IBM Cognos Reviews

As per the technology itself, it is a very powerful tool with a lot of options depending on the necessities. It is also scalable to the business needs.

IBM Cognos has allowed our company to manage all the data we generate and helped us improve the results.

The product user interface is already being remodeled to fit today's market. There is also room for improvement. IBM is trying to have a more mobile touch. I guess this is OK, if you are using tablets. But if you are using a PC, why should you have a mobile look?

I'm just thinking about a scenario on Microsoft Windows: With Windows 8, everything had the mobile look and feel. Now, with version 10, it has the same look as it always had before version 8, but it improved and I like it!

I have been using this technology for the past three years.

I did not find any stability issues so far.

I did not find any scalability issues so far.

I would give the level of technical support a rating of 9/10. I also think the support that IBM offers is very good. When we have an issue with the software, IBM has good resources to get the issue solved. There is a lot of positive information over the internet.

One thing that can be improved is the time for troubleshooting and finding the root cause of the issues. Sometimes it takes only one day or a week, which is fine. However, sometimes it can take up to one or two months. End-users are not happy when they have to wait this long for a solution.

The initial setup is very straightforward. You only have to follow the installation wizard screens, indicate where you want to have it installed, and click "Next".

You need to have a good idea of how many people will be using the product. It helps knowing how many of them should have full permission (admins), how many will be developers, and how many will be "just" consumers.

It is a very complete product that keeps getting better and better. It is complex software and you need a good level of expertise.

IBM Cognos Analytics is a data discovery and reporting platform for your department or your entire enterprise. But it's much more than just managed reporting: It provides departmental users with the self-sufficiency they need to bring in their own external data, explore it, and even merge it with corporately governed data, all without needing to go to IT. With that ability, they can get fresh perspectives that are simply not available in their existing reporting environment.

I will provide customer examples:

• Time savings on report creation and distribution
• Real-time data analytics to make real-time decisions to make or save money
• Eliminated silos of information for a true enterprise solution
• Offline reporting for executives
• Real-time dashboards
• Many others

IBM Cognos Analytics continues to improve with every release. On the horizon are some major enhancements that include:

• World-class mapping capabilities (This is now available with release 5. IBM partnered with Mapbox and now offer beautiful geospatial mapping capabilities)
• Connections to more data sources (with release this is greatly imporved.
• Storytelling features like Watson Analytics (available with release 4)
• Connections to Frame Work Manager packages for dashboards (available with release 5)

I have used IBM Cognos Analytics (Cognos 11) since it came out late last year (2015). I have used Cognos BI solutions for more than 20 years.

Stability has not been an issue with IBM Cognos Analytics – it is a very solid platform.

It is an extremely scalable product, across all distributed platforms.

Different levels of support are offered and level 1 has 24/7 support. On par with any software company.

I have always used Cognos BI products.

Setup is very easy. There are three options with this newest product that limit the involvement of a technical install specialist.

Work with an IBM partner like Lodestar Solutions to ensure you have the right mix of licenses and you are not over paying in support.

As an IBM premier selling partner, we constantly review other products. There are a number of fine products available; however, IBM has hit a home run with IBM Cognos Analytics.

Ensure your specific requirements are defined and that your data sources are clean. If you are not sure how to do this, work with a partner like Lodestar Solutions, who are experts in working with you to create an analytics roadmap.

Report Studio.

Any area for which developer has requirements can be improved, streamlined e.g. Marketing, Compliance, Surveillance, Hotel Accounting, Casino Accounting .

• -Pulling images directly from database with Report Studio
• Graceful ways to consume / report on XML or JSON structure received as a result of API call
• Timely bug fixes

13 years.

I would say IIS configuration is more complex than expected

Possibly but there could be multiple reasons for the environment being unstable especially on virtual servers.

Not really.

It depends on sales rep. It may vary. Judging on we experienced it could be 6-8 on scale 1-10 (10 is the best).

It depends on sales rep. It may vary. Judging on we experienced it could be 6-8 on scale 1-10 (10 is the best).

No previous solution.

The first time ever setup is always more complex. After that it is pretty much "known road." Again, IIS configuration may be more complex than it should.

It has always been in-house implementation.

I do not have answer on this but in some areas it may be very high.

Yes. Business Objects, Crystal Reports (while back).

Go ahead, you will not regret.

My primary use case for this solution is for analytics and monitoring event metrics.

It's very easy to use. You can use cubes, you can create reports and you can create dashboards in it. It's all in one. Also, the integration on Cognos Analytics with Cognos IT Analytics also is better. 

We have found this solution evolve over the years, it is now very user-friendly.

The charts and graphics are very weak. You can find some dashboards, but it is very rigid. It is not as fancy as what you find in another solution, like Microsoft BI.

We considered Microsoft BI.

For planning, forecasting, in-boxing, modeling in general and for predicting numbers and doing work analysis, they are excellent.

The most valuable features are activity reports and visualization. Visualization is fast and very powerful for a quick answer. It provides an interactive user experience.

It allows manually derived reporting via the DB and excel dumps to automated reports and dashboards.

In the report studio, the basic functionality requires more development.

I have been using this solution in different companies for over 10 years.

It is not very user-friendly with unstructured or direct DB connected data.

No scalability issues, but the data retrieval times of live data can be horrible.

Technical support was good until IBM took over.

I wasn’t involved with installation directly, but the consulting group set it up for us and supported it, so it was OK.

It is very costly, now that IBM has taken over.

Depending on one’s needs, I would push for Tableau more than this solution.

There are plenty of other cost effective and efficient solutions available, such as Tableau, cloud based solutions, and big data options.

• Metadata modelling using Transformer and Framework Manager
• Visualization using Dashboard

Normally for BI implementations, these are the critical aspects.

I have not worked for an organization who is a direct beneficiary of the product. I have worked for vendor companies who have implementation expertise or have worked for OEM.

• Data discovery-related features
• Visualizations
• Speed of interaction with end-user

There are no problems with these areas. IBM Cognos has been working on them, but they are not yet on par with other vendors who are leaders in data discovery. For example, features like Lasso, dynamic pivoting, etc. are not yet available.

I have used it for 11 years.

I have not encountered any stability issues.

I encountered scalability issues while reporting across multiple data sources.

Technical support is very good.

I previously used a different solution, and switched because of ease of development and the rich set of features for most use cases.

Initial setup was straightforward.

I do not have much exposure to pricing. I understand it is on par, in terms of delivered value with respect to price, with other BI vendors.

Before choosing this product, I also evaluated Qlik and PowerBI.

Please evaluate other BI vendors available in the market to make sure that you pick the right tool for your use cases.

• Data modeling
• Back end delivery options
• End user device options
• Report designer
• Scalability

There've been no improvements since implementation.

• More graphic options
• Its UI needs to be more 21st century

I've used it for 10 years in various versions.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

It's poor.

It's fair.

It was straightforward.

We used an IBM partner who were good.

Look at the TCO not just the sticker price.

No other options evaluated.

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2. Try
3. Ask
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