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RSA Archer vs SAP BusinessObjects GRC comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 4, 2025

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

RSA Archer
Ranking in GRC
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
IT Governance (1st), IT Vendor Risk Management (4th)
SAP BusinessObjects GRC
Ranking in GRC
12th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
4.2
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Continuous Controls Monitoring (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the GRC category, the mindshare of RSA Archer is 5.8%, down from 16.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP BusinessObjects GRC is 1.5%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
GRC Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
RSA Archer5.8%
SAP BusinessObjects GRC1.5%
Other92.7%
GRC
 

Featured Reviews

CJ
Information Security Specialist at Dubai Health Authority
Centralized management strengthens compliance with good look and feel
From my perspective as a customer and end user, Archer has an impressive look and feel, but the most adaptive feature is its ease of configuration which helps to enhance our process according to our maturity. It's more about our organization getting centralized with an integrated approach that focuses on risk governance and compliance. When can provide a detailed dashboards to management with the details of risks from top-down or bottom-up prioritizing actions based on its criticality or necessity. This allows us to show end users and management where the issues lie and effectively demonstrate accountability and visibility in compliance.
Vishal Guthula - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The last project was for an investment group that was using Excel. Shifting their records from one position to another took approximately 15 minutes. In Archer, we created a workflow for them to leverage it, and they could send the single record with one click to one person within seconds. The whole process went from 15 minutes to two minutes to get the approval for the records. The main purpose of Archer is to just make it easy."
"It is enterprise-wide accessible. So, it is very helpful for all the employees in our bank. They can log in and do their risk management activities. It has a few inbuilt modules that are helpful for doing risk management activities, such as issue management, risk identification, risk assessment, and policy exception management. It also has some inbuilt workflows inside these modules. They are also helpful."
"This solution helped us with the centralization of our governance data, so we could house all of our controls in one place. We could use that central repository of all our controls to build our risk management strategy and our policy and governance. So we could use controls as a central library and build policy, and then build risk management around it."
"Overall, I would give it a nine out of ten."
"It is a very friendly tool. We can easily understand what is going on inside the tool. I like this tool. We can work with the tool for the ERP platform. We can create automated applications based on the requirements."
"The most valuable part of the product is the ease-of-use and the opportunity to create custom security applications easily."
"I like how Archer requires very little programming ability. A person with minimum coding experience can configure the necessary fields in Archer. It's more of a drag-and-drop solution."
"It has the best workload management features."
"We have enterprise clients for the product."
"The stability of SAP BusinessObjects GRC is acceptable."
"Initial setup was straightforward. It took maybe one week."
"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."
"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 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."
 

Cons

"I find the tech support to be inadequately knowledgeable."
"Its customization features could be better."
"There are some issues with the interface for version 6.5 but these may already be repaired and simplified in the new versions that have been released."
"Solution could use more inbuilt applications."
"Initially, technical support is a little weak, and I would rate it six out of ten. The issue with initial support is that new engineers are often not as experienced."
"The user interface needs work. There are many small text boxes, like credit card size's boxes, where we need to input a lot of text. You can't see what you're typing beyond the tiny window, so you have to scroll or type elsewhere and copy-paste it. It's very inconvenient."
"When we have to do formulas or some other type of calculation in Archer, it sometimes doesn't work correctly. The fields don't display right, and we have to contact RSA Archer support to fix things. I think the calculation components are a bit complicated."
"In a future release, there should be an option to upload the main data."
"We cannot actively log in to the system. It should also improve support."
"Currently, we do not receive immediate alerts; we only discover issues after something goes wrong."
"I am working on features that are not functioning as expected, which creates significant difficulties in management."
"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."
"Technical support could be better and faster."
"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."
"An additional feature I would like to see is the option to add wait time and integrate sources in wait time."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am not 100% familiar with that, especially with their new model. I just know that the way they've licensed per user to scale is good."
"The initial purchase is cheap. You pay a nominal price to start then renew the license annually. You also must buy a license for each module. I'm not too fond of that aspect of the licensing model. You buy the elephant and then spend more money to feed the elephant."
"As I am a developer and responsible for providing production support, I do not have personal knowledge of the pricing. However, my colleagues claim that it is very expensive in comparison with other tools."
"The solution's price should be reduced. You only have to pay the license and there are no additional fees."
"The price of the solution is very affordable."
"I am not sure about other companies, but it's quite expensive."
"The solution’s pricing is moderate."
"RSA Archer's price is justifiable and not as expensive, compared to ServiceNow. I have heard that the licensing for ServiceNow is much more expensive. I'm unaware whether there are any additional costs after licensing fees."
"SAP BusinessObjects GRC is expensive."
"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."
"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
21%
Insurance Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
5%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Insurance Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise25
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about RSA Archer?
It has various valuable features. For example, showing us if a control aligns with specific standards or frameworks helps us understand it better and verify its compliance.
What needs improvement with RSA Archer?
While it provides benefits in terms of security, the pricing is a bit higher than customers typically expect. It would be helpful if RSA Archer had the capability for two-way integration because, i...
What is your primary use case for RSA Archer?
Regarding the compliance, risk, and governance tools, I am comfortable discussing the tools in the GRC category. The specific module from ServiceNow is the ServiceNow Compliance, Risk, and Governan...
What do you like most about SAP BusinessObjects GRC?
The tool helps create reports for projects, including the creation of any ad-hoc reports
What needs improvement with SAP BusinessObjects GRC?
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...
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...
 

Also Known As

Archer
BusinessObjects GRC
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

T-Systems, Bridge Point, Equifax, First Data, Global Imaging Company, Manulife Financial
INEOS Melamines GmbH, Banco Galicia
Find out what your peers are saying about RSA Archer vs. SAP BusinessObjects GRC and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.