MicroStrategy Reviews and Pricing

Architect at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees

May 9, 2013

Deployment and stability has been fairly good but scalability of the product is quite challenging

For how long have you used this product?
- 9 yrs

Which features of this product are most valuable to you?
- Mobile and in general, use of this Software by End Users.

Can you give an example of how this product has improved the way your organization functions?
- Users are getting their answers quickly and acting on their business KPI's

What areas of this product have room for improvement?
- Distributing Reports

Did you encounter any issues with deployment, stability or scalability?
- Few Challenges but deployment and stability has been fairly good but scalability of the product is quite challenging.

Did you previously use a different solution and if so, why did you switch?
- Business Objects. Switched to MicroStrategy for ease of use and Mobility Support.

Before choosing this product, did you evaluate other options? If so, which ones?
- Yes. Tableau

How would you rate the level of customer service and technical support?
- Good

Was the initial setup straightforward or complex? In what ways?
- Being in this technology for more years I'm impressed with the straightforward setup approach of their recent releases.

Did you implement through a vendor team or an in-house one? If through a vendor team, how would you rate their level of expertise?
- In House.

What is your ROI on this product?
- Close to $4 Million, I believe.

What advice would you give to others looking into implementing this product?
- Great Product but requires attention on their individual needs.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user1068Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees

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Oct 27, 2013

Hello

Before settling for Microstrategy, you did look into Tableau. Can you please point out the reasons that led you into opting for Microstrategy and not Tableau. Thank you

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it_user6330

Product Manager at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

May 2, 2013

MicroStrategy vs. Tableau

After a recent presentation, several attendees asked me about the applications of Visual Insights and Tableau. Many companies are investing in both tools and are trying to figure out the right tool for specific applications.

Tableau has found its sweet-spot as an agile discovery tool that analysts use to create and share insights. It is also the tool of choice for rapid prototyping of dashboards.

Tableau is very flexible with its data import. Tableau's data blending capability is very intuitive. This capability is useful when you have data spread across several different sources that has not gone through ETL processes. This is a problem analysts deal with routinely. They are unable to wait for the data warehouse team to develop ETL processes to provide the physical models they need to build an analysis.
The Tableau interface is Excel-like and has a low barrier to entry for analysts that are used to working in Excel.
Building a dashboard by mashing up visualizations in a Tableau worksheet is extremely simple. Users are able to build good presentation-quality dashboards in a very short amount time.
Tableau's annotations capabilities and its time and geographical intelligence are key differentiators.
Tableau has overcome limitations in data sharing with the introduction of a Data Server in Tableau 7.0. The Data server allows Data sources and extracts to be shared securely and opens up interesting new possibilities.

If your application can take advantage of the above characteristics, consider Tableau.

Visual insights (VI) is MicroStrategy's data discovery tool. VI has many differentiating features which make it attractive:

VI is free if you already license Report Services.
VI supports visualization and dashboard creation over the Web.
Your existing MicroStrategy reports may have content that can be used as datasets for visual exploration. Converting a report to an analysis is a one click action.
Within a MicroStrategy project, applications can be built relating multiple visual insights analyses. A visual insights analysis may also support ad-hoc drilling workflows that access the data warehouse.
VI is Flash based and it is possible to export analyses and view them offline.
VI is built on top of a shared infrastructure and is fully integrated with distribution services, olap services, report services and other key features of the MicroStrategy platform such as its security and administration features.

Consider VI for the following applications:

As an exploration interface for existing MicroStrategy reports.
As a Web-based tool for providing self-service visualization creation capabilities to business users. Provide a layer of certified OLAP services cubes and report builders that are created by a developer community as a backbone for building these visualizations.
For applications that need scheduled delivery to email/file/print.
For applications that have complex security requirements.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user5331Business Intelligence Engineer at a leisure / travel company with 10,001+ employees

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Jun 5, 2015

Hi Parag, "good" and "minimal cost" only means excel unfortunately.
Tools like Tableau may seem just $1000 away but cost escalate when rolled out to all employee in company with proper support.

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it_user4635

Consultant at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees

May 2, 2013

Most valuable features include Visual insight, MicroStrategy Mobile & Office integration

On a scale from 1-5 (1=worst, 5=best), how would you rate this product overall compared to similar products?
- Overall - 4.5 but we will have to look into the particular functionalities to do a fair comparison

For how long have you used this product?
- 3. 5+ years

Which features of this product are most valuable to you?
- Visual insight, MicroStrategy Mobile, Report Services (documents and dashboards), Office integration,SDK, R intégration (data mining), Cubes and caches

Can you give an example of how this product has improved the way your organization functions?
- As a BI consultant I've seen many times organizations turning to data driven business with actionable BI and analytics which have helped them to take better decisions at different levels of the structure.
Most of them have found this tool more appropriate for the time of requirements they have.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user1068Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees

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Aug 18, 2013

In the modern world, almost everything that has something to do with technology is going mobile. Portable mobile devices are really selling across the globe. There is also a significant increase in the use of these devices; not just amongst individuals but also businesses. I am trying to say that there is no better time for the Microstrategy mobile to penetrate the BI market than now.

it_user5331

Business Intelligence Engineer at a leisure / travel company with 10,001+ employees

Mar 21, 2013

February 2012 Magic Quadrant report - Biggest MicroStrategy Misconception

That's one of the biggest misconceptions for any potential MicroStrategy implementation.
Business now a days stack it against tableau,spotfire, SSIS,QlikView and other 'newer' tools (previously they used to compare against Cognos, BO,Actuate,SAS BI )..and all in all no one comes closer to return-on-investment when compared to MicroStrategy.

Yes, initial setup cost and resource cost may be higher than most but you will get most of what you will spend. And in most organizations MicroStrategy is rolled as an shared platform which ultimately reduces 'actual cost' for any new project using MicroStrategy as solution.
In other words, which BI platform will give you cube,mobile,clustering,scalability,object re-usability , detailed SDK with one of most power SQL engine ?

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user125418Owner/Principal at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

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Jun 6, 2014

I've followed MicroStrategy for nearly 20 years as an intelligence analysis system integrator for the Federal government. As an analyst, a major strength of MicroStrategy is that when I pull an analytical thread and start to follow it I don't have to worry about falling into the "white space" between cubes and waiting for the IT shop to build another cube to answer my question (if I even remember what it was by the time they get back to me). This advantage is huge, and usually overlooked when decisions are made about the tool to procure. A second major strength is the single metadata database that supports the analysts as well as the administrators seamlessly. Add the additional usability features that comes with building a product from the ground up over a period of 20 years and you have a fantastic product. Granted, learning it can be intimidating and complex, but the same can be said about using the esoteric features of MS Excel. But, the product and its applications can be learned and placed into the hands of a company's major asset, its analysts.

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it_user5211

BI Expert at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees

Mar 19, 2013

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Low TCO and flexible. But licensing model is complicated.

Valuable Features:

I think the total cost of ownership is lower than other products, it is flexible and enterprise class.

Room for Improvement:

The licenses model is complicated. New features are slow to get to market (in comparison to other niche tools).

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user87291Project Manager at a tech consulting company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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Feb 6, 2014

Licensing for on premise might be a bit complicated - agree. Cloud options looks much easier as they are different than the on premise ones. But the features and flexibility that you get with the product are really great !!

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it_user4689

Business Development Staff at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees

Mar 1, 2013

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I would agree with Gartner

Valuable Features:

Our BI consultants single out MicroStrategy BI. The solution proofs to be efficient and full of capabilities: large volume data is easy to process, capability to tweak the attributes for complex reports and dashboards. One more plus is its widgets that enable to realize user-friendly interface.

Room for Improvement:

For really complicated and huge projects, one should take into account great number of relations between metadata entities. New analytic capabilities presuppose R language background. And yes, it will cost you. But both money and pleasure to work with.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user8547Consultant at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees

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Nov 20, 2013

I would like to add to this if you if you talk about cost any business implementation is supposed to be costly as there is no direct ROI.We have developed some very complex visualizations and dashboards at Infocepts and it was a real pleasure to work on this tool. If you have a proper dashboard development and data visualization frame work this tool can do wonders.

You can go through Infocepts website to see what we are doing:-
www.infocepts.com
Below is the link of our dashboard library to show you some great examples.
www.infocepts.com

In case you have any questions/queries I would be happy to assist. Feel free to reach out to me.

Thanks and Regards
Arpit Agrawal
Business Intelligence Consultant
Email: ArpitAgrawal9@yahoo.co.in

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Ariel Lindenfeld

Director of Product Management at PeerSpot

Feb 14, 2013

Gartner says MicroStrategy can be costly. What do you think?

In its BI Magic Quadrant report, Gartner says that although MicroStrategy administration costs per user are average, customers report above average costs for licensing and implementation. Additionally, customers say that the main limitation to widespread deployment is the cost of MicroStrategy software.

What do you think? Is the cost of implementing and licensing MicroStrategy limiting its widespread deployment? Do you find that using MicroStrategy brings along with it increased costs?

If you are a user or are evaluating MicroStrategy, add your comment below or write your own review. Share your opinion with our community!

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user8547Consultant at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees

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Nov 20, 2013

I believe cost of any BI implementation is hard to justify at times as there is no direct outcome which is directly associated with IT.I agree that Microstrategy implementation can be costly. But as a vendor I believe Microstrategy Licensing is very flexible and users can take an advantage of it if there have proper knowledge to save cost. I have seen customers buying some licence features which either they don’t need or they just end up buying it thinking they might need them in future.
I personally feel before buying any BI tool lot of research and analysis should be done. A consultant who is expert in the area should be consultant rather than relying on sales guys to suggest you the best possible license.
In case you have any questions/queries I would be happy to assist. Feel free to reach out to me.
Thanks and Regards
Arpit Agrawal
Business Intelligence Consultant
Email: ArpitAgrawal9@yahoo.co.in

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it_user4182

Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Feb 7, 2013

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A great tool which is serving both big and small clients with equal strength

Valuable Features:

I am a report developer and find it a very useful tool. It has everything I need and with your intelligence you are able to make fantastic reports.

Room for Improvement:

The only problem is report performance.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user8547Consultant at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees

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Nov 20, 2013

Gunjan you should check the reports developed as I agree with all the comments and Microstrategy is tool which is capable of running queries on large databases. There are lot of best practices and tuning techniques in Microstrategy which I would suggest you should try to research. All in all the amount of Out of the box features provided by Microstrategy is not provided by any other tool that I am aware of.
In case you have any questions/queries I would be happy to assist. Feel free to reach out to me.
Thanks and Regards
Arpit Agrawal
Business Intelligence Consultant
Email: ArpitAgrawal9@yahoo.co.in

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