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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cision Communications Cloud

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ACIsion Communications Cloud is used for identifying key media and influencers, connecting with audiences, monitoring traditional and social media, and analyzing outcomes.N/A

    Pentaho

    Score6 out of 10
    N/APentaho is a suite of open source business intelligence and analytics products, now offered and supported by Hitachi Data Systems since the June 2015 acquisition.N/A
    Pricing
    Cision Communications CloudPentaho
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cision Communications CloudPentaho
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cision Communications CloudPentaho
    Considered Both Products
    Cision
    No answer on this topic
    Hitachi Vantara
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    45 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    86%
    Delivers good value for the price
    32 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    90%
    Happy with the feature set
    44 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    37 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    36 Answers
    80%
    Implementation went as expected
    4 Answers
    Features
    Cision Communications CloudPentaho
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Cision Communications Cloud and Pentaho
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Pentaho
    9.0
    20 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings8.618 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards00 Ratings9.918 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings8.718 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Cision Communications Cloud and Pentaho
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Pentaho
    8.7
    19 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Drill-down analysis00 Ratings7.618 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities00 Ratings8.319 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings9.312 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings9.717 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Cision Communications Cloud and Pentaho
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Pentaho
    9.7
    20 Ratings
    17% above category average
    Publish to Web00 Ratings9.618 Ratings
    Publish to PDF00 Ratings9.819 Ratings
    Report Versioning00 Ratings9.713 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings9.917 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings9.310 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Cision Communications Cloud and Pentaho
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Pentaho
    8.1
    17 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings7.916 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings8.216 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics00 Ratings8.314 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Cision Communications Cloud and Pentaho
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Pentaho
    9.1
    20 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings9.320 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings9.619 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings9.918 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings7.610 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Cision Communications Cloud and Pentaho
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Pentaho
    8.3
    11 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings9.710 Ratings
    Mobile Application00 Ratings6.97 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings8.711 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Cision Communications Cloud and Pentaho
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Pentaho
    8.6
    10 Ratings
    10% above category average
    REST API00 Ratings8.310 Ratings
    Javascript API00 Ratings9.09 Ratings
    iFrames00 Ratings7.39 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings8.79 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings8.910 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings9.610 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cision Communications CloudPentaho
    Small Businesses
    Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
    Score5 out of 10
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Critical Mention
    Score8 out of 10
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Meltwater
    Score7.6 out of 10
    Jaspersoft Community Edition
    Score7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cision Communications CloudPentaho
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (280 ratings)
    9.1
    (31 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (17 ratings)
    8.8
    (11 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (54 ratings)
    9.3
    (6 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (192 ratings)
    9.3
    (7 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.4
    (16 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.6
    (16 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cision Communications CloudPentaho
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cision
    For a small start-up, the cost-benefit to add lift to press releases [and] particular milestone accomplishments is definitely there with the Cision [Communications] Cloud. Much of what we do, by necessity, is done internally without the benefit of outsourced press folks, so the Cision [Communications] Cloud ease of use and reporting is very important.
    Incentivized
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    Hitachi Vantara
    Pentaho is very well suited to perform data extraction & data mining from various cloud storage & transform that data using various available data models. However, the software struggles when it comes to visualizing the extracted data in an appealing manner & can be difficult for end-users to get an understanding of data tables created using those models.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Cision
    • Their upgraded press release templates and ability [to] pull in an entire, completed release makes the [process] faster and easier, and allows for more graphics, such as company mastheads, [are done well].
    • The media tracking offers the ability to find relevant placements across the entire country.
    • The journalist database streamlines the process of finding relevant reporters to directly connect [to] on news releases that are relevant to their beats.
    • The process of setting up, creating, and distributing a release is seamless, easy to use, and not labor-intensive.
    Incentivized
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    Hitachi Vantara
    • Integrate and synchronize with big data easily
    • Import data from any sources and different databases
    • Managing data in on-premise, hybrid and cloud environments.
    • Compatibility and flexibility of the platform with any type of scenario and any business or industry
    • Various tools in the software suite to transformation of data
    • Simple interface appearance and creative UI graphics
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cision
    • In the media influencer database, the classic Cision allowed us to do a zip code radius search to really drill down to the neighborhood level. That's because we do localized media advisories and press releases for events at neighborhood schools. One part of a big city like Chicago really doesn't care what's happening in another part of Chicago that's too far away. The zip code radius search was a feature in the classic Cision but not with the current Cision Communications Cloud. We've asked for this to be restored several times, but nothing's happened. In fact, we were told to use DMA — which actually goes wider in a search (bigger than a city), not more narrow as needed. This reflects a basic misunderstanding of what we need.
    • Another missing feature involves a merge field when sending out an email press release through Cision. This is the "select insert field" button in the upper right that's used to personalize a release with the media contact's name and other information. This is key for localization of the release. Many media outlets won't run a release unless it's local. While "county" is a feature in the influencer database when putting together a media list in Cision, "county" is not available to insert into a press release as a merge field. Counties are important because this is how many newspapers and health departments are organized and identify themselves. I've asked for this to be implemented, to no avail. As a workaround, we've had to use "contact city" or "outlet city."
    • After refining a media list in Cision using filters, I've had to download the list and take it offline to see the big picture, screen for duplicates, etc. While there is a button on the bottom left intended to help with this, it doesn't do the trick. That's because there may be multiple contacts with the same email address. In addition, one media contact may represent numerous media outlets, so this same contact could show up several times. It would be nice to have a better way to see the whole list online and eliminate both duplicates as well as those who previously opted out.
    Incentivized
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    Hitachi Vantara
    • I think the relative obscurity of the tool is a downside, not as many developers, consultants or peers you can tap into.
    • Lack of a solid user community held us back, looking at Power BI and Qlik, they have huge user communities that help each other out. Would have liked that here.
    • Smaller company means smaller sales force, and the lack of a local presence made it hard to only interact online with the account rep. Other companies have someone local who often stops by with pre-sales developers to just pitch in free of charge when they have time.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Cision
    While I am happy with the product performance overall, TrendKite's recent merger with Cision is cause for concern. When we first signed on with TrendKite, I spoke with several users and the best response I received was that the company was a startup and we could expect there to be hiccups along the way as the company grew and the platform got more robust. That has certainly been the case. However, now that they have merged with Cision — a company that has grown too fast, has not focused on improving its product and has poor customer service — I have concerns that TrendKite will lose some of the qualities that have made it a great company and great product to work with.
    Incentivized
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    Hitachi Vantara
    I will use Pentaho until I find a better tool with a better, easier to use report designer client. For now, Pentaho has been the most powerful reporting tool for our clients because of its ability to connect to Odoo, integrate in Odoo (reports are accessible in Odoo) and the flexibility in report design and parameter integration
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Cision
    The flexibility and customization of Cision Communications Cloud (TrendKite)* is among its most important features. Changing the dashboards, using keywords in the saved searches to pull out the best stories and the integration with marketing automation tools gives me confidence that I will able to continue using this tool well into the future. The future implementation and integration of the media contact database will complete the suite, making list management and email marketing programs much smoother. *This review was written before Cision acquired TrendKite. TrendKite is now part of Cision Communications Cloud.
    Incentivized
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    Hitachi Vantara
    The Pentaho tools are designed so you can start playing around on your own. Of course, you will need guidance at some point, but the training teams are good at guiding new users, and the online documentation is usually pretty up-to-date.
    Some of the tools, such as the Pentaho Data Integration tool and the Pentaho Server, are pretty self-explanatory. The other tools maybe are not so quickly and obvious to use, but again, with some documentation and some customer support, you can find your way around them.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Cision
    Easily accessible 24/7.
    Incentivized
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    Hitachi Vantara
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Cision
    Generally, Cision performs well day to day, but it's got some annoying bugs that slow down usage/require user workarounds which is inefficient. More seriously, a few months ago, as a result of a major system upgrade, certain critical functionality was not working and I was unable to use the service for more than a day when I had time-sensitive work to execute
    Read full review
    Hitachi Vantara
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Cision
    For Cision TrendKite in particilar, support always responded, but it was sometimes slow. For some of our booleans and search queries, we would need help refining and excluding terms/phrases that weren't relevant to our client or campaign. This sometimes took 1-2 days just to get a response back, which sometimes was too late when a last-minute report was due. This was only with the support staff, not necessarily our customer success manager or sales rep.
    Incentivized
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    Hitachi Vantara
    They were responsive to our questions when we raised issues. They gave us workarounds when required. They were quite knowledgeable when it came to issue analysis and providing fixes. They were forthright in informing us if a bug was not due for release soon.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Cision
    The online training sessions available for the Cision Communications Cloud are helpful and informative. There's more than one option - initially, I signed up for the live webinar classes on basic functions and that is what I recommend other new users do as well. If I have specific questions or something I want to learn more about, I can search the online database and find article or online training videos to get the information I need.
    Incentivized
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    Hitachi Vantara
    Course Taken: DI1000 Pentaho Data Integration Fundamentals Setup A week before your class started, the instructor will start sending out class material and lab setup instructions. This is helpful so that you understand how the environment is laid out and can start reviewing the content. Ultimately it saved about a 1/2 day trying to setup with 10 other people online which was great! The Course The 3-day course was laid out like many other technical classes with 15-30 minutes instruction and 15-60 minutes of lab exercises. The instructor was very knowledgeable with the functionality from version to version and answered questions as we went along. I was amazed at some of the functionality that was available that I was not using at the time and quickly implemented changes to many existing transformations and jobs. The novice users seemed to catch on quickly and more experienced users explained how some of the functionality was used in their home environments. Towards the end there was enough time so that we were able to ask very directed questions about our own environments. Overall, I really found the class to be informative and deliver enough information to be dangerous. My skills improved and I was able to design better and efficient transformations for the HIE. Course Description: https://training.pentaho.com/instructor-led-training/pentaho-data-integration-fundamentals-di1000
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    Implementation Rating
    Cision
    There is no implementation at the customer's end so this doesn't really apply to my instance of Cision (possibly to all instances of it).
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    Hitachi Vantara
    Get the right people in before starting implementation. Start small and build as you go approach is time consuming and involves lot of rework. Evangalize within the organization the capabilities and limitations equally so that correct delivery expectations are set. Set expectations with the Customer that the tool cannot replace proprietary software in terms of stability/usability and that timelines could change given the new ness of the product.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Cision
    It's a similar product. I think Meltwater sells itself as being a bit more niche, but I have not found many significant differences between Meltwater and Cision. Meltwater's sales process is a very high pressure and their prices are inflated.
    Incentivized
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    Hitachi Vantara
    Since the Pentaho platform offers a range of broad functionality across data preparation and advanced analytics, it also can be easily integrated to support many data sources and machine-learning frameworks. Based on that fact, we selected Pentaho to be used in our internal department. It also supports many of our BI use cases as required by company management or the business user. Last but not least, the Pentaho license is cheaper than their competitor.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Cision
    Easy to use, but still room for improvement.
    Incentivized
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    Hitachi Vantara
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Cision
    • Cision has a net positive impact on time savings for staff so we can be quicker to market
    • Cision has a positive impact on internal savings as it is used internally across multiple accounts and with the internal PR team
    • Cision is extremely useful when it comes to resourcing and conducting outreach in those DMA's where our agency doesn't have a physical presence
    Incentivized
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    Hitachi Vantara
    • Pentaho has improved our overall business process.
    • Pentaho has helped the Managers and Directors to analyze the numbers going up and down from time to time.
    • We have a started a big project using Pentaho that is going to include all the business processes in the organization.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Cision Communications Cloud Screenshots

    Screenshot of Media Monitoring and Analytics are just part of the complete Comms Cloud. It combines deep data dive with a database of journalists and influencers, and a media relationship management tool.Screenshot of Track brand mentions in real time across the millions of online stories on the internet. Monitor millions of stories and breaking news happening daily across the web. Professional services consultants teams are in place to ensure best practices while setting up a monitoring account.Screenshot of Cision’s media and influencer relationship management tools include audience insights, combined with a pitchable database that enables brands to uncover the best media contacts and social influencers to reach their target audience.Screenshot of Identify the social conversations and influencers that are impacting a brand. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube monitoring capabilities track brand mentions across all major social channels. Analyze results for social mentions or campaigns on the fly with its reporting features.