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SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform vs SAP Crystal Reports comparison

 

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.2
ROI from SAP BusinessObjects varies; success depends on factors like user volume, setup, and integration with existing systems.
Sentiment score
7.1
SAP Crystal Reports delivers over 1000% ROI through Visual Studio integration, boosting sales despite training and database understanding costs.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Customer service reviews for SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform are mixed, with varied experiences in response time and technical expertise.
Sentiment score
6.0
SAP Crystal Reports' support varies; some praise it, others turn to online communities or face scheduling and complexity challenges.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
SAP BusinessObjects BI is scalable, supports high user volume, and allows server additions for performance, despite complexity.
Sentiment score
7.9
SAP Crystal Reports excels in scalability for large enterprises, but smaller setups may face SDK and cost challenges.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform stability varies, influenced by updates, configuration, and resource allocation, affecting performance in large environments.
Sentiment score
7.4
SAP Crystal Reports stability improved since 2011, with updates resolving crash issues, though some memory problems persist.
 

Room For Improvement

SAP BusinessObjects needs improved user-friendliness, integration, performance, flexibility, and support, with better visualization, administration, and training.
SAP Crystal Reports needs improvements in customization, interface, exporting, and compatibility for better user efficiency and experience.
SAP BusinessObjects is expected to be phased out by 2027 as reports are moving to SAP Analytics Cloud.
 

Setup Cost

SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform's complex and high-cost licensing hinders suitability for budget-constrained medium-sized enterprises.
SAP Crystal Reports can be costly, but discounts and free software help manage expenses, requiring careful license model evaluation.
 

Valuable Features

SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform excels in data integration, user-friendly reporting, and advanced scheduling, enhancing decision-making and data visualization.
SAP Crystal Reports offers flexible custom report creation with easy database connectivity, export options, and Business Objects integration.
The important features include a dashboard and reporting capabilities through SAP Analytics Cloud, which I consider to be a better version than the initial BusinessObjects platform.
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP BusinessObjects Busines...
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
104
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (6th)
SAP Crystal Reports
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Reporting (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Business Intelligence solutions, they serve different purposes. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is designed for BI (Business Intelligence) Tools and holds a mindshare of 3.7%, down 5.3% compared to last year.
SAP Crystal Reports, on the other hand, focuses on Reporting, holds 2.8% mindshare, down 3.5% since last year.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
Reporting
 

Featured Reviews

Mo Sayed - PeerSpot reviewer
Dashboarding and reporting become more efficient with robust analytics capabilities
This platform is very important to us because it offers a dashboard and includes SAP Analytics Cloud for reporting. The analytics is a reporting platform with a separate license from the planning platform. We use this primarily for dashboarding The important features include a dashboard and…
MVD Prasad - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps analyze your data by creating richly formatted, pixel-perfect, and multiple reports from virtually any data source, delivered in over a dozen formats
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.
report
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849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user6663 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 25, 2013
SAP Business Objects vs. Microsoft BI
A quick look at the whole idea on another weblogs gives you a sense that all of them just talked about very brief things like report refresh feature in BO or cube feature in MS Analysis Service. I choose MS BI and I want to share my reasons and opinions on why I choose it and give you another quick…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Seeking lightweight open source BI software
There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I would recommend as follows: 1) If you have legacies of SAP, Oracle - look for SAP...
Tableau vs. Business Objects - Which is a better solution for visualization and analysis?
Both tools have their positives and negatives. First, I should mention that I am relatively new to Tableau. I have been working on and off Tableau for about a year, but getting to work on it consta...
What do you like most about SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform?
What I like the most about SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform is that it has significantly improved our decision-making process.
What needs improvement with SAP Crystal Reports?
Maybe some Power BI-related features could be added, like dashboards or direct editing in reports. We use query language to build reports; this area could be improved more.
What is your primary use case for SAP Crystal Reports?
We use SAP Crystal Reports for reporting. We use it for financial reports like statements of accounts, trial balances, and other management reports, salary slips, and many other purposes.
What do you like most about SAP Crystal Reports?
We use SAP Crystal Reports for operational reporting.
 

Also Known As

SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform, SAP BusinessObjects, Business Objects
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

SRAM, Kennametal, Fairfax Water, British American Tobacco, Velux, and FedEx.
City of Buenos Aires, ASR Group, Citrix, EarlySense, Usha International Limited, Automotive Resources International (ARI), LivePerson, Coelba (Grupo Neoenergia), RZD Russian Railways, National Basketball Association - NBA, TALLY WEiJL, El Machetazo, Young Heroes, Mozzart, Mitsui Knowledge Industry (MKI) , Surgutneftegas Open Joint Stock Company, The VELUX Group, AOK Bundesverband, AL-KO KOBER GROUP
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools. Updated: March 2025.
849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.