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IBM Planning Analytics vs SAP Analytics Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Planning Analytics
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Business Performance Management (3rd)
SAP Analytics Cloud
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (4th), Predictive Analytics (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Business Intelligence solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM Planning Analytics is designed for Business Performance Management and holds a mindshare of 8.7%, down 9.2% compared to last year.
SAP Analytics Cloud, on the other hand, focuses on BI (Business Intelligence) Tools, holds 4.4% mindshare, down 5.8% since last year.
Business Performance Management
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Gnanavel-Chakkarapani - PeerSpot reviewer
Can easily create dashboards and helps businesses improve forecasting accuracy
The product has improved our company's forecasting accuracy since it serves as a very useful tool for our sales and controller teams as they easily get to enter the inputs using views in TM1, which gets loaded into our main database. If there are sales team members in different parts of the world, like in Hong Kong and Singapore, they may prefer to use IBM Planning Analytics, which is easy to use when compared to the Excel tool. Speaking about planning analytics and data analysis, I would say that our company used to use IBM Cognos Analytics for reporting, where we used to use Cognos Dynamic Cubes so that users can easily use its drag and drop features while getting to see the data for which the users had to wait for two to three minutes prior to its use. In our company, tons of data are loaded into the memory, and users can use Cognos Dynamic Cubes to analyze data and understand it. The AI capabilities of IBM have benefited our planning strategy as they are very useful for business. The tool allows the easy creation of dashboard reports using AI capabilities. No technical knowledge is required for business use cases. It is possible to integrate the product in scenarios where some new integrations are available. I remember that my company used Azure Data Factory to connect Azure, Oracle, and IBM WebSphere Application Server. When it comes to IBM Planning Analytics, it is complex to integrate it with LDAP and or any other authentication tool offered by Microsoft. In our company, some users like to integrate IBM Planning Analytics with the common LDAP or Microsoft AD, which we currently use for all our applications. The authentication part is difficult to configure with IBM Planning Analytics. The maintenance of the product is easy. My company has scheduled maintenance on the product every week, especially during forecast times, so that memories automatically lapse and users can freely access their servers. The use of the tool has had an impact on collaboration within our company's planning team since everyone knows how to easily access the data and publish the results. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. I rate the tool a nine out of ten.
RamasamyTelungupalayam - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless integration, collaborative features, and enhances data exploration
There are several areas for improvement in SAP Analytics Cloud. Firstly, features available in SAP Lumira are missing in SAP Analytics Cloud. Secondly, the predictive analytics functions, although promising, are currently only suitable for Proof of Concepts (POCs) and not for industrial-scale use. Lastly, the pricing model for the planning functionality is quite high and presents an entry barrier.

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 feature is that it is able to slice and dice the data."
"All the different platforms are well integrated."
"Planning Analytics' best features include automatic updates and slicing."
"The ease of use is valuable. The fact that it's plugged into Excel spreadsheets is also valuable. It provides additional functionality where you can slice and dice the information in a way that you can't do with spreadsheets"
"IBM Planning Analytics is easy to use and deploy. It is quick to develop. The calculation machine is also very fast."
"The scenario modeling capabilities are frequently used to create different scenarios, compare them, and see which action leads to which result."
"A lot of the platform is in-memory, so Planning Analytics can run calculations quite fast. It also offers several user interfaces. And in the newest version of Planning Analytics, there is a new one called the Planning Analytics Workspace. Maybe it could be useful for the business side."
"This level of stability is crucial for a product like Cognos TM1, as using an unstable platform would result in loss of time."
"It offers good backup capabilities."
"The solution is stable."
"The product's native integration with SAP ERP systems is particularly valuable."
"The ease of use of the solution is its most valuable feature. We haven't tried all of the features yet. The graphing and the ease of using the analytics tools have been great. It's all drag and drop; you don't need to code anything."
"Considering the reporting part, I rate the tool a nine out of ten."
"SAP Analytics Cloud is very easy to use, and you don't require much technology. It has a very good library and analytics. It is easy to configure and offers good visualization."
"The reporting, dashboards, KPIs, and visualization are the most valuable."
"I have found that the feature to drag and drop widgets based on the data source, and import them into stories to be valuable. This way it helps the end user to create stories themselves."
 

Cons

"It's wonky, and not super user-friendly with Excel."
"Scalability is quite hard to implement in TM1, largely since the on-premise installation chosen back in 2014. On a scale, I'd rate scalability at four, out of ten. It's difficult."
"It's highly competitive right now, and all the vendors are in a race to put out new versions with additional features. IBM comes out with new versions too often, and it has an impact on quality."
"It is a bit expensive, but it does the job."
"Adding predefined templates could be beneficial."
"The new frontend Planning Analytics Workspace is not very good, it could be improved. I like the Planning Analytics functionality but it would be helpful if it could be more customizable. You can create a prediction and receive information but you cannot do feature engineering regarding the predictive models. If this was added it would be helpful."
"The tool's transport layer could be improved when promoting development between environments."
"The tool should include features for prediction. It can also improve the scalability."
"The main area that needs improvement is visualization."
"SAP Analytics cloud needs better exporting options."
"Some algorithms are complex and can't be processed by just tagging the data and expecting results."
"SAP could add more templates to the platform."
"In the live connection model, we can't create calculated dimensions, however, in the import model we can create them."
"I think it would be easier if there was another module created to retrieve only data."
"It should have the flexibility for scoping the story and models. When you use it in a three-layer architecture, you struggle with the fact that you usually have just one SAP Analytics Cloud tenant, and you have to switch the connections, which might be an issue for bigger developments. For the development role, there should be an option to switch between development and production scenarios."
"It's lacking a bit in maturity and we find we can't run our business off it until it's improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM Planning Analytics is priced well, and licensing costs are yearly."
"IBM Planning Analytics is not the cheapest solution, but it's priced per the market standard for this type of solution. I rate the price at seven out of ten."
"Compared with the other tools in the market, IBM Planning Analytics is a bit expensive."
"I would rate the tool's pricing a nine out of ten since it's expensive."
"Our licensing cost is approximately $50,000.00 per year."
"The license of this solution is paid annually. Most of my customers choose a license that includes support."
"It is a bit expensive, but you get what you are paying for."
"It is a bit expensive, but really worth it, especially if you are already using other SAP tools."
"SAP Analytics Cloud can be quite expensive."
"SAP pricing tends to be premium, so it is slightly higher."
"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."
"The platform is about 50% more expensive than Power BI."
"Its pricing is okay as compared to its competitors."
"The premium option is very expensive at five thousand dollars. I use the nine hundred and ninety-nine dollar option."
"Its price is slightly on the higher side."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
46%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Educational Organization
21%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Planning Analytics?
The most valuable features of IBM Planning Analytics for streamlining planning processes include a unified database where all data are centralized.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Planning Analytics?
TM1 is quite expensive, and I'd rate the pricing as an eight out of ten. While we do get what we want in terms of functionalities and compatibility with other IBM tools, given the product's old arc...
What needs improvement with IBM Planning Analytics?
Since I'm using TM1 as an old version of Planning Analytics, it wouldn't be fair to specify what needs improvement because it's possible these issues have already been addressed in newer versions. ...
Which would you choose - Tableau or SAP Analytics Cloud?
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 ...
What do you like most about SAP Analytics Cloud?
In the data warehouse, you're free to make changes. You can make everything text, meaning it's always a string. Even numbers appear as text, giving you the flexibility to work with all columns.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Analytics Cloud?
The pricing model for SAP Analytics Cloud is quite competitive, but the cost for the planning functionality is high and can be a barrier to entry. The overall cost can be managed with better billin...
 

Also Known As

Cognos TM1, IBM Cognos TM1
SAP BusinessObjects Cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

ManpowerGroup, Convergys, AIG, Orchard Brands, Citibank, InterGen, Northwestern University, EF Education First, Ironside, Bazan Group, CSOB Insurance, Macquarie Group, Charles Stanley, SATO, Government of Sint Maarten, BMW Financial Services
Live Oak Bank
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