SAP Analytics Cloud vs SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Sep 5, 2022

We performed a comparison between SAP Analytics Cloud vs SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Users of both products note that they are straightforward and simple to set up.
  • Features: Users of both products are happy with their flexibility, stability, and scalability.

    SAP Analytics Cloud users note that its visualization feature and cloud feature are robust, but it falls short when it comes to integrating with non-SAP systems, big data, and social media.

    SAP BusinessObjects users are happy with its flexibility in report dashboards and automatic drill-downs, but some users report that its user interface could be easier to use and navigate.
  • Pricing: Both solutions’ users report that they are expensive. SAP Analytics Cloud users report the price as reasonable, whereas SAP BusinessObjects feel the price is overly expensive and are dissatisfied with the licensing structure.
  • ROI: Users of both products mentioned being pleased with the ROI.
  • Service and Support: SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform are part of the same company. Their service and support are the same. Most users note that SAP’s support is at times sufficient, at times slow to respond.

Comparison Results: SAP Analytics Cloud has the winning edge in this comparison. Customers were more satisfied with SAP Analytics Cloud’s pricing and robust features.

To learn more, read our detailed SAP Analytics Cloud vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform Report (Updated: March 2024).
763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The user interface is quite good for developing reports out of models.""The solution is quite effective for collaborative planning.""SAP Analytics Cloud is a very good tool. The feature that's most useful for me is the reporting as it can be done via Google Chrome. The solution is also very nice, user-friendly, and easy to build. It's very easy to use the features of SAP Analytics Cloud.""The product is flexible and has features like AI, link analysis, and insights. It has many features. I can search, and it creates automatic charts without selecting anything. For example, I can ask, "What is the gross margin?" the tool builds a chart based on my question.""It's many features make it the best in the market.""Provides rich features for developing automated reports and dashboards.""The features that are most valuable in SAP Analytics Cloud are the planning feature and the predictive analytics feature, though the planning feature needs to be more efficient.""Planning and integration are the most valuable features. It is useful for planning, and it is useful for integrating with on-prem or cloud SAP solutions."

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"We use it to identify critical KPIs to senior management.""Through the use of Business Intelligence reporting and scheduling features, reports are generated and automatically sent according to a schedule. This has freed up countless hours spent performing the same tasks, month over month.""The reporting features the solution offers are excellent.""Has features that can be leveraged to scale out and scale up.""Reporting from SAP Business Objects Web Intelligence is amazing, and gives users the ability to quickly access data from existing universes and/or relevant data sources, without the need to involve a functional business analyst or financial analyst.""What I like the most about SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform is that it has significantly improved our decision-making process.""Way of creating reports.""It is more user-friendly and easier to work with the report creation part, creating reports out of an established universe. Maybe a business person could liberate the existing universe and create a report on top of it, as well. So that's one cool feature."

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Cons
"When it comes to planning there is a concern about the ability to match the exact requirements of the customer with what the product offers.""What should be improved in SAP Analytics Cloud is the speed of importing information and data, e.g. from SAP S/4HANA. Gathering the data from the main database takes a bit of time.""SAP could add some more visualization features to Analytics Cloud, like charts and analytics. I would also like to see some more data cleaning and ad hoc functions added to this solution.""The customizations need to be better.""The general management of this solution could be improved. The graphics or icons could also be improved to allow them to integrate with other environments on the web.""Could be more user-friendly; somewhat complicated to use.""SAC, which is the cloud version, lost some good features from the previous planning product, like BPC or BPS.""The budget management could be better."

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"Most of the Apps right now are into dashboarding. This tool, for the Crystal Reports in the phase I'm primarily working on, does not have those dashboarding capabilities, like in the other advanced tools like Power BI or ClickView, and compared to them the dashboard generation is not that great.""The integration could be improved. The SAP suite has some integration problems and it has some huge development needs. For example, when you use Power BI, if you publish a dataset to the web, there is no issue in seeing the data with the report. The data and report are integrated automatically. Or when you use QlikView, when you publish the QVD file, the report is integrated with QVD. Also, with Tableau, when you publish the data, it's in the hyper database, in the memory, and the dashboard with data is integrated seamlessly. In the SAP side, it's not easy. There are lots of business layers. There are also some performance issues in the SAP BusinessObjects suite. They should focus on the technologies. We are partners and every step of the way, SAP asks us for money. If you want to see the products, the PDFs, if you want to learn the product, online training, etc., everything has a cost on the SAP site. Because of this, partners try to get to know the products on their own. SAP only focuses on the sales side—only money is important for SAP, not the quality. In that way, the operation is not easy on the SAP side. As a suggestion, they should focus on customers first instead of money.""The financial area in the solution has certain shortcomings that need improvement.""The initial setup could be simplified.""The self-service area, or dashboard, needs some improvement. While the reporting itself is great, the dashboard and Analytics Cloud are not user friendly.""SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform should be made easier for the end-users and the performance could be improved.""Tableau was easier for me to use because the interface is more similar to Excel which I was used to using.""SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform has to be improved performance-wise. The look and feel of this application, its scalability, setup, and technical support also need improvement."

More SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It is a bit expensive, but really worth it, especially if you are already using other SAP tools."
  • "It is not the most expensive one. You have to do the cost-of-ownership analysis and take a lot of things into consideration to come up with the conclusion that it is cheaper or not, but its price is reasonable. It provides value for money."
  • "It's quite expensive and costs a lot to maintain, especially with licensing."
  • "It's not that costly as such for the time being."
  • "Its licensing is on a monthly basis."
  • "Compute and storage features should be sold separately."
  • "Its pricing is okay as compared to its competitors."
  • "Its price is slightly on the higher side."
  • More SAP Analytics Cloud Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Just work with SAP to make sure you have enough licenses but don't go overboard."
  • "​It is not an expensive platform. The licensing is for a package of users starting at 10 users."
  • "It has an option of a Cloud Platform (SAP Analytics Cloud) which has a lower price than the on-premise platform, and you can buy individual licences per user.​"
  • "Depending on your size, try to stick with SAP BusinessObjects BI Edge. Most people tend to overthink the licensing. Remember that one concurrent user means that one person can be performing a task at a given time. That does not mean that only one user can be on the system at a time, it means that only one person can be refreshing a report or designing a dashboard. There are tons of ways you can access your data or reports without consuming a license. I've seen cases where five concurrent licenses support thousands of users."
  • "There's no additional charge for a Development environment license, so build an additional development server."
  • "Its price is fair."
  • "It is not cost-effective. It is expensive."
  • "I have always found SAP BI to be expensive. It is expensive even when you compare SAP BI Cloud with Microsoft Power BI. Power BI is probably around $9.99 per month, and the cheapest SAP BI is around $20, which is double. In terms of price, Power BI is definitely a lot better. If you have budget issues, you may want to go for Power BI."
  • More SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Tableau is easy to set up and maintain. In about a day it is possible for the entire platform to be deployed for use. This relatively short amount of time can make all the difference for companies… more »
    Top Answer:The product is flexible and has features like AI, link analysis, and insights. It has many features. I can search, and it creates automatic charts without selecting anything. For example, I can ask… more »
    Top Answer:I wasn't directly involved in the pricing discussions, but when I joined the organization, they had already purchased the SAP Analytics Cloud solution. The organization faced challenges due to its… more »
    Top Answer:There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I would recommend as follows:  1) If you have legacies of SAP, Oracle  - look for SAP… more »
    Top Answer:Both tools have their positives and negatives. First, I should mention that I am relatively new to Tableau. I have been working on and off Tableau for about a year, but getting to work on it… more »
    Top Answer:What I like the most about SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform is that it has significantly improved our decision-making process.
    Ranking
    Views
    11,984
    Comparisons
    7,885
    Reviews
    24
    Average Words per Review
    500
    Rating
    7.7
    Views
    9,228
    Comparisons
    7,136
    Reviews
    17
    Average Words per Review
    552
    Rating
    7.8
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    SAP BusinessObjects Cloud
    SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform, SAP BusinessObjects, Business Objects
    Learn More
    Overview

    SAP Analytics Cloud is an all-in-one Software-as-a-Service business intelligence tool that provides the key functionalities of an analytics tool to SAP business users. This tool is built on HANA Business Intelligence (BI) platform, providing analytics from data collected from multiple sources, such as ERP, Microsoft SQL, and Salesforce, among other solutions.

    You can use SAP Analytics Cloud to compile data and perform ad-hoc reporting and analysis for predictive planning. SAP Analytics Cloud collects and analyzes the raw data from transactional systems into intelligent insights that allow you to make better decisions.

    SAP Analytics Cloud uses machine learning to clean up data, identify errors, and issues, and suggest optimization or filtering options. You can use the modeling feature in Analytics Cloud to create hierarchies and get deeper data insights.

    The three core functions of SAP Analytics Cloud consist of Planning, Predictive Analysis, and Business Intelligence as a holistic SaaS solution that offers real-time analysis to business leaders.

    SAP Analytics Cloud Capabilities

    • Data discovery
    • Machine learning
    • Integrated financial and business planning
    • Predictive analysis
    • Automated data cleansing
    • Custom widgets
    • Mobile extension
    • Role-based customization
    • Data exploration and visualization

    SAP Analytics Cloud Key Features

    • Augmented analytics: SAP Analytics Cloud allows organizations to make the most of AI (Artificial Intelligence)-powered analytics through augmented analytics. It includes a Search to Insight feature that enables users not skilled or experienced in data science to access and use the platform.

      These smart insight tools allow organizations to visualize business data without manual intervention. By combining multiple machine learning algorithms, SAP Analytics Cloud automates predictive analysis so that organizations can have significant insight into secured data.
    • Enterprise planning: As SAP Analytics Cloud is an all-in-one financial planning and analysis solution, organizations can use it to align strategies across all departments. It allows end-to-end, data-driven planning decisions via financial modeling, allocations, smart insights, and automated reporting.

      The Zero-based budgeting feature allows for an effective resources allocation with built-in collaboration tools. The finance team can collaborate easily, create budget templates and make accurate decisions.

    SAP Analytics Cloud Benefits

    • Real-time cloud insights: SAP Analytics Cloud makes it easy for users at every level to generate instant insights and improve data-driven decision-making. With SAP Analytics Cloud, you can have immediate and central access to all figures, diagrams, insights, and evaluations for every employee on every device and updated in real time.

    • Customizable dashboard: You can customize your dashboard according to your requirements. This customization means you can easily access all the relevant data on a single pane of vision tailored to your business.

    • Collaborative planning: As an all-in-one platform, SAP Analytics Cloud integrates the multiple aspects of a business into a single solution, including finance, HR, sales, and supply chain management.

    • Data on any device: You can integrate SAP Analytics Cloud with SAP S/4 HANA and deploy insights to Android and iOS devices. The SAP S/4 HANA integration also enables the rolling out of changes to multiple files and devices from a central location, so you can carry your business operations on the go over a secured cloud network.

    • In-memory technology: Since it is based on SAP HANA in-memory technology, SAP Analytics Cloud can process massive amounts of data in a short time.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Segun O., SAP HANA Developer at SOA PEOPLE, says that "The most valuable features are on the application side, where you can design applications into your analytics on the platform."

    The Head of Finance Enterprise Application at a computer software company adds that "The visualization feature is the most valuable. SAP Analytics Cloud is also very easy to use."

    "Its many features make it the best in the market," sums up a Consultor SAP Business Object, Sap Analytics Cloud at a tech services company.

    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is a versatile and flexible solution for reporting and dashboards, focusing on analytics and ad hoc reporting. It can be deployed on-premise or in the cloud. The solution includes tools such as Web Intelligence, Crystal Reports, SAP Lumira, and Analytical Cloud and is primarily used for comprehensive business intelligence reporting.

    The most valuable features include excellent reporting features, good technical support, scalability, and the ability to translate database data into business language. The solution has helped organizations by providing analytics, monitoring KPIs, and making important decisions as a financial business.

    SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Key Features

    • Central management: Access all your BI from a single, central launchpad that can be customized to meet user-specific needs. The launchpad provides business users with access to all their BI tools, reports, notifications, and applications in a single place. This includes the ability to launch SAP Analytics Cloud.

    • Data visualization and analytics: Create powerful visualizations, dashboards, and applications to assess risk, improve efficiency, identify opportunities, and enable users to analyze developments and data. Business insights can be shared with colleagues across enterprises.

    • Integration with Microsoft Office: Integrate with SAP Business Warehouse and SAP HANA to power real-time analytics. For large-scale data analysis, you can integrate with Microsoft Excel to discover in-depth business insights and forecasts. Data analytics information can also be embedded into Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

    • Cloud support: Extend and expand your BI on the cloud. SAP Analytics Cloud connects your BI to the cloud and offers enterprise planning and advanced analytics from a single online solution.

    Reviews from Real Users

    SAP BusinessObjects BI stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Several major ones are its user-friendly dashboard, its impressive reporting and analytic features, and its ability to integrate with multiple solutions.

    A managing partner at a tech services company writes, "One of the most valuable features of SAP BusinessObjects is that it's not a dashboarding solution. It's a real product. You can create operational reports and publish it to anyone. You can create schedules. You can create a Universe, semantic layers. There's also a security configuration. It's a huge product, so if there is a business need, SAP BusinessObjects can cover it."

    An associate manager at a consultancy notes, "It provides flexibility for creating reports. It is very good for creating highly complex reports. I like this solution because when I buy BusinessObjects, it comes with many components, such as reporting, dashboard, and data visualization tools. Its performance is good. It is running on top of SAP BW and SAP HANA."

    A manager of data analytics and interfaces at a healthcare company says, "It has got great flexibility. As a reporting tool, it has a great deal of flexibility for numerous data resources that you can bring into it. It allows you to write your SQL query directly within the product. It has great visualization. 

    Sample Customers
    Live Oak Bank
    SRAM, Kennametal, Fairfax Water, British American Tobacco, Velux, and FedEx.
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company25%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Manufacturing Company13%
    Retailer8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization19%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company18%
    Healthcare Company11%
    Energy/Utilities Company9%
    Insurance Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Computer Software Company11%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Government8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business30%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise48%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business16%
    Midsize Enterprise26%
    Large Enterprise58%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise55%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise71%
    Buyer's Guide
    SAP Analytics Cloud vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about SAP Analytics Cloud vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    SAP Analytics Cloud is ranked 3rd in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools with 25 reviews while SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is ranked 6th in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools with 16 reviews. SAP Analytics Cloud is rated 8.0, while SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of SAP Analytics Cloud writes "Great scalability, and stability, but does not integrate easily with non-SAP tools". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform writes "Once you are stable on a BusinessObjects release, it is worth staying there for a while". SAP Analytics Cloud is most compared with Tableau, IBM Planning Analytics, Microsoft Power BI, IBM Cognos and Anaplan, whereas SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is most compared with Microsoft Power BI, Oracle OBIEE, IBM Cognos, MicroStrategy and Looker. See our SAP Analytics Cloud vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform report.

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    We monitor all BI (Business Intelligence) Tools 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.