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IBM Cloud Pak for Data pros and cons

Vendor: IBM

4.1 out of 5

18 reviews
90% willing to recommend

Pros & Cons summary

IBM Cloud Pak for Data integrates Watson Studio, Watson Machine Learning, and Watson Knowledge Catalog for superior data management and code writing capabilities. Data virtualization ensures flexible access and scalability, while IBM Cognos provides robust reporting. Despite its advantages, substantial infrastructure is needed, and there are challenges with cloud transition, processing speed, and setup complexity. Watson OpenScale could improve in model monitoring, and customer support requires enhancement.

Buyer's Guide

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

IBM Cloud Pak for Data integrates valuable features like Watson Studio and Watson Machine Learning, enabling the seamless writing of code and access to numerous services and APIs.

Watson Knowledge Catalog and data governance tools allow users to effectively manage data lineage processes and connect data models with business operations.

Data virtualization and containerization enhance flexibility, allowing easy data access across different sources and the ability to migrate between clouds.

IBM Cognos offers stable and reliable data reporting, leveraging widespread familiarity among users for dependable performance.

IBM Cloud Pak for Data demonstrates exceptional scalability, consistently earning high ratings for its ability to support large-scale deployments.

CONS

Watson OpenScale needs improvement in monitoring model quality and fairness.

IBM Cloud Pak for Data requires substantial infrastructure for deployment, discouraging small-scale implementation.

The transition of IBM Cloud Pak for Data from on-premise to cloud is complex compared to other vendors.

Performance and processing speed issues need addressing in IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

IBM Cloud Pak for Data setup is complex, and customer support responsiveness could be better.

IBM Cloud Pak for Data Pros review quotes

reviewer1350504

Director at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

May 27, 2020

The most valuable features are data virtualization and reporting.

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reviewer1229955

Software Consultancyy at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Mar 30, 2022

The most valuable features of IBM Cloud Pak for Data are the Watson Studio, where we can initiate more groups and write code. Additionally, Watson Machine Learning is available with many other services, such as APIs which you can plug the machine learning models.

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PS

IBM Data & IA Technology Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

May 15, 2022

One of Cloud Pak's best features is the Watson Knowledge Catalog, which helps you implement data governance.

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IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Free Report: IBM Cloud Pak for Data Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about IBM Cloud Pak for Data. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.

884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Associate Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

Oct 25, 2022

What I found most helpful in IBM Cloud Pak for Data is containerization, which means it's easy to shift and leave in terms of moving to other clouds. That's an advantage of IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

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Senior Data Architect at AZframe

Dec 6, 2022

You can model the data there, connect the data models with the business processes and create data lineage processes.

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Technical Director at Tech-hub

Jan 11, 2023

Cloud Pak's most valuable features are IBM MQ, IBM App Connect, IBM API Connect, and ISPF.

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reviewer2036520

Executive Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jan 24, 2023

The most valuable feature of IBM Cloud Pak for Data is the Modeler flows. The ability to develop models using a graphical approach and the capability to connect to various sources, as well as the data virtualization capabilities, allow me to easily access and utilize data that is dispersed across different sources.

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Freelance Innovation & Delivery at DMC

Mar 21, 2023

It is a scalable solution, and we have had no issues with its scalability in our company. I rate the solution's scalability a nine out of ten.

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reviewer2140437

Lead Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Apr 24, 2023

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine or ten out of ten.

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HM

Horacio Morales

Project Manager at Blue Technology

Jun 15, 2023

Its data preparation capabilities are highly valuable.

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Show 7 more reviews (out of 17)

IBM Cloud Pak for Data Cons review quotes

reviewer1350504

Director at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

May 27, 2020

The technical support could be a little better.

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reviewer1229955

Software Consultancyy at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Mar 30, 2022

There is a solution that is part of IBM Cloud Pak for Data called Watson OpenScale. It is used to monitor the deployed models for the quality and fairness of the results. This is one area that needs a lot of improvement.

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PS

IBM Data & IA Technology Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

May 15, 2022

One thing that bugs me is how much infrastructure Cloud Pak requires for the initial deployment. It doesn't allow you to start small. The smallest permitted deployment is too big. It's a huge problem that prevents us from implementing the solution in many scenarios.

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IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Free Report: IBM Cloud Pak for Data Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about IBM Cloud Pak for Data. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.

884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Associate Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

Oct 25, 2022

One challenge I'm facing with IBM Cloud Pak for Data is native features have been decommissioned, such as XML input and output. Too many changes have been made, and my company has around one hundred thousand mappings, so my team has been putting more effort into alternative ways to do things. Another area for improvement in IBM Cloud Pak for Data is that it's more complicated to shift from on-premise to the cloud. Other vendors provide secure agents that easily connect with your existing setup. Still, with IBM Cloud Pak for Data, you have to perform connection migration steps, upgrade to the latest version, etc., which makes it more complicated, especially as my company has XML-based mappings. Still, the XML input and output capabilities of IBM Cloud Pak for Data have been discontinued, so I'd like IBM to bring that back.

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Senior Data Architect at AZframe

Dec 6, 2022

The solution could have more connectors.

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Technical Director at Tech-hub

Jan 11, 2023

Cloud Pak would be improved with integration with cloud service providers like Cloudera.

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reviewer2036520

Executive Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jan 24, 2023

The interface could improve because sometimes it becomes slow. Sometimes there is a delay between clicks when using the software, which can make the development process slow. It can take a few seconds to complete one action, and then a few more seconds to do the next one.

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Freelance Innovation & Delivery at DMC

Mar 21, 2023

The solution's user experience is an area that has room for improvement.

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reviewer2140437

Lead Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Apr 24, 2023

The tool depends on the control plane, an OpenShift container platform utilized as an orchestration layer...So, we have communicated this issue to IBM and asked if it is feasible to adapt the solution to work on a Kubernetes platform that we support.

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HM

Horacio Morales

Project Manager at Blue Technology

Jun 15, 2023

The product is trying to be more maturity in terms of connectors. That, I believe, is an area where Cloud Pak can improve.

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Show 7 more reviews (out of 17)

Product Categories

Product Categories

Data Virtualization

Data Integration

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Product Categories

Product Categories

Data Virtualization

Data Integration

Popular Comparisons

Popular Comparisons

Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Denodo vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Teradata vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Azure Data Factory vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Informatica PowerCenter vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Palantir Foundry vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

SAP HANA vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Fivetran vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

IBM InfoSphere DataStage vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Oracle GoldenGate vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Qlik Replicate vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Alteryx Designer vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Ab Initio Co>Operating System vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

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See all alternatives

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