IBM Cognos Analytics Software Reviews & Ratings | 2023 (2023)

Reviewed June 2022

Robust BI tool

It provides a set of highly flexible and customizable features that help improve our analytics and positively impact our decision-making.

PROS

It allows you to connect the data thrown by different sources and create personalized reports that you can share in real time. It allows planning operations based on pre-established rules to model the entire business process and obtain the best results on the implemented strategies.

CONS

Its license has a high cost compared to similar platforms. It has a steep learning curve and its user interface has a lot of room for improvement.

Reviewed February 2019

Used to be good, showing age

General business intelligence tool that is showing its age and needs to be geared more for agile. Not a great solution for small user numbers or more towards hardcore analyst/data scientist.

PROS

The latest versions have improved the report writer experience by consolidating a few of the modules. Generally robust at connecting to single data sources.

CONS

Steep learning curve for writing reports and setting up Framework Manager packaging is way too time consuming. The end user interface got more complicated and less easy to use in their attempt for more flashiness. The latest versions have been extremely buggy. Data blending and quick turnarounds are not its strong point.

Reviewed January 2020

One Of The Best Self-service BI Software

one of the best complete solution for delivering insights from data at enterprise level

PROS

the powerful framework manager, allow us to implement complicated logic into model and deliver a package to end user, business user can do ad-hoc report easily.

CONS

steep learning curve for beginners. not mention people who doesn't have BI experience, Had a few new team members from tableau background. the FM package complexity is much more than they have done in the tableau data source.

Reviewed March 2018

Great capabilities, but really difficult to use practically.

PROS

Cognos Analytics has really great capabilities. There is so much that you can do with the framework if you know what you're doing. Good security features. Good for enterprise level reporting.

CONS

If you're hoping this will replace a dedicated reporting team or IT team, it will not. The ease of use depends on several factors and be SURE that you have an experienced team built the framework. No support whatsoever from Cognos themselves for end users, and they take a long time to get back to us on issues. The new visualizations can be clunky, especially maps. They are unusable for detailed maps. Scheduling features slow down the system considerably.

Reviewed April 2018

I recommended this SW of BI to a company that had several departments to connect and collab together

uses multidimensional and relational data source transforming data into metadata, Cognos is a complete platform for data experts

PROS

It is a very complete software already from the basic version (it already offers the map graph). it allows real-time monitoring useful also for predictive analysis. It allows you to work anywhere even offline, producing interactive reports being able to consult them even without connection. It's easy to use even without having followed a specific training program. Charts that can be customized at the the maximum level (so complete from this point of view).

CONS

Not captivating and innovative graphics with the times (it seems like an office pack years 2000). when the graphics are very complex they are difficult to display on web pages, they do not always fit. there isn't a feature where you can search where a particular data field is located/stored. The scheduler it's not easy to use and automating the sending of static reports to users is not easy

Reviewed November 2018

Excellent data source

Excellent, I really like the reports included and the accuracy of the data

PROS

It has a lot of reports included and providing the information needed

CONS

Some reports were not easy to run and I have to go to the home page to run a different report

Reviewed December 2017

Seems a bit archaic and was not easy to learn how to use

PROS

Once you have mastered the learning curve and know exactly where to click and what to type to querie your data, you are able to get what you need

CONS

Not intuitive and knowing where to go or click for different queries/reports/data searches and you really need a colleague who has done it before to show you how.

Reviewed February 2018

A great solution for your financial planning

Take your time and implement it right and the rewards will be very good.

PROS

It has integration with with other IBM products like business intelligence. The excel functionality is great for finances. The product to meet our needs perfectly for all our needs.

CONS

Creating reports is overwhelming at the beginning but if you dedicate time and resources there will be the face of your deployment.

Reviewed April 2021

IBM Cognos Analytics Review

It is AI driven, improves the business outcomes.It enhances decision making.Overall it improves business agility.

PROS

The best thing is "Quality reports can be run at any time and by any representative with a substantial log-in " at IBM Cognos Analytics.The AI enabled exploration and dashboard capabilities are easy to use and exceed expectations

CONS

It is not simple to use. User has to get the formal training to utilise it to maximum extent. Report pulling is not that much fast. It take quite some time to load and display.

Reviewed November 2016

COGNOS

Cognos makes it easy to design reports that match the look-and-feel required by the client. Report rendering time is also very fast. Browser support can be touchy and Dynamic Cubes are very hardware intensive.Cognos has strong out of the box capabilities with a wide array of add-ons, and good interoperability with other IBM analytics and data suites

PROS

Compatibility mode queries allow for custom ODBC and JDBC connection to made, so even if there is no native compatibility other databases can still be used as a source if needed. Dynamic Cubes are capable of querying against millions of rows in seconds when properly set up with sufficient hardware resources. Standard Reports are snappy, returning data and rendering quickly, as long as the pagination is kept to reasonable quantities.

CONS

Due to Active Reports packaging all of the data in the file and prerendering charts, file size can get quite large (easily several megabytes) and the initial load time can be quite long when opening it. It is best used for basic overviews and other times when some "flash" is needed, but not a large amount of data. Configuring the interoperability with TM1 and SPSS is a little more on the technical side than most other tasks. You could call the development process "Front heavy" meaning most of the development will be modeling. This means that it will take longer to end up with visualized data than other tools.

Reviewed August 2019

valuable yet expensive

overall its good and it is one of the initiators in the reporting market. We are still using it and find it quite useful to fulfill our client requirements.

PROS

you can combine multiple queries in one report to create your desired report, which can be formatted in multiple ways to meet your desired structure.

CONS

its little bit tricky to handle. You need to understand it thoroughly which actually takes time to began working with it from scratch. Also lacks the graphics and user interface.

Reviewed September 2019

Complete Package for your Analytical Solution

It is good software but requires a learning curve

PROS

The best thing about this software is that it is a complete package for your BI Solution. The software is good for Standard Reporting as well as Adhoc Reporting. The new Analytics software has dashboarding as well as storytelling.

CONS

Too Many client tools for the same purpose Like Transformer, FM, Dynamic Query Analyser, Data Manager and Decision Stream. Maintenance is the biggest thing.

Reviewed April 2019

Love it!

PROS

I love cognos. I can run any report, any time... past/present/future. So many options. Love the ability to create shortcuts to the reports I use on a daily basis as well. Quick & easy to use.

CONS

The only thing I don't like is the reports don't always give a good description before running them.

Reviewed April 2018

One of the best time keeping software in the market

PROS

Most employers love this software because it is easy for employees to use. Since it is fast, efficient, simple, and does its job well. You can also run great reports in it too.

CONS

Sometimes the software has a glitch here and there, but every product does. I am sure there are less expensive products on the market, but why use something that isn't tried and true?

Reviewed February 2015

Robust product with more options for customization. SDK should be free

PROS

Customization and more options to tune performance improvements. Many ways to connect databases like FM. Direct datasource, usage of stored procedure, and usage of database trigger is good.

CONS

SDK has to be bought as separate package, whereas it should be given free.

Reviewed January 2017

Cognos Review

My prior firm switched from the other software to Cognos to leverage the data contained in our Pivotal database. This software was far easier to use to create reports on the fly.

PROS

I like the ability to create reports on the fly.

CONS

I do not have any dislikes other than the staged rollout of pieces of my prior firm's datamart.

Reviewed December 2018

Great BI tool but difficult to learn

PROS

This is a very good tool for analytics and for reporting. The tool has plenty of features. The drag and drop feature is very useful.

CONS

Though this tool has many features, this is not exactly easy to learn tool. Report generation could have been faster.

Reviewed August 2022

IBM Cognos is a top business analytics software keeping internal reporting easy

It has been good, but I am still looking for the best to match my business practices

PROS

It allows the user to create reports and customize based on user needs

CONS

It is expensive compared to a lot of the other software out there

Reviewed October 2016

Congos With BI

Business intelligence tools (BI tools) are a way for companies to monitor data and generate business insights – necessary components in making smarter, better decisions that drive results. But once you start research and compare BI software, you realize there are many types, from business analytics and big data statistics to reporting tools and dashboards that offer at-a-glance information across indicators.

PROS

Very Powerfull

CONS

It' Great Product

Reviewed July 2022

The best BI Product so far

It was the greatest experience we have with a BI tool. We really loved it.

PROS

This solution has everything for Data Analysis, since ETL to Visualization. Great tool for Business Analytics. Supports a wide variety of data sources, great reporting features and capabilities, you can publish to PDF, predictive analytics, and easy to create Dashboards with multiple templates.

CONS

They need to work on their compatibility with web browsers, it did not work with Opera. The price is a little high per user. You cannot share a Dashboard unless the other party has a license.

Reviewed June 2020

My Review of IBM Cognos Analytics

I use IBM Cognos daily, as this is the tool made available by SAP Concur to work with Business Intelligence reports. I use it to provide the necessary information to those who require it, and it works more or less like a database, where you can apply SQL language - but in a slightly different format.

PROS

I think this tool is quite good, since it allows the user several functionalities: create and adapt BI reports, automate the export of a report in a set period and for the necessary containers (they do not need a license to receive), etc. . I love working with this tool from IBM. It allows some SQL language, and some configuration features that are very good too.

CONS

One thing I can point out as a cons of this tool, is the fact that it does not always return the correct information (because the user, without knowing it, can mix incompatible information) - and only at a more advanced stage do we notice that the information is not correct - because we have no error information. When we actually have information about the errors, this is also not very detailed, that is, we are left without knowing what the error is anyway. It is difficult to make correct associations in this tool, because it is very restricted in relation to the use of the database and the compatibility of the data between them.

Reviewed January 2020

New age and Traditional BI tool

Cognos is used for operational reporting and analytics and schedule reports to be sent via email to users on a duly basis. Used in mobile as well.

PROS

Cognos 11 comes with all the latest features expected in a BI tool, the graph generations and story buildings as well as predictions.

CONS

Interactive pdf is not available for reports. Can be difficult to implement without admin support for end users.

Reviewed June 2022

Tool that improves decision making

PROS

It has a nice user interface, with multiple customization options, attractive panels and excellent performance. It has the useful drag and drop tool that makes it easy to manipulate data to create nice visualizations. Provides high quality and visually pleasing real-time reports. The mobile application works very well, giving the platform greater mobility.

CONS

I would like them to improve the documentation to start using the platform more easily and get the most out of all its functions. Its cost is considerably high.

Reviewed April 2022

Professional dataviz tool which ensures a unique experience to expertsor first-time business users

We have been using Cognos BI for many years for data reporting and performance analysis. Our business analysts were constantly complaining about the long delays to get data extracts. Withe Cognos Analytics we were in a position to give the BA access to pertinent data extracts in record time and with minimum hands-on training. This empowered them and allowed them to spend more time on building predictions and preparing recommendations for corrective actions.

PROS

The quick learning curve which turns every intuition into a positive experience

CONS

The story telling capabilities are not seamless enough and consume too much efforts to be reach the desired effect.

Reviewed November 2021

Full-featured, slightly behind the curve.

It brings a lot of functionality all under one roof. Our team found the "visualization" a little easier in Cognos vs Power BI, but the paginated reporting better in SSRS/PBIRS. We ended up transitioning entirely from Cognos to the MS stack and the broad consensus by the team is it was an overall welcomed upgrade. We're starting to consider Tableau or Looker, but returning to Cognos isn't on our horizon.

PROS

The ability to visualize data in many way all using the same utility is beneficial so we don't have to worry about multiple deployment/support patterns. Having an in-memory OLAP option made performance less of an issue compared to hitting an on-prem database directly for everything. The ability to add custom code allows for some really creative solutions to unique business problems in reporting.

CONS

We felt the interface and functionality was a little dated - our more technical employees were fine but the more analyst-type developers preferred something "prettier"/"friendlier" like Tableau/Power BI. It also got expensive for us which was one of the two the primary reasons we transitioned. This is obviously dependent on the number of users, so consider your own environment of course.