We performed a comparison between IBM Cognos and Microsoft BI based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Microsoft BI has a slight edge in this comparison. According to its reviewers, it is a more lightweight solution than IBM Cognos.
"We are able to generate quality reports easily which allows us to decrease response time."
"This solution allows you to input a wide range of file formats."
"The main difference that I like about Cognos compared to other solutions is its data splitting functionality. We have all our company data inside the Cognos environment and so we prefer to split the information Cognos itself. It's more efficient this way."
"The solution's most valuable feature is its ease of use, which makes it easily compatible with other tools."
"The Report Studio that is aimed at professional report writers."
"Integration with Office can enable the 'download' mode of storytelling."
"IBM Cognos offers tools so that you can design and develop your own test queries and reporting solutions."
"A drag-and-drop interface for selecting creating ad hoc reports makes this product very easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of Power BI is its ability to provide customized visualizations and insights tailored to specific business needs."
"Initial setup was very straightforward. Users can get up and running reporting on databases within minutes."
"The flexibility of the program is valuable. We are able to add other information to the reporting information and expand upon it."
"Good reporting and data analysis tool that's user-friendly, easy to deploy, stable, and scalable."
"It works well with SSAS, which we use to generate all different kinds of trending and analytics reports. Sometimes we use Power Query and DAX to build some aggregations on the Power BI side as well."
"Its connection to every database: Whatever and wherever it is."
"Previously we used Excel, which took a long time - two or three weeks - to bring the data into a uniform format, whereas BI can do the same job in a day."
"Ease of development and maintenance."
"Extending features on dashboards so it becomes a real dashboard building application, not only a data exploration tool."
"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 don't like that when we use Colab packages, we get less functionality. For example, you can make groups of data with Excel or with the data sets from the packages, but when you use the Colab packages directly, you can only group the data when you analyze it with Analysis Studio. I think Cognos needs to improve more on this functionality."
"One key area for improvement is the need to improve the self-service nature and functionality of the product in terms of visual analytics."
"The visualization aspect needs to be improved and I believe, this is being resolved in upcoming versions."
"It would be good if the solution had conditional formatting."
"Data modeling needs to be improved. We use the ETL process, and when we get errors, we then need to identify which structural change is required. The error messaging should be better. They should be descriptive rather than semantic."
"Cognos is quite slow - it's missing the performance of the PowerPlay cubes."
"The DAX features need some improvement. It's not as easy as Excel. They need more DAX formulas."
"I would like for there to be some type of user manual that shows steps on how to navigate the solution."
"SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is not user friendly."
"The interface could be improved."
"Integration with artificial intelligence would help. Humans take time to review the data and eliminate errors. Artificial intelligence based on machine learning and understanding can bring the same functionality."
"People without private emails cannot publish and, frankly, this doesn't allow for easy training."
"I would like to see the product offer more graphics to impact different audiences."
"The initial installation is difficult."
IBM Cognos is ranked 4th in Reporting with 132 reviews while Microsoft Power BI is ranked 1st in Reporting with 297 reviews. IBM Cognos is rated 8.0, while Microsoft Power BI is rated 8.0. 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 Power BI writes "A complete ecosystem with an builtin ETL tool, good integrations with python and R, and support of DAX and Power Query (M languages)". IBM Cognos is most compared with Oracle OBIEE, Tableau, SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, Oracle Hyperion and Amazon QuickSight, whereas Microsoft Power BI is most compared with Tableau, Amazon QuickSight, KNIME, Domo and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform. See our IBM Cognos vs. Microsoft Power BI report.
See our list of best Reporting vendors and best BI (Business Intelligence) Tools vendors.
We monitor all Reporting reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.