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PeerSpot user
Sales Specialist with 51-200 employees
Vendor
We can simply create a dashboard. The data module lets you create data models.

What is most valuable?

It is very powerful, it is a lot easier to use and the new version has a very nice look and feel.

It also has the ability to simply create a dashboard and the data module lets you easily create many data models.

How has it helped my organization?

We have the ability to create reports that monitor the organization in a very easy way.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used it for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not encountered any stability issues.

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IBM Cognos
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about IBM Cognos. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have not encountered any scalability issues.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is 8/10.

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

I did not previously use a different solution.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup was straightforward, especially with the new version.

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

The price is very low for the SaaS edition.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing this product, I did not evaluate other options.

What other advice do I have?

It can do anything; you just have to study it a bit.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: My company is an IBM partner.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Director of IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
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.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
IBM Cognos
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about IBM Cognos. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user823539 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Director with 1-10 employees
Real User
Needs to be more user-friendly, although it's compatible with all our apps

What is our primary use case?

We use it for financial purposes, and simple reporting.

How has it helped my organization?

It's compatible with the whatever applications we have. That's why we got it.

What is most valuable?

The scheduling and reports.

What needs improvement?

It should be more user-friendly. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is okay.

How is customer service and technical support?

Not very good because we didn't get a deep, back-end partner fit.

What other advice do I have?

The most important criteria when choosing a vendor would be that the product is the very user-friendly and that we can upload the files into the system for reporting purposes.

I give this solution a rating of five out of 10 because it's not very user friendly.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user505671 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant - IBM SPM Cognos Solution Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Vendor
The product’s most valuable feature is the open environment where we can build from scratch without too many constraints on calculations.

What is most valuable?

The product’s most valuable feature is the open environment where we can build from scratch without too many constraints on calculations because that allows us to have extensive customization.

How has it helped my organization?

I implement projects using the product, and every time we implement we end up discovering a lot of unaccounted cash that was either being paid to the wrong person or extra money being paid which was unaccounted for. This helps auditing the sales personnel's incentives and also analyzing what incentives show a correlation to an improved performance.

What needs improvement?

  • DBMS scalability
  • Debugging
  • UX for admins who are developing on the software

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used it for 4+ years. I am certified in this tool and I primarily work on implementing this tool (among others) for various organizations’ ICM needs.

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've encountered issues where calculation runs took upwards of six hours because of data storage and build issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is excellent.

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

I did not previously use a different solution.

How was the initial setup?

It's simple enough to install because IBM takes care of initial setup.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Callidus is usually this product’s competitor.

What other advice do I have?

The product is as good as the team implementing it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Business Analytics Cognos Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
The workspace features are intuitive and simple to use.

What is most valuable?

Workspace Advanced and Workspace are very intuitive and simple to use for a basic user.

How has it helped my organization?

It improved sales monitoring, the enterprise business unit performance (costs, revenue, human resources, etc.) and other financial aspects. It also improved the responsibility for the data input into the transactional applications.

What needs improvement?

Report authoring is sometimes difficult for authors without specific computer knowledge with regard to concepts related to database, i.e., join, union, etc.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using IBM Cognos BI since version 10.0 in 2012. IBM Cognos BI 10.2.2 was released on December 2014. So, I have been using IBM Cognos 10 for four years.

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 have not encountered any scalability issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

I rate technical support 7/10, because the first help response is fast, even if the whole resolution of the problem might be slow. In any case, tech support is good.

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

I did not previously use a different solution.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup was simple. YouTube is a rich way to learn tips & tricks.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I'm a Cognos consultant. I work using only this solution.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: My company is an IBM Premier Business Partner.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Partner, CTO, CBIP, BI Solutions Arhitect with 11-50 employees
Vendor
Common definitions for attributes or metrics are stored as metadata. The user experience could be better in places.

What is most valuable?

  • Common metadata repository: The most valuable feature is a single and integrated view of any number of heterogeneous data sources through a business perspective. In short, for any attribute or metric defined, a common definition is stored as metadata and available for all other components of Cognos.
  • Scalability
  • Stability
  • Performance

What needs improvement?

The Cognos Analysis Studio and Cognos Query Studio user interface has room for improvement in the area of user experience. Some of the functions are hard to find and complicated to use, but we're talking about advanced functions rarely used.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used it for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product offers enough capabilities for a proper scalable setup.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is adequate.

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

We previously used Oracle Discoverer. Cognos' HTML user interface was the main reason we switched.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup is straightforward, with minor problems in the area of configuring data source connectors. Because the product uses a JDBC data interface, the administrator needs to be familiar with JDBC.

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

The licensing model had changed from the past and currently needs more flexibility in the area of advanced users. Other products make no difference between the user types. The licensing model should be usage based.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

QlikView and Oracle OBIEE were tested.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: My company is an IBM partner and implementer.
PeerSpot user
it_user176946 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Architect at a wellness & fitness company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
Initial setup can be straightforward but expertise is needed to fully benefit from the capabilities of Cognos. ​

What is most valuable?

  • Report Studio (ability to make pixel perfect reports and interactive dashboards)
  • Framework Manager (the layer between the database and the user)

How has it helped my organization?

With Cognos we are able to present and analyze the KPI's and outcomes our hospital needs to take decisions.

What needs improvement?

  • Adding workflow functions to the reports could close the PDCA cycle
  • Speed of report-execution.

For how long have I used the solution?

7 years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Moderate,.

Technical Support:

Good.

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

No previous solution used.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup can be straightforward but expertise is needed to fully benefit from the capabilities of Cognos.

What about the implementation team?

One day was needed to implement the product, and this was done by an experienced consultant from the vendor.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

No other solutions were evaluated.

What other advice do I have?

Be willing to build up in-house knowledge of Cognos.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user5601 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Analyst at a transportation company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
Very powerful toolset with many options. But complex to learn and use

Valuable Features:

Very powerful toolset with many products and options. Has various ways to present data to meet requirements.

Room for Improvement:

Complex to learn and use. Need technical team to build solutions.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user1068 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user1068Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Real User

This is not a program for use by just anybody. Therefore, one must have some technical knowledge and skills background in order to learn how to use this.

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Buyer's Guide
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Updated: January 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free IBM Cognos Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.