IBM Cognos makes BI smarter.
October 15, 2013

IBM Cognos makes BI smarter.

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

10

Modules Used

  • Analysis Studio
  • Query Studio
  • Event Studio
  • Report Studio

Overall Satisfaction

Pros

  • The IBM Cognos BI Suite provides a full-service set of reporting and tracking capabilities.
  • The UI was attractive and easy-to-use for a wide variety of user levels.
  • For the costs involved, it provided the best reporting capabilities for the money that we could find.
  • The upgrade process was relatively easy given the pervasiveness of our integration with the product. The zero-client footprint meant that we didn't have to upgrade 200 users separately. We upgraded the servers, tested the implementation and then ported over the new product version to production with minimal hiccups.

Cons

  • The transition to IBM was a bit rough. The IBM site was very difficult to navigate. It wasn't user-friendly. Finding information on support took much longer than it did before.
  • While upgrading was relatively easy, the way they structured the upgrade cost, we were almost forced to pay a cost to upgrade or else face having our implementation be completely unsupported (and still forced to upgrade anyway).
  • We were able to see very easily the KPIs from a variety of business channels, thereby allowing us to make quicker decisions. Increased response to key sales opportunities.
  • The product allowed us to create production alerts to help us keep the product working smoothly. Reduced downtime and adverse impact to our clients.
  • We were able to hot swap cubes, which kept real-time reporting available to the front-line sales staff. Decreasing time to respond to important sales trends.
Partially because of the great product, but partially because we are so entrenched with money and human capital that we are almost certainly going to renew.
Overall, a great product! Powerful, yet approachable.

Product Usage

  • Provides a vehicle for easy financial reporting (even though the source information is stored elsewhere).
  • Used for call center performance dashboarding.
  • Provided marketing performance metrics.
  • Ad-hoc reporting on a variety of business needs (specific marketing, operational, or sales needs).

Evaluation and Selection

The previous software package pre-dated my time at the company. The company had been a Cognos shop for at least 2 years prior to my arrival. (Pre-2005)

Implementation

The implementation to IBM Cognos 10 was very easy. Took a few weeks to plan, test, and implement. Relatively painless.
  • Implemented in-house

Training

  • Online training
  • In-person training
  • Self-taught
The training provided was easy to follow and very comprehensive. The instructors were very knowledgeable.
The training was good, comprehensive. The individuals who made use of the training found it to be very helpful and clearly articulated. They felt that the training provided immediate benefits to their day-to-day work.
Use of some of the more advanced functions would have been challenging without training, but once the backend setup of cubes, security and hardware occurred, the product was very user-friendly.

Support

The phone support was great because we had a premium phone number to access key support individuals higher up the chain than we would with the lower levels of support.
Yes - Needed to be able to get rapid responses to challenges. We weren't able to wait for the regular support to get back to us when we had problems.

Comments

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