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IBM Watson Analytics: A Rockstar of Data
March 28, 2018

IBM Watson Analytics: A Rockstar of Data

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

Overall Satisfaction with IBM Watson Analytics (discontinued)

We use IBM Watson analytics to replace our data science roles – primarily within social media. I started using it as a recommendation from a client, to get better insight (they're shifting all their software over to IBM. I'm sorry I cannot elaborate further on that). This program is basically a smart data/visual analysis that helps its clients discover patterns within data they upload, for their research. In this case, with our clients, we use it to determine their traffic through their Twitter and Facebook marketing/advertising. It helps us discover what ads are the most responsive and what content resonates best with customers.
  • Implementation of the data is fairly easy, all it requires is registration and uploading data from a spreadsheet – it's little more than copy/pasting which is pretty manageable on time
  • It's affordable – it offers a $30 plan for its "Plus" services, and $80/month for its Professional services. With a small markup, this is profitable for both us and our clients
  • Their customer support has been great – they have live personal available by phone or chat during regular business hours, and their Customer Support forums are always available 24/7. They're always quick to address an issue.
  • The accuracy of the reporting from the program relies solely on the data the user sources. There can be errors in reporting due to...well, human error, which can kind of mess up your entire data sheet
  • When you're working with a program that is a cloud-based service, decentralized reporting can mislead organizations when you're not properly balanced with the traditional checks of a governed system – again, this is a human-error issue
  • IBM advertises this as a program that can work for any user, but unless you have experience working with data analytics, it can be difficult to determine where to start. I had to look up a few tutorials online before I was able to properly get my data rolling through
Most commonly, if you're comparing it against other brands – my favorite being Google Analytics – this essentially does the same thing. It really just depends on what platform you're most comfortable working with. Google and IBM both have great software, and ease of use (assuming you know what you're doing when you get started). Although Google doesn't go as in-depth with their data analysis as IBM.
Despite its shortcomings, IBM Watson Analytics does its job well. It's paired for any size organization, big or small – but realistically, if you're going to be analyzing user-data on a broad scale, it probably makes sense to use this program if you're working with a big company. Otherwise Facebook Analytics could probably do the work for you, for a cheaper price. Our social media manager has been using it to track data for a client of ours, and they have been enjoying it so far. It's a good system to determine user traffic.