IBM Cognos Customer Service and Support

SalmanAhmad - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of ERP Applications at Patel Hospital

The scope of technical support for Cognos is limited in Pakistan, and I would rate it at eight out of ten.

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Paulius Bistrickis - PeerSpot reviewer
CFO at a consumer goods company with 1,001-5,000 employees

We have not engaged with technical support. We also have our own IT support, and there are no problems.

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JB
Business Intelligence Data Warehouse Architect

IBM Cognos technical support is very cumbersome. A large organization, such as IBM is very cumbersome when it comes to technical support because without having a dedicated support person for our company every time a ticket was called in, it was the same basic fundamental send me this file, send me that file. They didn't understand and we didn't have a dedicated source. 

I rate the technical support from IBM Cognos a three out of five.

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Buyer's Guide
IBM Cognos
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about IBM Cognos. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
SusheelA - PeerSpot reviewer
Director - Metrics & Analytics with 5,001-10,000 employees

We had an issue with the dashboards and we were in touch with the technical support from IBM to resolve the problem.

On the overall experience with the technical support, I would rate them a four out of five. However, the initial response time could improve.

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PP
Senior Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Technical support is a 10 out of 10. IBM is always available when we raise a PMR with them. Even on Level 2 or Level 3 issues, they will come into the picture and they are used to researching if any issue comes their way. They'll work to replicate the issue in their lab environment and they'll give a resolution. That is very good and helpful for us, for our team. We are extremely satisfied with their level of support. 

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JB
Cognos BI Developer at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees

I would give technical support a rating of 7/10. Response time tended to be a little slow, but their support team seemed to be very knowledgeable about the tools and best practices.

Some issues were resolved with “quick fixes”, not long term solutions which I didn’t like, but it worked.

Too many questions were answered with “upgrading to 10.2.2 will solve the problem”. This seemed to be IBM’s knee jerk reaction to uncommon, but known issues.

I would award them one point for their upsell tactic, one for their response time, and one for quick fixes versus long term solutions.

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WY
Data Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

We have their premier dedicated support. I rate the solution's technical support eight and a half out of ten.

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LF
Resp offre IBM Cognos, Lyon at Talan

The solution's technical support could be better.

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LZ
Managing Consultant at Adaptive USA

If you pay for IBM software technical support and work with a “supported” version of the product, then support is usually very helpful. Depending on how business critical the case is, they are fast in their response times.

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SD
Sr. Data Warehouse Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

I am not very satisfied with the technical support that they offering. It's a very time-consuming process. The biggest problem that I see with Cognos is not the product itself, but the support of the product. That's where we always face issues, because whenever we contact IBM support, it's a very long and difficult process to get that thing resolved.

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FS
RPA Architect & RPA Product Owner at Francisco Sosa

The technical support is fast. 

You have access to a knowledge base where you can look for the issue. If you cannot find it, you can contact IBM support and you will get an answer very quickly.

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AS
DWH/Cognos Project Lead at Syntel Inc @ Mercedes Benz USA
Customer Service:

Customer Service is good and quick answering.

Technical Support:

Yes, Technical Support is very good to some extent.. They would try the initial knowledgebase solutions ( which we would have already tried) .. but they do work along with us to solve issues... sometimes it is quick, some time it takes time reproducing the issue and solving..

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it_user123936 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Programmer Analyst at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees

Technical support is good, solid. They gotten better lately.

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PN
Founder, Owner and CEO at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

I would rate technical support between 2 and 3 our of 10. Several times in the past, I have needed the help of IBM official technical support, and there was more lost time than any actual contribution received. The IBM technical support people often know IBM products less than I do. So, nowadays, I no longer make use of technical support; it’s almost always useless. This means I do not waste a lot of time for no reason.

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SA
Director - Metrics & Analytics at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

We've dealt with technical support in the past. We found them to be helpful. We've been satisfied with the service provided.

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WF
‎Manager BI Manufacturing at a paper AND forest products with 10,001+ employees

IBM Cognos can improve in this area. Both IBM and our company do research to find solutions, and we are sometimes faster than they are in providing the solution that works, usually by studying documents. 

We can use the normal routines sufficiently to solve problems. However, if we try to add components which are not streamlined or well-known, we have to work it out without the technical support.

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it_user551517 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Cognos BI Developer at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Sometimes technical support can be hit and miss. However, IBM has some very good technicians.

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it_user504054 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Business Intelligence Consultant at Aspen Associates

Technical support is excellent and very responsive. They have different levels of support for response time that can be purchased in addition to web help.

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Hardik  Parashar - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Data Engineer at Digit Insurance

In my organization, I didn't directly interact with IBM, however, it is my understanding that support is good whenever you are facing trouble. Our team had connected with them and had success. 

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PZ
Director at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees

IBM has a good support when you have concrete technical questions.

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it_user79140 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Business Intelligence at a tech company with 10,001+ employees

Technical support is 6/10, more for the IBM partner from which we purchased the Cognos licenses. The challenge has been that most of the time, when you purchase it through IBM partners, because they are not the developers of the product, they have to go back to the IBM support and get the information and then relay it back to their customers; that adds extra time to solving the problem.

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it_user5220 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager of IT at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees

Technical support is good.

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it_user509850 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cognos Consultant at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

I rarely use technical support.

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RG
Head of Data Architecture at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

I think the IBM Cognos tech support is good. 

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it_user569925 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Cognos Analyst Developer at a engineering company with 10,001+ employees

If you have a contact within IBM then things are great, but some of the IBM partners (in my opinion) don’t offer the same high standard, (there are gaps in their knowledge).

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it_user514284 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Consultant at a tech company with 501-1,000 employees

Technical support is 8 out of 10. The product has quite a few components. When issues arise, it is not very straightforward to identify root cause, thus difficult to find right support resources for help. My personal experiences are, if you know where the issue occurs and ask the right question, IBM tech support typically can get the answer for you very quickly. Otherwise, it might take some time to get things straightened out.

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it_user193824 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business System Analyst at a consumer goods company with 1,001-5,000 employees

We purchase support from a vendor because support from IBM is more complicated and seems to take longer. Our vendor knows us and can respond faster.

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HB
Director at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees

We utilized an IBM expert for support.

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it_user190104 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Partner at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Technical support has been pretty responsive. I run an IBM Cognos professional services organization and we become the front-line support for many of our customers.

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PM
Senior Cognos Developer at ADP
Customer Service:

4/5

Technical Support:

I would give their technical support a 6/10 rating (actually, it varies from 6-8 level).

IBM or any other vendor resolves documented errors but ultimately the application development / admin team should be able to identify the root cause of the issue and resolve it. IBM can only suggest best practices, so in general a 6-8 rating is quite good for any vendor. IBM has a good PMR system and a decent support reference available online.

IBM also has deals on client partnerships based on the organization licenses where they will be on field at times to help their customers (this is service may require additional payments).

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JM
Data Warehouse Manager at a construction company with 10,001+ employees

I would rate the technical support at about 5/10. We continue to struggle with IBM provided first or second time correct responses to cases we have open. Cases can drag on for months before resolution.

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it_user156465 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Business Analytics, Operations at a aerospace/defense firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

From IBM, technical support is OK; other domestic service providers also work OK, but their hourly rates are high!

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it_user148620 - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Director at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

IBM’s technical support is fine.

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BM
BI Cognos Expert at Pilmark LTD

Technical support has been improving a lot over the last two years. I add my questions in an online IBM forum and people from the development have directly contacted me with a solution. I'm really happy with it.

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it_user551511 - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Lead, BI and Analytics at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Vendor technical support could be improved. It used to be really great. However, it seems like the focus now is on newer development. The support may not be that good for the more difficult issues.

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it_user502383 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior BI Architect at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

I rate technical support with a 8-9/10. We occasionally need to escalate issues to senior technical support.

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it_user550095 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Cognos Developer at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees

I would give technical support a rating of 8/10.

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it_user503625 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Intelligence Manager at Mspark
Customer Service:

Customer service has always been responsive and helpful, and most of our tickets have been resolved very quickly.

Technical Support:

They are very perficient in their work.

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MM
Lead Technical Consultant at Perficient

IBM's support community is excellent, and there's a large knowledge base if we have any problems. When I have a problem, and I reach out to the support team, my problem gets addressed within a couple of days.

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it_user504744 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cognos Consultant at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

I personally have had no problems with IBM tech support, though my experience is from a reporting standpoint not an implementation standpoint.

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it_user139509 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The technical support is good.

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EL
Owner at a consultancy with 1-10 employees

The support isn't bad, but the user community is quite small to discuss certain topics, especially in comparison to those of competitors like Microsoft Power BI.

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HP
Senior Technical Coordinator - IM and BI at a healthcare company with 11-50 employees

In my lifetime, I have never had to call technical support for Cognos. That is from my experience. I never had any issue that was too difficult to deal with myself and I never needed to go to them directly. I have no first-hand experience with support. It probably suggests something about the quality of the product if in seven years you never have to consult the company for technical support.  

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it_user534747 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cognos - BI Consultant / Tech Lead at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

I would give technical support a rating of 4/10. IBM technical support should be improved and their turn-around time should be reduced.

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it_user453288 - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Leader at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

I would say technical support is good, not great. We have contacted support for a number of issues. The main thing tech support needed was to replicate the issue at their end, which is not always possible. We still have issues that tech support is unable to address.

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it_user835635 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager Information Communication Technology with 501-1,000 employees

I haven't used it but the team has. I think they found it very helpful, and got back to them in a reasonable period of time.

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Carlos Mardinotto Junior - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Expert at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

IBM support is very expensive. However, there are many online materials to improve your skills, as well as other consultancies beyond IBM.

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it_user73401 - PeerSpot reviewer
MIS & Development Manager at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees

Technical support from our vendor partner is great.

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it_user86397 - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Customer Service: I did not work directly with Cognos support.Technical Support: I did not work directly with Cognos support. View full review »
it_user80244 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Data Analytics at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
Customer Service: Better, but I must say that it's not as good as my experience with Oracle's.Technical Support: Good. View full review »
it_user547329 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cognos Developer at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

It's a mix. Some support agents are very good while some don't have a clue of what's going on.

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it_user538227 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Reporting Engineer (Contracter) with 10,001+ employees

Over the last 10 years, I have never needed to use the customer support.

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RE
Principal Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Customer Service:

Customer service is very good. Given that support is coming from Canada and I'm in New Zealand, a 16 hours time difference, I've usually had a response by the next morning.

Technical Support:

The old Cognos Help Knowledgebase (pre-Rob Ash) was brilliant. The next version was so so. The move to IBM's DeveloperWorks means I struggle to find the information I need now.

We needed to connect to a PI Historian database but IBMCognos BI/CA does not certify the JDBC (Linux) driver. IBM said they would not provide a fix to support the PI drivers. The workaround is now to get PI data via a web service using IBM Integration Bus into a DB2 table, then read the data from there.

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it_user544590 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cognos BI Architect/ Developer at a real estate/law firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

I would rate the technical support 8/10. IBM has been pretty great with maintenance and technical support.

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it_user98526 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant IT at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Customer Service:

With IBM it is too complicated, I used a partner.

Technical Support:

With IBM it is too complicated, I used a partner.

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DA
Advisor at DCM infotech

The solution’s technical support is not so good. I rate the solution’s technical support a six or seven out of ten.

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it_user504741 - PeerSpot reviewer
IBM Cognos Instructor and Consultant at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Over a few years, we have opened only a couple of tickets with IBM and all have been handled professionally and promptly.

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it_user165297 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cognos Consultant at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
Customer Service:

Enhancement requests take a very long time to get into production. IBM works on the "squeaky wheel" principle.

Technical Support:

IBM technical support can usually solve any problems. If it's not something they've run into previously, it can take a long time to get a straight answer. They provide hotfixes for really urgent bugs that are affecting production.

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it_user561699 - PeerSpot reviewer
Database application specialist at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Technical support has been great. IBM has a wonderful support portal where you can submit tickets for issues that are way too complex to understand or control on your own. The fix central portal will get back to you ASAP and provide solutions to fix your problems.

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it_user560289 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cognos Consultant (Contract) at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Most technical support issues that I had were revolved in a prompt manner. The amount of information on the IBM knowledge base is impressive. The user community online is full of some brilliant ideas and solutions that I have used many times.

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it_user544740 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Business Intelligence consultant, freelance at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

Technical support is good. The IBM Cognos support is usually dedicated and competent. Their reaction time is fast enough according to the support case priority.

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it_user86730 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Development Manager - Innovation - ERP Protheus with 1,001-5,000 employees

Technical support is good.

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it_user174690 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Senior Consultant at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Customer Service:

In Turkey, IBM Customer Service and Sales strategy is very bad. Their level of customer service quality is very very low.

Technical Support:

Their technical support method is wrong because they only give technical support to partners that are consultant firms . The partners' priority is money so it reduces the quality of service.

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it_user171960 - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager - Technology at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
Customer Service:

7-8 out of 10

Technical Support:

8 out of 10

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BM
BI Cognos Expert at Pilmark LTD

I'm really satisfied with the technical support. We encountered a couple of very unique bugs and IBM was very helpful. People from IBM found a quick workaround and then they solved the problem. So I'm very happy with it.

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it_user267465 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Customer Service:

We only had a company provide digital training. Their communication was poor, and they worked with a call center which was totally uneffective.

Technical Support:

I had to make do with what could be found on websites and the internet. The information IBM gives here is solid, but very technical and hard to read. Other websites have to be handled with care as many contributions are more enthusiastic then useful.

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it_user505704 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Consultant - Analytics at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Technical support is 8/10.

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it_user561858 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Cognos Developer II at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

I have no experience with technical support.

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it_user34830 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Intelligence Specialist at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees

I would give technical support a rating of 7/10. Usually support is good, but it all depends on the technician you get. I've had great experience with some people, but less than stellar experience with others.

The one thing that has been consistent with IBM Cognos support is if you have a very large issue affecting many users, they are quick to respond and support your issue.

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it_user142380 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Partner, Lead Business Intelligence Consultant at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees

Technical support has two levels: first-level support is provided by an IBM support partner. So the quality of the first level of support depends on the experience and the quality of service of the support partner. Second-level support provided by IBM can be slow, especially when a competent IBM technical expert can't be found in your country.

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it_user507990 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cognos & OBIEE Business Intelligence Consultant at a pharma/biotech company with 51-200 employees

Technical Support is very expensive and internet resources for many issues are very poor, similar to QlikView and Pentaho. But I think Oracle OBIEE and MS BIare very good in this area.

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it_user286518 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Strategist at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

The availability of the new Cognos Analytics community allows for global sharing of problem resolutions. As this version is evolving rapidly, finding in-depth training material can be challenging.

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it_user250983 - PeerSpot reviewer
Bi Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Customer Service:

Customer service is fair compared with the abilities and size of the product.

Technical Support:

I would rate it as 7/10 as it is rare to find unknown issues that have no resolution, but if you find one, or you did something wrong, and try to get help it will take some time.

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it_user168417 - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Consultant at a university with 501-1,000 employees

The technical support is average.

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it_user552825 - PeerSpot reviewer
Analytics Specialist at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Technical support is good (7/10).

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it_user221220 - PeerSpot reviewer
Analyst in XBRL Projects at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Customer Service:

It's good.

Technical Support:

We are more expert than they are.

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AA
BI Architect/Cognos Solution Architect/ETL Design Architect at a media company with 201-500 employees
it_user689556 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cognos Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Support is not cheap, and consultants (hello!) generally charge a few appendages. This is, of course, a matter of getting what you pay for.

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it_user555990 - PeerSpot reviewer
IBM Cognos Consultant at a consultancy with 51-200 employees

I would give the level of technical support a rating of 9/10. I also think the support that IBM offers is very good. When we have an issue with the software, IBM has good resources to get the issue solved. There is a lot of positive information over the internet.

One thing that can be improved is the time for troubleshooting and finding the root cause of the issues. Sometimes it takes only one day or a week, which is fine. However, sometimes it can take up to one or two months. End-users are not happy when they have to wait this long for a solution.

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it_user507993 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Analytics Coach at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

Different levels of support are offered and level 1 has 24/7 support. On par with any software company.

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it_user174678 - PeerSpot reviewer
Corporate BI Developer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Customer Service:

It depends on sales rep. It may vary. Judging on we experienced it could be 6-8 on scale 1-10 (10 is the best).

Technical Support:

It depends on sales rep. It may vary. Judging on we experienced it could be 6-8 on scale 1-10 (10 is the best).

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it_user551508 - PeerSpot reviewer
Continuous Auditing Manager with 1,001-5,000 employees

Technical support was good until IBM took over.

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it_user259185 - PeerSpot reviewer
Prinicipal Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

Technical support is very good.

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RE
Principal Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Customer Service:

It's poor.

Technical Support:

It's fair.

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it_user84468 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant

Not applicable.

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it_user549354 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cognos Consultant at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

There is need for a faster resolution and expected time frame to resolve production issues. Whilst working on site and when support is needed for emergency issues, a quicker response time is required.

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it_user185781 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Architect with 51-200 employees
Customer Service:

6 out of 10.

Technical Support:

6 out of 10.

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it_user73137 - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Customer Service: 9 out of 10Technical Support: 9 out of 10 View full review »
it_user560208 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Technology Associate Consultant at a consultancy with 5,001-10,000 employees

Technical support is quite satisfactory.

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it_user505671 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant - IBM SPM Cognos Solution Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

Technical support is excellent.

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it_user235326 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sales Specialist with 51-200 employees

Technical support is 8/10.

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it_user217470 - PeerSpot reviewer
Partner, CTO, CBIP, BI Solutions Arhitect with 11-50 employees

Technical support is adequate.

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it_user176946 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Architect at a wellness & fitness company with 501-1,000 employees
Customer Service:

Moderate,.

Technical Support:

Good.

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it_user823539 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Director with 1-10 employees

Not very good because we didn't get a deep, back-end partner fit.

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it_user552831 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Intelligence Specialist / Information - Business Analyst / Cognos BI Specialist at a local government with 1,001-5,000 employees

IBM has a complete knowledge base and support setup.

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it_user164865 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Expert at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Customer Service:

We were given good service, fulfilling all the requirements that were requested.

Technical Support:

The technical support provided by IBM is good, helps you with any problems with the tool.

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it_user544752 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Intelligence Consultant at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The technical support is good.

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it_user8061 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Analytics Cognos Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

I rate technical support 7/10, because the first help response is fast, even if the whole resolution of the problem might be slow. In any case, tech support is good.

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it_user191655 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI (Cognos) Developer at a pharma/biotech company with 501-1,000 employees
Customer Service:

6/10 as they usually get back quickly but rarely have a solution.

Technical Support:

6/10

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it_user164019 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Intelligence Analyst at a tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Customer Service:

Depends on the support structure.

Technical Support:

Depends on the support structure.

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it_user505653 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Consultant at a tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Technical support is 8/10.

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Buyer's Guide
IBM Cognos
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about IBM Cognos. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.