recent software audit. I had a lot of assigned licenses that were sitting idle for months, but because I lacked verified usage data, I was hesitant to reclaim them for fear of breaking someone's workflow. Flexera One helped me a lot in identifying shadow IT, identifying applications that were not supposed to be used, and unidentified licenses.
Part of my daily routine is to audit the unrecognized software bucket. I do not let the data just sit. I proactively build normalization rules if the tool misidentifies a version or niche utility. I address it at the source when I pull out a monthly compliance report. I review it and the data is accurate enough to be actionable for leadership without requiring any manual cleanup.
I would advise understanding your needs first and then getting Flexera One because it can be used for different purposes, but if you do not have a clear goal defined, you might be wasting the potential of the tool. It is a great tool, and I look forward to seeing more advancements. I really love the AI feature, which is easily one of my favorites, and I hope to see such more features in the future. I give this product a rating of eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Cost optimization has improved as I track assets, reclaim unused licenses, and maintain compliance
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Flexera One is to save costs, as this is the most valuable aspect to me. My primary use case for Flexera One is software asset management and compliance monitoring. I use it to track software usage and optimize license allocation.
How has it helped my organization?
Flexera One has had a positive impact on my organization. By using Flexera One, we were able to identify unused licenses and reduce software costs while improving compliance.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features Flexera One offers are license management, inventory visibility, and reporting. The platform helps correlate entitlements with usage data, which supports better compliance analysis and decision-making. The dashboards and reports are especially useful for ongoing tracking.
I appreciate the dashboards and reports in Flexera One because we use the dashboard to quickly identify unused licenses and usage trends, which help us reclaim licenses and reduce costs. It has also made it easier to share clear, audit-ready reports with stakeholders and for compliance tracking.
What needs improvement?
Flexera One can be improved through UI simplicity, faster implementation, and better performance with large data.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Flexera One for almost five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Flexera One is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Flexera One is highly scalable and well-suited for medium to large enterprise environments.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support for Flexera One is good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Throughout my entire career, I have been using Flexera One and have not used a different solution before it.
How was the initial setup?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is good overall, but the costs are relatively high. Simplifying the pricing model and reducing the implementation timeline would help.
What was our ROI?
I am not fully certain about the percentage of cost savings or compliance improvements that I have seen since using Flexera One, but it is approximately 15 to 20 percent.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is good overall, but the costs are relatively high. Simplifying the pricing model and reducing the implementation timeline would help.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing Flexera One, I did not evaluate other options.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate the customer support of Flexera One a 10. I will recommend Flexera One to an organization that needs a robust and comprehensive solution for software asset management. I have given this review an overall rating of 8.5.
Asset management has improved and reporting now supports faster customer cost savings
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Flexera One is to use Snow License Manager tool to look after our customers' software assets, license agreements, and reporting views.
A specific example of how I use Flexera One for managing software assets or reporting is when a service desk team wants to know how many installs there are of a specific application. I go into Snow, look up the application, and I can see how many installs it has been picked up by the Snow agent.
What is most valuable?
In my opinion, the best features Flexera One offers are that the applications are user-friendly, making it really easy to navigate around the tool. It is easy to use and quite efficient for users to be able to manage their assets.
The efficiency for users to manage assets comes from the whole dashboard concept at the beginning of an overview, which is really good. It makes it easy to have a quick look and browse, such as the notifications page or the alerts.
Flexera One helps us gain more customers because we are able to look after customer assets, which is really good. It positively gets us more opportunities to upsell to them in the level of service.
We have seen specific outcomes such as time-saved opportunities, and the customers are more engaging because we are able to show them what assets they have. It saves them money as well on assets that they are not utilizing.
What needs improvement?
At the moment, I think Flexera One is doing a good job overall.
I think that some of the support team SLA could be a bit better, which I would add about the needed improvements.
The reporting and analytics functionality in Flexera One meets my needs, but I think if the column selector was more of a tick than a drag and drop, it would have been better. Additionally, the filtering could have a bit more advanced options.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Flexera One for about three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Flexera One is stable and runs reliably, but I think sometimes when it is not reporting properly, that can become an issue for customer data that is not being processed properly.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Flexera One's scalability for my organization is good, as it can handle users' needs.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support is fairly decent; it could be better in terms of the quality of answers provided.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used a different solution known as ZenSAM Supervisor, so we have to use that as well as Snow Flexera One.
How was the initial setup?
It was easy to learn and get started with Flexera One. I needed a few training sessions.
What about the implementation team?
I was not part of the pricing, setup cost, and licensing experience. The only thing I know is setting up customers, such as the SIM integration manager tool or the other ones.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment with Flexera One, as we need fewer employees.
Unified cloud cost controls have provided clear visibility and governed complex hybrid workloads
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Flexera One is enterprise cost controls, as well as complete visibility and control across all public and private cloud environments.
A recent project with a customer that was very well published was Technicolor, which had a need to use Google Cloud, and RightScale and Flexera One was the tool that allowed them to manipulate, control, command, and contain costs as they used a tremendous amount of compute for video image rendering.
I have lots of different uses and applications for Flexera One, and it is important to make sure that it gets applied both from a control and governance perspective, as well as making sure from the very beginning when environments are established and maintained that cost controls are really the guiding principle.
What is most valuable?
The best features Flexera One offers include multi-cloud, single panel visibility of all usage.
The single panel visibility helps me and my organization day-to-day by eliminating the need to use a variety of different tools across environments.
Flexera One has impacted my organization positively in a variety of ways from a cost controls perspective, reduced time, and efficiency for team members, and the use case I shared is just one of millions of possible use cases that the platform has been used for at a variety of companies.
Sometimes I see cost savings in excess of 40 to 60 percent, with resources also in the same percentage area, depending on what the use case is and how much work and preparation was put into actually designing it appropriately for the use of the tool, as the more that had to get cleaned up or adjusted, the percentages could certainly even increase more.
What needs improvement?
People are pretty active from a product feedback perspective, so there is a variety of different features and things that I am sure could be improved, but I do not have one directly in mind.
For how long have I used the solution?
I started using Flexera One once I joined the company in 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Flexera One is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Flexera One's scalability is amazing and really limitless.
How are customer service and support?
I always get very positive marks from a customer support perspective regarding Flexera One, with no issues.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was that it was very fair for the value that was received, and the pricing and implementation, especially in the early days, was very well received.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for others looking into using Flexera One is to plan wisely for cloud consumption and expect variable usage in the first three years and budget appropriately. I would rate this review as a 9.
Supports license compliance and reporting with strong discovery while monitoring capabilities require improvements
What is our primary use case?
Flexera One's compliance tracking is excellent, although sometimes it does not provide the exact report due to the customer's environment, which can be improved. Otherwise, the compliance part is good, especially during the harvesting of the products and software, and the compliance metrics offer a good summary.
From my perspective, I would rate Flexera One an eight.
If asked whether I would recommend ServiceNow instead of Flexera One, I would not, because as a user who creates reports and provides compliance reports, I find ServiceNow more complex and less user-friendly. The lack of clear information and the improper identification of queues make it fall short compared to Flexera One, which I would rate around five or six in comparison.
What is most valuable?
The feature that I find most valuable in Flexera One is the discovery, which is crucial from an ITAM point of view to capture the entire environment and all the software installed in my customer's environment. Flexera One is really very comfortable and compatible with other tools such as SCCM and all the integration that it provides. Based on the discovery information it gathers for me, it truly helps me in my consumption report that I prepare. My customers do utilize Flexera One for multi-cloud management.
To measure the effectiveness of Flexera One's cost management features, I take into account user-based, device-based, and processor management metrics.
What needs improvement?
In terms of what could be improved about Flexera One from an ITAM point of view, I feel that if Flexera One could provide a calculation representation, it would be beneficial. While it shows various configurations regarding where my server and VM are placed, it does not indicate how many licenses are needed or how the calculations are performed.
To bring it closer to a ten, I would prioritize improvements in monitoring. For one of my customers, the monitoring aspect has been tricky due to the need for live database information, which could be enhanced using AI technology.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working on Flexera One for almost seven years, starting from a consultant point of view.
What about the implementation team?
I do not usually take part in the implementation of Flexera One, as we have developers for that purpose. I simply communicate my requirements and the customer's environmental needs to the developer who implements it.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Flexera One's pricing in the market is quite high, primarily because it is one of its kind. ServiceNow is another competitor gaining popularity due to offering various ITAM modules in one place, although I feel that it is not as capable as Flexera One.
What other advice do I have?
It depends from customer to customer and upon their environment, and I do not deal with selling the product independently. My responsibility is to sell the solution of the product and to assist the presales team in how we can help the customer with ITAM, while the presales team handles pitching the prices.
I am not sure about the specific impact Flexera One has had on their operations, as I haven't seen significant feedback regarding it.
I would rate my overall experience with this solution an eight.
Reporting capabilities improve compliance and flexibility exceeds expectations
What is our primary use case?
I have used it at multiple companies. Primarily, we use the tool to ensure that we're compliant with all the vendors. The particular company I’m working for now is just for IBM. There are other team members who handle other manufacturers. Flexera One is great. It helps us keep an eye on our compliance. When we're audited, Flexera One's reports have been approved by IBM. We don't have to use ILMT, so it's been very helpful.
What is most valuable?
I like the way that Flexera connects our contracts to our purchases. It gives us the flexibility when creating the license records for each of the applications. I also appreciate the reporting features that it has.
Flexera includes what I call canned reports, straight out of the box, but they also offer flexibility in creating custom reports. This allows us to provide management or whomever with more detailed information.
What needs improvement?
The mainframe need improvement. Flexera One does not have an agent for it, so it can't report on mainframe usage. Several people have suggested it as an improvement. One feature I would like to see in the tool is the ability to handle everything in one place. If not, it is what it is.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used the solution for 12 to 13 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would give stability a good nine out of ten. The stability of the cloud version, which is what I'm currently using, is almost always reliable. Occasionally, there will be a problem when they push out an upgrade, and we aren't able to reconcile the databases every day. However, it usually resolves within a day once they identify and fix the problem.
How are customer service and support?
I have used customer service in the past; not in my current role. I would rate it a nine out of ten. This was back when I used the on-premise product, and they were prompt in getting back to us. Most of the correspondence was via email, which was okay.
Occasionally, a call would have to be set up if they weren't understanding what was going on. Most of the support I dealt with at the time was in England, so we had to have calls in the morning. That was the only inconvenience.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used other solutions. HP Service Desk had a product, and there was another one that I used minimally. The other one is pretty big right now, or it used to be Snow, but then Flexera took over.
How was the initial setup?
How easy or hard the implementation depends on the setup. If you have it set up on-premise, it's complex and takes weeks to get everything ready. Flexera One, which is the cloud version, has a minimal setup.
What about the implementation team?
You need to have some IT infrastructure at the server levels because we have to work with Flexera for all the connections. This includes integrating with SMS or SCCM, or whatever you call it, and any other reporting pieces you want the Flexera One tool to include.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The setup cost has changed a lot over the years, and I have not been involved with the pricing for six years. In the beginning, when I first became involved with it, I thought some of the pricing was a bit high. They've restructured how it's licensed, making it more fair.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend it highly. It's the best thing I've seen, so I give it a ten out of ten.
Provides stability but needs to improve the hardware and connectors offered to users
What is most valuable?
There are no valuable features that the product can provide, owing to which my company plans to move to ServiceNow or SAM Pro.
What needs improvement?
The hardware and connectors in the product have certain shortcomings where improvements are required. FlexNet Manager's connectors are not that good, especially when compared to what Flexera provides its users in general. ServiceNow and SAM Pro's dashboards are very good compared to what FlexNet Manager offers.
With FlexNet Manager, it would have been good if its hardware and connectors were as good as ServiceNow and SAM Pro. ServiceNow and SAM Pro also serve as a CMDB. FlexNet Manager fails to serve as a CMDB, making it an area where improvements are required.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using FlexNet Manager for a year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution.
From my experience with large vendors like IBM or Oracle, I can say that ServiceNow and SAM Pro offer good data collectors compared to what FlexNet Manager offers. FlexNet Manager doesn't provide accurate data to its users, owing to which you may have to deal with a lot of false positives. The aforementioned issues don't occur in FlexNet Manager.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Around 100 to 200 people in my company use the product.
How was the initial setup?
People from Flexera should be involved in the installation process of FlexNet Manager. The updates in the product should be managed by someone from Flexera's team. SAM Pro offers features that allow for auto updates, making it a very easy process compared to FlexNet Manager.
The solution is deployed on the cloud.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Based on the enterprise-level packages that my company purchases, I can say that from a price perspective, you can go for FlexNet Manager if you have a very small environment. ServiceNow is better if you have a large environment with a huge number of users.
What other advice do I have?
I only deal with the user side of the product and guide the people in my company on how to work with the tool.
Instead of FlexNet Manager, I would suggest others use SAM Pro, especially those who have ServiceNow deployed in their environment. After a year or two, if you gain good knowledge about SAM Pro. With FlexNet Manager, you may worry about whether the data that you have will get corrupted or not. With SAM Pro, the chances of the data getting corrupted are very low.
Since the tool does work, I rate the overall tool a six or seven out of ten.
Suitable for those with dedicated budgets and an interest in exploring advanced functionalities.
What is our primary use case?
During my tenure from 2018 to 2022 with Intel, my primary client was a global network with a significant presence in Europe, particularly Germany. I provided services using Flexera's FlexNet Manager, focusing on software asset management for them. From 2021 to 2023, while working with Process Inc., I continued to offer SAM services, utilizing Flexera's solutions, this time for VMware CRX.
What is most valuable?
The best thing about FlexNet Manager for my clients is its strong grip on managing licenses and ensuring they stick to their contracts. It helps me keep an eye on what licenses they own versus what they are using. This feature is like a compliance superhero, letting us know if everything's on track or if there are any issues. Knowing this helps us keep the software game in check, making sure they use what they have without overspending. FlexNet makes it easy to stay compliant and cost-effective.
What needs improvement?
One area that could use improvement is the deployment of Flexera agents. While I haven't personally handled the technical aspects of implementation, coordinating with service providers revealed instances where agents were either missing or corrupt on certain systems. This led to gaps in inventory, making it challenging to monitor compliance and inventory status accurately. Having a smoother and more foolproof agent deployment process would be a valuable enhancement for a seamless experience in managing software assets with FlexNet. Additionally, a key improvement I would like to see in the next release is more timely updates to the application recognition library. The process of creating or updating ARLs ourselves was a bit cumbersome, and having a more proactive approach from Flexera in this regard would be beneficial. Additionally, I believe Flexera could enhance its offering by introducing features related to IT service management. While they excel in IT asset management, integrating more ITSM functionalities directly into FlexNet could provide a more comprehensive solution, similar to platforms like ServiceNow. This could open up new opportunities and make FlexNet an even more valuable tool for organizations.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with FlexNet Manager for over five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability as a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is highly scalable. I would rate the scalability as a nine out of ten. Most of the clients using FlexNet Manager are large enterprises, and the solution is more prevalent in markets like Europe and the US due to its higher cost.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate the technical support as a seven out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
I would rate the easiness of the initial setup as a nine out of ten. Deploying FlexNet Manager on-premises can take varying times based on factors like the number of systems. Setting up servers and deploying agents to each system determines the project duration. In contrast, Flexera's hosted solution is quicker as everything is managed by Flexera, requiring only remote agent deployment. However, based on customer feedback, the hosted option is still considered maturing compared to the on-premises alternative.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In the Indian market, only a few companies have adopted Flexera, mainly because of its expense. Cost is a significant consideration, but in terms of software asset management effectiveness, Flexera stands out as a top choice, surpassing other tools in my experience. I would give it a nine out of ten in terms of costliness.
What other advice do I have?
For anyone seeking a top-notch software asset management tool with a focus on license and contract management, I would recommend FlexNet Manager. It is particularly suitable for those with dedicated budgets and an interest in exploring advanced functionalities. While it excels in comparison to tools like Snow Licence Manager, SmartTrack, or ServiceNow, the key consideration is pricing. If budget constraints aren't a major hurdle, FlexNet Manager stands out as a go-to solution. Overall, I would rate it as an eight out of ten.
Robust SAM Solution that is always a Step Ahead of the competition
What is our primary use case?
I have a love-hate relationship with this solution. There are things I absolutely love about it and things that I would change if it were in my control. But, it's reliable for our needs and It's best in class. We did a POC on another product and that’s when I realized how good I had it with FlexNet when we compared it to Eracent.
How has it helped my organization?
Using the backend SQL DB, I've been able to provide BI and reporting that no other system can offer to the environment.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the ARL (Application Recognition Library) and the depth of thought that was put into how the licenses and contracts all come together. So it has a really great licensing module, and they're constantly keeping up with the newest trends.
What needs improvement?
There is room for improvement in the purchasing module. There are things I would change in that. Also, the automation components, like having the contracts, scheduling, and notifications embedded into the application, which they've been promising to do since 2014.
There are some key things in there that make it clunkier than it should be. But overall, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
Moreover, in additional features, I would like to see the reporting change. Eliminate Cognos and create a dynamic front end that allows for straight SQL queries, to get a more flexible and richer reporting module - especially for the Cloud version, FlexNet One; without having access to the SQL database for reporting, it makes it prohibitive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I’ve been using FlexNet Manager Suite since 2014 and have watched it improve and mature. We currently use version 2020 R2.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate stability a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate scalability an eight out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
The support depends on who you get.
How was the initial setup?
It's a very complex program to deploy. There's no agent install method, other than adoption to upgrade the agent once it is already installed.
If I went back to Eracent, it had an amazing discovery and inventory capabilities but it is not a string SAM tool. It reminds me of Altiris that way - very strong on inventory but weak on SAM.
My ideal solution would have the inventory and reporting of Altiris and the SAM structure of FlexNet.
What was our ROI?
There is a good ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We got a deal long ago, only in maintenance mode. It's pricey for maintenance, but it's worth it. You get what you pay for.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have extensive experience with FlexNet and Alteryx. And some ServiceNow too.
What other advice do I have?
Don't think of this as an out-of-the-box solution because no ITAM tool is an out-of-the-box solution. You have to make it work for your environment.
Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. There is still room for improvement.