Cracking product, but steep learning curve.
December 23, 2019

Cracking product, but steep learning curve.

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft R (formerly Revolution R)

My organisation has 40+ services ranging from 00s to millions of users, therefore iterations, changes and forecasting must be done in a controlled, rigorous and statistically appropriate manor as well as using tools that are efficient and provide analytics the ability to interrogate data en masse. R provides this.
  • Comprehensive and highly populated repositories allowing for a lot of statistical work to be done quickly.
  • Forecasting tools are solid and have provided quick and accurate insight.
  • 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.
  • Better forecasting for resource allocation has saved our organisation hundreds of thousands in conjunction with other strategies.
  • Better visualisation options has allowed smoother internal marketing and internal comms strategies when preparing teams for seasonality.
eViews is used as an alternative statistical modelling package as it is more user friendly, less scripted and has many more quick and easy data evaluation elements to it, however does not contain the flexibility and breadth of scripting and output options as widely supported as R does. eViews is mainly an academic tool and while it has a lot of flexibility to use and support is not as comprehensive as the user support channels simply aren't there.
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.

Do you think Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise's feature set?

Yes

Did Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise again?

Yes

The main use of R for us is in structural forecasting and joining data together.

Using R to forecast gives our analysts the flexibility to interrogate a lot of data to give better modelling accuracy. This includes plugging in per second and minute data over multiple years for services with 100s of millions of interactions per year. Our seasonality means we can often shoot up from 00's to millions of users in a matter of hours, so knowing this will help allocate resource, both server, helplines and support.

Microsoft R Open / Revolution R Enterprise Feature Ratings

Connect to Multiple Data Sources
9
Extend Existing Data Sources
7
Automatic Data Format Detection
8
MDM Integration
3
Visualization
7
Interactive Data Analysis
5
Interactive Data Cleaning and Enrichment
8
Data Transformations
6
Data Encryption
3
Built-in Processors
6
Multiple Model Development Languages and Tools
6
Automated Machine Learning
5
Single platform for multiple model development
7
Self-Service Model Delivery
6
Flexible Model Publishing Options
7
Security, Governance, and Cost Controls
4