Microsoft Power BI and IBM Cognos are major players in the business intelligence field. Power BI holds an edge with its advanced visualization features and affordability, while Cognos excels in analytics and integration capabilities.
Features: Microsoft Power BI offers strong visualization tools, extensive data integration, and a user-friendly interface, continually updated with new functionalities. It supports a wide range of connectors, making it accessible to non-technical users. IBM Cognos includes a diverse suite of analytic tools, such as Report Studio for pixel-perfect reporting, and supports robust integration and security features that cater to both technical and non-technical users.
Room for Improvement: Power BI could enhance its non-Microsoft integration and real-time updating capabilities. Customization options, mobile offerings, and complex data handling also demand improvement. IBM Cognos needs more intuitive user experiences, better data visualization, and enhanced performance and cloud platform integration. Users also request greater flexibility and AI-driven analytics.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Power BI is favored for its flexible deployment in hybrid and cloud environments, with ease of implementation. However, users desire faster support responses. IBM Cognos mainly supports on-premises and private cloud deployments, often requiring technical support with mixed customer service experiences, varying from responsive to delayed assistance.
Pricing and ROI: Power BI is noted for affordable pricing, making it an attractive option for small to mid-sized businesses. Its adaptable pricing models and cost-effectiveness contribute to higher ROI due to quick implementation. IBM Cognos is perceived as a premium product, with significant costs that suit larger enterprises able to leverage its extensive capabilities.
In a world surrounded by data, tools that allow navigation of large data volumes ensure decisions are data-driven.
Power BI is easy to deploy within an hour, providing robust security against data leaks.
I rate technical support from IBM as eight out of ten, indicating a high quality of service.
We have a partnership with Microsoft, involving multiple weekly calls with dedicated personnel to ensure our satisfaction.
Unfortunately, with Microsoft, you must accept the product as it is.
It can be scaled out to other teams, but requires building cubes and implementing policies.
With increasing AI capabilities, architectural developments within Microsoft, and tools like Fabric, I expect Power BI to scale accordingly.
You expect only a small percentage of users concurrently, but beyond a thousand concurrent users, it becomes difficult to manage.
I rate the stability of this solution as nine out of ten, indicating it is highly stable.
In terms of stability, there's no data loss or leakage, and precautions are well-managed by Microsoft.
We typically do not have problems with end-user tools like Excel and Power BI.
It's not a bad grade, as I know of better products in this field.
There is room for improvement in self-service analytics and predictiveness.
Access was more logical in how it distinguished between data and its formatting.
This makes Power BI difficult to manage as loading times can reach one or two minutes, which is problematic today.
Microsoft updates Power BI monthly based on user community feedback.
I rate pricing as a four, meaning it is more expensive compared to other solutions.
I found the setup cost to be expensive
Power BI isn't very cheap, however, it is economical compared to other solutions available.
IBM Cognos is a robust governed platform with significant security features and provides excellent graphics and reporting.
In today's data-driven environment, these tools are of substantial value, particularly for large enterprises with numerous processes that require extensive data analysis.
The solution makes it easy for me to develop reports and publish them.
I have built analytic dashboards that guide analytics, enabling research and dataset manipulation.
IBM Cognos Business Intelligence provides a wide range of tools to help you analyze your organization's data. IBM Cognos BI allows businesses to monitor events and metrics, create and view business reports, and analyze data to help them make effective business decisions.
IBM Cognos applies techniques to describe, summarize, and compare data, and draw conclusions. This allows users to see trends and discover anomalies or variances that may not be evident by simply reading data. Data sources that contain information from different areas of a business can be stored in separate packages. Users can see only information that they have been granted access to, based on their group or role.
IBM Cognos BI consolidates the following business intelligence functions into a single web-based solution:
Reviews from Real Users
IBM Cognos stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its powerful analysis tool and its reporting capabilities.
Prasad B., a senior software engineer at a financial services firm, notes, “The product is a very good reporting tool and is very flexible. It allows for the users to get a scheduled report. We can receive automated reports as well. They are easy to schedule on a weekly or monthly basis. It is very fast. I mean in means of report output, it's very fast compared to the actual clients involved.”
Microsoft Power BI is a powerful tool for data analysis and visualization. This tool stands out for its ability to merge and analyze data from various sources. Widely adopted across different industries and departments, Power BI is instrumental in creating visually appealing dashboards and generating insightful business intelligence reports. Its intuitive interface, robust visualization capabilities, and seamless integration with other Microsoft applications empower users to easily create interactive reports and gain valuable insights.
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