Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
it_user1269450 - PeerSpot reviewer
EPM Consultant at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Consultant
You don't need a lot of technical knowledge to use the product and it is very easy to learn and easy to use
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the predictive features of SAP. It's easy to use tools for an end-user."
  • "Pricing is fine for the BI license, but when it comes to client license, that fee is a bit high."

What is our primary use case?

We are a consultant, so we build solutions for customers. Some of their use cases are for dashboarding, business intelligence, predictive capabilities, and planning.

What is most valuable?

I like the predictive features of SAP. It's an easy to use tool for an end-user.

You don't need a lot of technical knowledge to use the product and it is very easy to learn and easy to use. It gives you flexibility in designing your own dashboard with its new analytics designer.

These are new features that they implemented three or so months back. It provides you the ability to design your own dashboards with more flexibility and it opens more opportunities as well.

What needs improvement?

Pricing is fine for the BI license, but when it comes to client license, that fee is a bit high.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using SAP Cloud Platform for the past year and a half. 

Buyer's Guide
SAP Analytics Cloud
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about SAP Analytics Cloud. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate it an eight out of ten. 

Sometimes it has less flexibility when doing something. You can only do with what is available in SAP. We can't double up anything in SAP. I would take off two points for that. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
it_user1264800 - PeerSpot reviewer
SAP Associate Consultant at Deloitte
Real User
Excellent predictive analysis and integration with third party applications
Pros and Cons
  • "It integrates with third-party applications such as Google Drive and Excel,"
  • "Currently only one data modeler can work at a time."

What is our primary use case?

The version was launched about a month ago. We are in partnership with SAP, we're gold members. We implement SAP a lot. Working with open-source data in terms of Google Drive. 

The primary use case is working with open-source data in terms of Google Drive and other platforms. The environment currently runs on SAP, so SAP Analytics Cloud is a good way to go. The client can get value for money, instead of having to bring Oracle into an environment in which the integration might be clumsy. It makes sense to have SAP on the ground because they are running currently on HANA, which is why SAP was the first option on the list.

What is most valuable?

I love a lot of things about the product. The first is Smart Discovery and Smart Insight. It's amazing having predictive analysis and AI algorithms. A second valuable feature about SAP Analytics Cloud is the fact that it integrates with third-party applications such as Google Drive and Excel, which is amazing. Also the look and feel of the product, the user experience is very, very intuitive and the collaborative support that you have within the solution means you can share pictures, make comments, etc. It's very collaborative.

What needs improvement?

Improvement could be made in the pricing of the product which is very expensive, more than Oracle and Power BI and similar solutions. Currently, only one data modeler can work at a time. If you're working on a project and you have five data modelers, for example, if person A corrects or makes a change, person B won't see it. It makes it difficult because if you have three or four modelers working on the project, everybody should be able to work seamlessly without having to disturb one another. That's my only negative about SAP Analytics.

In the next release, I think they need to have voice-driven analytics, rather than just clicking and texting as it is now. A voice to text solution would make it funkier and more amazing. A move to include Android mobile platforms, would also be good, currently, it only works with iPhones and other Apple products. The number of people using Android is huge, so if they can extend the mobile platform to Android it'll be great. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the product for about seven months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Though it is a relatively new solution, it is stable. 

How are customer service and technical support?

I've been in touch with technical support because SAP has a presence in Nigeria. We can also get support from South Africa, and that was really helpful. 

How was the initial setup?

I think deployment took us about a month and I think that was because this was very, very robust. Once you're able to get the data models it's just a matter of uploading.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

The client actually wanted SAP. We checked other vendors to see if they could match what SAP could offer.

What other advice do I have?

The program runs on the cloud. We push the data from the source offline entirely in the cloud, and the cloud takes over the analytics. It's a bit of a hybrid solution for now but we are thinking of moving fully into the cloud so that everything just happens in the cloud, and we get our insights and our KPIs displayed on the dashboard.

There can always be improvements and updates are coming in regularly but if you can afford this solution I would say 'go for it!' 

For now, I would rate this product an eight out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
SAP Analytics Cloud
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about SAP Analytics Cloud. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user885657 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Specialist at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Good for planning KPIs and has a user-friendly setup
Pros and Cons
  • "One feature I've found most valuable is discovery."
  • "Improvements are coming quarterly whereas previously it was on a monthly basis."

What is our primary use case?

I use it if I want to see boardroom dashboards, or to see a combination of things in a chart. I also use it for planning analysis.

What is most valuable?

One feature I've found most valuable is Discovery. It is a logistics tool that will place the dashboard for you on the fly. For example, if you select a country, it will give the entire picture of where a product is high and where it is low. Another feature is peak capabilities in the applications. Another is planning KPIs

What needs improvement?

Now, improvements are coming quarterly whereas previously it was on a monthly basis. Even with this, it is still a market leader.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with SAP Analytics Cloud for almost one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I don't know that it's stable. This cloud is occupied by major businesses who want to do a dashboard on the fly with data discovery.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In terms of scalability, it is cloud-based so it is scalable. 

No one should be able to go into our access, but they will give the space. You're the owner of the product space.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have rarely needed to be in touch with technical support for the setup.

Previously, I used to work with products called Explorer and HANA and they didn't support it in a quick manner.

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

I have previously used Tableau.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy and user-friendly, I did it by myself without any consultant.

What other advice do I have?

On a scale from one to ten, I'd give SAP Analytics Cloud an eight.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Practice Head at ERP Logic
Real User
The fact that it's integrated means we don't need to rely on an independent planning environment
Pros and Cons
  • "Planning is the most valuable feature of the product because it's integrated and that means we don't need to rely on an independent planning environment."
  • "When it comes to planning there is a concern about the ability to match the exact requirements of the customer with what the product offers."

What is our primary use case?

Although we currently use version 4.2, there are upgrades very regularly. I work for multiple clients and each client has a different version. It depends on the analytics cloud SAP are distributing to their respective clients. For now, we have 10 clients but the plan is to expand this. 

What is most valuable?

Planning is the most valuable feature of the product because it's integrated and that means we don't need to rely on an independent planning environment. We have all the data available in ACP and fixed cloud and we use the same data for planning.

What needs improvement?

In terms of improvement, planning can sometimes not work the way we expect it would or should. Most of our customers are from VPC. They want to typically assimilate the scene and reflect what they are using. We sometimes have a hard time assimilating the same information on VPC.

I do understand that each and every product has its limitations. We are able to retrieve the information the customer is looking for, but whatever they are doing in VPC is what they want to be able to do in SAP, so SAP really needs to focus on that area to ensure that whatever they are doing in VPC is also in SAP.

For additional features, I have to say that so far they satisfy the requirements. I haven't worked on the planning models or the predictive models, but when it comes to planning there is a concern about the ability to match the exact requirements of the customer with what the product offers.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this product for almost two years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It seems to be a stable product and we haven't had any issues. It works as expected and in the long term, stability will really depend on how they update their system. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have, on occasion, contacted SAP for some of the issues we've had and they then forward it to the technical department who email us and solve the problem. We haven't opened any waiver messages.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was complex. If the information is straightforward then it's fine, we're able to retrieve and carry out the basic operations, data actions, data logging, etc. and deal with it ourselves. But when you're trying to aggregate more information, for example, if you have a previous year's data and they want to see it as one column and for the current year they want to see a monthly view, it's possible in VPC but not possible in SAP. 

What about the implementation team?

We carry out the implementation ourselves and there is a great variation in the time it takes. It depends on the customers' requirements. With some of our customers, we were able to deploy in three weeks, but there were others that took up to four months. It depends upon the directives we receive from our customers. Not every customer has the same requirements and each customer is unique and we need to plan accordingly.

What other advice do I have?

For now, we are only using the solution on public cloud but we have several customers in the pipeline and we are planning to use private cloud for future clients.

I've worked for many business warehouses over a period of 18 years and I strongly recommend this particular product because whatever I do in multiple tools, in reporting or dashboarding, for example, I carry out a planning process where everything is integrated, so I strongly recommend SAP.  

I would rate this product a 10 out of 10 because I'm impressed with its function. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
it_user1220244 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Practice Manager at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Good user interface, filtering options, and integrates well with other SAP products
Pros and Cons
  • "The user interface is quite good for developing reports out of models."
  • "There is no direct connector from SAP to Redshift, so we are required to use a third-party product that was recommended by SAP."

What is our primary use case?

We are a solution provider and this is one of the solutions that we implement for our clients.

What is most valuable?

The filtering options are useful.

The user interface is quite good for developing reports out of models.

What needs improvement?

There is no direct connector from SAP to Redshift, so we are required to use a third-party product that was recommended by SAP. Going forward, we would like to use connectors that are developed by SAP directly and do not require us to pay any additional licensing fees. In general, this solution should support as many databases and data warehouses, including cloud-based deployments, as possible.

There are a couple of complex reports that we cannot generate using a live connection. With the full data option, however, it is possible.

Hierarchies are not supported as of now, so it would be great if there were support for two or three-level hierarchies. It is helpful when we can drill down further into the hierarchy.

I would like to see more enhancement in terms of AI and ML. Currently, they have R visualization support in the product using a direct plugin. We need to have support for Python scripting, as well.

For how long have I used the solution?

I am a consultant and I have been working with SAP Analytics Cloud for six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution itself is stable as of now, but we have had some challenges with connectivity. We're not sure if it is related to SAP or AWS, and it is stable at the moment, but we have had challenges.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

With respect to scalability, we have only uploaded about half a million records as a pilot for the customer. At this point, we are not pushing more because we don't have the data. We do have plans to build in that regard, but for now, we cannot fully judge scalability.

We are developing solutions for enterprise-level companies.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is fine, and we have not had a problem. The SAP expert team is there if you need to speak with them.

Most of the technical support we are getting is from the marketplace. We get very good information from the SAP support portal.

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

For analytics, I have been working with SAP for the past twenty years. I have used the on-premises solution of business intelligence.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. The first time we deployed this solution it took between three and five days. This was due to some complexity that we had, including connectors. After our first experience, it now takes a maximum of two days to deploy if we have the proper documentation and connectors.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have also recently tried Tableau and they are also pretty good. I do not find much difference between them. It is, however, the choice of the customer.

Some people like the Tableau reporting, whereas others like the SAC reporting, and it is based on the data being reported. SAC is pretty new on the market so Tableau is more flexible in terms of legacy support. A good example is Redshift. Tableau has a direct connection and SAC does not.

We have also used QlikView in the past.

What other advice do I have?

We are trying to get the reports out of AWS Redshift. We are consolidating all of our data in the Amazon Data Lake, and we have it in AWS S3. It is from there that we are pushing to Redshift, but we had a challenge because there is no native connector.

This is a solution that I recommend to anybody with SAP in their landscape. We used to prefer QlikView and Tableau, but as of now, I suggest trying SAP Analytics Cloud to see the results first. There is a lot of seamless integration and you can avoid a lot of licensing costs. It is also pretty good at connecting multiple SAP systems together. It is quite useful in terms of data connectivity, data transmission, and modeling. 

Our customers definitely prefer SAP Analytics Cloud on Amazon Redshirt, regardless of the third-party connector that we had to use.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Abdul-Rasool - PeerSpot reviewer
Abdul-RasoolSenior Practice Manager - Head of SAP at a tech consulting company with 201-500 employees
Real User

Highly recommended for Cloud Analytics, reporting and planning .

Sudhir Kanakoti - PeerSpot reviewer
SAP BIBO Consultant at NTT Data
Real User
Stable solution for developing automated reports and dashboards
Pros and Cons
  • "Provides rich features for developing automated reports and dashboards."
  • "SAP Analytics cloud needs better exporting options."

What is our primary use case?

I primarily use SAP Analytics Cloud for developing automated reports and for developing dashboards. The BW takes queries and provides the reports and dashboards.

What is most valuable?

I find the linking analysis, blending and predictive analysis features most valuable. Additionally, Smart Insights is a good feature.

What needs improvement?

It would be helpful if it had multiple PowerPoint marks built-in so that it could be shown in PowerPoint presentations. It would also be helpful if you could download this external content onto the Flash File.

For how long have I used the solution?

I began using SAP Analytics Cloud a few months back.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Up until now I have not encountered any kind of stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Right now we have 30 to 40 users using it, with plans to increase.

How are customer service and technical support?

There is no problem with SAP Analytics Cloud support. I do think there should be some training provided. We only have eBooks. I don't think we have any kind of e-learning. It would be good to have SAP training for Analytics Explorer, including some instructor-led training.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. 

Deploying SAP Analytics goes from development to production. It doesn't take much time and is very quick. Setup depends upon the requirements as well as the back-end work to be done.

It's usually around two hours or less. 

When deploying SAP Analytics Cloud, they should provide documentation on clear steps regarding the migration. 

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it ourselves.

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

Regarding pricing, I don't know exactly how much it is. I am not aware of the price.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise anyone looking into SAP Analytics Cloud to go for it.

One a scale of 1 - 10 I would rate it an 8. To raise that score they need more exporting options.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Project manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Good graphing and easy to use but needs predictive analytics
Pros and Cons
  • "The ease of use of the solution is its most valuable feature. We haven't tried all of the features yet. The graphing and the ease of using the analytics tools have been great. It's all drag and drop; you don't need to code anything."
  • "Statistical analysis should be a bit more profound than it is."

What is our primary use case?

We're using the solution to analyze our clients' data to create dashboards for them to decipher the sales patterns, income generated, geographical locations of sales, etc., to get a better understanding of how to spread out the user base.

What is most valuable?

The ease of use of the solution is its most valuable feature. We haven't tried all of the features yet. The graphing and the ease of using the analytics tools have been great. It's all drag and drop; you don't need to code anything.

What needs improvement?

Improvement-wise, it would be great if there were more analytics features in the time series. Having an accessible, easier time series or trying to incorporate more analytics products like ARIMA would be a good addition. 

Statistical analysis should be a bit more profound than it is.

The ability to clean the data up would be helpful.

You have to create your own data sources and that's when you have to connect to SAP. If we could go through an SAP source, then design what kind of data we want to pick for an audit in SAP, that would be ideal. I don't want to need to audit the user creator. It would be better if we had the ability to have one person go in and say, okay, I want this data from these different tables. Then, in the backend, it could create it. That would be a vast improvement.

I'm not sure how many databases can really connect to the solution. I've just used Oracle and HANA. They need to ensure the amount of data sources they can connect to is high so that they can compete with a solution like Tableau.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for three months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is quite stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I'm not sure if the solution is scalable as I haven't tried to expand it. According to the data I have of the sources of data that I am collecting, it's fulfilling my requirements right now. 

Currently, whatever data I have, it seems able to handle it quite easily. It becomes a bit slow at times, however. 

We have clients that range from small to medium-sized enterprises. Some have a user base of around 60,000.

How are customer service and technical support?

I've never contacted technical support.

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

I've used Tableau and R in the past. I've also worked with SAS a bit and Python coding among others. When I came to the company, they were using the solution.

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

There's not too much awareness of SAP except for SAP HANA. Many companies have invested in Tableau or Click, but if the pricing was better, this solution might become more popular.

What other advice do I have?

I'm a consultant as well as a user of the solution.

We're a small team that does work for our clients. If our clients want analytics done, we use the solution to work on their data. Our team is about 15 people. Our clients are typically small and medium-sized enterprises.

With some clients, there'll be some hand-holding with them to understand how SAP benefits them. At the same time, we've got some real large giants who have 3,000+ users and they are using a CPS room. They want lots of analytical capabilities. Some use Tableau or Click. The awareness of this solution isn't as good as those.

I'd recommend others try the solution. It's quite a good tool with a lot of features and different user levels. Users don't need to be trained professionals; anyone can start with smaller analyses on their own. A few video tutorials should be sufficient to get someone started. It's only when you get into more complex items that you may need more assistance.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Sr. Software Engineer at a tech company with 501-1,000 employees
Consultant
User-friendly and the visualizations are good, but the reporting needs to be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are the visualization and user-friendliness."
  • "We are currently working on connectivity with S/4HANA, but we would like to have better connectivity with our legacy systems."

What is our primary use case?

Right now we are doing a PoC on finances and production planning. The most important part is the connectivity and visibility between our legacy system and the cloud. We are testing these things.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are the visualization and user-friendliness. It's like a self-service platform. If the connectivity is good then anyone can log in and use it.

What needs improvement?

We are currently working on connectivity with S/4HANA, but we would like to have better connectivity with our legacy systems. If they improve third-party connectivity then it would be great for us. No company has SAP alone; they have multiple databases and multiple technologies. The ability to connect to all of these other systems is important.

More functionality has to be added in terms of additional tools and reporting. In our on-premises, BusinessObjects solution, the reports have more crisp and precise visuals. The reports are very cleanly done, and we would like this same functionality in the cloud.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using SAP Analytics Cloud for between eight months and a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is not a very stable product. It is in its infancy, and although it has not been crashing, the stability needs to be improved.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I think that this solution will scale.

Currently, we have a couple of thousand people who are using this solution. We are just in the prototype and testing phase and deciding how we will introduce this into the company. After our testing, we will decide how it will be inserted into our daily productivity and improve the company's profitability.

The people using SAP Analytics Cloud are in a variety of roles. Most of them are middle-level developers and managers. Perhaps fifteen people from senior management us it.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have been in touch with technical support, and I feel that the people who are working are not very technical at all. They only looked at the notes and read, but we had to tell them that we had already done all of these things so we need something new. 

What finally stopped it was that the product managed who actually worked with the tool got involved and was able to easily solve our problem.

Overall, I would say that the technical support is fair. It is not excellent or good, but fair.

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

I am using SAP BusinessObjects in addition to this solution. It has some advantages in terms of additional tools and reporting, which is why we cannot switch at this time.

How was the initial setup?

SAP does the setup and maintenance of this solution.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to anybody who is implementing this solution is to first look at the connectivity that is required. Second, look at the functionality and the visuality that you are going to need. If you are looking at simple things, like traditional visualization, then this solution is good to go. However, if you're thinking about more complex scenarios with more complex logic, then you may need to wait.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SAP Analytics Cloud Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SAP Analytics Cloud Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.