User Reviews Overview
About IBM Cognos Analytics
Cognos Analytics is an upgrade to Cognos Business Intelligence (Cognos BI). By adding cognitive guidance, a web-based interface and new data visualization features, Cognos Analytics provides self-service analytics to large and...
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- Industry: Oil & Energy
- Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Excellent software is easy to implement and use.
I utilized it to complete projects as part of my Coursera studies; it is taught step by step, and cloud computing was much more familiar to me. On a monthly basis, we do key reconciliations to predict, and reports allow us to record all data pieces. IBM Cognos Analytics recognizes business demands and improves job productivity; it can manage big volumes of data; and it makes it extremely simple for all departments to build reports to see the data. While reporting, you may effortlessly combine numerous searches or arrange your data; no background or technical expertise is necessary.
Pros
The software is highly intuitive since it recognizes the demands of the business and promotes work productivity; it can manage a big quantity of data and allows all departments to easily build reports to examine the data. While reporting, you may effortlessly combine numerous searches or arrange your data; no background or technical expertise is necessary. The process is quite fluid, and compared to other cloud services I've tried, IBM Cognos offers a well-designed interface that is simple to educate personnel on. Reports give significant detail that can be exported and edited to explain crucial choices. They are simple to run and compatible with office applications.
Cons
Reports may take some time to execute depending on their size; reporting software may include cautions about where students committed errors and the report will not run; alternatively, more thorough instructions for new employees are provided. You obviously require proper training, and anyone who aren't familiar with SQL will struggle to put it up. I've been seeing some delays while switching sites or loading materials, but I appreciate IBM's ability to work on this issue.

- Industry: Computer Software
- Company size: 201–500 Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Professional dataviz tool which ensures a unique experience to expertsor first-time business...
We have been using Cognos BI for many years for data reporting and performance analysis. Our business analysts were constantly complaining about the long delays to get data extracts. Withe Cognos Analytics we were in a position to give the BA access to pertinent data extracts in record time and with minimum hands-on training. This empowered them and allowed them to spend more time on building predictions and preparing recommendations for corrective actions.
Pros
The quick learning curve which turns every intuition into a positive experience
Cons
The story telling capabilities are not seamless enough and consume too much efforts to be reach the desired effect.
Alternatives Considered
TableauReasons for Switching to IBM Cognos Analytics
Smooth integration with IBM analytics product suite and quality of support provided by the vendor.- Industry: Automotive
- Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Cognos data reporting tool
Pros
It has great functionality for reporting purpose. We can customize our report and distribute easy to all teams.
Cons
Drill down in reports seems to take much time which make this software slow sometime.
Top IBM Cognos Analytics Alternatives
- Industry: Insurance
- Company size: 201–500 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Cognos - Fantastic In Some Areas; Lags In Others
It’s a means to an end. Not perfect, but no tool is. Pretty much everyone I know in the industry operates in a multi-tool BI environment. Cognos, like most, hasn’t been able to put together the full package.
Pros
Pixel perfect printing. Most competitors have tagged printing as a way of the past, but there’s still a half generation that relies heavily upon it. This can’t be overlooked.
Cons
The flexibility/functionality of the viz tools can’t compete with competitors. I think it also has a more difficult learning curve. It isn’t an intuitive tool.

- Industry: Banking
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
The best BI Product so far
It was the greatest experience we have with a BI tool. We really loved it.
Pros
This solution has everything for Data Analysis, since ETL to Visualization. Great tool for Business Analytics. Supports a wide variety of data sources, great reporting features and capabilities, you can publish to PDF, predictive analytics, and easy to create Dashboards with multiple templates.
Cons
They need to work on their compatibility with web browsers, it did not work with Opera. The price is a little high per user. You cannot share a Dashboard unless the other party has a license.
Reasons for Choosing IBM Cognos Analytics
When we analyzed the ratio price benefit, we preferred Cognos.Switched From
NetSuiteReasons for Switching to IBM Cognos Analytics
We really loved Cognos, it is easy to use and have great capabilities.
- Industry: Computer Software
- Company size: 10,000+ Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
New age and Traditional BI tool
Cognos is used for operational reporting and analytics and schedule reports to be sent via email to users on a duly basis. Used in mobile as well.
Pros
Cognos 11 comes with all the latest features expected in a BI tool, the graph generations and story buildings as well as predictions.
Cons
Interactive pdf is not available for reports. Can be difficult to implement without admin support for end users.
Alternatives Considered
MicroStrategy AnalyticsReasons for Switching to IBM Cognos Analytics
As it was cheaper and had more skills available in the market to support the tool.- Industry: Chemicals
- Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Cognos
it is a great software depends on the the organisation ability to set up and master its capabilities
Pros
Capabilities of this software is far reaching and varied and it depends on the organisation ability to use it to their advantage.
Cons
the support from the consultant was great but costly.
- Industry: Banking
- Company size: 10,000+ Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Cognos review
Overall, it was great once it was up and running
Pros
It generated reports from data warehouse very well
Cons
The cubes were not easy to define at first

- Industry: Computer Software
- Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Agrxis Review on IBM Cognos Analytics
My experience with IBM Cognos Analytics has been great. I have used the platform and discovered it to be exceptionally robust and user-friendly. I can navigate and access the many features and functionalities with ease because to the user-friendly UI. The excellent reporting and analytics tools allow me to easily derive insightful conclusions from my data. The platform's powerful collaboration tools have also significantly increased our team's effectiveness and productivity. IBM's customer service has been outstanding, with quick responses and useful advice whenever needed. In general, IBM Cognos Analytics has changed the game for our company by enabling us to make data-driven decisions that are both effective and efficient. Anyone in need of a complete and dependable analytics solution should definitely consider it.
Pros
In my experience using IBM Cognos Analytics, I discovered a number of features that I genuinely valued. One of the features I enjoyed the most was how capable and thorough the reporting was. I was able to show data in a relevant and interesting way thanks to the software, which offered a variety of possibilities for designing visually appealing and interactive reports. The customization and flexibility features in IBM Cognos Analytics were very appealing to me. I was able to add my own branding and layouts to reports and dashboards to match my own business demands. The capability to smoothly link to diverse data sources was another noteworthy feature. I was able to access and analyze a variety of datasets with ease because to IBM Cognos Analytics' support for integration with various databases and file types. Additionally, the software offered robust collaboration and sharing features, enabling me to collaborate with team members and stakeholders efficiently.
Cons
In my experience with IBM Cognos Analytics, there were a few aspects that I found challenging and could be improved upon. One of the areas that I liked least was the learning curve associated with the software. It took some time and effort to become familiar with the platform and its features. The complexity of certain functionalities and the lack of intuitive user interfaces made it a bit difficult for me to navigate and utilize the tool effectively at first.

- Industry: Semiconductors
- Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Tool that improves decision making
Pros
It has a nice user interface, with multiple customization options, attractive panels and excellent performance. It has the useful drag and drop tool that makes it easy to manipulate data to create nice visualizations. Provides high quality and visually pleasing real-time reports. The mobile application works very well, giving the platform greater mobility.
Cons
I would like them to improve the documentation to start using the platform more easily and get the most out of all its functions. Its cost is considerably high.
- Industry: Oil & Energy
- Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
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Review Source
IBM Cognos Analytics 11
Cognos Analytics is currently meeting our financial and operational reporting needs.
Pros
We like the ability to create custom reports to meet user requirements. This includes being able to link data coming from databases using Cognos Framework Manager, plus the ability to create SQL select queries within Cognos that pull data directly from custom SQL objects. We also appreciate that Cognos Analytics still supports the use of Portals that we created in a previous version of the product. Other features that we appreciate are Bursting, Conditional Styling and Rendering, Exports to Excel and PDF, and drill-through reports, to name a few.
Cons
Crosstabs could use more features and provide more flexibility in formatting.
- Industry: Information Technology & Services
- Company size: 10,000+ Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
My Review of IBM Cognos Analytics
I use IBM Cognos daily, as this is the tool made available by SAP Concur to work with Business Intelligence reports. I use it to provide the necessary information to those who require it, and it works more or less like a database, where you can apply SQL language - but in a slightly different format.
Pros
I think this tool is quite good, since it allows the user several functionalities: create and adapt BI reports, automate the export of a report in a set period and for the necessary containers (they do not need a license to receive), etc. . I love working with this tool from IBM. It allows some SQL language, and some configuration features that are very good too.
Cons
One thing I can point out as a cons of this tool, is the fact that it does not always return the correct information (because the user, without knowing it, can mix incompatible information) - and only at a more advanced stage do we notice that the information is not correct - because we have no error information.
When we actually have information about the errors, this is also not very detailed, that is, we are left without knowing what the error is anyway. It is difficult to make correct associations in this tool, because it is very restricted in relation to the use of the database and the compatibility of the data between them.
- Industry: Government Administration
- Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Cognos Review
Overall, if there is a company that wishes to automate it's reports and improve efficiency across their organization, Cognos is a must-have tool. There is a bit of upfront cost involved to get the reports created in Cognos but the efficiency achieved is almost unparalleled.
Pros
Cognos is an incredibly powerful reporting tool offered by IBM and it has a wonderful ability to be customized across different industries and companies. It can transform work efficiency but automating virtually any data that exists in a company's primary accounting and finance system.
Cons
Cognos is not very user-friendly and often times it can take a while for an individual working with Congos to get familiar with the functionality and the power this tool possesses. Furthermore, report writing and query studio functionality require some database knowledge so the true power of the tool is sometimes limited by these factors.
- Industry: Management Consulting
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
The best software for business forecasts with functionalities for creating scenarios and...
TM1 allows you to build business models that display online results available to all authorized users of the organization.
Pros
IBM Cognos TM1 facilitates the creation of business models with the participation and contribution of users throughout the organization regardless of their physical location.
TM1 is a enterprise-level platform that allows an integral, flexible, rigorous and perfect control over the users that contribute with the creation of the budget.
It allows building multidimensional models that incorporate the business rules that govern the financial processes of the company.
Cons
IBM Cognos TM1 needs to train personnel to administer the platform.
The construction of the models requires specialized IT staff.
The cost of the licenses is for medium and large companies.
- Industry: Banking
- Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Excellent data source
Excellent, I really like the reports included and the accuracy of the data
Pros
It has a lot of reports included and providing the information needed
Cons
Some reports were not easy to run and I have to go to the home page to run a different report
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Seems a bit archaic and was not easy to learn how to use
Pros
Once you have mastered the learning curve and know exactly where to click and what to type to querie your data, you are able to get what you need
Cons
Not intuitive and knowing where to go or click for different queries/reports/data searches and you really need a colleague who has done it before to show you how.
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
This report writer is linked to our accounting software.
Pros
You can write your own reports and pull out the data you need from our accounting software. You have the ability to create advanced reports and format in multiple ways.
Cons
Sometimes the fields that are in Cognos do not match exactly or have different names from the actual software so it is a guess at what field you are pulling. The report studio portion is advanced report writing and in order to create these reports it is recommended to have additional training in order to make reports be beneficial for your company.
- Industry: Health, Wellness & Fitness
- Company size: 10,000+ Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Love it!
Pros
I love cognos. I can run any report, any time... past/present/future. So many options. Love the ability to create shortcuts to the reports I use on a daily basis as well. Quick & easy to use.
Cons
The only thing I don't like is the reports don't always give a good description before running them.
- Industry: Construction
- Company size: 10,000+ Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Cognos pulls meaning out of any data
It gives big data meaning and helps us answer business question so we can make smart decisions and provide relevant and cleanly formatted data to our customers.
Pros
It is straight-forward and feature-rich. We have combined dozens and dozens of queries into a single report without any issue before, so it has that advantage over most of the alternative solutions.
Cons
The version of Cognos we are running currently makes it difficult to pinpoint the bottle-neck of certain reports.
- Industry: Primary/Secondary Education
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1+ year
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Review Source
Powerful tool for the good analysis of your data. can get quick information for quick decisions
Pros
Cognos is a very effective BI tool. you can create customized reports without having a very technical background ... It can be easily integrated with several data sources in a simple and consistent way and I find the interface to extract data on demand or send scheduled reports (Report Planner) excellent. good user experience with the drag and drop. . . versatility of the Live API to postgres, sql server and oracle databases. We use Cognos to deliver operational reports to all production units and great and very well presented reports and productivity indicators to senior managers
Cons
It is a very powerful tool but not as easy to understand quickly as other tools on the market for the same price .. The learning curve is broad. The initial configuration is not easy, the dashboard function does not have many options. Installation can also be a complicated issue and may require vendor support
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Cognos is a very easy to use application for most areas of the business's finances
Pros
Easy to use, easily connects to many ERP softwares.
Houses budgeting and planning, financial reporting and dashboarding and metrics all in one suite.
Cons
Requires in-house administration, is not an out of the box software and requires monthly maintenance on the reports and the planning applications.

- Industry: Oil & Energy
- Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
- Used Monthly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Good send User Experience
My limited experience and exposure has been good. Works well for a casual user (assuming an admin did a good job setting up and maintaining)
Pros
Once set up, the end user can easily get into advanced reports and simply navigate as needed to get information in a repeatable manner.
Cons
There are some odd, not intuitive quirks; however, I presume that’s a consequence of an organizations configuration and less about the software
- Industry: Hospital & Health Care
- Company size: 10,000+ Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Tons of Features, very powerful, not for a novice
I have been very pleased with it since getting over the giant hurdle that is learning how to do anything at all in the product.
Pros
It can handle enormous amounts of data and allows a user to create extremely complex data models from almost any number of disparate sources
Cons
Super complex and difficult to learn. The least intuitive software I have ever used, and the help documentation is pretty much useless.
- Industry: Utilities
- Company size: 10,000+ Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Good product for BI Tools.
Pros
I like the ability to create reports its has many functions ( Explore, Analysis, Report Studio, Event Studio).
Cons
I dislikes its. Because of so hard of setting page or design report page when it set wide and height.
- Industry: Mining & Metals
- Company size: 201–500 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1+ year
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Review Source
Not easy to Use
This is the reporting system our payroll company provides us with for weekly reports, its not easy to use and is frustrating. They do have a lot of options for running the report but its difficult to get the report to run.
Pros
If you can figure out how to make the reports run you can create nice reports with lots of information.
Cons
Not easy to create a report, some reports will stop working for no reason, they just will spin and not generate. Difficult to change the layout and information.