What is our primary use case?
We use FortiClient as an antivirus and for endpoint devices, primarily for computers and laptops.
What is most valuable?
FortiClient does support our VPN services, and we haven’t faced many challenges in that area. The VPN connection has worked well. The centralized management dashboard is also a good feature. It categorizes devices, allows scanning, and collects updates directly from Active Directory. This makes it easier to manage everything.
Another strength is its ability to identify vulnerabilities, although it doesn’t categorize them into critical, medium, or low levels. It just flags everything as a vulnerability, which can be overwhelming. For example, we use a patch manager that categorizes vulnerabilities, so we know what to prioritize. But FortiClient marks many issues that aren’t even applicable to our environment.
What needs improvement?
Regarding the functionality of FortiClient, there are a few issues. One problem is how it handles blocking policies. For example, if we want to block something specific like legal or law firms, it doesn’t differentiate well and blocks anything that contains the term "law firm."
Another issue is the frequent requests for device reboots, which slows down some applications.
Also, when an application slows down due to FortiClient, it's hard to pinpoint the cause without uninstalling it and checking if the application works fine afterward. But even then, it's difficult to identify why the application wasn’t being accepted, especially if it wasn't categorized as a restricted website or something similar.
It doesn’t categorize vulnerabilities into critical, medium, or low levels. It just flags everything as a vulnerability, which can be overwhelming.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The problem only occurs on certain computers and servers, which makes it more challenging to identify. From my experience, I installed it on my own computer, and it’s been working fine.
The issues aren’t very critical. Maybe there's a step or two we’re missing or not executing properly.
The main reason I’m seeking help [support] is to see if we could have a session with someone who can guide us through the onboarding process and rollout. This would allow us to confirm if we’re doing things right. During that session, we could ask any questions we have about the steps we’re struggling with.
Additionally, it sometimes takes a long time to investigate issues that are raised via the dashboard. We wanted to know how to better analyze the logs and events so we can identify problems more quickly.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of scalability and onboarding new computers, it's fine overall. However, we still need some guidance on how best to implement it across our environment.
We are trying to determine the best way to implement it. Maybe we’re not doing it correctly, which could be causing the issues.
How are customer service and support?
We do have support from Fortinet, and we’ve paid for it. We're also trying to procure local vendor support.
The person [in my team] who handles raising tickets with Fortinet isn’t available right now, but they usually track and follow up on those.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In the past, we used Symantec, but I didn’t interact with it much—only as a user. With FortiClient, however, I’ve been involved as an administrator, so I can’t really compare the two solutions. However, I do know that Symantec was very expensive, just like many other vendors. FortiClient solution is also costly.
How was the initial setup?
One challenge we faced was with the installation. Initially, we thought it could be centrally deployed, but it turned out we had to install it on each device individually [one by one] in an isolated environment. That was time-consuming.
We’ve had some challenges with certain servers, like domain controllers, and some user computers. While 80% of the installations are fine, we still have a few issues with specific cases.
What about the implementation team?
I work in a department that handles the implementation.
What was our ROI?
We haven’t finalized the contract side yet because of the environment we're in. We wanted to implement things like single sign-on and others. Since it's a fabric, we will have it as a perimeter firewall. However, we can’t activate these features when we still have servers and computers that we're troubleshooting and facing challenges with.
Once we activate and start using all the functionalities we’ve paid for, like FortiClient's services, there's a bit of worry. We’re not getting the value for money from what we’ve invested in because of the penetration challenges and difficulties in pushing the installation across the board.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have a paid license. FortiClient is costly. We work within a limited budget, and the pricing is steep compared to other vendors, which doesn't make sense for our organization. We’re currently in the rollout phase, but we want to fast-track it and achieve full deployment before moving on to the next phases.
What other advice do I have?
From a security standpoint, FortiClient’s functionality is great, and I can work with that. However, I’ve been getting a lot of negative feedback from users, particularly around performance issues—computers becoming slow or servers freezing. While it’s expected that users might complain when they feel restricted, I would prefer if these performance issues, like computers slowing down or freezing, were addressed.
Some issues I can easily resolve, like configuration settings or specific policies that I can adjust, but problems like installing a new application causing the computer to slow down are things we need to address in a more structured report.
From a technical perspective, I would rate it around eight out of ten.
But from the users’ perspective, based on their feedback, I would rate it around six out of ten. Actually, six might be too high from the user side—it might be closer to a three. The users are very crucial in the decision of whether we will continue using FortiClient or not. That’s why our focus is to address the issues they are raising, so we can continue using FortiClient’s services as a whole.
From a technical point of view, we don’t have many complaints. In fact, we appreciate it as a technical team. However, we don’t make the final decision on whether we will continue with FortiClient. That decision is driven by the users. So we’re working to improve the user experience and the rating of the antivirus solution. We know that if you ask the users to rate it, you’ll need to aim for a minimum rating.
Technically, we’re fine except for a few issues, which we think can be mitigated if we engage further with Fortinet. Our goal is to resolve the technical problems we’re facing and eliminate the user issues as part of this process.
