Alteryx vs SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Alteryx and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Predictive Analytics solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Alteryx vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform Report (Updated: March 2020).
767,319 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"I think the most valuable feature for Alteryx in a health facility is that it permits cleaning, organizing, and merging of databases such as Excel and Access.""I believe that the ability to leverage the gallery for scalability, as well as the general data blending functionality, is most beneficial to our core-based users.""Technical support is very helpful.""The philosophy of the citizen data scientist is the key piece, which means the no-code analytics capability. This is the feature that attracted us the most.""Its initial setup is easy.""The support is very good.""Shortens the time required to start analyzing data and looking for insights, minimizing the tasks that do not add value to the business and maximizing the analysis phase.""Alteryx has helped us spend more time identifying results instead of performing analysis manually. It has helped us in our loading process, including scrubbing data and identifying data elements that need to be corrected. It enables us to understand our data sets a lot better."

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"The platform uses a lot of Java technologies so the performance and system-level management are tricky because it needs a lot of resources.""Enables us to present data with Smart Objects that can be embedded within presentations and which automatically update when the presentations are run.""We use it to identify critical KPIs to senior management.""It is more user-friendly and easier to work with the report creation part, creating reports out of an established universe. Maybe a business person could liberate the existing universe and create a report on top of it, as well. So that's one cool feature.""The ability to merge dimensions in a report is great.""I like the fact that we can integrate it seamlessly within our Epic environment, but probably the best thing that Crystal Reports offers is the ability to do visualizations. They're simple to do, and they're catchy. So, it is a really great tool.""Ease of report development is a key feature.""It is solid and stable."

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Cons
"A feature which allows the user to be able to click on an output (in a file browser) and see the creation of the module would be fantastic.""The formula we currently use in Alteryx can be automated.""The screen when you are looking into your workflows and your ETL processes needs to be improved. You cannot manage it very well.""I think they should really work on integrating or have a capacity to integrate some algorithmic code. I think that's one of the most important things they need to be doing.""What they're struggling with is it's not as mature as Tableau in the user management area. It was tougher to manage the server part of it right away, especially since the user base has grown.""It's a technical product and those that don't have proper training will have to deal with a steep learning curve.""Sometimes, there are performance constraints. Especially when a large file has to be ingested, the system slows down a bit. Its performance is the only thing that can be improved.""The solution just lacks in terms of data visualization. That is why we use Tableau and Qlik in our organization. They help to pick up the slack. If data visualization was added, Alteryx would be a very good tool, and much more complete."

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"This solution is complex to configure and administer.""I don't like the fact that I have to use two tools. Web Intelligence is good for reporting and all kinds of stuff, but I would rather have one product. All the reporting features of Web Intelligence should be developed within Lumira. A lot of predictive abilities have been brought into the cloud version of SAP Analytics. It would be nice to see a lot of newer technologies and AI. Predictive capabilities are becoming a little more standard. Instead of having to get another model, we are just looking for one solution to deal with analytics including predictive.""Its price should be better. It is expensive and not cost-effective. It should also be improved in terms of end-user experience. It requires further improvements for usability and ease of use. It should have more dashboarding metrics and much faster integration with ERP so that when you double click, you can instantly see the scenario-based result.""The dashboard tool is called Lumira and it is very uncomfortable for developers to use. They should improve this in the future.""SAP BusinessObjects is actually losing popularity within our company because people find the user interface and the way things are set up not to be as easy as many other tools that are on the market, like Qlik and things like that.""The biggest area for improvement would be the dashboarding capabilities due to the recent change from Xcelsius to Dashboard Designer. This has created a gigantic ripple in many companies because the skill sets required are drastically different.""Technical support may not always be timely or effective.""The combination of Lumira along with Design Studio merger last year still needs development from a visualization standpoint."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "A designer and scheduler for $13K/year in total is pretty much earning you the money back in time and in other resources."
  • "​Very transparent.​"
  • "The seat is too expensive."
  • "It can be a bit pricey, especially after the first year."
  • "The pricing is $5000 per year per production license."
  • "We have a yearly cost that we pay for the licensing. We do not pay any costs in addition to the licensing fees."
  • "There are some implementation services and internal effort costs at the beginning but there is nothing else."
  • "The price for Alteryx Designer is reasonable but the price for Alteryx Server for universal collaborations is too expensive."
  • More Alteryx Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Just work with SAP to make sure you have enough licenses but don't go overboard."
  • "​It is not an expensive platform. The licensing is for a package of users starting at 10 users."
  • "It has an option of a Cloud Platform (SAP Analytics Cloud) which has a lower price than the on-premise platform, and you can buy individual licences per user.​"
  • "Depending on your size, try to stick with SAP BusinessObjects BI Edge. Most people tend to overthink the licensing. Remember that one concurrent user means that one person can be performing a task at a given time. That does not mean that only one user can be on the system at a time, it means that only one person can be refreshing a report or designing a dashboard. There are tons of ways you can access your data or reports without consuming a license. I've seen cases where five concurrent licenses support thousands of users."
  • "There's no additional charge for a Development environment license, so build an additional development server."
  • "Its price is fair."
  • "It is not cost-effective. It is expensive."
  • "I have always found SAP BI to be expensive. It is expensive even when you compare SAP BI Cloud with Microsoft Power BI. Power BI is probably around $9.99 per month, and the cheapest SAP BI is around $20, which is double. In terms of price, Power BI is definitely a lot better. If you have budget issues, you may want to go for Power BI."
  • More SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Comparison Review
    Anonymous User
    A quick look at the whole idea on another weblogs gives you a sense that all of them just talked about very brief things like report refresh feature in BO or cube feature in MS Analysis Service. I choose MS BI and I want to share my reasons and opinions on why I choose it and give you another quick but a little deeper compare on these two BI platforms. As we all know both Business Objects and Microsoft are big companies who are working on BI solutions and both have their own advantages. It’s not true to compare them in term of which one is better, we have to check what is our requirements and then depend on requirements take the decision whether MS or BO. A vision like this could help us relief from religious decisions against a software or technology. In a BI architect first of all we have the data store level, I mean the storage of the raw data not the stage or olap cubes or universe data source, I mean the first place of our data. This is important to know that where your raw data is and what is the type of storage used to store them. Whether file system or Access or Fox database or a complex database solution like oracle, sqlserver or a web service can made our place of raw data. We have to check our tools against them; check to see which one gives us a smooth way to transfer them among ETL process to destination. So take a look at what Business Objects gives us. There is a Data Integration platform in Business objects but the problem is that you have to buy that… Read more →
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:One of the differences is that with Alteryx you can use it as an ETL and analytics tool. Please connect with me directly if you want to know more.
    Top Answer:Alteryx is an extremely easy and flexible data tool, flexible in terms of drag and drop toolset and also has python, R integrations if your team requires this It can handle over 2 billion rows of… more »
    Top Answer:I am not familiar with IBM SPSS Modeler, therefore, I cannot compare these two products Regarding Alteryx I can say the following: - An excellent desktop tool for Data Prep and analytics. -… more »
    Top Answer:There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I would recommend as follows:  1) If you have legacies of SAP, Oracle  - look for SAP… more »
    Top Answer:Both tools have their positives and negatives. First, I should mention that I am relatively new to Tableau. I have been working on and off Tableau for about a year, but getting to work on it… more »
    Top Answer:What I like the most about SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform is that it has significantly improved our decision-making process.
    Ranking
    1st
    Views
    2,176
    Comparisons
    1,327
    Reviews
    29
    Average Words per Review
    513
    Rating
    8.3
    Views
    8,854
    Comparisons
    6,867
    Reviews
    15
    Average Words per Review
    562
    Rating
    7.9
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform, SAP BusinessObjects, Business Objects
    Learn More
    Overview

    Alteryx can be used to speed up or automate your business processes and enables geospatial and predictive solutions. Its platform helps organizations answer business questions quickly and efficiently, and can be used as a major building block in a digital transformation or automation initiative. With Alteryx, you can build processes in a more efficient, repeatable, and less error-prone way. Unlike other tools, Alteryx is easy to use without an IT background. The platform is very robust and can be used in virtually any industry or functional area.

    With Alteryx You Can:

    • Prep, blend, and analyze data
    • Deliver faster, better business outcomes
    • Automate analytics and data science
    • Embed intelligent decisioning
    • Deploy and share analytics in hours

    Alteryx Features Include:

    Some of the most valuable Alteryx features include:

    Scalability, stability, flexibility, fast performance, no-code analytics, data processing, business logic wrapping, scheduling, ease of use, data blending from different platforms, geo-referencing, good customization capabilities, drag and drop functionality, intuitive user interface, connectors, machine learning, macros, simple GUI, integration with Python, good data transformation, good documentation, multiple database merging, and easy deployment.

    Alteryx Can Be Used For:

    • Combining and manipulating data within spreadsheets: Alteryx can be used in situations where complex data manipulation occurs. It can handle large data quickly, and the process is much simpler to see and understand.

    • Database access and supplementing SQL development: Alteryx has several sets of database connectors and functions, including many functions that your average database does not. Alteryx can work with data from multiple databases or areas within a database. It allows users to filter, sort, calculate, etc. as they would commonly do in SQL or an ETL tool.
    • API, cloud, and hybrid access: Alteryx can read and write data in databases, files, REST APIs, and a myriad of other locations (with the correct permissions). When a workflow is published, you can also call a workflow through a REST API to start it.

    • Data science: Alteryx provides pre-built models that are extremely useful for data scientists who may have limited programming skills and also gives you the ability to add R or Python code directly within a workflow.

    • Geospatial analysis: Alteryx gives users drag-and-drop tools to geocode, plot, and map locations, customers, competitors, or anything that has a location (employee, truck, pipeline, etc.).

    • Reports and dashboards: Alteryx provides built-in tools that enable the building of reports and dashboards.

    Alteryx Benefits

    Some of the benefits of using Alteryx include
    :

    • Saves time: Alteryx helps shorten the time required to start analyzing data and looking for insights, minimizing the tasks that do not add value to the business and maximizing the analysis phase.

    • Clear tool configurations: Alteryx provides simple and concise tool configurations that are quick and easy to set.

    • Excellent workflow compatibility.

    • Reduced development time: Alteryx has an extensive gallery of user-developed analytic applications that helps to reduce development time.

    • Fast data loading: Alteryx has tools that make it very effective when working with big data sets.

    • No-code, low-code analytic building blocks: You can prep, blend, and analyze data to enable highly configurable and repeatable workflows.

    • Machine learning: Alteryx allows you to quickly create properly trained algorithms that are ready to deploy.

    Reviews from Real Users

    "Automation is the most valuable aspect for us. The ability to wrap business logic around the data is very helpful." - Theresa M., Senior Capacity Planner at a financial services firm

    "Alteryx has made us more agile and increased the speed and effectiveness of decision making." - Richard F., Director, Digital Experience & Media at Qdoba Restaurant Corporation

    "The scheduling feature for the automation is excellent." - Data Analytics Engineer at a tech services company

    "The product is very stable and super fast, five-star. It's significantly more stable than its nearest competitor." - Director at a non-tech company

    “A complete solution with very good user experience and a nice user interface.” - Solutions Consultant at a tech services company

    "There are a lot of good customization capabilities." - Advance Analytics PO at a pharma/biotech company





    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is a versatile and flexible solution for reporting and dashboards, focusing on analytics and ad hoc reporting. It can be deployed on-premise or in the cloud. The solution includes tools such as Web Intelligence, Crystal Reports, SAP Lumira, and Analytical Cloud and is primarily used for comprehensive business intelligence reporting.

    The most valuable features include excellent reporting features, good technical support, scalability, and the ability to translate database data into business language. The solution has helped organizations by providing analytics, monitoring KPIs, and making important decisions as a financial business.

    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Key Features

    • Central management: Access all your BI from a single, central launchpad that can be customized to meet user-specific needs. The launchpad provides business users with access to all their BI tools, reports, notifications, and applications in a single place. This includes the ability to launch SAP Analytics Cloud.

    • Data visualization and analytics: Create powerful visualizations, dashboards, and applications to assess risk, improve efficiency, identify opportunities, and enable users to analyze developments and data. Business insights can be shared with colleagues across enterprises.

    • Integration with Microsoft Office: Integrate with SAP Business Warehouse and SAP HANA to power real-time analytics. For large-scale data analysis, you can integrate with Microsoft Excel to discover in-depth business insights and forecasts. Data analytics information can also be embedded into Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

    • Cloud support: Extend and expand your BI on the cloud. SAP Analytics Cloud connects your BI to the cloud and offers enterprise planning and advanced analytics from a single online solution.

    Reviews from Real Users

    SAP BusinessObjects BI stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Several major ones are its user-friendly dashboard, its impressive reporting and analytic features, and its ability to integrate with multiple solutions.

    A managing partner at a tech services company writes, "One of the most valuable features of SAP BusinessObjects is that it's not a dashboarding solution. It's a real product. You can create operational reports and publish it to anyone. You can create schedules. You can create a Universe, semantic layers. There's also a security configuration. It's a huge product, so if there is a business need, SAP BusinessObjects can cover it."

    An associate manager at a consultancy notes, "It provides flexibility for creating reports. It is very good for creating highly complex reports. I like this solution because when I buy BusinessObjects, it comes with many components, such as reporting, dashboard, and data visualization tools. Its performance is good. It is running on top of SAP BW and SAP HANA."

    A manager of data analytics and interfaces at a healthcare company says, "It has got great flexibility. As a reporting tool, it has a great deal of flexibility for numerous data resources that you can bring into it. It allows you to write your SQL query directly within the product. It has great visualization. 

    Sample Customers
    AnalyticsIq Inc., belk, BloominBrands Inc., Cardinalhealth, Cineplex, Dairy Queen
    SRAM, Kennametal, Fairfax Water, British American Tobacco, Velux, and FedEx.
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Energy/Utilities Company9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm22%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Retailer6%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company18%
    Healthcare Company11%
    Energy/Utilities Company9%
    Insurance Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Computer Software Company11%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Government8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise52%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business16%
    Midsize Enterprise10%
    Large Enterprise74%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise55%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise10%
    Large Enterprise71%
    Buyer's Guide
    Alteryx vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform
    March 2020
    Find out what your peers are saying about Alteryx vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform and other solutions. Updated: March 2020.
    767,319 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Alteryx is ranked 1st in Predictive Analytics with 74 reviews while SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is ranked 6th in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools with 102 reviews. Alteryx is rated 8.4, while SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Alteryx writes "Feature-rich ETL that condenses a number of functions into one tool". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform writes "Web intelligence will work with any amount of data even if you have 10 million rows". Alteryx is most compared with KNIME, Databricks, Dataiku Data Science Studio, RapidMiner and Qlik Sense, whereas SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is most compared with SAP Analytics Cloud, Microsoft Power BI, Oracle OBIEE, IBM Cognos and MicroStrategy. See our Alteryx vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform report.

    We monitor all Predictive Analytics reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.