IBM Cognos Controller vs Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition comparison

IBM and Redwood Software are both solutions in the Financial Close Software category. IBM is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0, while Redwood Software is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.5. IBM holds a 1.8% mindshare in FCS, compared to Redwood Software’s 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of Redwood Software users who would recommend it.

IBM Cognos Controller

Read 2 IBM Cognos Controller reviews

198 Views
86 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Redwood Software - Finance ...

Read 3 Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition reviews

140 Views
100 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

IBM Cognos Controller

Redwood Software - Finance ...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Cognos Controller and Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Financial Close Software solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Cognos Controller vs. Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Cognos Controller vs. Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition

March 2025

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Helped 846,617 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

IBM Cognos Controller

Ranking in Financial Close Software

11th

Average Rating

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Redwood Software - Finance ...

Ranking in Financial Close Software

10th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (15th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Financial Close Software category, the mindshare of IBM Cognos Controller is 1.8%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition is 2.1%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Financial Close Software

Featured Reviews

Pauli Leppänen

Group Controller at Eleda Group

A tool useful for areas like reporting and group consolidation

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten. My company hasn't faced any issues regarding scalability, which we can't overcome. Regarding the scalability, there is some work required in the product. A user should also have some knowledge to be able to operate the tool's scalability feature. Sometimes, my company has to contact our support partner to figure out how to do certain things in the product. So far, my company hasn't encountered any issues with the tool where we have to deal with volumes even though we have to deal with a lot of leasing contracts, like over 2,000. My company expects the product to offer more scalability. My company has around 70 licenses.

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Amarjeet Kamble

Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

User-friendly and enables automation in finance, HR, and SDM

There is room for improvement, considering no tools having everything inside it is right. So the room for balancing improvement lies in automation enhancement with respect to the feature areas, considering dealing directly with Excel and reviewing it to do some additional stuff for it in the end system so that reading the right thing, picking up the values, and everything. Right now, you can do it with a little bit of custom scripting in addition to eight. But rather than custom scripting, if we can have a direct feature integrated inside this tool, it will be a major achievement. So, it already has that capability, as you can do custom scripting, and you can go ahead with creating your own. But the direct functions are not available. That's where we are lagging behind. However, importing the values or importing the service can be achieved. So, that is where I can see the room for improvement. In this particular area, the entire system can be improved.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"If there's already a scheduled report and we want a subset of that report, that can also be created. So we do not have to schedule a new report or create a new subscription for that. At this rate, we can create a subset out of one report itself."

"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is a properly working solution... The functionalities and package offered by the product seem to be the right fit for our company."

"Redwood has a great feature where it logs every transaction. So, at any point, we can see every step taken for each transaction. It creates an audit trail of the entire process execution. It is a really good feature. This eliminates the need for extra coding or report generation. The audit report is readily available within the tool itself."

"So the best thing is ease of use."

"The out-of-the-box finance modules within the Redwood Finance framework help to speed up the process, versus designing and writing generic BOT code."

Cons

"IFRS 16 functionality is something that is not embedded in IBM Cognos Controller."

"IBM should work on a little flexibility and user-friendliness, in the current interface. It looks very rigid and hard to read. We need to give flexibility to the user in the current situation."

"would like to see AI integration for automation in future releases. Post-automation, I envision a generative AI model. If I could ask the bot questions like the number of invoices or their current status, it should be able to provide answers directly."

"Mapping the process steps to an existing R2R process quickly would be a definite step forward."

"The room for balancing improvement lies in automation enhancement with respect to the feature areas, considering dealing directly with Excel and reviewing it to do some additional stuff for it in the end system so that reading the right thing, picking up the values, and everything."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive, but compared to its other alternatives in the market, I feel that IBM Cognos Controller is a reasonably priced tool."

"The licensing was purely based on the number of transactions being processed in production."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Cognos Controller?

The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is a properly working solution... The functionalities and package offered by the product seem to be the right fit for our company.

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What needs improvement with IBM Cognos Controller?

IFRS 16 functionality is something that is not embedded in IBM Cognos Controller. My company uses a good built-in functionality in the tool, which was made by our support partner. IBM Cognos Contro...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Cognos Controller?

I use the solution for reporting and group consolidation.

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What do you like most about Redwood Business Process Automation - Finance Edition?

Redwood has a great feature where it logs every transaction. So, at any point, we can see every step taken for each transaction. It creates an audit trail of the entire process execution. It is a r...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Redwood Business Process Automation - Finance Edition?

The pricing is very client-specific. It's not a one-size-fits-all price. They don't have a single price for everyone. It's based on the client and the number of transactions. As Vodafone, a large c...

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What needs improvement with Redwood Business Process Automation - Finance Edition?

Everything seems to be working well. However, I see value in integrating AI for automation. So, I would like to see AI integration for automation in future releases. Ideally, after I perform postin...

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Comparisons

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Financial Close Software

April 2025

Download IBM Cognos Controller product report

Buyer's Guide

Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition

March 2025

Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition report

Download Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition product report

Also Known As

No data available

Redwood Business Process Automation - Finance Edition, Redwood Robotics, Redwood Finance Automation

Overview

IBM Cognos Controller supports the close, consolidation and reporting process with the agility and affordability of a cloud-based solution. It enables finance teams to automate and accelerate the financial close with minimal IT support. It also helps finance teams deliver financial results, create informative financial and management reports and provide the chief financial officer (CFO) with an enterprise view of key financial ratios and metrics.

IBM

The volume of repetitive, manual tasks across finance is overwhelming – every day or at the end of every month, quarter or year. Redwood’s finance automation reduces that unnecessary and time-consuming manual effort. We know because our customers tell us that our finance automation solution helps them achieve a much higher degree of back-office process automation compared with alternatives.

Redwood Software

Sample Customers

Emirates National Oil Company

ArcelorMittal, Alliant Energy, Allianz, Arla, Bacardi, CPS Energy, DSM, Faurecia, Genetech, Jabil, Jumbo,

Buyer's Guide

IBM Cognos Controller vs. Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition

March 2025

Free Report: IBM Cognos Controller vs. Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cognos Controller vs. Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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