IBM Cognos Controller vs Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition comparison

IBM Cognos Controller vs. Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition

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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

IBM Cognos Controller

Ranking in Financial Close Software

9th

Average Rating

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Redwood Software - Finance ...

Ranking in Financial Close Software

10th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (13th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Financial Close Software category, the mindshare of IBM Cognos Controller is 3.3%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition is 3.0%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Financial Close Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Cognos Controller	3.3%
Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition	3.0%
Other	93.7%

Financial Close Software

Featured Reviews

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

Ram Chenna

Enterprise Architect at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

Single bot now replaces five associates who previously handled finance processes and eliminates manual errors

Everything seems to be working well. However, I see value in integrating AI for automation. So, I would like to see AI integration for automation in future releases. Ideally, after I perform postings, I would like to leverage a generative AI model. This would allow me to type a query or question directly to the bot, and it would retrieve the information I need. For example, I could ask for the number of invoices, the status of specific invoices, or any other relevant data. Currently, we achieve this by building our own Finance model. So, integrating a pre-built finance model with the tool would be much easier and more efficient for reporting purposes. We're looking at several potential uses for this AI model. It could empower various user groups, including regular finance executives, customers, and even vendors to submit queries. Additionally, our leadership team is interested in using the AI model to generate reports directly on the Redwood dashboard. This functionality could potentially replace the need for BSpoke Solutions and the manual generation of BSpoke reports, streamlining the entire reporting process.

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

"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."

"So the best thing is ease of use."

"Redwood has a great feature where it logs every transaction. So, at any point, we can see every step taken for each transaction. It creates an audit trail of the entire process execution. It is a really good feature. This eliminates the need for extra coding or report generation. The audit report is readily available within the tool itself."

"The out-of-the-box finance modules within the Redwood Finance framework help to speed up the process, versus designing and writing generic BOT code."

Cons

"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."

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

"Mapping the process steps to an existing R2R process quickly would be a definite step forward."

"would like to see AI integration for automation in future releases. Post-automation, I envision a generative AI model. If I could ask the bot questions like the number of invoices or their current status, it should be able to provide answers directly."

"The room for balancing improvement lies in automation enhancement with respect to the feature areas, considering dealing directly with Excel and reviewing it to do some additional stuff for it in the end system so that reading the right thing, picking up the values, and everything."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The licensing was purely based on the number of transactions being processed in production."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Manufacturing Company

20%

Performing Arts

13%

Financial Services Firm

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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.

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...

What is your primary use case for IBM Cognos Controller?

I use the solution for reporting and group consolidation.

What do you like most about Redwood Business Process Automation - Finance Edition?

Redwood has a great feature where it logs every transaction. So, at any point, we can see every step taken for each transaction. It creates an audit trail of the entire process execution. It is a r...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Redwood Business Process Automation - Finance Edition?

The pricing is very client-specific. It's not a one-size-fits-all price. They don't have a single price for everyone. It's based on the client and the number of transactions. As Vodafone, a large c...

What needs improvement with Redwood Business Process Automation - Finance Edition?

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Product Reports

Financial Close Software

Download IBM Cognos Controller product report

Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition

Download Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition product report

Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition report

Also Known As

No data available

Redwood Business Process Automation - Finance Edition, Redwood Robotics, Redwood Finance Automation

Overview

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

The volume of repetitive, manual tasks across finance is overwhelming – every day or at the end of every month, quarter or year. Redwood’s finance automation reduces that unnecessary and time-consuming manual effort. We know because our customers tell us that our finance automation solution helps them achieve a much higher degree of back-office process automation compared with alternatives.

Redwood Software

Sample Customers

Emirates National Oil Company

ArcelorMittal, Alliant Energy, Allianz, Arla, Bacardi, CPS Energy, DSM, Faurecia, Genetech, Jabil, Jumbo,

IBM Cognos Controller vs. Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition