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IBM Cognos Controller vs Workiva Wdesk comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
14th
Average Rating
7.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Workiva Wdesk
Ranking in Financial Close Software
9th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Business Performance Management (16th), GRC (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Financial Close Software category, the mindshare of IBM Cognos Controller is 3.0%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workiva Wdesk is 5.7%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Financial Close Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Workiva Wdesk5.7%
IBM Cognos Controller3.0%
Other91.3%
Financial Close Software
 

Featured Reviews

Pauli Leppänen - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
TB
Senior Financial Analyst at Bakelite Synthetics
Allows multiple users, each responsible for specific sections, to collaborate efficiently
One area where Workiva Wdesk could improve is by ensuring that its cloud-based system is fully compatible with the most current versions of PowerPoint and Excel. Sometimes, the features available in their versions of these applications fell short of the company's standards, which could be limiting. Having access to the latest versions might increase costs, but it is essential to keep up with the evolving technology landscape and meet the demands of companies that require faster reporting processes. This would make it easier to handle custom requests and adjustments, like creating specific data categories in Excel and seamlessly transferring them into Wdesk for presentations without the need for time-consuming manual adjustments.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"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 is its ability to easily upload and update financial results, creating a dynamic data sheet."
"Workiva Wdesk is pretty good in terms of getting the data from the system, automating the reporting schedules...It has a very good integration with ERP tools."
"The collaboration within the platform is valuable."
"The cross-functionality between connectivity, whether through API connections between different software platforms or the connection of data collection to the actual written ESG report, is highly valuable. The connectivity of all these aspects significantly aids in data assurance, which I consider a bonus."
"It helps you to maintain a backup of your data, including the connectivity with the tables, which provides a user-friendly way to handle and access your files."
"Workiva Wdesk has a flow diagram that is standardized, making it easy for people to file documents on ECDAs, which are in HTML format."
"It makes the compliance process more efficient and more effective."
 

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."
"At this point, I don't see a compelling reason to invest in Workiva. It may be necessary for compliance and controlling the version of SCC, but not everyone needs its high-end capabilities."
"The speed must be improved."
"The most critical issue is the need to shift between uppercase and lowercase."
"Regarding the solution, reporting has certain areas that can be considered for improvement."
"One area where Workiva Wdesk could improve is by ensuring that its cloud-based system is fully compatible with the most current versions of PowerPoint and Excel."
"With this product, it's more about the integrated data model where you can have a one-to-many/many-to-one relationship between your policies and processes, risks, and controls. They need to showcase how you can put those pieces together."
"The tool's script encoding needs to be updated to make it more user-friendly and less of a manual process when changes are made to a company's program. Those changes happen frequently due to mandatory or voluntary reporting requirements, leading to lost linkage connections that must be manually reset each time a change is made. This aspect is not functional now, and I see it as an opportunity for improvement."
 

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."
"Our clients in Asia think that the solution is too expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
11%
Construction Company
9%
Logistics Company
7%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
 

Also Known As

No data available
Wdesk
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Emirates National Oil Company
Noodles Company, eBay, Winnebago, American Assets Trust, AmericanEnterprise, Calpian, Capstone Infrastructure, Cascades, Circor International, Coeur Mining, Davey, Dr Pepper Snapple
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cognos Controller vs. Workiva Wdesk and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.