Item: MicroStrategy Analytics
Rating: 2
Author: Jeff Harris

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We made the decision to centralize all of our reporting from all of our systems into Microstrategy Analytics. Moved off of multiple older systems which included Microsoft BI, Alteryx, and some product specific reporting.

Pros and Cons

They sell the product well, and make promises you will actually believe
"checks the box" for most features a company would need. Doesn't actually deliver them though
They answer the phone in a timely manner. Can't answer your questions or provide support, but the queue time isn't bad
They have online documentation. It's not up to date, and likely doesn't reflect the version of software you are using, but hey... they can point to it.

[I feel like] compared to it's peers, this product is not ready for primetime. Has almost no capabilities "out of the box" good luck finding ANY canned reporting capabilities
Almost non-existent ecosystem for finding trained help. Relative to the 'big guys" there are not consultants or candidates you can find on the open market to actually help you implement
[I feel like they should] stop answering feature limitations by saying "go to the cloud product". If we wanted a SaaS solution, [there] are MUCH better ones than MicroStrategy Analytics. Your primary value proposition is it can be installed locally. I didn't realize that meant we would be limited in functionality to the dark ages.

Return on Investment

[I feel like] MicroStrategy Analytics implementation has had a large negative impact on the company. Significant amount of time and effort necessary to even get out the most basic of reports.
We are now having to run multiple reporting environments due to lack of capabilities in MicroStrategy Analytics.
[I feel like] we will likely migrate to a SaaS solution, and it won't be MicroStrategy Analytics.

Alternatives Considered

Google Charts

[I feel like} Microsoft BI - MicroStrategy Analytics is worse in every way. Less templates, less canned reports, less third party integrations, less knowledgable consultants/employees, less core capability, much worse migration path to the cloud (Azure in Microsoft's case), and ultimately turned out to be higher cost when we had to start adding modules and pay for professional services to do even the most basic reporting

Google Charts - Not as fare comparison since this is a free SaaS product, but when we couldn't get things working with MicroStrategy Analytics, we starting using Charts just to get data out the door for the company. Amazing how easy it is, and free. Provides WAY more robust capabilities in your web browser for free.

Key Insights

Do you think MicroStrategy Analytics delivers good value for the price?

Are you happy with MicroStrategy Analytics's feature set?

Did MicroStrategy Analytics live up to sales and marketing promises?

Did implementation of MicroStrategy Analytics go as expected?

Would you buy MicroStrategy Analytics again?

Other Software Used

Alteryx, Microsoft BI (MSBI), Google Charts

Usability

Shocking how unintuitive it is relative to its peer group. Get ready for a very steep learning curve. Even the user interface is from another decade.

Support Rating

[I feel as if] they answer the phone quickly, but can't answer any of your questions. Will get lost in a support ticketing system. Better off finding third-party online forums of MicroStrategy Analytics users huddled together trying to help each other do the most basic things.

Likelihood to Recommend

If you need an on-premise solution in your own data center, [I feel like] the options are starting to become limited, and MicroStrategy Analytics is one of them. Just don't expect it to be good, or supported.

MicroStrategy Analytics Product Review

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with MicroStrategy Analytics