IBM Cognos Analytics vs. Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
IBM Cognos Analytics
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
IBM 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.
$10
per month per user
Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft R Open and Revolution R Enterprise are big data R distribution for servers, Hadoop clusters, and data warehouses. Microsoft acquired original developer Revolution Analytics in 2016. Microsoft R is available in two editions: Microsoft R Open (formerly Revolution R Open) and Revolution R Enterprise.N/A
Pricing
IBM Cognos AnalyticsMicrosoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
Editions & Modules
On Demand - Standard
$10.00
per month per user
On Demand - Premium
$40.00
per month per user
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IBM Cognos AnalyticsMicrosoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
IBM Cognos AnalyticsMicrosoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
IBM Cognos AnalyticsMicrosoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
IBM Cognos Analytics
7.9
103 Ratings
4% below category average
Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
-
Ratings
Pixel Perfect reports8.594 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable dashboards7.8101 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates7.498 Ratings00 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
IBM Cognos Analytics
8.1
105 Ratings
0% below category average
Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
-
Ratings
Drill-down analysis8.1103 Ratings00 Ratings
Formatting capabilities8.1104 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages7.873 Ratings00 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration8.4101 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
IBM Cognos Analytics
8.3
105 Ratings
1% below category average
Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
-
Ratings
Publish to Web8.327 Ratings00 Ratings
Publish to PDF8.799 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Versioning8.626 Ratings00 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling8.0102 Ratings00 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers8.112 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
IBM Cognos Analytics
8.1
95 Ratings
0% above category average
Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
-
Ratings
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.090 Ratings00 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization8.287 Ratings00 Ratings
Predictive Analytics8.183 Ratings00 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining8.022 Ratings00 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
IBM Cognos Analytics
8.3
100 Ratings
4% below category average
Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
-
Ratings
Multi-User Support (named login)8.497 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model8.396 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.296 Ratings00 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control8.425 Ratings00 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)8.378 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
IBM Cognos Analytics
7.3
83 Ratings
9% below category average
Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
-
Ratings
Responsive Design for Web Access7.977 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Application7.368 Ratings00 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile8.174 Ratings00 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
IBM Cognos Analytics
7.5
62 Ratings
5% below category average
Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
-
Ratings
REST API7.359 Ratings00 Ratings
Javascript API7.658 Ratings00 Ratings
iFrames8.39 Ratings00 Ratings
Java API6.911 Ratings00 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)7.110 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)7.87 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform Connectivity
Comparison of Platform Connectivity features of Product A and Product B
IBM Cognos Analytics
-
Ratings
Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
5.3
3 Ratings
46% below category average
Connect to Multiple Data Sources00 Ratings6.13 Ratings
Extend Existing Data Sources00 Ratings6.03 Ratings
Automatic Data Format Detection00 Ratings6.03 Ratings
MDM Integration00 Ratings3.01 Ratings
Data Exploration
Comparison of Data Exploration features of Product A and Product B
IBM Cognos Analytics
-
Ratings
Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
7.0
3 Ratings
19% below category average
Visualization00 Ratings7.03 Ratings
Interactive Data Analysis00 Ratings7.03 Ratings
Data Preparation
Comparison of Data Preparation features of Product A and Product B
IBM Cognos Analytics
-
Ratings
Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
4.8
3 Ratings
53% below category average
Interactive Data Cleaning and Enrichment00 Ratings5.13 Ratings
Data Transformations00 Ratings5.03 Ratings
Data Encryption00 Ratings3.01 Ratings
Built-in Processors00 Ratings6.03 Ratings
Platform Data Modeling
Comparison of Platform Data Modeling features of Product A and Product B
IBM Cognos Analytics
-
Ratings
Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
6.0
3 Ratings
34% below category average
Multiple Model Development Languages and Tools00 Ratings5.03 Ratings
Automated Machine Learning00 Ratings5.02 Ratings
Single platform for multiple model development00 Ratings8.03 Ratings
Self-Service Model Delivery00 Ratings6.03 Ratings
Model Deployment
Comparison of Model Deployment features of Product A and Product B
IBM Cognos Analytics
-
Ratings
Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
6.5
2 Ratings
27% below category average
Flexible Model Publishing Options00 Ratings6.02 Ratings
Security, Governance, and Cost Controls00 Ratings6.92 Ratings
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User Ratings
IBM Cognos AnalyticsMicrosoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(128 ratings)
6.0
(5 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.8
(27 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(8 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
8.6
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(8 ratings)
8.0
(2 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.7
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.0
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.3
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.3
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
IBM Cognos AnalyticsMicrosoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise
Likelihood to Recommend
IBM
Our first and most basic scenario was to automatize the creation and publication/sharing of business reports that used to be created manually by employees throughout our organization. Using Cognos for that first use case worked well. The advanced analytics functionalities we used on the aggregated data were also as expected. However, the user interface is not always intuitive, and there is a steep learning curve, so I would recommend Cognos only to large organizations where there is a need for the most advanced functionalities (AI analysis/prediction).
Read full review
Microsoft
If you are a MS shop specifically, or have more generic data requirement needs from Microsoft sourced data this will work well. If you have a lot of disparate data across a number of unique platforms/cloud systems/3rd party hosted data warehouses then this product will have issues or a lack of documentation on the net. Performance-wise this product is equal to other R platforms out there.
Read full review
Pros
IBM
  • We use the tool for data modeling as it helps in predictive data analysis for complex data, which is very similar to real-life scenarios.
  • Options of customizing & scheduling reports as per our requirements basis.
  • Has mobile application which works seamless.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • It allows distributed algorithm runs on Hadoop HDFS cluster
  • It allows using different file formats such as SAS7BAT files or complex files in tab or comma delimited making data munging easier
  • It provides scalable solutions by allowing users to re-use R scripts and distributing the computing over nodes through RHadoop
Read full review
Cons
IBM
  • Sometimes there might be performance issues when dealing with large and complex data.
  • Although IBM provides full documentation but sometimes it's difficult to find answers to questions and connect with their customer support.
  • It relies on external tools for data cleaning, transformation and also for some integration tasks. It can also improve on providing wider range of data sources for integration.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Very steep learning curve... for such a quick and useful tool the learning curve is unacceptable.
  • Very dangerous in the wrong hands. Because most add-ons are pre-written, you have to trust the community that malicious script is not used.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
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
Microsoft
In general, Revolution Analytics brings a lot of value to the organization. The renewal decision would be based on return on investment in terms of quantified actionable insights that are getting generated against the cost of the product. Additionally, market brand of the tool and reputation risk in terms of possible acquisition and its impact to overall organizational analytic strategy would be considered as well.
Read full review
Usability
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
Microsoft
It is good, easy to use, improvements are being made to the product and more info being shared in the community. It just needs some more time to become more integrated to other platforms and tools/data out there.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
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
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Performance
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
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
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.
Read full review
Microsoft
Generally support comes through the forums and user generated channels which are helpful, easy to access, quickly turned around and provided by knowledgeable users. However the support channels are not employees and the channels are often used as a way to learn quick difficult elements of R. Better design, users interface and tutorial options would alleviate the need for this sort of interaction.
Read full review
In-Person Training
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
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Online Training
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
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
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
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
IBM
In the past Management had used Excel and Workiva capabilities to create the reporting dashboards that were being used to make decisions. Since switching to IBM Cognos Analytics the Company has been much more efficient and decision making has been streamlined. IBM Cognos Analytics was chosen due to its reputation and data visualization capabilities and neither have been wrong.
Read full review
Microsoft
The two are different products for different purposes. But for someone who has little or no experience in R programming, Power BI would be better for starting with. Having said that, Microsoft R is built on R, thus allowing for customization of complex calculations not typically available otherwise.
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Scalability
IBM
The Cognos architecture is well suited for scalability. However, the architecture must be designed with scalability in mind from day one of the implementation. We recently upgraded from 10.1 to 10.2.1 and took the opportunity to revamp our architecture. It is now poised for future growth and scalability.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
IBM
  • High ROI with well designed solutions. Supported by scalable deployment, robust security model and ability to create valuable content.
  • High ROI where well designed data models can be deployed with a common metadata layer to a variety of users and use cases.
  • High ROI in an environment that includes a variety of vendors and best of breed products within the overall platform
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Helped save company money versus buying other stat software
Read full review
ScreenShots