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reviewer1846212 - PeerSpot reviewer
IM Operations Manager at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Reliable, suitable for large enterprises, but could be more user-friendly
Pros and Cons
  • "IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson is a stable solution."
  • "IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson could be more user-friendly. You need some skills and understanding of what you're looking at, especially if you're going to draw down specific information."

What is our primary use case?

IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson is aligned with regards to what's happening in the public space in terms of the Phishing attacks that we are seeing prevalent in the market. In the campaigns that which hackers are trying to obtain information, the use cases are very practical. The solution offers quite a bit of protection.  

What needs improvement?

IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson could be more user-friendly. You need some skills and understanding of what you're looking at, especially if you're going to draw down specific information.

Massive improvement is required in reporting. IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson is not a tool that is known for its reporting capability. It's a highly operational tool that you use for monitoring, you can sit and you can watch your alerts, whether it's flows or EPS, and you set up your playbooks directly. It is not a reporting tool. It is the worst possible tool to ever expect any reporting. It's unfortunate it's not a great reporting tool.

In a future release, there could be a bit more intelligence in terms of predictive accuracy and overall predictions. I haven't been too close in the last two, three, or four months, but I certainly would expect that their technology would be simplified to provide predictive analytics as opposed to retrospective looking back and analyzing past historic data.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson for approximately 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson is a stable solution.

Buyer's Guide
IBM Security QRadar
June 2025
Learn what your peers think about IBM Security QRadar. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson is best suited for large enterprises.

How are customer service and support?

The support from IBM is not great at all. They can offer much better aftermarket support. They don't respond in a timely manner and it's such a challenge to have IBM respond. You have to follow their due diligence process when logging a call on their portal, you need access to their portal, and you have to provide detailed logs, et cetera. If their problem is always about integration, they have to get to the vendors. They can always enhance their support.

I would rate the support from IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson a two out of five.

They do respond but it depends on many factors, such as urgency. When we had an issue with Microsoft integration it took us six weeks to have a solution to the problem.

How was the initial setup?

IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson's initial setup is not straightforward. You have to set up your network infrastructure, IP range, and firewalls, and make sure everything is secure. There's nothing easy about that.

What about the implementation team?

You need application and hardware leads, firewall administrators, network engineers, and server administrators to complete the implementation.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to others is to shop around because IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson is not for small enterprises, it's aimed at your larger environments that have a multitude of infrastructure and networks that are hybrid across different environments. It integrates into quite a few tools, such as your email system, and file systems. 

This tool is not for everybody. IBM doesn't have the sort of tool that helps a five, ten, or twenty user environment. This is not advisable to go and invest in the solution. There are other tools that you could possibly look at that do probably some of the functions in terms of monitoring your playbooks and integration points that are a little bit easier to map to. However, that is not a tool for every organization out there. The solution is targeting major enterprises.

I rate IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson a seven out of ten.

There are quite a few areas they could improve, such as they have a lot of technical manual configs and orchestration could be better.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
UzairKhan - PeerSpot reviewer
Business General Manager at Mutex Systems
Reseller
Top 5
Good logging, reporting, support, and integration with GRD
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is the integration with the GRD, for banking."
  • "The advanced planning management (APM) features should be included."

What is our primary use case?

We are a solution provider and QRadar is one of the products that we implement for our customers.

The majority of our clients for IBM products are financial institutions. By law, to be compliant, they are only allowed to run the current version of any solutions that have been procured. Specifically for our area, all of the financial institutions such as banks are mandated to use the latest version.

The use cases include the logging and reporting of servers. These are typically operations servers and critical servers. You can also use it to monitor network devices such as switches, routers, and firewalls.

Endpoints are not included for most of the clients.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the integration with the GRD, for banking.

What needs improvement?

The advanced planning management (APM) features should be included. We are facing an issue where many of the software houses in Pakistan have developed their own in-house. They have integrated the APM tool with their monitoring solution. This feature is attracting clients and I think that it should be included.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have not faced any issues in terms of stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is a scalable product. 

How are customer service and support?

The support from IBM is okay. I would rate them a four out of five.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not very complex. My team has hands-on experience with the product, which is perhaps why they do not complain about its complexity.

The distributor helped us a lot, which is something that we appreciate.

What about the implementation team?

We implement this product for our clients.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

There are competing products but IBM is a well-known brand so for the most part, we offer IBM QRadar to our clients.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, IBM QRadar is very good but no product is perfect.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementer
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
IBM Security QRadar
June 2025
Learn what your peers think about IBM Security QRadar. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
858,327 professionals have used our research since 2012.
IT Solutions Product Manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 5
It is very easy to install and configure, but after restarting the server, you need to manually start some of the services
Pros and Cons
  • "What I like the most about it is that you can very easily install and configure it. As compared to other SIEM solutions, for which you need to know and do a lot more to prepare your SIEM environment, QRadar is much simpler to install and configure. There are various options in the Admin console. In the Admin tab, you can design dashboards and view various graphs. It has a lot of attractive features, and you don't need to configure everything on your own."
  • "I have noticed a few things while working on this. After the restart of the server, sometimes, the services misbehave, and you need to manually start or restart the service. I have seen that specifically with the Tomcat service. Sometimes, when you click on log sources, instead of opening the log source extension, it redirects you over the internet."

What is our primary use case?

I am a Product Manager. I am managing the inventory and the logs. For R&D purposes, we downloaded various SIEM solutions from the internet to analyze their performance, and QRadar was one of them. I downloaded the Community Edition of QRadar to check its capabilities and see how to integrate various log sources in our network. It is in my lab, and I have tested it with a few hardware devices and a few computers and servers.

What is most valuable?

What I like the most about it is that you can very easily install and configure it. As compared to other SIEM solutions, for which you need to know and do a lot more to prepare your SIEM environment, QRadar is much simpler to install and configure. There are various options in the Admin console. In the Admin tab, you can design dashboards and view various graphs. It has a lot of attractive features, and you don't need to configure everything on your own.

What needs improvement?

I have noticed a few things while working on this. After the restart of the server, sometimes, the services misbehave, and you need to manually start or restart the service. I have seen that specifically with the Tomcat service. 

Sometimes, when you click on log sources, instead of opening the log source extension, it redirects you over the internet. 

There are two types of dashboards in QRadar. One is the conventional or old one, and the other one is Pulse. The Pulse dashboard is better, but we would like to have more options in the dashboard.

Additionally, if possible, there should be a single product for SIEM and SOAR. Instead of having QRadar and Resilient separately, there should be a combined solution to benefit from both. Furthermore, there should be a built-in mechanism to configure it in the cluster mode and high availability mode.

For how long have I used the solution?

I tested this product in the last two, three months. It is not implemented in our company.

How was the initial setup?

Its installation is very simple. You can install it and configure it very easily.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We are looking at implementing a SIEM solution, and currently, we're comparing various commercial and open-source SIEM solutions. We have tested Wazuh, which is an open-source SIEM solution, but we have not finalized anything.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate it a seven out of 10. It is good, but when a product doesn't behave in a good manner, it creates confusion. Its behavior isn't consistent.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
SOC Manager at Nais Srl
Real User
Feature - rich, well priced and has good support
Pros and Cons
  • "The interface is good."
  • "I would like to see the update process simplified."

What is our primary use case?

IBM QRadar is used to help our customers collect information. It collects the information from other tools on the firewall, network devices, cyber tools with both Carbon Black, Cortex, Cynet, and Darktrace.

What is most valuable?

It's a complete platform.

The interface is good.

They have more than 100 features.

What needs improvement?

It is not easy to use.

The updates are not very easy. It is very complex. I would like to see the update process simplified.

When I said "it is not easy to use", I mean that QRadar is not for beginners.
Needs high competence and skyll to use it in a satisfactory way to really help customers.
The complexity is not a flaw, but it si a necessary quality for QRadar to be a truly effective tool in a Cyber environement.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have used IBM QRadar within the last twelve months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

IBM QRadar is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's a scalable platform.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?


What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing is good.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate IBM QRadar an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: As a SOC we are real user of QRadar platform for more then one customers.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1026825 - PeerSpot reviewer
Certified AIX I.T Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Easy to use and useful for preparing use cases

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use QRadar for monitoring and preparing use cases. 

This solution is deployed on-prem. 

What is most valuable?

The most important and valuable feature of QRadar is how useful it is for preparing use cases. It's also easy to use. 

What needs improvement?

The GUI of QRadar should be improved. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using IBM QRadar for one year. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

QRadar is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

I have contacted IBM's technical support—it was great. They are very knowledgeable. 

How was the initial setup?

QRadar is very easy to install, and I can do it myself. The time period will depend on the organization itself, since it depends on the environment and the number of servers and endpoints. 

What about the implementation team?

I implemented this solution myself. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I pay for licensing yearly. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I also evaluated a lot of SIEM solutions, but I like LogRhythm and QRadar. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate QRadar an eight out of ten. I would recommend QRadar, as well as LogRhythm, to others considering implementation. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Head Of Sales at Cascade Solutions Inc
Real User
Modular product that sets up a clear roadmap
Pros and Cons
  • "Flexible and valuable product that is modular, so you can easily set up a roadmap for your clients."
  • "Each module requires a separate license and a separate cost."

What is most valuable?

From a sales perspective, IBM QRadar is very competitive when it comes to prices. It's a flexible and valuable product. It has a good edge in the region and good references as well. You can easily capitalize and upsell on whatever you sold previously.  It's a modular product, so you can set up a roadmap and plan for your customers. This is one of the main advantages of QRadar.

What needs improvement?

Right now, there are a lot of solutions in the market that consider themselves next-gen SIEM solutions, like AzureVM. IBM QRadar can be revised considering the competition, market segment, references, and the maintenance of the landscape.

Some modules can be shared as embedded within the same solution because this would be a compelling edge versus others. When it comes to other products, like LogRhythm for example, they can consider the SOAR and the threat Intel embedded with the SIEM Solution licenses. However, when it comes to IBM, they consider each module as a separate license with a separate cost. So it doesn't make sense to compete if the customer isn't convinced with IBM, because you'd have tough competition when it comes to financials.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using QRadar for more than five to six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

IBM QRadar is a stable product.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate it an eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Chief Technology Officer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Great dashboards and visibility; lacks decent support and some maturity
Pros and Cons
  • "Improves visibility and has a great new dashboard."
  • "The solution lacks some maturity."

What is our primary use case?

We are users and implementers of this solution. 

What is most valuable?

I like the new dashboard which enables us to understand how many real threat attempts are made in a day. I also like the QRadar incident response, we installed the QIF last week. The solution has improved visibility so that we've been able to discover that some of our customers have not had any protection and were very vulnerable. It's an important area. I also find that the user behavior analysis is relatively simple. We are customers of QRadar. 

What needs improvement?

I think the user management model is very detailed but you really have to know what you're doing just to be able to manage things. I think the solution lacks some maturity. When you put it in a large organization as a security system or a cybersecurity system and you want to enable automation, it's difficult to get that level of maturity. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using this solution for about 18 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. We have a total of 19 users in the company. The solution is used extensively and we plan to increase the number of users. 

How are customer service and support?

The technical support could be better. I'd rather work with my implementing expert and not the OEM. Although they have the expertise, the development guys are very slow.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We tested a few other solutions including AlienVault, Splunk, Micro Focus, and Outside. QRadar was the best of the breed for our needs and for a big system like ours, it's less complex than Splunk or Outside. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is complex. Theory is one thing and practice is another. We had to go back and forth with IBM just to find the relevant versions with the relevant operating system to sit on the relevant virtual environment. Then we found a few bugs. We are in a production system in a very big organization so deployment was carried out in stages. It took about a month in total to get things working and to start collecting logs. We had help from IBM Azure.
Maintenance is required, you have to watch it, and work on it on a daily basis. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay an annual license fee. On top of that, every model adds to the cost. It's not just the license; the sales people want you to think you're only paying for certain things but we know how it works. 

What other advice do I have?

The pre-design and the low-level design should be very, very, specific. It's important to check that the compatibility is there. If not, neither IBM nor OEM will support you.

I would rate the solution more highly but it's very expensive and given the high cost, I would expect quicker and better service from the OEM so I rate the solution seven out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Kamal Abdelrahman - PeerSpot reviewer
Country Manager at Magarah
Real User
Stable, scalable, and helpful support
Pros and Cons
  • "I have found IBM QRadar to be stable."
  • "IBM QRadar has a margin for development, for out-of-the-box use cases. It can be enhanced with better support and automate the use cases for that."

What is our primary use case?

The main tool for this operation center for collectings events from different devices, whatever server or network devices, such as switches and routers. It handles anything related to data that can be harmful related to security. Those events can be mapped to promote the threat, it creates another event for promoted threats.

We are a service provider and we provide services to our customers. We use IBM QRadar for many types of businesses, such as banks and telecom. It has a good reputation.

What needs improvement?

IBM QRadar has a margin for development, for out-of-the-box use cases. It can be enhanced with better support and automate the use cases for that.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using IBM QRadar for approximately two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have found IBM QRadar to be stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

IBM QRadar is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support of IBM QRadar is good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

IBM QRadar is the best SAN solution we have used compared to the others.

How was the initial setup?

We manage the installation of the solution. It is not something difficult, it is reasonable. It is not that easy for anyone to do, it needs a technical team.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation needs a technical team and we have two engineers for the implementation and maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is a license to use this solution, which is paid annually. However, there are subscription options available.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend this solution to others.

I rate IBM QRadar an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free IBM Security QRadar Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: June 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free IBM Security QRadar Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.