SAP Crystal Reports vs Yellowfin comparison

SAP and Yellowfin are both solutions in the Reporting category. SAP is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.4, while Yellowfin is ranked #30. SAP holds a 2.8% mindshare in RT, compared to Yellowfin’s 0.2% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of SAP users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Yellowfin users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between SAP Crystal Reports and Yellowfin based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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

To learn more, read our detailed SAP Crystal Reports vs. Yellowfin Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

SAP Crystals vs. Yellowfin

December 2024

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Helped 824,095 peers since 2012

Categories and Ranking

IBM Cognos

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of IBM Cognos is 4.6%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Crystal Reports is 2.8%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Yellowfin is 0.2%, down from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Reporting

Featured Reviews

Carlos Larrad Salgado

Deputy Director Operations Management Control at Mapfre

Improved the quality of our KPIs, while reducing calls to the IT department

I don't like that when we use Colab packages, we get less functionality. For example, you can make groups of data with Excel or with the data sets from the packages, but when you use the Colab packages directly, you can only group the data when you analyze it with Analysis Studio. I think Cognos needs to improve more on this functionality. The user experience is also very important. Cognos is not very easy to understand sometimes, especially when they change the layout but keep the functionality the same. The help is not very graphic and they have no examples. Cognos has to make a big effort to help with understanding the functionality by improving the documentation. There is a lot of documentation, but the examples are hard to find and they should make their help section easier to understand for non-technical users.

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MVD Prasad

Assistant General Manager at Soma Enterprise

Helps analyze your data by creating richly formatted, pixel-perfect, and multiple reports from virtually any data source, delivered in over a dozen formats

It has significantly enhanced security features, especially when compared to the standard security features of the earlier PeerSpot version I purchased. I've observed improvements in security, and overall, it's quite commendable. Regarding potential enhancements for the next release of this solution, I haven't closely examined SAP Crystal Reports 53. I've only encountered it briefly, perhaps once or twice. However, I anticipate that it likely offers advanced features distinct from its predecessor. I believe there may be notable improvements and additions in the latest version, and I look forward to exploring them further.

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it_user86469

Director with 51-200 employees

Very scalable design and easy to implement. It can reside alongside more complex enterprise systems.

I have been involved with the implementation of many BI products; many products are expensive, require complex and difficult implementations, and once installed it is only the start of a lengthy consulting engagement to get the installation to where the customer wants it to be. Yellowfin is the antithesis of this; it installs easily, the configuration is done quickly, and the user can come up to speed quickly (especially if they have used other BI products). As an implementer, this changes how we operate, because we can focus on providing the customer what they want, not just on technical wizardry to get the product operational.

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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

"Comparing IBM Cognos to other applications, once a person is trained on it or they have developed a skill set to operate the application, it is best in its category."

"The initial setup is quite straightforward."

"In terms of stability, I think that Cognos is more stable than Tableau and Power Bi because of its framework manager concept that allows us to import metadata and store it in the framework manager."

"We use IBM Cognos for enterprise analytics and reporting."

"The comprehensiveness or broadness of the software functions or business intelligence functions that it provides is valuable. It is also quite easy to use and user-friendly."

"Dashboarding, reporting, and ad hoc reporting are the valuable features of IBM Cognos."

"The correlation analysis is excellent. It's one of the best that I have used to date."

"Even while a user is using a cube for reporting, there will not be a situation as ' Cube file locked; unable to build or deploy'."

More IBM Cognos pros

"I find Crystal Reports very easy to use, even for a non-technical person."

"We use SAP Crystal Reports for operational reporting."

"SAP Crystal Reports offers a plethora of features, many of which were available much earlier than in the Crystal Reports we previously used. We extensively use its capabilities for generating general reports, working with Kaspersky data, and even incorporating images into our reports. The range of functions available in SAP Crystal Reports is diverse, and we leverage them across various systems for our needs."

"The most valuable feature is that from a user's point of view, it is easy to use and requires just a simple click to generate a report."

"The overall environment is the best. Data management, graphs, and layout – everything is the best, in my opinion."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is a fantastic way of generating reports."

"It is an user-friendly solution."

"The initial setup of the solution is pretty easy."

"It is able to create information dashboards for various users' throughout."

"It reduces time to reproduce reports, provides easy access to organisational data, and has the ability to generate a wide range of reports and analysis."

"It is a central source of up-to-date data and information."

Cons

"The AI-based features could be further enhanced by the solution."

"We need more predictive analytical functions, not only diagnostic or decryptic analytics."

"They should provide improved visual reporting."

"The visualization aspect needs to be improved and I believe, this is being resolved in upcoming versions."

"The performance is a bottleneck and something that can be improved."

"I would like to have predictive and forecasting capabilities in Cognos. It's one thing to do reporting, and another thing to easily predict or forecast certain data points, which is very important for all the clients."

"The charts and graphics are weak."

"It is a costly product; it is comparatively expensive."

More IBM Cognos cons

"A real improvement would be a simpler system that allows users to play with the visualization without needing specialized skills and code."

"SAP Crystal Reports has some compatibility issues with third-party products."

"If at all possible, a little bit of improvement on the analytical side is needed."

"The financing part needs improvement."

"SAP Crystal Reports should provide better support for dynamic connectors."

"Maybe some Power BI-related features could be added, like dashboards or direct editing in reports."

"There could be improvements made to the analytics capabilities."

"It has significantly enhanced security features, especially when compared to the standard security features of the earlier PeerSpot version I purchased. I've observed improvements in security, and overall, it's quite commendable. Regarding potential enhancements for the next release of this solution, I haven't closely examined SAP Crystal Reports 53. I've only encountered it briefly, perhaps once or twice. However, I anticipate that it likely offers advanced features distinct from its predecessor. I believe there may be notable improvements and additions in the latest version, and I look forward to exploring them further."

"It needs more presentation/charting capabilities and integration with GIS."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM Cognos offers competitive pricing similar to other BI vendors in the market."

"On a scale from one to ten where one is low pricing and ten is high pricing, I would rate this solution at eight."

"Pricing should be improved."

"It is averagely priced."

"My company uses IBM Cognos with another IBM product, so I think only one license is used."

"IBM Cognos is priced reasonable. However, it is more expensive than Power BI and Tableau."

"There is a standard license required to use this solution. There are some additional tools but I am not sure if they are an extra cost."

"IBM Cognos price is on the higher side of the spectrum. However, with the features that it brings, such as correlation analysis, it's worth the money. They should look at the pricing more clearly because it's a little on the higher side."

More IBM Cognos pricing and cost advice

"SAP Crystal Reports is a very expensive solution."

"We pay fifteen hundred dollars as licensing fee."

"The cost of licensing can be a significant factor to consider when upgrading or transitioning to a new version of SAP Crystal Reports. It's important to evaluate the benefits and features offered by the new version against the associated costs to ensure it aligns with your organization's needs and budget."

"I feel that SAP Crystal Reports is a reasonably priced product."

"This product costs a lot of money."

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

55%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

28%

Educational Organization

13%

Government

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

Seeking lightweight open source BI software

It depends on the Data architecture and the complexity of your requirement. Some great tools in the market are Qlik ...

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What do you like most about IBM Cognos?

The solution's most valuable feature is its ease of use, which makes it easily compatible with other tools.

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What needs improvement with IBM Cognos?

I need improvements, particularly with the Framework Manager, which has an outdated user interface from older version...

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What needs improvement with SAP Crystal Reports?

Maybe some Power BI-related features could be added, like dashboards or direct editing in reports. We use query langu...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAP Crystal Reports?

We use SAP Crystal Reports for reporting. We use it for financial reports like statements of accounts, trial balances...

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What do you like most about SAP Crystal Reports?

We use SAP Crystal Reports for operational reporting.

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Comparisons

Microsoft Power BI vs IBM Cognos

Compared 13% of the time

Tableau vs IBM Cognos

Compared 10% of the time

Oracle Hyperion vs IBM Cognos

Compared 10% of the time

Amazon QuickSight vs IBM Cognos

Compared 8% of the time

Databricks vs IBM Cognos

Compared 2% of the time

More IBM Cognos Competitors

Microsoft Power BI vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 21% of the time

TIBCO Jaspersoft vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 20% of the time

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 10% of the time

MicroStrategy vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 8% of the time

Pentaho Business Analytics vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 6% of the time

More SAP Crystal Reports Competitors

Apache Superset vs Yellowfin

Compared 59% of the time

Tableau vs Yellowfin

Compared 41% of the time

More Yellowfin Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Cognos

December 2024

Download IBM Cognos product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP Crystals

November 2024

Download SAP Crystal Reports product report

Buyer's Guide

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

December 2024

Download Yellowfin product report

Also Known As

Cognos, Cognos Analytics, IBM Cognos Analytics

No data available

Learn More

IBM

SAP

Yellowfin

Overview

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:

IBM Cognos Insight: Create personal and managed workspaces for data analysis. Using these interactive workspaces, you can share insight results with managers. Cognos Insight supports write-back, and you can also use these workspaces to capture and integrate management goals, commitments, and forecasts.
IBM Cognos Workspace: With IBM Cognos Workspace, you can create rich, interactive workspaces using IBM Cognos content as well as data from external sources. You can view and open your favorite workspaces and reports, edit content in your workspaces, and share your workspaces via email.
IBM Cognos Analytics: IBM Cognos Analytics utilizes built-in AI and intuitive searches which helps users to quickly create the visualizations and a wide range of reports. Cognos Analytics provides cognitive and managed self-service, enabling you to gain insights from controlled and trusted data.
IBM Cognos Report Studio and IBM Cognos Query Studio: Easily create structured and query reports. IBM Cognos allows users to create application and report templates. In addition, report authors can reuse report objects to apply filters, fields, and styles to reports. Users can set the language of the user interface and report content according to the user's native language.
IBM Cognos Event Studio: Receive notifications of events that occur within your organization in real time. Event Studio enables the creation of agents that detect the occurrence of business events, failures, or anomalies, based on the change of specific events or data conditions. Notification can be sent via email, publication in the portal, or by triggering reports.
IBM Cognos Connection: This is the Web portal for IBM Cognos BI and is the central area for accessing all the IBM Cognos functions. In the web portal, users can schedule and distribute reports, create tasks, administer the server and the access permissions, and more.

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.”

Turn information from almost any data source into a sophisticated, interactive report with SAP Crystal Reports. This powerful, user-friendly application for small businesses and departments can help you deliver key insights to the right decision maker, at the right time, in the right format.

Click here for a free trial

Yellowfin offers a business intelligence (BI) platform that allows users to interact with big data in a variety of ways. Yellowfin works to provide big data access to companies of all sizes, from small business to billion-dollar enterprises. It is designed for providing data quickly and allowing users to filter for specific results, maximizing gain from big data. Yellowfin has a variety of dashboards so the user can filter, drill to detail, and have data analysis in the same browser. The data can also be easily shared with others via email, wiki embed, and reports. There is a mobile app as well, which works automatically with the desktop dashboards to allow users to access their data on the go, and alerts can be set up to notify a user via email or push to a mobile device if the data is indicating a critical event taking place. Yellowfin also can map data to locations, providing not only the what of data, but also the where. Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust provides its community in England with mental health and community care services. Using Yellowfin's mobile business intelligence capabilities to deliver reporting and analytics to approximately 6000 clinicians, Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust was able to greatly improve the quality of its patient care. Yellowfin allowed the Trust to access and share independent data from mobile devices as well as create a Balanced Scoreboard to quickly gather and report information on the company's performance to its executives, management, and directors.

Sample Customers

More than 23,000 leading organizations across multiple industries use Cognos. Some examples of Cognos customers include BMW Financial Services, Quinte Health Care, Troy Corporation, Michigan State University, and GKN Land System.

City of Buenos Aires, ASR Group, Citrix, EarlySense, Usha International Limited, Automotive Resources International (ARI), LivePerson, Coelba (Grupo Neoenergia), RZD Russian Railways, National Basketball Association - NBA, TALLY WEiJL, El Machetazo, Young Heroes, Mozzart, Mitsui Knowledge Industry (MKI) , Surgutneftegas Open Joint Stock Company, The VELUX Group, AOK Bundesverband, AL-KO KOBER GROUP

NCS, Universitat Konstanz, AT&T, PG&E, SingTel, InternetStores

Buyer's Guide

SAP Crystals vs. Yellowfin

December 2024

Free Report: SAP Crystal Reports vs. Yellowfin

Find out what your peers are saying about SAP Crystal Reports vs. Yellowfin and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.

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