IBM Cognos Reviews, Competitors and Pricing

it_user259185

Prinicipal Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

Oct 5, 2016

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It offers metadata modelling and dashboard visualizations.

What is most valuable?

Metadata modelling using Transformer and Framework Manager
Visualization using Dashboard

Normally for BI implementations, these are the critical aspects.

How has it helped my organization?

I have not worked for an organization who is a direct beneficiary of the product. I have worked for vendor companies who have implementation expertise or have worked for OEM.

What needs improvement?

Data discovery-related features
Visualizations
Speed of interaction with end-user

There are no problems with these areas. IBM Cognos has been working on them, but they are not yet on par with other vendors who are leaders in data discovery. For example, features like Lasso, dynamic pivoting, etc. are not yet available.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used it for 11 years.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not encountered any stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I encountered scalability issues while reporting across multiple data sources.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is very good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I previously used a different solution, and switched because of ease of development and the rich set of features for most use cases.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup was straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I do not have much exposure to pricing. I understand it is on par, in terms of delivered value with respect to price, with other BI vendors.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing this product, I also evaluated Qlik and PowerBI.

What other advice do I have?

Please evaluate other BI vendors available in the market to make sure that you pick the right tool for your use cases.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: My company is an OEM partner.

Bob Edis

Principal Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

Aug 24, 2015

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It offers good back end delivery and end user device options, but it needs more graphic options and an updated UI.

Valuable Features

Data modeling
Back end delivery options
End user device options
Report designer
Scalability

Improvements to My Organization

There've been no improvements since implementation.

Room for Improvement

More graphic options
Its UI needs to be more 21st century

Use of Solution

I've used it for 10 years in various versions.

Deployment Issues

No issues encountered.

Stability Issues

No issues encountered.

Scalability Issues

No issues encountered.

Customer Service and Technical Support

Customer Service:

It's poor.

Technical Support:

It's fair.

Initial Setup

It was straightforward.

Implementation Team

We used an IBM partner who were good.

Pricing, Setup Cost and Licensing

Look at the TCO not just the sticker price.

Other Advice

Read
Try
Ask
Repeat

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We're an IBM partner.

Buyer's Guide

IBM Cognos

October 2024

Free Report: IBM Cognos Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about IBM Cognos. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.

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814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

it_user84468

Consultant

Sep 12, 2017

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It has a very powerful edit feature allowing users to back out of changes without forcing them to recreate reports

Pros and Cons

"It has a very powerful edit feature which allows users to back out of changes (undo) without forcing them to recreate entire reports."

"It would be better if it is was easier to implement without extensive training for it."

What is most valuable?

It has a very powerful edit feature which allows users to back out of changes (undo) without forcing them to recreate entire reports.

How has it helped my organization?

It forced us to look into the data warehousing of our entire existing products that we were using to better evaluate data retrieval.

What needs improvement?

It takes a very long time to learn the product. It requires specialization for different functions. It would be better if it is was easier to implement without extensive training for it.

For how long have I used the solution?

Eight years using different versions.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No.

How is customer service and technical support?

Not applicable.

How was the initial setup?

It was quite complex.

What other advice do I have?

Learn the overview of the product first before the investing time and effort on features which you may not use.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user549354

Cognos Consultant at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 20, 2016

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The Report Studio has customized functionalities to create reports and analysis. Quicker technical support response time is needed.

What is most valuable?

The Report Studio feature has more customized functionalities to create reports and analysis.

How has it helped my organization?

Cube reporting functionality has been simplified for analyzing daily productivity.

What needs improvement?

This product needs to be improvised by:

Clearly pointing out the issues/errors in the description to simplify the debugging process.
Enabling more GUI based functionality so that creation of dynamic report and dashboards by using Excel/flat file data is easier.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used this product for eight years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The overall stability of the product meets expectations.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is good. We did not encounter any issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

There is need for a faster resolution and expected time frame to resolve production issues. Whilst working on site and when support is needed for emergency issues, a quicker response time is required.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have not used any other solutions.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was simple and straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

If your organization requires features like more stability and customization of reports, then the IBM Cognos Suite is your one stop choice as a good BI tool.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Carlos Mardinotto JuniorBI Expert at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

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Jan 4, 2017

IBM Cognos Report Studio, its a complete tool suite to build a fast consult and you get access many numerous Database and ERP, complete analytic and tactical tier.

it_user185781

Solution Architect with 51-200 employees

Jan 26, 2015

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A good mix of abilities for reporting but ability to manage source code & environment deployment needs work

What is most valuable?

Good mix of abilities for reporting for both technical and non-technical users.

How has it helped my organization?

Dashboarding presentations of key metrics.

What needs improvement?

Ability to easily manage source code and environment deployment
Pricing model is frequently changing and hard to manage
Maintenance fees were based on a percentage of the base cost, not the discounted price we paid which was a surprise the first year

For how long have I used the solution?

Five years - Cognos BI 8 and 10

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Because the configuration options are wide, there are typically minor issues with an installation.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Not once it is configured correctly.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

6 out of 10.

Technical Support:

6 out of 10.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previous solution was built on an old technology and updates continue to be built over the same engine rather than an updated technology. Caused issues with programming.

How was the initial setup?

Complex, many options and variations available which is both good and bad.

What about the implementation team?

Through a vendor. Very good expertise.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Brief evaluation of other products, selection was based on discounted pricing at year end and high rating from Gartner.

What other advice do I have?

If you don't have staff with previous experience in this product, it's worth engaging a partner you help you with installation and configuration options, training and early implementation.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user164874Practice Leader

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May 4, 2015

Regarding source code and environment management, there are some good thirty party add-on tools out there that solve this problem, and other problems such as large scale fine-grained security management.

Check out
MetaManager from Avnet Brightstar Partners (BSP)
CI/PI and other offerings from Motio
SecurityStudio from FirstQuarter
AuditProcessor from Genware Computer Systems
Varios Visn products from Envisn

I have used some but not all of these products.

it_user73137

Project Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Feb 19, 2014

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Consider other alternatives. Corporate decided to replace this application with Oracle OBIEE.

What is most valuable?

Graphical interface is good

How has it helped my organization?

Ad hoc reporting

What needs improvement?

Basically, our support to enhancement was our corporate team. Where the Oracle Quality module has more flexibility to develop internal tables to gather data. The Cognos BI team doesn’t have this dynamic approach to do the enhancements. So, Corporate decided to replace this application with Oracle OBIEE.

For how long have I used the solution?

5 years

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Yes, When it’s integrated with Oracle for Quality reports

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service: 9 out of 10Technical Support: 9 out of 10

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Never before.

How was the initial setup?

Straightforward

What about the implementation team?

In-house

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

What other advice do I have?

Consider other alternatives.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user5319

Director of IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Mar 21, 2013

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Can do most things we need it do and we like the scheduler. But visualization is poor.

Valuable Features:

Can do most things we need it do. We like the scheduler.

Room for Improvement:

Visualization is not as good as some others.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user560208

Business Technology Associate Consultant at a consultancy with 5,001-10,000 employees

Feb 26, 2017

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We use it as the main reporting tool for our clients.

What is most valuable?

The reporting feature is the most valuable feature.

For Cognos, reporting is the widely used feature for both my clients and for most of the US-based banking organizations.

How has it helped my organization?

The product is the main reporting tool for our clients.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see improvements in mobile reporting. When it comes to mobile/offline based reporting, Cognos is not really capable of handling medium to heavy data volume.

The above limitation has been hampering its penetration into health care and other industries which are heavily dependent upon mobile devices for day-to-day operations.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for over five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No stability issues. The product is one of more stable reporting solutions.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No scalability issues. Scaling is fairly straightforward.

How is customer service and technical support?

Technical support is quite satisfactory.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very straightforward for a technical person.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

If you need enterprise grade reporting, Cognos is a very economical solution for organizations.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have never been involved in the decision making for selecting reporting tools. I have been on the report development side using Cognos for multiple clients.

What other advice do I have?

The product is very strong for an online reporting based solution.

However, if someone is looking for complex mobile based reporting, they might want to weigh other options for their organization.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.