Board vs IBM Cognos Controller comparison

The compared Board International and IBM solutions aren't in the same category. Board International is ranked #22 in BIT , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 0.6% mindshare in the category. IBM is ranked #10 in FCS , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 2.0% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Board International users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Board

Read 37 Board reviews

558 Views
383 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

IBM Cognos Controller

Read 2 IBM Cognos Controller reviews

194 Views
85 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Board

IBM Cognos Controller

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Board and IBM Cognos Controller based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools.

To learn more, read our detailed BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Report (Updated: May 2025).

Buyer's Guide

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

May 2025

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Helped 851,042 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Board

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (22nd), Business Performance Management (10th), Reporting (19th)

IBM Cognos Controller

Average Rating

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Financial Close Software (10th)

Mindshare comparison

Board and IBM Cognos Controller aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Board is designed for BI (Business Intelligence) Tools and holds a mindshare of 0.6%, up 0.5% compared to last year.
IBM Cognos Controller, on the other hand, focuses on Financial Close Software, holds 2.0% mindshare, up 1.4% since last year.

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

Financial Close Software

Featured Reviews

Wiboon Thabsuwan

Senior Consultant at IMD Company Limited

Easy to use and requires less time to learn or understand its features

I think the product is good in terms of ease of use. The interface looks really nice and very easy to use. Every command appears in the icon. It looks like you don't have to understand everything about the command. You do not necessarily have to know more, or I would say that there is less time for our study about the products. Functionality-wise, it is quite easy to use and requires less time to understand or learn about the product. I am a software vendor, so I do not use the tool myself. I use it for my clients. My clients mostly use it for budgeting and timing purposes. I would say that's really less maintenance at all because they can do everything by themselves. It is good in terms of ease of use.

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Pauli Leppänen

Group Controller at Eleda Group

A tool useful for areas like reporting and group consolidation

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten. My company hasn't faced any issues regarding scalability, which we can't overcome. Regarding the scalability, there is some work required in the product. A user should also have some knowledge to be able to operate the tool's scalability feature. Sometimes, my company has to contact our support partner to figure out how to do certain things in the product. So far, my company hasn't encountered any issues with the tool where we have to deal with volumes even though we have to deal with a lot of leasing contracts, like over 2,000. My company expects the product to offer more scalability. My company has around 70 licenses.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"I find Board to be simple and easy to use."

"The most valuable features are the reporting and the charts. The reporting functionality is handy for aggregation, when it comes to planning. That ability is fascinating and our users are very happy with it. The charts and the reporting allow our users to see all the data and to see how things are going this year or in the COVID situation. They're seeing everything. Instead of having to check data line by line, they're seeing it in a graph and they're seeing it in charts."

"The ability to create a data model and have it in testing within a week is fantastic."

"The tool seems to have a lot of ways to handle scaling."

"The dynamic selections on the screen and details by function are also valuable for inside the data view."

"BOARD technical support is knowledgeable and helpful."

"The benefits are getting the data in one spot, the ability to report dynamically, and version control."

"The flexibility and the user-experience are the most valuable features of the solution."

More Board pros

"If there's already a scheduled report and we want a subset of that report, that can also be created. So we do not have to schedule a new report or create a new subscription for that. At this rate, we can create a subset out of one report itself."

"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is a properly working solution... The functionalities and package offered by the product seem to be the right fit for our company."

Cons

"In terms of scalability, I would say that there are some limitations in the solution. It cannot handle data that is too big."

"Sometimes, the data disappears from the product."

"I would like an eLearning platform for BOARD."

"I would like to see better relationships with the partners."

"We are looking for ways to distinguish zeros versus nulls in BOARD."

"I'd like to see a more passive report user for enterprise report writers that aren't particularly technical."

"It can have more functionality for narrative reporting. They should also improve their training courses, which are currently very lightweight. When you get into more complex things, it is quite difficult to figure out what you're supposed to do, and you have to look at a lot of videos before you actually understand, which is a bit frustrating. Their training can be more comprehensive."

"It would be huge in the future if BOARD offered a lot more graphs and presentations, and it was a lot easier to use."

More Board cons

"IFRS 16 functionality is something that is not embedded in IBM Cognos Controller."

"IBM should work on a little flexibility and user-friendliness, in the current interface. It looks very rigid and hard to read. We need to give flexibility to the user in the current situation."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is not the cheapest product on earth, but you get so much. It provides good value for money."

"Find a partner who will take responsibility for the implementation, and be available for support."

"The tool's price is a bit high compared to other solutions."

"The solution is quite expensive, if it is made cheaper then we can have more clients. I rate it four out of ten."

"In terms of the pricing, it was reasonable. BOARD is not the lowest in the market, but it was reasonable for us."

"The product is expensive, but compared to its other alternatives in the market, I feel that IBM Cognos Controller is a reasonably priced tool."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

Is Board better than Anaplan as a Business Intelligence (BI) solution?

We've had several FP&A departments include Anaplan in their analytics discussions, and while BI information IS generated, the focus is generally on compiling input from various sources and simu...

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What do you like most about Board?

All the reports are prepared automatically.

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What needs improvement with Board?

Board's integration could be a bit more robust, but what we have works. If the design isn't right, the flexibility of Board can negatively impact performance.

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What do you like most about IBM Cognos Controller?

The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is a properly working solution... The functionalities and package offered by the product seem to be the right fit for our company.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Cognos Controller?

IFRS 16 functionality is something that is not embedded in IBM Cognos Controller. My company uses a good built-in functionality in the tool, which was made by our support partner. IBM Cognos Contro...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Cognos Controller?

I use the solution for reporting and group consolidation.

See all answers

Comparisons

Anaplan vs Board

Compared 30% of the time

Pigment vs Board

Compared 14% of the time

Microsoft Power BI vs Board

Compared 10% of the time

SAP Analytics Cloud vs Board

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle Hyperion vs Board

Compared 8% of the time

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OneStream XF vs IBM Cognos Controller

Compared 52% of the time

LucaNet vs IBM Cognos Controller

Compared 48% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Board

May 2025

Download Board product report

Buyer's Guide

Financial Close Software

April 2025

Download IBM Cognos Controller product report

Overview

BOARD International - headquartered in Switzerland - is a leading global provider of software for improving business results through better decision making. By unifying Business Intelligence and Corporate Performance Management into a single product, BOARD enables companies to achieve a shared vision of their performance across the entire organization, and thus a single version of the truth.

BOARD provides seamless solutions for • Reporting & Analysis • Budgeting, Planning & Forecasting • Profitability Modelling & Optimization • Simulation & What-if-Analysis • Scorecarding & Strategy Management • Financial Consolidation. Based on visual modelling, BOARD has enabled global companies to deploy BI and CPM applications without a single line of code in a fraction of the time and cost associated with traditional solutions.

Board International

IBM Cognos Controller supports the close, consolidation and reporting process with the agility and affordability of a cloud-based solution. It enables finance teams to automate and accelerate the financial close with minimal IT support. It also helps finance teams deliver financial results, create informative financial and management reports and provide the chief financial officer (CFO) with an enterprise view of key financial ratios and metrics.

IBM

Sample Customers

Coca-Cola, Puma, Desigual, Ricoh, KPMG, H&M, Groupe SEB

Emirates National Oil Company

Buyer's Guide

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

May 2025

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