The main use cases for SAP Analytics Cloud are to build analytics and planning, financial planning, and HR planning using SAP Analytics Cloud on top of SAP ERP, S/4HANA, and ECC.
BI Lead Consultant at Intercom Enterprises
Expert insights enhance data planning and financial forecasting capabilities
Pros and Cons
- "SAP Analytics Cloud provides benefits such as time savings and cost-effectiveness because anyone using a planning tool traditionally relies on Excel sheets to build planning."
- "The price of SAP Analytics Cloud varies in perception among customers. Some customers say it's overpriced while others say it's reasonable; it depends on the use case and the type of customer."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
SAP Analytics Cloud is a good analytics tool, featuring capabilities such as stories, where the end-user can create their stories and dashboard, and planning functionality for prediction, analysis, and financial planning. You can also build your data model and customize it during your connectivity with that source and build your stories with graphs, charts, and some sort of analysis and details.
You can build financial planning, headcount planning, and payroll planning with multiple versions and multiple scenarios to display actual versus budget on a dashboard.
SAP Analytics Cloud provides benefits such as time savings and cost-effectiveness because anyone using a planning tool traditionally relies on Excel sheets to build planning. Building an Excel sheet for payroll planning with a lot of data and scenarios is very hard and takes time, consuming money from resources at man-day rates. However, when using SAP Analytics Cloud, you simply connect to data, load all your data, and apply one formula to all of them at once, saving time and money.
What needs improvement?
There are new versions of SAP Analytics Cloud every quarter for customers, each containing multiple functions or enhancements in the application. Regarding the price, it has increased, not decreased.
The price of SAP Analytics Cloud varies in perception among customers. Some customers say it's overpriced while others say it's reasonable; it depends on the use case and the type of customer. For enterprise customers, it's acceptable, but for mid-sized customers, they see it as a significant expense.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with SAP BI for twenty years.
Buyer's Guide
SAP Business Data Cloud
July 2026
Learn what your peers think about SAP Business Data Cloud. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2026.
906,852 professionals have used our research since 2012.
How are customer service and support?
I am satisfied with SAP's technical support team; they provide very good support.
How was the initial setup?
Building an SAP Analytics Cloud dashboard on top of SuccessFactors for one module on SuccessFactors or SAP usually takes about a week.
What other advice do I have?
My title is BI Lead Consultant at a company named Intercom Enterprises. On a scale of 1-10, I rate SAP Analytics Cloud a 10.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. partner
Associate director, SAP technical at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Centralized data access has transformed reporting and reduces time spent on custom reports
Pros and Cons
- "SAP Business Data Cloud has positively impacted my organization by federating SAP data, which is now available for all to use."
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for SAP Business Data Cloud is reporting and data lake. A specific example of how I use SAP Business Data Cloud for reporting is pushing SAP S/4HANA data into the data lake.
What is most valuable?
The best features SAP Business Data Cloud offers are Delta and Zero copy.
The Delta feature and Zero copy benefit my work because Delta helps me move data to the data lake without using more company resources.
SAP Business Data Cloud has positively impacted my organization by federating SAP data, which is now available for all to use.
One specific outcome that shows how making SAP data available for everyone has helped my organization is that we have saved 80% of our time because we are not creating custom reports in SAP anymore.
What needs improvement?
SAP Business Data Cloud can be improved by being associated with more and more data processing tools.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SAP Business Data Cloud for six months.
What other advice do I have?
I rate SAP Business Data Cloud overall as nine on a scale of one to ten.
I gave it a nine because it is what the industry needed to expose SAP data into non-SAP tools.
My advice to others looking into using SAP Business Data Cloud is to look at it as a new BW.
I found this interview pretty good, and there is nothing I think should change for the future.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Apr 22, 2026
Flag as inappropriateBuyer's Guide
SAP Business Data Cloud
July 2026
Learn what your peers think about SAP Business Data Cloud. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: July 2026.
906,852 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Head - Data, Analytics & AI at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
A unified Data and AI Platform built for scale.
Pros and Cons
- "The integration aspects between SAP and SAP Business Data Cloud are pretty good and seamless, with multiple ways to take the data that all work seamlessly, and taking data out to Azure Data Lake using premium outbound as a service and replication flows in Data Sphere is really seamless."
- "My experience implementing SAP Business Data Cloud and migrating has not been very easy or straightforward because in BW, I have a lot of objects, including cubes, DSOs, ADSOs, composite providers, and multi-providers, and there is a lot of flexibility in the system."
What is our primary use case?
I have been using SAP Business Data Cloud solution, and typically this involved Datasphere and SAC. Earlier, when SAP announced SAP Business Data Cloud, it brought Datasphere, SAC, and Databricks to a single platform. We had already started implementing SAP Business Data Cloud as part of our move from BW 7.5. Then we decided to move out from BW and go to SAP Datasphere, and that migration was more of a greenfield implementation. We are almost done with the implementation and are almost live all queries on SAC, with the back-end modeling and the entire architecture setup on SAP Datasphere. SAP Datasphere and SAC will be moving into SAP Business Data Cloud formation going forward, with Databricks being external, so we are not going in for SAP Databricks, but for an external Databricks.
The integration aspects between SAP and SAP Business Data Cloud are pretty good and seamless. SAP has done a lot of hard work in setting up the right integration and orchestration framework. There are multiple ways to take the data, whether it is remote tables or SLT or database triggers or ABAP connections. All of them work seamlessly, and if I want to take the data out of SAP Business Data Cloud, there are multiple options where we have taken data out to Azure Data Lake using premium outbound as a service and replication flows in Datasphere. These orchestration aspects are really seamless.
What is most valuable?
The integration and orchestration have been so good that I do not see any performance degradation or challenges in taking data out from SAP. It has worked well for us, with only a couple of challenges that we have figured out.
SAP Business Data Cloud offers new ways of working compared to the on-premise SAP BW platform. It's a complete shift for both developers and end users, which I feel is a significant improvement.
I see a positive effect from SAP Business Data Cloud on our organization as we consolidate our entire analytics offering, whether it is through traditional reports and dashboards or building a complete data foundation with a single version of truth on SAP Business Data Cloud.
What needs improvement?
Self-service from an end-user perspective has not been utilized right now. We are in the migration phase, and there is a lot of change management because the business users have to move from BW to SAC. It's a platform change, and currently, we have not enabled the self-service mode for the users; we are allowing them to adjust first. Going forward, the plan is to create models across different business verticals.
There is a long way to go with SAP Business Data Cloud. There are areas where more insight applications could be developed beyond what's currently available for people intelligence. We would like to see applications around supply chain, manufacturing, and maintenance that could provide automated insights directly from the system.
For how long have I used the solution?
In my current role, I have been in the data and analytics field for almost 16 - 17 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability and uptime are not problems at all, with proactive notifications for planned downtimes and performance degradations.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of the platform is good as it is cloud native; I do not see any problems in scaling.
How are customer service and support?
We regularly work with SAP support for any issues and interact with many SAP architects and product management team members regarding new features. The interaction has been good, and the support has been adequate without any challenges. I would rate SAP support an eight because the support is proactive, with timely updates and good resolution to problems.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Moving from SAP BW, the earlier analytics and data warehousing platform. We switched because SAP moved to the cloud with SAP Business Data Cloud, aligning with our goal to adopt a cloud-native strategy for analytics and ERP.
How was the initial setup?
BW has a lot of objects, including cubes, DSOs, ADSOs, composite providers, and multi-providers, and there is a lot of flexibility in the system. One needs to really think through what logic gets incorporated at what piece in Data Sphere, and you need to plan well in terms of translating a particular flow from BW to Data Sphere. It also involves limited access to CDS views that were not supported while we moved from ECC to S/4HANA. The entire logic was rewritten or re-implemented with SAP tables, and we needed to see what stage we were in when it comes to SAP as an ERP core versus what my strategy is to avoid any future rework.
What about the implementation team?
I am proceeding with my implementation team.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did not want to move out of the SAP platform, especially as most of our data resides in SAP BW.
What other advice do I have?
What is coming out in SAP Business Data Cloud is that it is a completely managed platform. There is a lot of standard content available, such as People Intelligence based on SuccessFactors data. Our HR team will want insights from all the data available in SuccessFactors. Pre-built content in the People Intelligent Insight application allows us to install the data products and the application, making it easier to obtain insights from the data flowing from SuccessFactors.
My current plan involves using SAP Joule for some AI use cases, but on SAP Business Data Cloud, AI-related use cases have not been implemented yet since we are in the migration journey. The data foundation layer is being made to support all AI use cases going forward.
The purpose of using SAP Business Data Cloud is to maintain a single version of truth. If we take any SAP data into external platforms for AI or ML use cases, we expose the data out from SAP Business Data Cloud to ensure that the same data is delivered, avoiding scenarios of picking data from SAP into Azure directly.
We have not yet used Data Product Studio. We have started installing some insight applications and data products related to SuccessFactors but have yet to fully explore Data Product Studio.
There is a long way to go with SAP Business Data Cloud. There are areas where more insight applications could be developed beyond what's currently available for people intelligence. We would like to see applications around supply chain, manufacturing, and maintenance that could provide automated insights directly from the system. Overall, I would rate this solution a 7-8 out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: May 11, 2026
Flag as inappropriateCorrie BirkenessSenior Director, Solution & Product Marketing at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Top 5Real User
Thank you! We appreciate your time and feedback.
Also, please check out our Data Professionals Special Interest Group on the SAP Community (#datapro) to learn and engage. For example, write a blog to share a specific use case you have implemented with SAP BDC and how you accomplished it.
Product Manager - ERP Analytics and BI at Haleon
Seamless integration, collaborative features, and enhances data exploration
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of SAP Analytics Cloud are its native integration with SAP data and the ability to leverage SAP artifacts."
- "The predictive analytics functions, although promising, are currently only suitable for Proof of Concepts (POCs) and not for industrial-scale use."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use cases for SAP Analytics Cloud are dashboarding and planning. It's integrated with our ERP systems, and we use it to pull data, create models, display charts, and develop dashboards.
How has it helped my organization?
SAP Analytics Cloud has improved our organization by providing collaborative features, such as allowing users to chat on reports and create tasks. It supports data exploration, which our users find intuitive and useful. We are transitioning from Power BI to SAP Analytics Cloud, which allows us to drill down to detailed levels and integrate tightly with our SAP architecture.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of SAP Analytics Cloud are its native integration with SAP data and the ability to leverage SAP artifacts. This integration is extremely beneficial and provides something other products can't due to their lack of access to SAP data.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with SAP Analytics Cloud for almost one year now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of SAP Analytics Cloud is very high. I would rate it around nine or ten out of ten. The product is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
SAP Analytics Cloud is highly scalable. I would rate its scalability around eight or nine out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
Customer service and support are generally good, but not the best. I would rate them around seven or eight.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before SAP Analytics Cloud, we used SAP Lumira. However, it is a non-cloud product. We also migrated from Power BI because it didn't fit well with our enterprise requirements.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of SAP Analytics Cloud can be difficult, especially in a complex environment like ours. It took about six months for the initial integration.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment involved various teams, including networking, Azure team, and cloud team. We needed around five to ten people for the integration, depending on the complexity of the landscape.
What was our ROI?
So far, there is no specific return on investment to report, as we have just gone live with some of the implementations. However, in the long run, SAP Analytics Cloud is expected to be highly beneficial.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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 billing models during the development phase.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing SAP Analytics Cloud, I evaluated Power BI and QlikView, but SAP Analytics Cloud was the best fit for a company with an SAP ERP system.
What other advice do I have?
Advice for others looking into SAP Analytics Cloud would be to be aware of feature gaps if migrating from Lumira. Understand that while integrating into your landscape can take time, SAP Analytics Cloud offers far more capabilities, especially for companies with an SAP ERP system.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Head of Data Delivery at Teva Pharmaceuticals
It provides good integration, but the technology offered is old
Pros and Cons
- "SAP is very scalable."
- "The technology used by the tool is old, making it an area where improvements are required."
What is our primary use case?
I use the solution in my company for financial planning.
What is most valuable?
The tool's most valuable feature is its integration with other SAP products. There are no special features in the tool we are using. We are using it in a very simple manner, using it for multi-dimensions, financial reports, and reporting.
What needs improvement?
The technology used by the tool is old, making it an area where improvements are required. All SAP software tools are complex to deploy because they are built in a very complicated manner. You have a lot to learn in the software, and integrating it in general is difficult, whereas the other software tools in the industry have a lower bar set. The bar to enter SAP is high from a knowledge point of view and a thought point of view.
The tool's performance has certain shortcomings that require improvement. Our company was limiting itself in the number of products we put into it. Our pharma company's one plant has around 60,000 planned finished goods, so it can run into millions of finished goods. I don't know how SAP is planning to deploy in companies that have millions of products.
I would like to see some AI capabilities in the tool. I need to see my profitability if I reduced the cost or changed the blend between products or something like that, and it is an area I need to look into. Looking at trends or price changes, my future profitability, and the blend of product quantity, there are a lot of what-if scenarios.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have two years of experience with SAP Analytics Cloud.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In terms of stability, our company has faced some issues with the tool's performance. When you have a large number of records, like in the case of SAP Master Data Governance, the software starts to be unstable, and so we have to limit ourselves to dimensionality.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
SAP is very scalable. In general, SAP supports very big organizations, so it is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
SAP is a very big company that has billions of dollars in revenue. They always give you the best people if you pay. If you pay, you get the right support. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used SAP Master Data Governance, SuccessFactors LMS, and SAP SuccessFactors HR Products.
How was the initial setup?
When it comes to the product's installation phase and if you are a SAP organization and you have good people, then it is not a complex part. If you go to such a software, and you know that your organization decided to deploy SAP, then when you decide to deploy it, you need to invest in people that know SAP and it is not complex.
The time required to deploy the solution depends on your scope. So, if you have a simple project, it will take you six months. A complex project will take you one year. It depends on your scope. Just financial planning in a simple country can take you six months. If you have a bigger project or bigger scope, it could be one year.
The number of people required to install the product again depends on the scope and the size of the project. In a simple project, a handful of people are needed, but for big projects, we need more people to install the solution. If it's a small deployment, you can do it with three people. If it's a big deployment and many countries are involved, you have to keep changing a lot of work, and we have the installation project handled by the vendor with 15 to 30 people from our side. It was a big project with a big scope, so the number of people required to deploy the tool depended on the project scope. I can play basketball in a place with ten people. I can also play it in a place with 55,000 people. Here, the basketball remains the same. The number of people required to deploy the tool depends on the company's size. You can deploy on a small project scale with three people.
What was our ROI?
The ROI comes after two years, so we will have to see if the tool is reducing our inventory. The ROI is excellent since it can be measured financially. At the moment, I cannot tell you about the tool's ROI because it will be seen after five years.
What other advice do I have?
The predictive analytics in SAP is used in a limited manner.
I rate the tool a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
SAP Specialist at Victoria's Secret
Used for reporting purposes and generates financial reports but has a high price
Pros and Cons
- "There is a real-time reporting mechanism in place. SAP Analytics Cloud operates on the SAP S/4HANA database, ensuring real-time reporting is always available. This capability allows the business to monitor cash inflows and outflows at any given moment easily."
- "It is very expensive."
What is our primary use case?
We use SAP Analytics Cloud to report and generate all our financial reports. Its robust capabilities allow us to create analytical reports using data from SAP and non-SAP sources.
How has it helped my organization?
There is a real-time reporting mechanism in place. SAP Analytics Cloud operates on the SAP S/4HANA database, ensuring real-time reporting is always available. This capability allows the business to monitor cash inflows and outflows at any given moment easily.
What is most valuable?
When using cloud analytics, you often need to build a staging environment and an aggregation layer if you have different applications. However, since everything is running in the SAP landscape on the HANA database, data extraction and aggregation have become much easier and more efficient at any given time.
What needs improvement?
There are definitely several areas that need improvement, but articulating them as specific priorities right now is challenging since we just implemented the project and it went live. It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what needs to be addressed.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SAP Analytics Cloud for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The foundation needs to be stabilized after going live. If the requirements change, such as needing more reports or increased usage of Cloud Analytics, we must address those adjustments.
The system isn't experiencing frequent failures or timeouts, but there are instances when we deal with large datasets. We sometimes encounter high memory usage issues since it's running on our database. This can lead to errors stating that there isn't enough memory to extract data, especially if the hardware isn't adequate. If the hardware can't support the load, it becomes challenging for Cloud Analytics to function effectively.
I rate the solution’s stability a seven out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Different organizations are utilizing SAP Analytics Cloud; if I consider the end users, nearly 125 users are actively engaged. The usage numbers are relatively high because we're in the banking sector.
It is used quite frequently. Initially, it was mainly utilized for month-end closings, but now it’s used regularly. The reporting mechanism is integrated with SAP Fiori, allowing users to access data and billing reports on various devices, including tablets and smartphones.
I rate the solution’s scalability a seven out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
Support is still improving, and getting support from SAP is a bit exorbitant.
Sometimes, the queue will be on the queue, and yours may be the P1 ticket. You will be in the queue and not get the best support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Hyperion, and then Power BI came into the picture. Earlier, many different BW systems were also in use.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up the production server takes about seven to eight working days. However, we also have a sandbox installation where we can monitor the required time, assess downtime, and determine what integrations or standard interfaces need to be enabled and how data flows. From this, we can build a comprehensive inventory of the necessary implementations, integrations, and ports that need to be enabled, including database connectivity and whether we should use the SAP Cloud Integrator or different APIs.
If you have reliable systems, setting up the SAP Analytics Cloud production system typically takes six to seven working days.
We need a basic administrator, a database administrator, an SAP S/4HANA specialist, and a Cloud Analytics expert. Four to five resources are required, but this can vary depending on the project's size, the database's complexity, and the number of reports being developed.
The implementation of SAP Analytics Cloud at British Petroleum was done with a different organization, and currently, I’m working with Standard Chartered Bank. I don't have much visibility into what improvements were made at British Petroleum, as I'm not associated with them anymore. For Standard Chartered, if there are any improvements or business needs, we will evaluate those as we move forward.
Reflecting on the three projects I've executed, I see that the earlier ones were challenging, particularly regarding server installation and cloud integration with SAP S/4HANA. Over time, the process has become easier with the introduction of different APIs and standard interfaces by SAP.
I rate the initial setup a seven out of ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is very expensive.
What other advice do I have?
Business decisions depend on how data is utilized and structured. For example, the finance department needs to monitor revenue management, assess the impact of costs, and evaluate operational expenses. Predictive analytics is invaluable for analyzing revenue, costs, and financial performance. It provides insights on the demand and supply side, making it easier for the business to make informed decisions.
The current project where we've implemented SAP Analytics Cloud went live three months ago at Standard Chartered Bank. We plan to decommission all other reporting mechanisms, such as Power BI, Tableau, and Crystal Reports. We are currently evaluating the output from SAP Analytics Cloud regarding reporting and its collaboration with other applications. It’s too early to say whether Power BI is better than SAP Analytics Cloud or vice versa, as both tools have their strengths and address different needs.
Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Project Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Pre-built reports facilitate data unification but documentation issues hinder complete integration
Pros and Cons
- "We are satisfied with the technical support from SAP because when we reached out, we were able to get very good support from SAP colleagues."
- "Documentation-wise, we see some gaps when trying to connect different solutions. Some generic documents are available, but the steps maintained are not accurate. There is room for improvement in documentation."
What is our primary use case?
All our customers are using SAP Analytics Cloud for reporting purposes and data analytics. They have their data in different databases, and with SAP Analytics Cloud, we are unifying and providing reports using SAP Analytics Cloud and data spheres.
What is most valuable?
In SAP Analytics Cloud, there is a functionality called the best practice reports. SAP provides pre-built reports for certain functions and certain modules. For example, for SuccessFactors and S/4HANA Cloud, there are pre-built reports available which are commonly used by customers. This functionality is very useful, as once connectivity is done, it allows users to easily populate data and generate reports from the system out-of-the-box.
What needs improvement?
Documentation-wise, we see some gaps when trying to connect different solutions. Some generic documents are available, but the steps maintained are not accurate. There is room for improvement in documentation.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with SAP Analytics Cloud for around six months.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
We faced some complexity during deployment due to the predictive analytics feature. When initial login is given, and predictive analytics is enabled from SAP for me, if done with two different IDs, then two instances are created. This is not documented, and we had to go back and forth with SAP to resolve it.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability of SAP Analytics Cloud around eight on a scale of one to ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
SAP Analytics Cloud is scalable. I would rate its scalability up to nine on a scale of one to ten.
How are customer service and support?
We are satisfied with the technical support from SAP because when we reached out, we were able to get very good support from SAP colleagues.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I normally do not deal with the commercials, so I am not aware of the pricing part of it.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
From a client perspective, there are different competitors. Some customers compare SAP Analytics Cloud with Microsoft Power BI. However, it's important to compare features like-for-like as they have different versions and features.
What other advice do I have?
At the moment, I would rate SAP Analytics Cloud between seven to eight, so we'll put it as seven, allowing some small gap for improvement. I rate the overall solution a 7 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Associate Architect at Merck
Scalable product with an effective data integration functionality
Pros and Cons
- "SAP Analytics Cloud is superior to other tools in terms of planning and forecasting."
- "If the application has many pages or a page with more charts, it tends to load slowly."
What is our primary use case?
I primarily use it for forecasting and analytical applications.
What needs improvement?
If the application has many pages or a page with more charts, it tends to load slowly. Additionally, there are issues with time-dependent hierarchies and when BexQueries change, which can corrupt SAP reports.
Additionally, there is an area for improvement in performance measurement. Currently, it's difficult to identify which objects are causing performance issues.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with SAP Analytics Cloud for almost three and a half years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The application has been released to approximately 7,200 users. It is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support process is time-consuming. They often request extended access and additional documentation, which can delay resolution.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
SAP Analytics Cloud is superior to other tools in terms of planning and forecasting. However, other reporting tools such as Tableau are more efficient for analytical applications and dashboard design.
Tableau allows for quicker dashboard creation without extensive scripting, unlike Analytics Cloud, where creating an application can be time-consuming.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup, particularly enabling and disabling SAML SSO, was challenging due to a lack of comprehensive documentation.
What about the implementation team?
I will start managing the maintenance and development activities in the coming months.
What other advice do I have?
The solution handles data integration adequately, but performance remains a concern. Drilling down on hierarchies takes a long time, which leads to user complaints. We've raised tickets with SAP to address these issues.
I would recommend SAP Analytics Cloud. However, SAP should improve white papers and performance support to enhance user experience.
I rate it a nine.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Director Of Operations, SAP, AWS Consultant at Saudi Paper Group
Easy to setup and efficient predictive analytics capabilities that help with forecast and planning
Pros and Cons
- "In my opinion, it is good for analytics. Everything is in the cloud."
- "All the features are there, maybe except for the one-gauge visualization."
What is our primary use case?
My clients, like Bin Quraya and Sadaras, use it. At present, it is used in paper mills for tissues and bundles. Others are construction companies and chemical companies.
I'm given different tasks with deadlines. They want to finish on time. Even if they're given a task two days before, they have to complete onboarding within 24 hours. I'm the implementor.
How has it helped my organization?
What is most valuable?
In my opinion, it is good for analytics. Everything is in the cloud. You can also use it for non-SAP sources. You can bring in visualizations for the data, for anything. It's a good feature for Analytics Cloud.
Predictive analytics is used for data sources. Sometimes, they are custom; you can bring your custom data source directly from predictive analytics, or we can use custom tables for forecasting. Forecasting and planning for sales and financial balance sheets are done here.
AI has already started this year. AI for ABAP has started, and AI for Analytics processes is there. Joule is one main feature; you can use it within SAP Analytics Cloud. It is used for planning.
What needs improvement?
All the features are there, maybe except for the one-gauge visualization, which is missing. I've already requested it from SAP. They're planning to put it in SAP. In the future, they're going to bring back a system for one gauge.
To improve the gauge and the dashboards for using the gauge. This visualization is one thing missing in the Analytics process. In Power BI, they're using these tools. Or there is a possibility in Eclipse; we can use RxScript. RxScript is rendered from the router, but on a mobile base, it's not using RxScript. It's not working.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for almost seven years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable, and it is on average; this one is good.
I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. Our clients are medium-sized businesses.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support is good because they're relying on the HANA Cloud database. HANA is a good, fast database compared to other databases. That's why the customers are happy to use it.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The setup is okay. SAP takes care of everything with the cloud system notes. They change things from time to time, either by themselves or automatically.
If there's any setup, it's only for your connector. You have to key in the connectors for this. Suppose SuccessFactors is there and HANA Cloud is there; there are different activities for each.
What about the implementation team?
I am an implementer who does SAP implementation. Setup is easy because these days, SAP takes care of everything. They provide a URL for the SAP Cloud, and everything is maintained within SAP since it's cloud-based. If it were on-premise, we would have to set up everything in our company.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is reasonable. Compared to Power BI, we are a little bit higher. Not much, just a little bit.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend it to other clients as well. The advantage is predictive analytics. We can use it directly without any customization.
Overall, I would rate it an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Analytics Practice at INFRABEAT TECHNOLOGIES PVT LTD
Offers analytics, planning, and predictive capabilities in a single, cloud-based solution but requires more specialized skills for integration and setup
Pros and Cons
- "If 85-90% of your data comes from SAP, then it's the best solution."
- "The main area that needs improvement is visualization."
What is our primary use case?
I'm an SAP consultant. It's primarily used for analytics on top of SAP data sources. It provides live reporting on SAP S/4HANA, the ERP platform. It has real-time connectivity with S/4HANA.
How has it helped my organization?
SAP Analytics Cloud excels in predictive analytics, particularly when dealing with SAP data sources.
For non-SAP sources like SQL or Oracle databases, it may not be the ideal choice. However, for SAP sources, it's the best fit for both predictive and descriptive analytics.
What is most valuable?
It's the only product that can do real-time analytics on top of SAP ERP data sources. Most other reporting and analytics tools don't have that capability. It also includes planning features, making it a single platform for analytics, planning, and predictive capabilities. It's a purely SaaS platform.
SAP has integrated a new AI capability called JUEL, which includes natural language processing features. It's still in the early stages, but SAP is investing in its development.
What needs improvement?
The main area that needs improvement is visualization. Compared to platforms like Power BI or Tableau, SAP Analytics Cloud offers fewer chart components. That's the primary area where I see potential for enhancement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for six years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's pretty stable. The product has evolved a lot over the past six years. There were some initial challenges, but it's a very stable solution now.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability relies on the power of the backend sources, specifically S/4HANA. Most calculations and data processing happen in the backend, not in SAP Analytics Cloud. As long as your models are well-designed and you have enough power in the backend, scalability shouldn't be an issue.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support is quite good. I haven't experienced any issues getting solutions or fixes when needed. They provide very good support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
SAP Analytics Cloud is excellent for SAP platforms. It understands the data structure in SAP, so you don't have to rebuild those models in another BI platform. If you try to connect Power BI or Tableau to SAP, you'd need to recreate those models.
This is a major advantage of SAP Analytics Cloud when working with SAP data sources. However, when working with other data sources, Power BI and Tableau might be better than SAP Analytics Cloud.
How was the initial setup?
It's a cloud-based platform, so no installation or deployment is needed. Integration with other systems can be a little complex, and the learning curve is slightly steep.
It's not about the challenge of integrating. It requires people with specific skills compared to other platforms. When it comes to SAP, the skill set is different, and finding the right people on time can be difficult.
What was our ROI?
There is ROI, especially with some integrations I've worked on. Many customers used to manually download data from SAP systems and then create reports using Power BI or Excel. With SAP Analytics Cloud, the reporting is done directly on top of SAP data, and everything can be automated.
This saves a lot of time. In one implementation, users used to spend a week each month creating reports, but now it's real-time, eliminating that time investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm only familiar with the licensing in India, as models vary in different countries. In India, there's a minimum purchase of 25 users. There are a few different types of licenses:
- BI License: Costs around $30 per user per month.
- Planning and Planning Standard to S/4HANA Enforcement Licenses: I don't have the exact costs for these, as they're not publicly disclosed. You'll need to contact the sales team for that information.
Overall, SAP Analytics Cloud can be quite expensive, with costs potentially reaching $120 to $150 per user per month. However, if you're only interested in live reporting, the licensing cost is similar to other BI platforms like Tableau or Power BI.
What other advice do I have?
It's difficult to give a blanket rating because SAP Analytics Cloud excels when working with SAP data sources. If 85-90% of your data comes from SAP, then it's the best solution.
However, if you deal with more non-SAP data sources, other solutions might be more suitable. It's excellent for SAP but not necessarily for other vendors.
Overall, I would rate it a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
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Updated: July 2026
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