Compare IBM Cognos vs. Oracle OBIEE
IBM Cognos is ranked 8th in Business Intelligence (BI) Tools with 11 reviews while Oracle OBIEE is ranked 5th in Business Intelligence (BI) Tools with 18 reviews. IBM Cognos is rated 8.0, while Oracle OBIEE is rated 7.4. The top reviewer of IBM Cognos writes "Flexibility: It offers a variety of technical solutions to better satisfy each customer’s needs and scenarios". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Oracle OBIEE writes "Expensive and it doesn't give us the flexibility to do what the business needs". IBM Cognos is most compared with Tableau, Microsoft BI and Oracle OBIEE, whereas Oracle OBIEE is most compared with Microsoft BI, Tableau and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform. See our IBM Cognos vs. Oracle OBIEE report.
Most Helpful Review | |||||
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 Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cognos vs. Oracle OBIEE and other solutions. Updated: September 2019. 372,374 professionals have used our research since 2012. | |||||
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros | |
The most valuable features are Report Development (Functionality) and Information Distribution (Flexibility). For planning, forecasting, in-boxing, modeling in general and for predicting numbers and doing work analysis, they are excellent. A positive feature is Report Studio, where we create beautiful, complex reports. The most valuable feature is developing reports from different data sources, making it a reliable data source. It's enabled us to report directly from our main application systems. We're removing islands of data and we're removing inefficiencies, where people or small divisions had their own store of information. Using custom controls, it is possible to extend the application with even more functionality and make the application intuitive and attractive. Self-service is possible through the use of dashboards, which are also very intuitive. Stories can be used to pin snapshots, tell the story for meetings, etc. Integration with Office can enable the 'download' mode of storytelling. | The most valuable feature is the ability to run it in Exalytics within memory coupled to a Repository on Exadata is where it flies. So it's not meant for mom and pop shops, but if you are a global 500 fortune 1000 company, this is a tool that can get you what you need on time and even in real time. We do you use Oracle support. We've been paying for an Oracle support subscription for four or five years, and not one ticket has ever been logged. When I came in, I've encouraged the team to ask Oracle questions. They do get back quite quickly. Their support is good. Working with our account managers, if I need to escalate anything, I can speak to them and they escalate the call. I've got that ecosystem working quite well. That does work for us. The most valuable feature is the openness of the solution. It helps us integrate some of our clients. I think having the conformed structures makes it a lot easier for end users and pulling reports together. The scalability of the product is good. It's easy to use for business analysts. Can utilize SQL queries to generate reports directly. It mostly supports enterprise level data. We have millions of records on a daily basis. |
Cons | |
This product could use improvement in terms of usability for those with less technical know how. The charts and graphics are weak. We need more predictive analytical functions, not only diagnostic or decryptic analytics. One thing that we really want is the ability to have data portrayed on an image. Cognos is not able to do it at the moment, and that's becoming a requirement from the business side: having an image and then plotting your dataset on top of the image as a map. I think the GIS pieces maybe not as good as we would like. Extending features on dashboards so it becomes a real dashboard building application, not only a data exploration tool. Extending dynamic cubes aggregate awareness with calculated measures. One key area for improvement is the need to improve the self-service nature and functionality of the product in terms of visual analytics. | One significant improvement is the need for simplification. The set up could be more intuitive. An enterprise setup with HA and DR are pretty complex and to get a robust solution one has to play around with Real Application Cluster data sources and FAN notifications as well as WebLogic clustering and external load balancers. SSO also is not that simple to set up especially if you want all your Oracle systems to use the same SSO solution, i.e., no cheating with direct LDAP connectivity. They should develop greater visualization because their visualization isn't industry leading at the moment. The way you pull the data and see the data compared to other platforms, they're lagging a little bit behind. Also, their cost. I've got Oracle account managers trying to persuade me every day to purchase these licenses. Once you purchase OBIEE, then you have to purchase the virtualization and then you have to purchase the mobile license to operate on the mobile. It's really expensive. In terms of tech support, we have our own technicians. But, we did register for their help. When we register a call, it takes time for them to respond to us. This solution is weak in the data science perspective. I have past data science experience. And, I find that there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of incorporating more advanced statistical modeling into the product. It is not a good product for data visualization. Its functionality is lacking. When a large number of queries are running at the same time, the report fails. It crashes when many people login simultaneously. |
Pricing and Cost Advice | |
IBM Cognos offers competitive pricing similar to other BI vendors in the market. | The pricing we negotiated with Oracle. But, I do not have details. I think to spread this across an enterprise will be a significant investment. Be prepared to spend a lot of time and money. |
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Ranking  | |
Views 16,583 Comparisons 12,570 Reviews 11 Average Words per Review 343 Avg. Rating 8.0 | Views 28,238 Comparisons 21,141 Reviews 18 Average Words per Review 464 Avg. Rating 7.4 |
Top Comparisons | |
 Compared 24% of the time.  Compared 19% of the time.  Compared 8% of the time. | Compared 31% of the time. Compared 21% of the time.  Compared 7% of the time. |
Also Known As | |
| Cognos, Cognos Analytics | OBIEE, Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, Oracle BI, Oracle BI EE 11g |
Learn | |
| IBM | Oracle |
Overview | |
Cognos Software is IBM's Business Intelligence and Performance Management solution, offering BI, strategy management, financial performance, and data analytics applications. Cognos caters to all levels in an organization with products designed for individuals, workgroups, departments, mid-size companies, and big enterprises. | OBIEE is a multifaceted network of tools that can create a more fluid and better-integrated data flow for your business. This service is actually a platform that is made up of six individual elements, rather than a single tool with multiple features. These services include: presentation catalog, BI presentation service, BI scheduler service, BI server service,administration client, and metadata repository. The purpose of the OBIEE is to have an entire system for all of your enterprising needs. The various tools within the suite can take your data, organize it, analyze it and then glean the pertinent information from it, sending it on to the relevant parties who can then use it for metrics, pattern analysis, and future projections. The essence of the platform is to integrate your current IT together with their tools in order to give you the overall best return on investment with minimal fiscal obligations. |
Offer | |
Learn more about IBM Cognos | Learn more about Oracle OBIEE |
Sample Customers | |
| More than 23,000 leading organizations across multiple industries use Cognos. Some examples of Cognos customers include BMW Financial Services, Quinte Health Care, Troy Corporation, Michigan State University, and GKN Land System. | Banca Transilvania, BeckmanCoulter, Hong Kong Housing Society, HealthShare, Ivanhoe Cambridge Unifies, and Home Credit, and Finance Bank. |
Top Industries | |
University11% Healthcare Company9% Software R&D Company9% Financial Services Firm9% Software R&D Company24% Financial Services Firm13% Government8% Manufacturing Company8% | Financial Services Firm12% Comms Service Provider10% Government10% Retailer8% Financial Services Firm27% Software R&D Company19% Comms Service Provider9% Energy/Utilities Company6% |
Company Size | |
Small Business27% Midsize Enterprise19% Large Enterprise54% Small Business22% Midsize Enterprise6% Large Enterprise72% | Small Business17% Midsize Enterprise20% Large Enterprise63% Small Business21% Midsize Enterprise11% Large Enterprise68% |
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cognos vs. Oracle OBIEE and other solutions. Updated: September 2019.
372,374 professionals have used our research since 2012.
See also IBM Cognos Reviews, Oracle OBIEE Reviews, and our list of Best Business Intelligence (BI) Tools Companies.
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