We performed a comparison between IBM Cognos and SAP Crystal Reports based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Reporting solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."The most valuable features of IBM Cognos are governance and enterprise reporting."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"A drag-and-drop interface for selecting creating ad hoc reports makes this product very easy to use."
"Cognos' most valuable features are the bundled studios, simple UI, and advanced features like the ability to create data modules."
"The most valuable features are Report Development (Functionality) and Information Distribution (Flexibility)."
"Even while a user is using a cube for reporting, there will not be a situation as ' Cube file locked; unable to build or deploy'."
"IBM Cognos offers tools so that you can design and develop your own test queries and reporting solutions."
"When it comes to decision-making, the product is very useful and used in many departments since a lot of people prefer the reports to be generated by IBM Cognos."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is a fantastic way of generating reports."
"SAP Crystal Reports offers a plethora of features, many of which were available much earlier than in the Crystal Reports we previously used. We extensively use its capabilities for generating general reports, working with Kaspersky data, and even incorporating images into our reports. The range of functions available in SAP Crystal Reports is diverse, and we leverage them across various systems for our needs."
"It is an user-friendly solution."
"We use SAP Crystal Reports for operational reporting."
"The initial setup of the solution is pretty easy."
"The most valuable feature is that from a user's point of view, it is easy to use and requires just a simple click to generate a report."
"I find Crystal Reports very easy to use, even for a non-technical person."
"It would be better if it is was easier to implement without extensive training for it."
"The solution's support could be better."
"One thing that we really want is the ability to have data portrayed on an image. Cognos is not able to do it at the moment, and that's becoming a requirement from the business side: having an image and then plotting your dataset on top of the image as a map."
"The data uploads that we do, such as Excel files, have a lot of restrictions. If we can make it a bit more user-friendly, allowing us to have more flexibility it would be a great help."
"The technical support team’s response time is slow and needs to be improved."
"Data modeling needs to be improved. We use the ETL process, and when we get errors, we then need to identify which structural change is required. The error messaging should be better. They should be descriptive rather than semantic."
"We need more predictive analytical functions, not only diagnostic or decryptic analytics."
"The solution seems to slow down the servers."
"The financing part needs improvement."
"It has significantly enhanced security features, especially when compared to the standard security features of the earlier PeerSpot version I purchased. I've observed improvements in security, and overall, it's quite commendable. Regarding potential enhancements for the next release of this solution, I haven't closely examined SAP Crystal Reports 53. I've only encountered it briefly, perhaps once or twice. However, I anticipate that it likely offers advanced features distinct from its predecessor. I believe there may be notable improvements and additions in the latest version, and I look forward to exploring them further."
"A real improvement would be a simpler system that allows users to play with the visualization without needing specialized skills and code."
"There could be improvements made to the analytics capabilities."
"SAP Crystal Reports has some compatibility issues with third-party products."
"SAP Crystal Reports should provide better support for dynamic connectors."
"If at all possible, a little bit of improvement on the analytical side is needed."
IBM Cognos is ranked 4th in Reporting with 132 reviews while SAP Crystal Reports is ranked 9th in Reporting with 48 reviews. IBM Cognos is rated 8.0, while SAP Crystal Reports is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of IBM Cognos writes "Improved the quality of our KPIs, while reducing calls to the IT department". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SAP Crystal Reports writes "Helps analyze your data by creating richly formatted, pixel-perfect, and multiple reports from virtually any data source, delivered in over a dozen formats". IBM Cognos is most compared with Microsoft Power BI, Oracle OBIEE, Tableau and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, whereas SAP Crystal Reports is most compared with Microsoft Power BI, TIBCO Jaspersoft, Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, Tableau and Oracle OBIEE. See our IBM Cognos vs. SAP Crystal Reports report.
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