SAP Business Data Cloud Reviews

We primarily use the solution for the dashboards. 

The close integration with other SAP products is great. 

The initial setup is easy.

It is quite stable.

Technical support is helpful.

The product can scale. 

It's lacking a bit in maturity and we find we can't replace our existing mode 1 analytics tool until it's improved. 

I've been using the solution for 12 months. 

The stability is quite good. It doesn't crash or freeze. there are no bugs or glitches. It's reliable. 

We have about 50 people using the solution right now. They are all business specialists. We find it to be scalable.  

Technical support has been quite good. We haven't had any issues with them. They are helpful and responsive and we are satisfied. 

We found the initial setup to be pretty simple and straightforward. I'd rate it four out of five in terms of ease of setup. 

The deployment took one to two months and I handled it myself. 

I didn't need any assistance with the setup. I was able to do it on my own. 

I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using. It's likely the latest one.

I'd advise other users that the solution isn't really mature just yet. 

Overall, I would rate the solution a 7 out of ten.  

We use this solution for data visualizations.

The general management of this solution could be improved. The graphics or icons could also be improved to allow them to integrate with other environments on the web.

In a future release, it would be great to have improved connectivity to make it easier to read other kinds of metadata from other data sources.

I have used this solution for two years. 

This is a stable solution. 

This is a scalable solution, however, scalability is a matter of cost. 

The technical support for this solution is okay. Support tickets are responded to based on priority. 

Neutral

This solution is pricey.

I would recommend this solution for companies that are SAP dependent with users working in this environment. If company's core applications are not SAP based, I wouldn't advise using this solution, because it's pricey. It is possible to get comparable usability with other tools that are much cheaper in the market.

I would recommend this solution for large enterprises. For small enterprises, I would rather recommend solutions such as Tableau or Power BI.  

SAP Analytics Cloud is comparatively the same as other BI tools, such as Power BI or Tableau. However, this solution has more programmability and allows you to do more application development. 

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten. 

We're using SAP Analytics Cloud for analyzing financial and commercial information.

What I really like most about SAP Analytics Cloud is that it's very easy to create charts with it.

What should be improved in SAP Analytics Cloud is the speed of importing information and data from SAP S/4HANA, because it's what we're using. We noticed that gathering the data from the main database takes a bit of time.

Another way to improve the product is for them to let others access some information without being part of our SAP company system. If I want a customer to check information directly using SAP Analytics Cloud that would be good, because currently, it doesn't seem to me that this is possible directly in the product. Of course, there's another path to take to reach that goal, but a direct connection for external people who may want to check some information could be useful.

I've been using SAP Analytics Cloud since last July.

SAP Analytics Cloud is a stable product.

The initial setup for SAP Analytics Cloud was quite easy. On a scale of one to five, with five being the best, I'm rating the setup a five. I did the setup with the help of a team, e.g. not just by myself.

I find the pricing of SAP Analytics Cloud reasonable. On a scale of one to five, with five being the best, I'm giving it a score of four out of five for the price.

We adopted Qlik Sense a few years ago, then we started with SAP, and after having tried SAP, we decided to stay with SAP Analytics Cloud. We discharged Qlik Sense.

We're using SAP Analytics Cloud in our company.

I still don't have an idea on how scalable the product is.

I'm unable to give feedback on the technical support for SAP Analytics Cloud, because I don't deal directly with SAP, but with another company that assists us, and they work with SAP.

My advice to others looking into implementing SAP Analytics Cloud is for them to
check the cost of implementation, because the cost of the product is not high, but sometimes the implementation could cost a lot more, e.g. the connection to your access system could cost a lot.

I'm rating SAP Analytics Cloud nine out of ten.

We use Analytics Hub primarily for consolidating different kinds of reports and queries into one, single window.

We use SAP extensively and as such, this product helps because it makes the integration with other SAP products easy. However, we have challenges integrating with non-SAP products, which is the reason that we are looking at other solutions.

Essentially, when we want to quickly generate an analytics report from an SAP solution, this product has helped us. It is very easy to use, right out of the box.

This product provides good reports using a single pane of glass.

It integrates well with other SAP products, out of the box.

The technical support for Analytics Hub is limited and could be improved.

It is very difficult to import data from other products, such as Power BI. In general, it doesn't integrate well with non-SAP products.

This is a fairly new product and we started using it approximately one year ago.

We have not seen any issues with stability. However, this is an upcoming product and it is still being stabilized.

As this product is in its early days, we don't have any experience scaling it.

This is a product for medium to large companies.

Technical support from SAP is limited. This is an area of the product that needs to be improved.

We have some limited experience with Tableau and Power BI. We are also actively working with the cloud-based SAP Analytics Cloud.

The Analytics Cloud is better because of the reporting tool. The Analytics Hub will only give you one place to collect everything.

The pricing is reasonable.

We plan to do a deep-dive comparison of several products. Ideally, we need one that integrates with both SAP and non-SAP products.

In addition to this product, we have experience with the entire SAP suite.

My advice for anybody who is considering this product is that if you're SAP-centric, then the SAP Analytics Hub is a good choice. If you are not SAP-centric, then it is not.

I would rate this solution a six out of ten.

We mainly use Analytics Cloud because it integrates with other SAP solutions. Our ERP is an SAP product, and our back-end is SAP Business Warehouse, so integration is an essential factor.

SAP could add some more visualization features to Analytics Cloud, like charts and analytics. I would also like to see some more data cleaning and ad hoc functions added to this solution.

I've been using SAP Analytics Cloud for almost three years now.

We have around 1,500 people using Analytics Cloud. Everyone from the lowest interns to the C-level suite uses it. 

I rate SAP support seven out of 10. It's good but not at the expected level.

Setting up Analytics Cloud is straightforward because it's a cloud service provided by SAP. Once you sign the contract, they give you the URL, and you can use the product. Everything is out of the box.

We considered Microsoft BI, but it didn't have the same seamless integration with SAP.

I would rate SAP Analytics Cloud seven out of 10 because the product needs to mature a lot. SAP still needs to add several features to make it a robust BI solution. For example, they should improve the charts and table components.

I like the connectivity the solution provides with other products. One can see different data sources, such as SAP ERP and the in-house hub which they provide. It allows one to create a business warehouse and then get the data import from there as well. So too, the solution is multi-dimensional, meaning the person can use a flat file and collect data from different sources. 

When importing data from a different source, the solution should also act as an ETL tool to allow for the task permissions with the live data. 

The solution could be more stable. I rate its stability as a seven out of ten. 

I rate the scalability as a seven out of ten, as the solution occasionally falls to pieces and requires us to tweak our scripting. Scalability definitely needs to be improved. 

The solution should include other scripting languages as well, such as Python. Also, I am curious to see if they will include AI and ML capabilities going forward. 

I have much experience working with SAP Analytics Cloud, as I have been doing so for two-and-a-half years. 

The solution could be more stable. I rate its stability as a seven out of ten. 

I rate the scalability as a seven out of ten, as the solution occasionally falls to pieces and requires us to tweak our scripting. Scalability definitely needs to be improved.

The initial setup is straightforward. We are talking about a complete package which is supplied by SAP itself. So, once the person has the package online, he can simply use it on the spot. There is no setup required. 

If someone is using an SAP environment in their businesses, it's good to adapt SAP Analytical Cloud. But, if the person is using another ERP software, say, QuickBooks, there are other market options to opt for. The solution works well if one is using the SAP package. 

I rate SAP Analytics Cloud as an eight out of ten. 

I primarily use the solution for reporting. We talk to people in all different roles and in all different types of companies and organizations. It's just to get a more well-rounded scope.

We use it to build a human capital dashboard and I use it to report on workforce data, hires and exits, movements, and items of that nature.

I like the forecasting capabilities. 

There is a really nice insight feature that I enjoy using. It automatically adds input, which is quite helpful. 

The initial setup was super simple. 

The customizations need to be better. In order to do some basic functions, in order to create certain basic functions in input control, you need to know a couple of basic programming languages. It would be better if these input controls were easier to create or to get working. For example, in Tableau, it's so easy. You just add these controls. However, in this product, for certain basic functions like dropdown boxes, it's more difficult for the basic business user. If you're not in IT, it's not as easy as Tableau.

The product needs to offer more options for navigation. There need to be dropdown filtering op boxes. Right now, when you filter, what you have filtered is not presented - the selection isn't on the screen. If you're looking at it, you don't know if you've got the right number unless you hover over it.

Some of the functionalities that do not use any IT or business language, such as BIAL, which is a subset of JavaScript, and something called CSS, need to be incorporated.

The analytics app is designed for programmers. You need to know programming languages in order to use the solution effectively, and some users aren't programmers. Unfortunately, if you want something that should be simple to do, that's not available as you need to have that programming language.

I'm a new-ish user; I just started this year. I would say I've used it for less than a year.

The product seems very secure. It seems very stable. I've had no issues. There are no bugs or glitches. It does not crash or freeze.

The scalability is very good. I am not using it to its current potential, however, this is one of the benefits of the program, as is it can be scaled out for the whole organization, due to the ability for it to connect directly to the cloud data and right to the SAP.

Different business units are using the solution, including HR, long-term care, and transportation. I'm not sure how many users are leveraging it, however. We are a city-wide organization and different government areas use it.

It is not widely used right now, as we are still in the demo stage. That said, I can say that the organization is planning on committing to it.

I've never had to use technical support except to go to my own IT staff for help, and therefore I can't comment very well on SAP's level of assistance.

I'm also familiar with Tableau.

We were using Excel and Tableau, and we stopped using Excel due to the fact that there's no scalability there. It's just very slow and cumbersome. That was Microsoft, actually. With Tableau, we are also using it for other things. Due to the nature of this software, it's good for some projects, and Tableau is better for others. This one's more suited towards data that is coming directly from a live system. Tableau works really well with flat files.

For me, the implementation was very simple.

Our IT department provided me with the access rights and provided me with the appropriate links, as well as all of the training materials that SAP has on their website.

My deployment was small and quick. For the whole organization, it takes much longer. I am using it with a flat-file, inserting data into the cloud to connect with it, and therefore, my scope is very small compared to the whole organization. It did not take me long at all.

I handle the maintenance myself. It doesn't require much maintenance. I do work with IT when I need to.

I used our IT staff, however, they have been working with representatives from the company in order to deploy the product organization-wide.

I can't speak to the licensing or costs. I'm not involved in that aspect just yet.

There seem to be three different levels of licenses, including one for a viewer, and one for a designer and one is for analytics.

This is currently the solution we are evaluating.

My advice would be to all-out purchase the analytics application, as some of the features are in just the designer mode, and they are not going to be sufficient. You're going to need some of the features that are contained in the third option, the analytics application.

Users need to be very familiar with what they have called the data modeler and should spend some time modeling and rendering data in their data modeler or just importing data into something called the dataset. With the dataset, users have more flexibility, however, the data modeling, that's something I didn't know starting out. Had I done it differently, I might have used the data modeler.

I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten.

We have our data stored in SAP BW. SAP Analytics Cloud is now the main Reporting Tool from SAP. We are gradually shifting the reporting from BO Webi / BO Lumira / BEx Wad to SAC.

It improves the buy-in from business for SAP technology.

Its user-friendliness is very valuable for end-users. It allows them to create dashboards without very experienced IT knowledge (compared to BO Lumira).

Though it's the best placed product when working with an SAP BW backend, it still lacks a lot of functionalities when compared to other tools such as Power BI or Tableau. 

The technical support of SAP is not perfect and could be much better. 

It takes a lot of time to have lacking functionalities implemented.

The integration with the BW backend can still be improved. Though both solutions are from the same vendor and the tool is positioned as "the" reporting tool on top of a BW environment, the integration between both still lacks a smooth integration. For example, authorization management is still not synchronized out of the box.

We were amidst the first adaptors of SAC and have seen it growing to a more mature level.

It is quite stable. We had very limited downtime in the past years. The continuous upgrades (cloud) can deliver sometimes moments of surprise, certainly when the layout is impacted.

It is very scalable.

Their technical support is not perfect and could be better. SAP Analytics Cloud is still lacking a lot of functionalities as compared to its competitors, and when we address these questions to SAP, it takes a lot of time to have these functionalities implemented.

Yes, multiple tools: WAD, BO xCelcius, Lumira. 

It is the future vision of SAP (for now).

The initial setup of SAP Analytics Cloud is easy because it is a cloud product. You can start using the environment very soon after the decision to do so is taken.

In house with a little help during startup from SAP.

Its pricing is fair when compared to its competitors.

Tableau, Power BI. From a user perspective, much more flexible and functional, but lacking the proper integration with SAP BW.

If your data is stored in the SAP environment, it is still the best tool in the market. Microsoft Power BI and Tableau are very nice in functionality and layout, but they lack functionality when you link them to an SAP database.

My suggestion would be to use the tools from the same vendor. The reporting tool should be from the same vendor whose backend system you are using. I advised the same in our company because we have a lot of tools. If you have an SAP data warehouse, then use tools from SAP on top of this data warehouse. If you have SQL Database, then Microsoft Power BI is more suitable.

I would rate SAP Analytics Cloud an eight out of ten.

We use this solution for financial planning and analysis. We definitely plan to expand our usage of this solution. 

This solution brings our team together easily through its collaboration abilities. 

The ability to collaborate and plan together is great. In fact, the collaboration capabilities across the board are very good. Also, integration-wise, it's very good. 

I would like to know how Analytics Cloud plays with other products like SAP Data Warehouse Cloud and SAP HANA Cloud. SAP Data Warehouse Cloud is now integrated with SAP Analytics Cloud, but I would like to know how they strategically work together; what is the strategy? How do they work together and how is SAP planning to implement self-service? Currently, it's not very clear — particularly regarding Data Warehouse Cloud which is now part of SAP Analytics Cloud. It's quite difficult to navigate because SAP has many products.

Figuring out how to navigate all of the products around Data Warehouse Cloud and SAP Analytics Cloud and BW for HANA is quite difficult. The strategy of all the individual products and the roadmap itself, if you take it separately, it all looks good. There is a transformation navigator, but I don't think it's useful. It's not very easy to use; it's more technical than it is on the business side. In short, the roadmap and integration with other SAP Analytics products like Data Warehouse Cloud need to be improved. It's not clear and I can't find any information from SAP addressing the subject.

I have been using SAP Analytics Cloud for one year. 

This solution is quite stable. 

We don't require that much support; it's all in the cloud and it's been pretty good. It's well supported I would say.

We used Power BI and Tableau, but they both do not offer the native integration and business content that SAP provides. SAP provides a lot of business content and templates which is quite handy when it comes to complex projects.

The initial setup was very straightforward. 

A team of consultants helped us with deployment — they were very helpful. As far as deployment is concerned, we followed an agile implementation model.

Deployment time varies depending on the project size and complexity. SAP has features like analytics, planning, predictive capabilities, simulation, and analytical application. All of these features are very good. They're all combined into one platform where everything can interact together.

Compute and storage features should be sold separately. 

Typically, compute and storage is sold separately because there are a lot of use cases. A lot of people ask for it because other competitive products offer it. If they could provide that, it would be very helpful.

If you're interested in using this solution, you have to be aware of the frequent changes and product improvement that occurs. Every month there's a new update. You need to be aware of that but at the same time, don't get carried away with all the new features. Keep track of the roadmap and what new updates are coming. It won't cause any problems, but as it updates so often, it's good to keep track of what new features will be available and which features you should implement.

SAP Analytics can be used as an all-in-one source. It can bring everything together: BI, predictive, planning, simulation — it can combine all of this into a single user interface. Other products have also done this, but SAP has done it very nicely. It's quite good, it's quite stable — I like it.

Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of eight. It combines all features into a single user interface, including planning, prediction, simulation, analytics application, and analytics or data dash boarding and reporting — I like it.

SAP ERP itself is not a product, it is a suite of products. There are multiple products within SAP ERP or the Business One suit. Analytics for Cloud is one of them. There are multiple other products that we could see if I had different modules. It depends on what module you are.

My primary use for SAP Analytics Cloud Planning is dashboard reporting, forecasting, budgeting, predictive analytics and so on.

SAP ERP products are mainly for business processes improvement.

The features that I have found most valuable with SAP ERP products are their good user interface, stability, functionality, and good interface options.

In terms of what could be improved, I would say their positioning. Effectively there are too many parts from SAP in the planning and consolidation space. If they want to position SAP Analytics Cloud for this space, they need to position it properly and make sure that the other products are also positioned alongside it in such a way that the customer doesn't get confused. That's one more supportive thing. Other than that, the scalability, stability and all that, need to be improved. They need a better scalability rate.

Additionally, SAP ERP could have more competitive pricing, more openness, more accessibility, more standard products, and more planned releases to the new features.

I have been using SAP Analytics Cloud for close to one year and SAP ERP for 15 years.

In terms of stability, SAP Analytics Cloud is still a relatively new product. From a stability point of view, I won't comment because it's recently in the market. I'm sure the new, upcoming releases will be in the right direction to make the product more stable.

In terms of SAP ERP products' scalability, I am a contractor, I don't work for a particular organization, so it depends on where you are implementing. It varies from 5,000 to 20,000 or even 100,000 people using the product.

In terms of numbers of users using SAP Analytics Cloud, it's not financial planning so it is relatively smaller, it may be around 500 users.

In terms of support, it has been really good. They have a good understanding of the product.

The SAP ERP products are not easy to install. But it has its own sequence of steps that we need to follow. But it's not that complicated either.

Generally, in terms of all SAP products, the licensing cost is at a slightly higher price. They need to make it more competitive.

I would recommend the SAP ERP and Analytics Cloud products for users who want to start using it. In general, on a scale of one to ten, I would give SAP ERP an eight.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate SAP Analytics Cloud a seven.

I would like to see more standardization here.