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IBM Planning Analytics vs SAP Analytics Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 Planning Analytics
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Business Performance Management (4th)
SAP Analytics Cloud
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (4th), Predictive Analytics (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Business Intelligence solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM Planning Analytics is designed for Business Performance Management and holds a mindshare of 9.5%, up 8.7% compared to last year.
SAP Analytics Cloud, on the other hand, focuses on BI (Business Intelligence) Tools, holds 5.1% mindshare, down 5.8% since last year.
Business Performance Management
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Gnanavel-Chakkarapani - PeerSpot reviewer
Can easily create dashboards and helps businesses improve forecasting accuracy
The product has improved our company's forecasting accuracy since it serves as a very useful tool for our sales and controller teams as they easily get to enter the inputs using views in TM1, which gets loaded into our main database. If there are sales team members in different parts of the world, like in Hong Kong and Singapore, they may prefer to use IBM Planning Analytics, which is easy to use when compared to the Excel tool. Speaking about planning analytics and data analysis, I would say that our company used to use IBM Cognos Analytics for reporting, where we used to use Cognos Dynamic Cubes so that users can easily use its drag and drop features while getting to see the data for which the users had to wait for two to three minutes prior to its use. In our company, tons of data are loaded into the memory, and users can use Cognos Dynamic Cubes to analyze data and understand it. The AI capabilities of IBM have benefited our planning strategy as they are very useful for business. The tool allows the easy creation of dashboard reports using AI capabilities. No technical knowledge is required for business use cases. It is possible to integrate the product in scenarios where some new integrations are available. I remember that my company used Azure Data Factory to connect Azure, Oracle, and IBM WebSphere Application Server. When it comes to IBM Planning Analytics, it is complex to integrate it with LDAP and or any other authentication tool offered by Microsoft. In our company, some users like to integrate IBM Planning Analytics with the common LDAP or Microsoft AD, which we currently use for all our applications. The authentication part is difficult to configure with IBM Planning Analytics. The maintenance of the product is easy. My company has scheduled maintenance on the product every week, especially during forecast times, so that memories automatically lapse and users can freely access their servers. The use of the tool has had an impact on collaboration within our company's planning team since everyone knows how to easily access the data and publish the results. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. I rate the tool a nine out of ten.
RamasamyTelungupalayam - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless integration, collaborative features, and enhances data exploration
There are several areas for improvement in SAP Analytics Cloud. Firstly, features available in SAP Lumira are missing in SAP Analytics Cloud. Secondly, the predictive analytics functions, although promising, are currently only suitable for Proof of Concepts (POCs) and not for industrial-scale use. Lastly, the pricing model for the planning functionality is quite high and presents an entry barrier.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's a very stable, robust product."
"The product's stability is good."
"Planning Analytics' best features include automatic updates and slicing."
"A lot of the platform is in-memory, so Planning Analytics can run calculations quite fast. It also offers several user interfaces. And in the newest version of Planning Analytics, there is a new one called the Planning Analytics Workspace. Maybe it could be useful for the business side."
"The most valuable feature is that it is able to slice and dice the data."
"The ease of use is valuable. The fact that it's plugged into Excel spreadsheets is also valuable. It provides additional functionality where you can slice and dice the information in a way that you can't do with spreadsheets"
"The tool is flexible."
"The most valuable features of IBM Planning Analytics for streamlining planning processes include a unified database where all data are centralized."
"The user interface is quite good for developing reports out of models."
"Technical support is helpful."
"There is a real-time reporting mechanism in place. SAP Analytics Cloud operates on the SAP S/4HANA database, ensuring real-time reporting is always available. This capability allows the business to monitor cash inflows and outflows at any given moment easily."
"It is scalable."
"It's easy to connect Analytics Cloud with other SAP solutions, and it's also effortless to deploy. You don't need much technical skill to set it up. It's as easy as setting up a tablet. I said tablet before. It's very easy to actually set up."
"I have found that the feature to drag and drop widgets based on the data source, and import them into stories to be valuable. This way it helps the end user to create stories themselves."
"What my customers like best about SAP Analytics Cloud is the dashboard because it's pretty good."
"The visualizations have been the most valuable feature."
 

Cons

"The tool should include features for prediction. It can also improve the scalability."
"The dashboard is very poor and needs a lot of improvement."
"Planning Analytics could be improved by adding automation features."
"It's wonky, and not super user-friendly with Excel."
"It's highly competitive right now, and all the vendors are in a race to put out new versions with additional features. IBM comes out with new versions too often, and it has an impact on quality."
"It would have been better if the solution was not just a tool kit."
"It is a bit expensive, but it does the job."
"The workspace API should be improved and documented so we know better which objects are used."
"We are currently working on connectivity with S/4HANA, but we would like to have better connectivity with our legacy systems."
"The technology used by the tool is old, making it an area where improvements are required."
"SAP has always had one problem with its products, they make them very closed systems that are difficult to integrate."
"Live Data Models are very slow and the setup can be improved, with tools such as Cloud Connector being inbuilt into SAP Analytics Cloud. Likewise, we need to write application code from scratch, rather than tweaking existing code, as we might with Excel macros. Moreover, when using responsive pages, the widgets get adjusted according to the mobile screen. As a result, when I place two or three KPI tiles, they can only be viewed tile-by-tile. We want to see the full dashboard on the mobile screen and zoom in to click on a particular section of the dashboard and go further into that. But displaying tile-by-tile makes it very annoying and the upper management using this dashboard might not be aware there are any more tiles to view."
"The customizations need to be better."
"Sometimes we have difficulty connecting to a SharePoint list."
"One potential improvement is how we can transpose data. With SAP, if you have data from one system with a declared data type and a different system with another data type, the transfer is tricky."
"Figuring out how to navigate all of the products around Data Warehouse Cloud and SAP Analytics Cloud and BW for HANA is quite difficult."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM Planning Analytics is not the cheapest solution, but it's priced per the market standard for this type of solution. I rate the price at seven out of ten."
"I would rate the tool's pricing a nine out of ten since it's expensive."
"IBM Planning Analytics is priced well, and licensing costs are yearly."
"The license of this solution is paid annually. Most of my customers choose a license that includes support."
"Our licensing cost is approximately $50,000.00 per year."
"Compared with the other tools in the market, IBM Planning Analytics is a bit expensive."
"It is a bit expensive, but you get what you are paying for."
"Its pricing is okay as compared to its competitors."
"SAP pricing tends to be premium, so it is slightly higher."
"This solution offers value for money and you get what you pay for."
"SAP Analytics Cloud can be quite expensive."
"It's quite expensive and costs a lot to maintain, especially with licensing."
"The pricing is based on an annual license and is rated a four out of ten."
"Compute and storage features should be sold separately."
"Its price is slightly on the higher side."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
49%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Educational Organization
26%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Planning Analytics?
The most valuable features of IBM Planning Analytics for streamlining planning processes include a unified database where all data are centralized.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Planning Analytics?
The cost of IBM Planning Analytics is not cheap, considering the amount of money involved. However, it offers good ROI for customers.
What needs improvement with IBM Planning Analytics?
The workspace API should be improved and documented so we know better which objects and tier-one objects are used.
Which would you choose - Tableau or SAP Analytics Cloud?
Tableau is easy to set up and maintain. In about a day it is possible for the entire platform to be deployed for use. This relatively short amount of time can make all the difference for companies ...
What do you like most about SAP Analytics Cloud?
In the data warehouse, you're free to make changes. You can make everything text, meaning it's always a string. Even numbers appear as text, giving you the flexibility to work with all columns.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Analytics Cloud?
The pricing model for SAP Analytics Cloud is quite competitive, but the cost for the planning functionality is high and can be a barrier to entry. The overall cost can be managed with better billin...
 

Also Known As

Cognos TM1, IBM Cognos TM1
SAP BusinessObjects Cloud
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

ManpowerGroup, Convergys, AIG, Orchard Brands, Citibank, InterGen, Northwestern University, EF Education First, Ironside, Bazan Group, CSOB Insurance, Macquarie Group, Charles Stanley, SATO, Government of Sint Maarten, BMW Financial Services
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Find out what your peers are saying about Anaplan, Oracle, IBM and others in Business Performance Management. Updated: December 2024.
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