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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    ibi WebFOCUS

    Score7 out of 10
    N/AThe ibi™ WebFOCUS® product is an enterprise business intelligence and analytics solution equipped with data management, visual discovery, predictive analytics, and visualizations. Combining these capabilities and data science in one unified containerized platform, the WebFOCUS® solution can be used to make data-driven decisions across the enterprise and provide reports, dashboards, and customer-facing applications at scale.N/A

    IBM Cognos Analytics

    Score7.7 out of 10
    N/AIBM Cognos is a full-featured business intelligence suite by IBM, designed for larger deployments. It comprises Query Studio, Reporting Studio, Analysis Studio and Event Studio, and Cognos Administration along with tools for Microsoft Office integration, full-text search, and dashboards.

    $11.25

    per month per user

    Pricing
    ibi WebFOCUSIBM Cognos Analytics
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    On Demand - Standard
    USD 11.25
    per month per user
    On Demand - Premium
    USD 44.90
    per month per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    ibi WebFOCUSIBM Cognos Analytics
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    ibi WebFOCUSIBM Cognos Analytics
    Considered Both Products
    Cloud Software Group
    Chose ibi WebFOCUS
    I like the ease of development best on webfocus. As compared to QlikView, it is better at handling large amounts of data and the data access process is much easier in WebFOCUS ( very manual in Qlik). Qlik is better for ad hoc drill through and it is nice how a selector easily …
    Incentivized
    IBM
    Chose IBM Cognos Analytics
    IBM Cognos is definitely more robust as a reporting and analysis tool than PeopleSoft Human Capital Management, in my experience. PeopleSoft is primarily transaction-oriented, rather than data-driven.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Would buy again
    92 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    79 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    91 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    55 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    64 Answers
    Features
    ibi WebFOCUSIBM Cognos Analytics
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of ibi WebFOCUS and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    ibi WebFOCUS
    7.7
    11 Ratings
    6% below category average
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    7.7
    138 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Pixel Perfect reports7.06 Ratings7.6129 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards9.011 Ratings8.0136 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates7.011 Ratings7.5131 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of ibi WebFOCUS and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    ibi WebFOCUS
    9.3
    13 Ratings
    15% above category average
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    7.9
    138 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Drill-down analysis8.013 Ratings7.4136 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities10.013 Ratings8.3139 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages9.08 Ratings7.397 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration10.012 Ratings8.6133 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of ibi WebFOCUS and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    ibi WebFOCUS
    8.2
    11 Ratings
    0% below category average
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    9.2
    136 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Publish to Web10.09 Ratings9.836 Ratings
    Publish to PDF8.09 Ratings8.2132 Ratings
    Report Versioning6.010 Ratings9.833 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling10.011 Ratings8.2134 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers7.03 Ratings9.918 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of ibi WebFOCUS and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    ibi WebFOCUS
    6.3
    10 Ratings
    24% below category average
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    7.4
    124 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)6.08 Ratings7.9121 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.09 Ratings8.0114 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics6.07 Ratings6.7110 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings6.947 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of ibi WebFOCUS and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    ibi WebFOCUS
    9.0
    11 Ratings
    6% above category average
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    7.8
    130 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)8.011 Ratings7.5129 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model10.011 Ratings7.5127 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)10.011 Ratings7.4127 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)8.04 Ratings8.6111 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings8.257 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of ibi WebFOCUS and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    ibi WebFOCUS
    5.9
    11 Ratings
    27% below category average
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    6.4
    109 Ratings
    19% below category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access9.011 Ratings6.8104 Ratings
    Mobile Application3.32 Ratings6.390 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile8.08 Ratings6.696 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of ibi WebFOCUS and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    ibi WebFOCUS
    8.6
    3 Ratings
    10% above category average
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    9.2
    87 Ratings
    17% above category average
    REST API10.01 Ratings7.683 Ratings
    Javascript API8.02 Ratings7.779 Ratings
    iFrames8.02 Ratings9.912 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)8.03 Ratings9.915 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)9.01 Ratings9.99 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings10.013 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    ibi WebFOCUSIBM Cognos Analytics
    Small Businesses
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Sisense
    Score6.9 out of 10
    Sisense
    Score6.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    ibi WebFOCUSIBM Cognos Analytics
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (16 ratings)
    8.0
    (158 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.6
    (5 ratings)
    8.4
    (31 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    7.3
    (10 ratings)
    Availability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.6
    (4 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    1.0
    (9 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.7
    (4 ratings)
    Online Training
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (4 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.0
    (7 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    8.4
    (12 ratings)
    8.6
    (40 ratings)
    Data Sources
    9.4
    (12 ratings)
    8.3
    (40 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.5
    (6 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.4
    (5 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    ibi WebFOCUSIBM Cognos Analytics
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cloud Software Group
    I would less recommend it because it looks like IBI is receding a bit from the European market. I would not be certain for future support. Knowledge in the market in western Europe is limited Functional wise the application suits almost all situations. I would for sure recommend it purely based on its capabilities
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    For Transaction monitoring, we build reports for executive management, providing insights into the number of alerts, the types or categories of detection scenarios, the risk profile, and a snapshot of high- or urgent-priority cases to be reported to AUSTRAC. Congos helps to build the report by ingesting alert data exported from SAS datasets. It joins with other data from Teradata and Customer Hub (Oracle).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cloud Software Group
    • One thing that has always been good at WebFOCUS is how they interact with the customer on items. They take suggestions and implement them. In addition technical support is timely and very detailed.
    • I think they keep up with and lead in implementing new technologies in the BI space. One case of this are the ability for user to create their own easy dashboard using the green plus buttons. Also the ability to link d3 into and have the ability to implement new types of graphs is nice.
    • I have been to a spoke at one of their user conferences and they are worth going to. In addition to all of the great seminars the interaction you get with vendors and other users is key in the growth of your knowledge. I've learned so much for my time at these conferences.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    • Enterprise reporting - Create, customise, and run reports on sales trends, consumer sentiment, etc.
    • Dashboard creation and data exploration & analysis - Using drag and drop feature to create ad-hoc visualisation. Additionally, using AI powered natural language query feature for data analysis and dashboard input (formation of pie, bar, line charts). It's useful for no-technical person to put queries around the spreadsheet data to get quick answers.
    • Building insights for accurate decision making - Package reports with data backed insights for stakeholders in pdf, and Excel format to support business ad-hoc cases, forecasting and strategic recommendations on relevant asks.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cloud Software Group
    • The newest versions of WebFOCUS have an unnecessarily complicated security layout that makes configuration difficult to accomplish without bringing in the vendor for installs.
    • This software tries to cover too many bases allowing you to switch from writing code manually to creating reports using only GUI tools. This sometimes complicates screens and functionality where the two methods don't always work well together. -though its nice to have the choice.
    • The sales force is not as top notch as many software companies
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    • IBM Cognos Analytics enables customer data segmentation, which is essential for marketing, improving and streamlining purchasing behavior and preferences. This helps companies create more targeted and effective marketing campaigns.
    • Our clients Through data analysis, we can identify and observe trends in the behavior of other clients, allowing us to anticipate needs and adjust strategies to avoid consequences.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cloud Software Group
    This software is deeply engrained with my organization and has become a tool that would not easily be replaced without spending more money and resources to get the same results. License cost is comparable to other report writing tools and the capabilities are greater than the competition without having to buy multiple apps to do the same thing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    For an existing solution, renewing licenses does provide a good return on investment. Additionally, while rolling out scorecards and dashboards with little adhoc capabilities, to end users, cognos is very easily scalable. It also allows to create a solution that has a mix of OLAP and relational data-sources, which is a limitation with other tools. Synchronizing with existing security setup is easy too.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cloud Software Group
    Best BI tool/product I have used. The others don't compare overall. Some can look fancier, but when you actually use them with large data and data from numerous systems/sources that is where most of the competition falls away. I also don't like downtime. I have basically none for a large user base with WebFocus. Even SAP Crystal Reports went down for 4 days once - 4 days because the admin password got locked out due to a glitch and we had zero reports for 4 days. WebFocus has never had more than a few minutes of downtime. It's like a tank that just keeps rolling. There is no other choice for reliable BI.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    We have a strong user base (3500 users) that are highly utilizing this tool. Basic users are able to consume content within the applied security model. We have a set of advanced users that really push the limits of Cognos with Report and Query Studio. These users have created a lot of personal content and stored it in 'My Reports'. Users enjoy this flexibility.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Cloud Software Group
    Tracking availability formally for almost two years and we are at 99.8%
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    Reports can typically be viewed through any browser that can access the server, so the availability is ultimately up to what the company utilizing it is comfortable with allowing, though report development tends to be more picky about browsers and settings as mentioned above. It also has an optional iPad app and general mobile browsing support, but dashboards lack the mobile compatibility. What keeps it from getting a higher score is the desktop tools that are vital to the development process. The compatibility with only Windows when the server has a wide range of compatibility can be a real sore point for a company that outfits its employees exclusively with Mac or Linux machines. Of course, if they are planning on outsourcing the development anyways, it's a rather moot point
    Read full review
    Performance
    Cloud Software Group
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    Overall no major complaints but it doesn't handle DMR (Dimensionally Modeled for Relational) very well. DMR modelling is a capability that IBM Cognos Framework Manager provides allowing you to specify dimensional information for relational metadata and allows for OLAP-style queries. However, the capability is not very efficient and, for example, if I'm using only 2 columns on a 20-column model, the software is not smart enough to exclude 18 columns and the query side gets progressively larger and larger until it's effectively unusable.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Cloud Software Group
    They have extremely knowledgeable techs that I have worked with over the years. Some have actually become really good friends of mine. I see them often at local user groups and when we show them how we are using their tools to save millions of dollars throughout the company
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    Why is their web application not working as fast as you think it should? They never know, and it is always a a bunch of shots in the dark to find out. Trying to download software from them is like trying to find a book at the library before computers were invented.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Cloud Software Group
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    Onsite training provided by IBM Cognos was effective and as expected. They did not perform training with our data which was a bit difficult for our end-users.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Cloud Software Group
    It's hit and miss, the last class was overcrowded and people were having trouble connecting which took up much of the time. Instructors vary
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    The online courses they offer are thorough and presented in such a way that someone who isn't already familiar with the general design methodologies used in this field will be capable of making a good design. The training environments are provided as a fully self contained virtual machine with everything needed already to create the environments. We've had some persisting issues with the environments becoming unavailable, but support has been responsive when these issues arise and straightening them out for us
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Cloud Software Group
    Plan ahead on what data will be accessible and the type of security required on the database and if you will want to use security that is built into the software. It is worth consulting with the vendor on what your plan is and how they recommend you proceed in order to get results you are happy with.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    Make sure that any custom tables that you have, are built into your metadata packages. You can still access them via SQL queries in Cognos, but it is much easier to have them as a part of the available metadata packages.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Cloud Software Group
    Webfocus handles the side of our business that is involved with our catalogs. Our catalogs is a huge revenue driver for us and this tool has been extremely useful with planning feature catalogs. Tableau is used more for marketing and merchandising purchases since we can filter data based on website sales.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    Power BI is stronger for quick ad-hoc analysis and dashboards, but IBM Cognos Analytics is better when consistency, precision, and mass distribution matter. Tableau is best for interactive analysis, while IBM Cognos Analytics is better for standardized, repeatable enterprise reporting. Sigma shines for customizable dashboards and drill-down analysis while IBM Cognos Analytics holds an edge in data discovery and visualization.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Cloud Software Group
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    We rate IBM Cognos Analytics a 9 out of 10 for overall scalability. The platform handles large numbers of users, reports, and analytical workloads very reliably. We have experienced strong performance even in demanding enterprise environments with substantial data volumes. Its architecture provides sufficient flexibility to scale resources according to demand, making it well suited for large, business-critical deployments.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cloud Software Group
    • We are not yet a success story. Though we've been implementing WebFOCUS for over a year, we have very few products in our Production portal. Of course, this is not all the responsibility of Information Builders, but we were ill-advised by our 'training coordinator' in our training of staff and coming up to speed with the tools has been very slow.
    • Once skilled analysts and professional IT staff achieve a grasp of the products, they are able to very quickly create polished and well-received products.
    • The DW/BI project has helped us to establish standards and protocols of communication that will allow us to more quickly meet knowledge transfer requirements
    Read full review
    IBM
    • The platform can be pretty pricey.
    • Convoluted contracts and they fine you for any breach during audits.
    • Things are changed between releases without any warning and break.
    • It is second to none at being able to customize list and crosstab type reports.
    • You can easily set up a report to be emailed out every day and even have it export the report to a shared folder.
    • On-prem environments can be scaled up pretty much as much as you would like.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    IBM Cognos Analytics Screenshots

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