We performed a comparison between IBM Cognos and Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Reporting solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."Report Studio: This is the most powerful and sophisticated tool for professional reporting."
"The three IBM Cognos features I find the most valuable are Dynamic Cubes, PowerPlay, and Watson."
"The initial setup is quite straightforward."
"Integration with Office can enable the 'download' mode of storytelling."
"It has a very powerful edit feature which allows users to back out of changes (undo) without forcing them to recreate entire reports."
"Even while a user is using a cube for reporting, there will not be a situation as ' Cube file locked; unable to build or deploy'."
"When it comes to decision-making, the product is very useful and used in many departments since a lot of people prefer the reports to be generated by IBM Cognos."
"Cognos is the best application with dashboards,batch reporting, jobs, events and ad-hoc reporting for business users."
"The solution's features are all just wrapped up in one nice easy package. I don't need a lot of toolsets to get everything I need done."
"I like Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services' automated reporting feature."
"In Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, the installation and configuration are easy."
"I'm very satisfied with the customer service. And usually, whenever we have any issue or details, we get to the person for the support. I'm really satisfied with the service. Within a few minutes or within a few hours, the support person will be available."
"We were able to embed the report builder within our internal proprietary systems, improving our reporting capabilities."
"The SQL Server Reporting Services makes it very easy to get the data whenever we need it."
"We can create quality reports in real time."
"We get good support from Microsoft."
"I would like to see is more easy building, movement in the reports, and dashboard functionality within reporting. Overall more simple elements within reports. If the elements are simple then you don't have to render a full page, but you can move separate parts in the page."
"I would like them to reinclude PowerPlay. One thing that I am missing in the current Cognos is what was formally named PowerPlay. They have basically removed PowerPlay from it, which is something that I fail to understand because it was the most wonderful tool for business intelligence that I've ever used. As far as I know, they don't provide this functionality anymore, so this is one thing that I dislike about Cognos."
"Tableau and Power BI are faster than Cognos."
"This product could use improvement in terms of usability for those with less technical know how."
"I would like to have predictive and forecasting capabilities in Cognos. It's one thing to do reporting, and another thing to easily predict or forecast certain data points, which is very important for all the clients."
"They should provide improved visual reporting."
"They were lacking in the initial phases of development in the area of big data, and they still need to improve that aspect of the product."
"The charts and graphics are weak."
"It doesn't have quite the flexibility of a Tableau or something like that. Many users are more comfortable with Tableau and I'm not quite sure why that is right now, but it seems to be the case."
"Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services needs to improve performance."
"We have had issues with the refresh interval since we have too many reports scheduled. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is also expensive."
"Tableau is more user-friendly because it doesn't need to do any extra programming. It has drag-and-drop functionality."
"I would like the solution to add the scheduling feature for reports."
"The setup is difficult because you have to install different servers."
"It is not easy to integrate the product with other tools in the market."
"Technical support is in minor need of improvement so that they can solve problems in a more timely manner."
More Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services Pricing and Cost Advice →
IBM Cognos is ranked 4th in Reporting with 132 reviews while Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is ranked 8th in Reporting with 16 reviews. IBM Cognos is rated 8.0, while Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of IBM Cognos writes "Improved the quality of our KPIs, while reducing calls to the IT department". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services writes "Offers useful templates but needs to improve the connectivity offered". IBM Cognos is most compared with Microsoft Power BI, Oracle OBIEE, Tableau, Oracle Hyperion and SAP Crystal Reports, whereas Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is most compared with Microsoft Power BI, TIBCO Jaspersoft, Tableau, SAP Crystal Reports and QlikView. See our IBM Cognos vs. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services report.
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