MicroStrategy Reviews, Competitors and Pricing

Business Intelligence Engineer at a leisure / travel company with 10,001+ employees

Mar 21, 2013

February 2012 Magic Quadrant report - Biggest MicroStrategy Misconception

That's one of the biggest misconceptions for any potential MicroStrategy implementation.
Business now a days stack it against tableau,spotfire, SSIS,QlikView and other 'newer' tools (previously they used to compare against Cognos, BO,Actuate,SAS BI )..and all in all no one comes closer to return-on-investment when compared to MicroStrategy.

Yes, initial setup cost and resource cost may be higher than most but you will get most of what you will spend. And in most organizations MicroStrategy is rolled as an shared platform which ultimately reduces 'actual cost' for any new project using MicroStrategy as solution.
In other words, which BI platform will give you cube,mobile,clustering,scalability,object re-usability , detailed SDK with one of most power SQL engine ?

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

it_user125418Owner/Principal at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

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Jun 6, 2014

I've followed MicroStrategy for nearly 20 years as an intelligence analysis system integrator for the Federal government. As an analyst, a major strength of MicroStrategy is that when I pull an analytical thread and start to follow it I don't have to worry about falling into the "white space" between cubes and waiting for the IT shop to build another cube to answer my question (if I even remember what it was by the time they get back to me). This advantage is huge, and usually overlooked when decisions are made about the tool to procure. A second major strength is the single metadata database that supports the analysts as well as the administrators seamlessly. Add the additional usability features that comes with building a product from the ground up over a period of 20 years and you have a fantastic product. Granted, learning it can be intimidating and complex, but the same can be said about using the esoteric features of MS Excel. But, the product and its applications can be learned and placed into the hands of a company's major asset, its analysts.

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Director3013

Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Aug 1, 2018

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The Repository enables us to develop something once and use it anywhere

Pros and Cons

"The whole repository side of things is beneficial because you develop it once, and you can use it anywhere, in the Enterprise grade."

"If you compare it with Power BI with the DAX language, it would be great to put that into MicroStrategy."

What is our primary use case?

I'm a system implementer, so I implement the system for customers. I implement whatever the customer needs at their site. It's generally all the BI information that they have in the data warehouse.

Its performance is very good.

How has it helped my organization?

Users are getting their reports when they need them.

What is most valuable?

The whole Repository side of things is beneficial because you develop it once, and you can use it anywhere, in the Enterprise grade.

What needs improvement?

If you compare it with Power BI with the DAX language, it would be great to put that into MicroStrategy.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's pretty stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is excellent.

How are customer service and technical support?

I would rate technical support at seven out of 10.

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

The choice was political: IBM Cognos against MicroStrategy, and due to IBM internal mechanisms.

My criteria for selecting a vendor are, first, that the application software works, and secondly, the support - and local support as well.

How was the initial setup?

I was involved in the initial setup and it's pretty complex, but it's very powerful once it's set up.

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

Pricing, in general, is high. With Power BI, you get mobile with the license, whereas with MicroStrategy, you have to purchase mobile for extra.

What other advice do I have?

If you're looking for enterprise BI, go for MicroStrategy.

I would give the tool an eight out of 10. The local office would get a two out of 10. But the tool itself is just a good enterprise-grade tool.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Consultant-implementer.

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it_user6462

Architect at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees

May 9, 2013

Deployment and stability has been fairly good but scalability of the product is quite challenging

For how long have you used this product?
- 9 yrs

Which features of this product are most valuable to you?
- Mobile and in general, use of this Software by End Users.

Can you give an example of how this product has improved the way your organization functions?
- Users are getting their answers quickly and acting on their business KPI's

What areas of this product have room for improvement?
- Distributing Reports

Did you encounter any issues with deployment, stability or scalability?
- Few Challenges but deployment and stability has been fairly good but scalability of the product is quite challenging.

Did you previously use a different solution and if so, why did you switch?
- Business Objects. Switched to MicroStrategy for ease of use and Mobility Support.

Before choosing this product, did you evaluate other options? If so, which ones?
- Yes. Tableau

How would you rate the level of customer service and technical support?
- Good

Was the initial setup straightforward or complex? In what ways?
- Being in this technology for more years I'm impressed with the straightforward setup approach of their recent releases.

Did you implement through a vendor team or an in-house one? If through a vendor team, how would you rate their level of expertise?
- In House.

What is your ROI on this product?
- Close to $4 Million, I believe.

What advice would you give to others looking into implementing this product?
- Great Product but requires attention on their individual needs.

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

it_user1068Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees

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Oct 27, 2013

Hello

Before settling for Microstrategy, you did look into Tableau. Can you please point out the reasons that led you into opting for Microstrategy and not Tableau. Thank you

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it_user4182

Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Feb 7, 2013

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A great tool which is serving both big and small clients with equal strength

Valuable Features:

I am a report developer and find it a very useful tool. It has everything I need and with your intelligence you are able to make fantastic reports.

Room for Improvement:

The only problem is report performance.

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

it_user8547Consultant at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees

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Nov 20, 2013

Gunjan you should check the reports developed as I agree with all the comments and Microstrategy is tool which is capable of running queries on large databases. There are lot of best practices and tuning techniques in Microstrategy which I would suggest you should try to research. All in all the amount of Out of the box features provided by Microstrategy is not provided by any other tool that I am aware of.
In case you have any questions/queries I would be happy to assist. Feel free to reach out to me.
Thanks and Regards
Arpit Agrawal
Business Intelligence Consultant
Email: ArpitAgrawal9@yahoo.co.in

Please consider the environment before printing this email

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it_user5331

Business Intelligence Engineer at a leisure / travel company with 10,001+ employees

Feb 15, 2016

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The ease of mobile BI development and deployment is good.

Valuable Features:

- SQL Engine

-Ease of mobile BI development and deployment

-Scaleability

- Security (encryption) with compression

- Idea for enterprise wide BI delivery

Room for Improvement:

It needs better EM logging. EM is MicroStrategy enterprise manager which logs usage and stats. It has becomes very difficult over last couple of years to use this feature to have a BI environment rolled out to users.

Customer Service:

MicroStrategy customer support including premium support is pretty bad in handling product level question or defects..which leads to lots of dissatisfaction for a customer

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

Anton Cui

Solution Executive DAG at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Mar 5, 2018

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Seamless integration between browser-based BI and Mobile BI

Pros and Cons

"Mobile brings reports/dashboards closer to the business user."
"Provides seamless integration between browser-based BI and Mobile BI."

"The product is designed for enterprise. A lightweight version would be easier for a smaller workgroup."

What is our primary use case?

BI reporting
Dashboard
Mobile

How has it helped my organization?

Provides seamless integration between browser-based BI and Mobile BI.

What is most valuable?

Mobile. It brings reports/dashboards closer to the business user. They can access it whenever they want with their mobile devices. It also provides consistent user experience similar to the same reports/dashboards on browser, and it is very intuitive.

What needs improvement?

The product is designed for enterprise. A lightweight version would be easier for a smaller workgroup.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Not at all. MicroStrategy is known for its enterprise ready platform.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Every software with a flawed design has issues. MicroStrategy is not an exception.

How is customer service and technical support?

I would rate technical support as an eight out of 10.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup was straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

MicroStrategy needs a certain level of back-end design skill. Choose the right back-end system.

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

it_user807363

Data Engineering Leader at a consumer goods company with 10,001+ employees

Jan 29, 2018

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The data governance leads people to trust the data they have

Pros and Cons

"The data governance leads people to trust the data that they have, and they know where to get it."

"It needs better visualizations."

What is our primary use case?

We mostly do reporting for the business units. It is performing very well.

How has it helped my organization?

The data governance leads people to trust the data that they have, and they know where to get it.

In 2018, we are planning to use the semantic layer. We are also planning to look at investing in mobile analytics.

What is most valuable?

The data governance is the most important thing.

What needs improvement?

I have not seen the data-wrangling capabilities in 10.10. If that is not good, then that. Then, it needs better visualizations.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is great.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is great.

How is customer service and technical support?

Technical support is awesome. I have a specific contact who answers me correctly when I ask questions.

How was the initial setup?

I was not involved with the initial setup, but will be involved with an upcoming upgrade.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

If MicroStrategy can do what Tableau does, then we would like to have one platform.

What other advice do I have?

Consider the maturity of MicroStrategy's data model.

Most important criteria when selecting a vendor: Going forward, it will be integration with other platforms, like Salesforce and Hadoop.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

it_user656304

Data Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

May 10, 2017

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Enabled our end users to do their own reports with little to no training. Metadata management could be improved.

What is most valuable?

Ease of use was valuable. It enabled our end users to do their own reports as self-service with little to no training, thus requiring less support.

How has it helped my organization?

It allowed end users to self-service their reports.

What needs improvement?

Metadata management could be improved. When you delete an object, if there is any object directly linked the metadata, this may become corrupted and break the software. The only way to restore it is to delete the linked objects, whether or not you know which of them have this issue.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used this solution for eighteen months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We did encounter stability issues. We had a serious metadata corruption problem.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The cost of licensing made scalability unprofitable.

How is customer service and technical support?

We would give technical support a rating of 5/10. The existing whitepapers and documentation were very useful, but actual support never answered us.

How was the initial setup?

I cannot comment, as I took the server that was already set up by a previous colleague.

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

This all depends on your budget.

What other advice do I have?

Ensure there is enough of a budget for continued support, or look for a different product where there is a bigger community.

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