IBM OpenPages vs SAP BusinessObjects GRC comparison

IBM and SAP are both solutions in the GRC category. IBM is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.0, while SAP is ranked #12 with an average rating of 6.7. IBM holds a 4.8% mindshare in G, compared to SAP’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 71% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 66% of SAP users who would recommend it.

IBM OpenPages

Read 8 IBM OpenPages reviews

1,314 Views
1,209 Comparison Views

71% willing to recommend

SAP BusinessObjects GRC

Read 7 SAP BusinessObjects GRC reviews

541 Views
368 Comparison Views

66% willing to recommend

IBM OpenPages

SAP BusinessObjects GRC

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 4, 2025

SAP BusinessObjects GRC and IBM OpenPages are competing in the enterprise governance, risk, and compliance market. IBM OpenPages holds an edge with advanced features and flexibility, while SAP BusinessObjects GRC excels in pricing and support.

Features: SAP BusinessObjects GRC includes risk management and access controls, enabling effective compliance and risk assessment. IBM OpenPages offers comprehensive risk management and analytics, with customization and integration options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAP BusinessObjects GRC provides modular deployment and strong customer support for ease of setup and assistance. IBM OpenPages has a customizable deployment model with flexible modules, offering scalability and integration potential but requiring more initial configuration.

Pricing and ROI: SAP BusinessObjects GRC is known for competitive pricing and lower initial setup costs, offering good ROI through efficient risk management. IBM OpenPages demands higher upfront costs but offers superior long-term value with advanced features and integration capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM OpenPages vs. SAP BusinessObjects GRC Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM OpenPages vs. SAP BusinessObjects GRC

September 2025

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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 OpenPages

Ranking in GRC

6th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Governance (2nd)

SAP BusinessObjects GRC

Ranking in GRC

12th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

4.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Continuous Controls Monitoring (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the GRC category, the mindshare of IBM OpenPages is 4.8%, down from 5.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP BusinessObjects GRC is 1.5%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

GRC Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM OpenPages	4.8%
SAP BusinessObjects GRC	1.5%
Other	93.7%

GRC

Featured Reviews

Badri Anand Santhanam

Senior Risk Advisory Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Enhancing enterprise risk management and reporting capabilities with insightful dashboards and automated features.

IBM OpenPages offers strong reporting capabilities with Cognos integration, providing standard tabular reports, various charts, and powerful dashboards for different lines of defense. It caters to the first line managing risks and controls, the second line of SMEs providing oversight, and the independent audit function with an internal audit management module. The solution is more intuitive and task-based, allowing better involvement of the risk function across different lines of defense. The automated features translate into reporting capabilities, and data can be easily extracted and downloaded in different formats.

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Vishal Guthula

Sr Advanced Analytics Analyst at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Experienced security and easy understanding with advanced customization enhances efficiency

Regarding automation, they could enhance features for checking real-time data when someone attempts to access data without proper permissions. Currently, we do not receive immediate alerts; we only discover issues after something goes wrong. Having prevention alerts immediately when someone triggers unauthorized actions would allow us to address these situations proactively.

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

"Everything about IBM OpenPages is valuable, particularly when compared to other solutions in the market like MetricStream, from which we switched due to its feasibility, user-friendliness, and performance."

"The ability to keep a record of internal incidents in the company, and also the monitoring of Key Indicators."

"IBM OpenPages provides time savings in recording risk management components."

"The most valuable features are the workflow engine, calculations, and security rules."

"IBM OpenPages saves time in my work as a developer."

"The content, reporting, and workflow features stand out as the most valuable aspects."

"The customization options in the dashboards inside SAP BusinessObjects GRC are highly valuable, and the real-time monitoring feature performs effectively, allowing teams to maintain data security by restricting domain visibility."

"We have enterprise clients for the product."

"Initial setup was straightforward. It took maybe one week."

"The best features are the scalability and flexibility to implement applications on top of the BW."

"The tool helps create reports for projects, including the creation of any ad-hoc reports"

"The stability of SAP BusinessObjects GRC is acceptable."

"It is wonderful from the control perspective. The GRC tools help you in knowing what are the risk controls, how to mitigate risks, and how to ensure that there are no conflicts between the roles. From the user perspective, you get to know what are the permission risks and access risks. You get a lot of useful information."

Cons

"I believe there's room for improvement in establishing connections with external information."

"IBM needs to work on pricing for organizations with around 100 users, as the licensing model is not competitive enough for SMEs."

"Some self-relationships are not available in OpenPages' relationship model."

"IBM OpenPages could improve by adding more conditions to workflows, as some existing conditions might not work and can produce errors."

"It would be useful to have more out-of-the-box functionality, especially triggers and calculations."

"IBM OpenPages needs improvement in its UI. Currently, it is difficult to see the relationships (associations/parents) between all items unless you click on the item itself."

"Currently, we do not receive immediate alerts; we only discover issues after something goes wrong."

"An additional feature I would like to see is the option to add wait time and integrate sources in wait time."

"BusinessObjects is very dated. It is not that user-friendly. It should be made more user-friendly. In addition, if they could make predictive analytics an embedded part of it where people get to know what is there to offer, it would be great."

"I think the old system is better than the new one. From an improvement perspective, the tool needs to ensure that the new technologies it offers are better than the old ones."

"I am working on features that are not functioning as expected, which creates significant difficulties in management."

"We cannot actively log in to the system. It should also improve support."

"Technical support could be better and faster."

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The product's licensing costs involve a one-time purchase. The tool also allows others to make annual payments towards the licensing charges of the product."

"SAP BusinessObjects GRC is expensive."

"The license is costly."

"There is a yearly licensing cost. I would rate their pricing 4 out of 5."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

26%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

Computer Software Company

19%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	1
Large Enterprise	6

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM OpenPages?

The product’s interface is very intuitive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM OpenPages?

IBM OpenPages could improve by adding more conditions to workflows, as some existing conditions might not work and can produce errors. Additionally, although there are risk assessment tools, I do n...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM OpenPages?

I primarily use IBM OpenPages ( /products/ibm-openpages-reviews ) for compliance and audit programs.

See all answers

What do you like most about SAP BusinessObjects GRC?

The tool helps create reports for projects, including the creation of any ad-hoc reports

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP BusinessObjects GRC?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAP BusinessObjects GRC?

I work with SAP, and currently I am working with other domains such as Power BI, Microsoft, and in the AI sector. When working with Microsoft, I utilize solutions such as Intune, Configuration Mana...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 39% of the time

MetricStream vs IBM OpenPages

Compared 26% of the time

OneTrust GRC vs IBM OpenPages

Compared 11% of the time

SAS Enterprise GRC vs IBM OpenPages

Compared 7% of the time

More IBM OpenPages Competitors

RSA Archer vs SAP BusinessObjects GRC

Compared 31% of the time

ACL Analytics vs SAP BusinessObjects GRC

Compared 29% of the time

Security Weaver vs SAP BusinessObjects GRC

Compared 23% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GRC

August 2025

Download IBM OpenPages product report

Buyer's Guide

Continuous Controls Monitoring

August 2025

Download SAP BusinessObjects GRC product report

Also Known As

OpenPages

BusinessObjects GRC

Overview

Enables customers to manage risk and compliance initiatives across the enterprise, helping businesses to reduce loss, improve decision-making about resource allocation, and optimize business performance.

IBM

SAP GRC helps you automatically detect, remediate, and prevent access risk violations - no matter the industry or business size. Get real-time visibility into your current risk position, and confidently reduce unauthorized access, fraud, and the cost of compliance.

SAP

Sample Customers

Nationwide, Process Innovation AG, OSRAM Licht AG, Dep‹sito Central de Valores (DCV), Delta Lloyd Group, Unum

INEOS Melamines GmbH, Banco Galicia

Buyer's Guide

IBM OpenPages vs. SAP BusinessObjects GRC

September 2025

Free Report: IBM OpenPages vs. SAP BusinessObjects GRC

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