SAP Business Data Cloud Reviews

We're using SAP Analytics Cloud for analyzing financial and commercial information.

What I really like most about SAP Analytics Cloud is that it's very easy to create charts with it.

What should be improved in SAP Analytics Cloud is the speed of importing information and data from SAP S/4HANA, because it's what we're using. We noticed that gathering the data from the main database takes a bit of time.

Another way to improve the product is for them to let others access some information without being part of our SAP company system. If I want a customer to check information directly using SAP Analytics Cloud that would be good, because currently, it doesn't seem to me that this is possible directly in the product. Of course, there's another path to take to reach that goal, but a direct connection for external people who may want to check some information could be useful.

I've been using SAP Analytics Cloud since last July.

SAP Analytics Cloud is a stable product.

The initial setup for SAP Analytics Cloud was quite easy. On a scale of one to five, with five being the best, I'm rating the setup a five. I did the setup with the help of a team, e.g. not just by myself.

I find the pricing of SAP Analytics Cloud reasonable. On a scale of one to five, with five being the best, I'm giving it a score of four out of five for the price.

We adopted Qlik Sense a few years ago, then we started with SAP, and after having tried SAP, we decided to stay with SAP Analytics Cloud. We discharged Qlik Sense.

We're using SAP Analytics Cloud in our company.

I still don't have an idea on how scalable the product is.

I'm unable to give feedback on the technical support for SAP Analytics Cloud, because I don't deal directly with SAP, but with another company that assists us, and they work with SAP.

My advice to others looking into implementing SAP Analytics Cloud is for them to
check the cost of implementation, because the cost of the product is not high, but sometimes the implementation could cost a lot more, e.g. the connection to your access system could cost a lot.

I'm rating SAP Analytics Cloud nine out of ten.

We use Analytics Hub primarily for consolidating different kinds of reports and queries into one, single window.

We use SAP extensively and as such, this product helps because it makes the integration with other SAP products easy. However, we have challenges integrating with non-SAP products, which is the reason that we are looking at other solutions.

Essentially, when we want to quickly generate an analytics report from an SAP solution, this product has helped us. It is very easy to use, right out of the box.

This product provides good reports using a single pane of glass.

It integrates well with other SAP products, out of the box.

The technical support for Analytics Hub is limited and could be improved.

It is very difficult to import data from other products, such as Power BI. In general, it doesn't integrate well with non-SAP products.

This is a fairly new product and we started using it approximately one year ago.

We have not seen any issues with stability. However, this is an upcoming product and it is still being stabilized.

As this product is in its early days, we don't have any experience scaling it.

This is a product for medium to large companies.

Technical support from SAP is limited. This is an area of the product that needs to be improved.

We have some limited experience with Tableau and Power BI. We are also actively working with the cloud-based SAP Analytics Cloud.

The Analytics Cloud is better because of the reporting tool. The Analytics Hub will only give you one place to collect everything.

The pricing is reasonable.

We plan to do a deep-dive comparison of several products. Ideally, we need one that integrates with both SAP and non-SAP products.

In addition to this product, we have experience with the entire SAP suite.

My advice for anybody who is considering this product is that if you're SAP-centric, then the SAP Analytics Hub is a good choice. If you are not SAP-centric, then it is not.

I would rate this solution a six out of ten.

We are using it for enterprise-wide analytics. We have on-prem as well as cloud deployments.

Planning and integration are the most valuable features. It is useful for planning, and it is useful for integrating with on-prem or cloud SAP solutions. 

Its integration or connectivity with non-SAP systems, big data, and social media, such as YouTube, LinkedIn, et cetera, can be improved. This is where SAP has limited features as compared to other solutions.

There is very little documentation. They could provide additional training and resources.

I have been using SAP Analytics Cloud for the last two years, but overall, I have been using analytics for the last 15 years.

We found it to be pretty stable over the last two years.

We hope so. We have not reached a level to be able to say how good it is and how quickly scalable it is, but we believe that it would be scalable. I do not have a proof point to say that it is 100% scalable.

So far, we've been able to resolve most of the issues on our own. Their support is average. It is not great, but it is also not bad.

Its setup is easy.

Its price is slightly on the higher side.

I would rate it a seven out of 10.

We are using SAP Analytics for complete enterprise. We are customers and I am a business analytics manager. 

The product has helped us to unify reporting between all departments and throughout the entire company; it has improved our organization by streamlining operations. 

Data integration is very good. It's a very good product and cost-effective.

I would like to have more tabular reporting capabilities, like page reports. 

I've been using this solution for more than two years. 

The solution is stable. 

The solution is scalable.

We've had a good experience with customer support. They're active and we have an exclusive relationship manager to move us forward with the product. It provides us with extra care.

Positive

The previous solution we used was not addressing our enterprise needs. 

The initial implementation took a week and then we gradually adopted it throughout the company. Deployment was carried out in-house and we currently have 200 users who range from C-level to end users. We have three people who help out with maintenance and they have backgrounds in engineering or architecture. 

Analytics has improved our bottom line by improving processes. 

We get competitive rates for our licensing so I'm not complaining. 

We evaluated Tableau and Power BI before choosing SAP. The decision to go with SAP was connected to our underlying data. If your data is on SAP and your data warehouse is SAP Business Warehouse, as in our case, it made sense to go with SAP Analytics. 

I think it's important to be strategy-driven based on your underlying data. If you are an SAP-based organization, this is a good solution. If you are non-SAP, then you might be better off looking at an alternative solution. 

I rate the solution nine out of 10. 

We mainly use Analytics Cloud because it integrates with other SAP solutions. Our ERP is an SAP product, and our back-end is SAP Business Warehouse, so integration is an essential factor.

SAP could add some more visualization features to Analytics Cloud, like charts and analytics. I would also like to see some more data cleaning and ad hoc functions added to this solution.

I've been using SAP Analytics Cloud for almost three years now.

We have around 1,500 people using Analytics Cloud. Everyone from the lowest interns to the C-level suite uses it. 

I rate SAP support seven out of 10. It's good but not at the expected level.

Setting up Analytics Cloud is straightforward because it's a cloud service provided by SAP. Once you sign the contract, they give you the URL, and you can use the product. Everything is out of the box.

We considered Microsoft BI, but it didn't have the same seamless integration with SAP.

I would rate SAP Analytics Cloud seven out of 10 because the product needs to mature a lot. SAP still needs to add several features to make it a robust BI solution. For example, they should improve the charts and table components.

I like the connectivity the solution provides with other products. One can see different data sources, such as SAP ERP and the in-house hub which they provide. It allows one to create a business warehouse and then get the data import from there as well. So too, the solution is multi-dimensional, meaning the person can use a flat file and collect data from different sources. 

When importing data from a different source, the solution should also act as an ETL tool to allow for the task permissions with the live data. 

The solution could be more stable. I rate its stability as a seven out of ten. 

I rate the scalability as a seven out of ten, as the solution occasionally falls to pieces and requires us to tweak our scripting. Scalability definitely needs to be improved. 

The solution should include other scripting languages as well, such as Python. Also, I am curious to see if they will include AI and ML capabilities going forward. 

I have much experience working with SAP Analytics Cloud, as I have been doing so for two-and-a-half years. 

The solution could be more stable. I rate its stability as a seven out of ten. 

I rate the scalability as a seven out of ten, as the solution occasionally falls to pieces and requires us to tweak our scripting. Scalability definitely needs to be improved.

The initial setup is straightforward. We are talking about a complete package which is supplied by SAP itself. So, once the person has the package online, he can simply use it on the spot. There is no setup required. 

If someone is using an SAP environment in their businesses, it's good to adapt SAP Analytical Cloud. But, if the person is using another ERP software, say, QuickBooks, there are other market options to opt for. The solution works well if one is using the SAP package. 

I rate SAP Analytics Cloud as an eight out of ten. 

I primarily use the solution for reporting. We talk to people in all different roles and in all different types of companies and organizations. It's just to get a more well-rounded scope.

We use it to build a human capital dashboard and I use it to report on workforce data, hires and exits, movements, and items of that nature.

I like the forecasting capabilities. 

There is a really nice insight feature that I enjoy using. It automatically adds input, which is quite helpful. 

The initial setup was super simple. 

The customizations need to be better. In order to do some basic functions, in order to create certain basic functions in input control, you need to know a couple of basic programming languages. It would be better if these input controls were easier to create or to get working. For example, in Tableau, it's so easy. You just add these controls. However, in this product, for certain basic functions like dropdown boxes, it's more difficult for the basic business user. If you're not in IT, it's not as easy as Tableau.

The product needs to offer more options for navigation. There need to be dropdown filtering op boxes. Right now, when you filter, what you have filtered is not presented - the selection isn't on the screen. If you're looking at it, you don't know if you've got the right number unless you hover over it.

Some of the functionalities that do not use any IT or business language, such as BIAL, which is a subset of JavaScript, and something called CSS, need to be incorporated.

The analytics app is designed for programmers. You need to know programming languages in order to use the solution effectively, and some users aren't programmers. Unfortunately, if you want something that should be simple to do, that's not available as you need to have that programming language.

I'm a new-ish user; I just started this year. I would say I've used it for less than a year.

The product seems very secure. It seems very stable. I've had no issues. There are no bugs or glitches. It does not crash or freeze.

The scalability is very good. I am not using it to its current potential, however, this is one of the benefits of the program, as is it can be scaled out for the whole organization, due to the ability for it to connect directly to the cloud data and right to the SAP.

Different business units are using the solution, including HR, long-term care, and transportation. I'm not sure how many users are leveraging it, however. We are a city-wide organization and different government areas use it.

It is not widely used right now, as we are still in the demo stage. That said, I can say that the organization is planning on committing to it.

I've never had to use technical support except to go to my own IT staff for help, and therefore I can't comment very well on SAP's level of assistance.

I'm also familiar with Tableau.

We were using Excel and Tableau, and we stopped using Excel due to the fact that there's no scalability there. It's just very slow and cumbersome. That was Microsoft, actually. With Tableau, we are also using it for other things. Due to the nature of this software, it's good for some projects, and Tableau is better for others. This one's more suited towards data that is coming directly from a live system. Tableau works really well with flat files.

For me, the implementation was very simple.

Our IT department provided me with the access rights and provided me with the appropriate links, as well as all of the training materials that SAP has on their website.

My deployment was small and quick. For the whole organization, it takes much longer. I am using it with a flat-file, inserting data into the cloud to connect with it, and therefore, my scope is very small compared to the whole organization. It did not take me long at all.

I handle the maintenance myself. It doesn't require much maintenance. I do work with IT when I need to.

I used our IT staff, however, they have been working with representatives from the company in order to deploy the product organization-wide.

I can't speak to the licensing or costs. I'm not involved in that aspect just yet.

There seem to be three different levels of licenses, including one for a viewer, and one for a designer and one is for analytics.

This is currently the solution we are evaluating.

My advice would be to all-out purchase the analytics application, as some of the features are in just the designer mode, and they are not going to be sufficient. You're going to need some of the features that are contained in the third option, the analytics application.

Users need to be very familiar with what they have called the data modeler and should spend some time modeling and rendering data in their data modeler or just importing data into something called the dataset. With the dataset, users have more flexibility, however, the data modeling, that's something I didn't know starting out. Had I done it differently, I might have used the data modeler.

I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten.

We have our data stored in SAP BW. SAP Analytics Cloud is now the main Reporting Tool from SAP. We are gradually shifting the reporting from BO Webi / BO Lumira / BEx Wad to SAC.

It improves the buy-in from business for SAP technology.

Its user-friendliness is very valuable for end-users. It allows them to create dashboards without very experienced IT knowledge (compared to BO Lumira).

Though it's the best placed product when working with an SAP BW backend, it still lacks a lot of functionalities when compared to other tools such as Power BI or Tableau. 

The technical support of SAP is not perfect and could be much better. 

It takes a lot of time to have lacking functionalities implemented.

The integration with the BW backend can still be improved. Though both solutions are from the same vendor and the tool is positioned as "the" reporting tool on top of a BW environment, the integration between both still lacks a smooth integration. For example, authorization management is still not synchronized out of the box.

We were amidst the first adaptors of SAC and have seen it growing to a more mature level.

It is quite stable. We had very limited downtime in the past years. The continuous upgrades (cloud) can deliver sometimes moments of surprise, certainly when the layout is impacted.

It is very scalable.

Their technical support is not perfect and could be better. SAP Analytics Cloud is still lacking a lot of functionalities as compared to its competitors, and when we address these questions to SAP, it takes a lot of time to have these functionalities implemented.

Yes, multiple tools: WAD, BO xCelcius, Lumira. 

It is the future vision of SAP (for now).

The initial setup of SAP Analytics Cloud is easy because it is a cloud product. You can start using the environment very soon after the decision to do so is taken.

In house with a little help during startup from SAP.

Its pricing is fair when compared to its competitors.

Tableau, Power BI. From a user perspective, much more flexible and functional, but lacking the proper integration with SAP BW.

If your data is stored in the SAP environment, it is still the best tool in the market. Microsoft Power BI and Tableau are very nice in functionality and layout, but they lack functionality when you link them to an SAP database.

My suggestion would be to use the tools from the same vendor. The reporting tool should be from the same vendor whose backend system you are using. I advised the same in our company because we have a lot of tools. If you have an SAP data warehouse, then use tools from SAP on top of this data warehouse. If you have SQL Database, then Microsoft Power BI is more suitable.

I would rate SAP Analytics Cloud an eight out of ten.