# Page 2 | IBM Cognos Analytics Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra

> Page 2 - Is IBM Cognos Analytics the right Reporting solution for you? Explore 137 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice.

Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/240583/IBM-Cognos-Analytics/reviews

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IBM Cognos Analytics

4.2 (137)

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Last updated March 13th, 2026

# Page 2 - Reviews of IBM Cognos Analytics

## Showing most helpful reviews

Showing 26-50 of 137 Reviews

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Reviewer's Role

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Frequency of Use

EH

Edward H.  
Lead infrastructure engineer  
Banking  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Cognos review"

June 9, 2024

5.0

Overall, it was great once it was up and running

Pros

It generated reports from data warehouse very well

Cons

The cubes were not easy to define at first

Review Source

LT

Laura T.  
Financial Data Analyst  
Management Consulting  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Ottimo software di BI dalle notevoli capacità di reporting "

July 17, 2023

5.0

L’uso prevalente che personalmente faccio di IBM Cognos Analytics è quello della creazione di report. In particolare creo report finanziari di dettaglio per i miei clienti, al fine di evidenziare, ad esempio, l’andamento delle vendite in diverse aree geografiche o per diverse linee di business. Uso Cognos anche per definire dashboard interattive utili a montare in tempo reale le performance finanziare, queste dashboard includono KPI come fatturato o margine operativo. L’attività di reportistica risulta molto semplice in Cognos sia per la sua capacità di collegarsi a più fonti dati, sia per la possibilità di manipolare il dato mediante query SQL.

Pros

IBM Cognos Analytics, software di BI, dispone di una suite completa di funzionalità di reporting, dashboarding, data exploration e data modeling. Il modulo reporting, che utilizzo di frequente, il quale ha un motore basato su SQL, permette di creare report dettagliati, utilizzando input multi-fonte, e disponendo i dati in modo strategico grazie alla possibilità di manipolarli con query SQL. Un altro modulo che utilizzo è quello di dashboarding, che permette di creare dashboard di sintesi con widget interattivi. IBM Cognos Analytics non dispone di sole funzionalità di reporting, ma grazie al modulo explorations è in grado di analizzare un grande quantità di dati ed identificarne pattern nascosti con l’uso di algoritmi di machine learning, i quali sono in grado di suggerire anche la miglior tipologia di visualizzazione di dati per identificarne dei legami.

Cons

IBM Cognos Analytics ha un ammanco nella gestione della governare, elemento necessario in un software di BI. Infatti il software non dispone di opzioni per gestire il ciclo di vita dei dati, elemento fondamentale per organizzazione di un certo livello con dimensione ragguardevoli.

Review Source

LG

Letizia G.  
Associate  
Management Consulting  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Dati a supporto del Business "

June 2, 2023

4.0

All’interno di alcuni istituti bancari, in qualità di consulente, mi sono ritrovata ad utilizzare IBM Cognos Analytics al fine di monitorare la redditività di alcune branch della banca, individuare zone di miglioramento e definire le azioni da intraprendere per aumentare la redditività in base alle analisi dei dati. In particolare il software è stato utile per monitorare i KPI di ogni brand dell’istituto, definendone le prestazioni in modo oggettivo sulla base del numero di conti aperti e del numero di prestiti (o in generale prodotti) venduti. Una volta individuate le branch più deboli è stato necessario analizzare il tasso di propensione alla chiusura del conto, di prepayment del prestito e la tipologia di clientela, per identificarne le caratteristiche. Delineato il profilo della clientela, e forniti alcuni report al reparto marketing, sono state strutturare campagne e prodotti ad hoc. Con Cognos, infine, è stato monitorato l’andamento delle campagne, evidenziandone l’efficacia e costruiti dei report da presentare al management.

Pros

IBM Cognos Analytics è una soluzione di Business Intelligence, basata sul cloud, che grazie alle funzioni Self Service permette ai reparti business di un azienda, solitamente composti da soggetti non tecnici, di accedere ai dati ed effettuare sugli stessi semplici, ma efficaci, analisi e creare report personalizzati di dettaglio. In linea generale Cognos Analytics, il quale è in grado di connettersi a diverse tipologie di database, permette di pulire i dati e crearne dei modelli utili ad implementare report o dashboard. I report e le dashboard interattive presentano un elevato grado di personalizzazione e risultano semplici da creare mediante funzioni di drag & drop. In tal modo i report business di un azienda possono monitorare i KPI e prendere decisioni informati sui dati.

Cons

IBM Cognos Analytics consente di effettuare, tendenzialmente, semplici analisi dei dati. Per andare maggiormente in profondità è necessario integrarlo con altri prodotti IBM, come IBM Watson Studio, con relativo incremento del costo delle licenze per le aziende.

Review Source

EP

Elena P.  
Principal  
Management Consulting  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Integrazione di analisi e reporting "

November 5, 2023

4.0

IBM Cognos Analytics permette di avere una soluzione integrata per la data analysis, il report e la visualizzazione. La presenza del AI permette di ricavare notevoli informazioni dai dati e consente alle aziende di prendere decisioni informate. Software molto accurato e veloce nei calcoli che può essere usato anche da utenti meno esperti. Tutti questi aspetti rendono la mia esperienza positiva e mi permettono di consigliarlo a molte delle società per cui ho fatto consulenza.

Pros

Una delle cose che mi piace di più è l’interfaccia intuitiva. IBM Cognos Analytics è user friendly e facile da navigare, il che rende accessibile il software a tutti i livelli di esperienza e competenza. È datato di un grande quantità di opzioni di visualizzaIone che consento di analizzare ed esplorare i dati da vari punti di vista. Notevole la capacità di IBM Cognos Analytics di gestire velocemente grandi quantità di dati. Gli algoritmi d’analisi presenti permetto di svolgere approfondimenti velocemente risparmiando tempo prezioso.

Cons

Il costo risulta eccessivamente elevato, specialmente se paragonato ai competitor. Questo mi impedisce di suggerire ad alcuni miei clienti di piccole dimensioni di adottare questa soluzione, anche se per loro sarebbe operativamente la migliore.

Review Source

LP

Luca P.  
Credit Risk Analyst  
Banking  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Pianificazione e Analisi Aziendale"

April 29, 2023

5.0

L'uso di IBM Cognos Analytics si è rilevato utile quando è stato necessario ottenere molteplici informazioni da grandi quantità di dati per pianificare budget. In questo ha aiutato l'ampio portafoglio di strumenti analitici (OLAP, data mining, e simulazione di scenari). In particolare usando Cognos TM1, ho potuto simulare scenari diversi e comprendere l'impatto sul budget.

Pros

IBM Cognos Analytics contiene un insieme di strumenti di business intelligence che lo rendono discretamente completo. Il software offre molteplici modalità di analisi dei dati, tra cui reportistica, OLAP, data mining, pianificazione e simulazione di scenari. La piattaforma ha uno strumento di progettazione di report wysiwyg ed efficaci funzionalità per la pianificazione e il budgeting. IBM Cognos Analytics è disponibile in modalità ibrida e può essere implementato on-premise o come soluzione cloud.

Cons

Il prodotto risulta sicuramente costoso, specialmente se utilizzato in realtà piccole e poco strutturate. Inoltre potrebbe migliorare nell'interfaccia grafica, che risulta poco accattivante e datata

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
DATAWAREHOUSE ARCHITECT  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Enterprise Reporting and Analytics Tool"

October 7, 2020

4.0

It has been a solid tool for our company for last so many years. IT meets out current needs in terms of performance and capabilities. However, as we start exploring more cutting edge technologies like cloud, SAAS and Advanced Analytics, we see the tool is not in the top 3.

Pros

Well established took with huge user base and support. Being IBMs main BI tool, it comes with a lot of Support and Knowledge Base. There are tons of supporting products for Advanced Analytics, Visualization and AI/ML which makes the tool both powerful and versatile. It fits into both departmental BI as well as for Enterprise wide reporting.

Cons

IBM should increase the support the provide for their products. It is difficult to get quick help from IBM.Self service features of the tool and not as easy as other contemporary tools like Tableau and Qlikview. IBM has catching up to do in this area. Also cloud based SAAS is not yet advanced for COGNOS.

Reason for choosing IBM Cognos Analytics

IBM support. We have been an IBM shop since early 200s and continued with that

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Data Analyst  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Cognos- All in one tool for data analytics"

February 3, 2022

5.0

Pros

decreases support because of complete report inclusion and a zero-impression climate. abbreviates detailing time because of consistent reconciliation and versatile composing. Further developed independent direction reports and dashboards present information in handily gotten designs.

Cons

Investment in Cognos R&D by IBM is declining. Won't work smoothly with large data sets having many parameters. Cross-browser compatibility is often problematic.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Sr Cognos Developer, Administrator  
Government Administration  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Business Intellegnce Software with Standard Reporting And Self Service BI"

October 16, 2018

5.0

Overall it is a great product to use

Pros

Cognos Analytics is a flexible software for Standard Business Intelligence Reporting as well as for Self Service Data Visualization capability. You have the option to connect to a variety of the Data Sources as well as Multi-Dimensional Cubes. The new invention of Cognos Analytics software provides a greater flexibility for enterprise deployments and upgrades. It has the new feature of NLP (natural language processing) for predictive analytics by IBM Watson.

Cons

Too many modelling tools (Cognos FrameWork Manager, Dynamic Cube Designer, Cognos Transformer) for modelling the content. Too many studios (Report Studio, Query Studio, Analysis Studio and Event Studio) for report development. Maintainence and cost is huge

Review Source

CA

Catarina A.  
SAP Business Analyst  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "My Review of IBM Cognos Analytics"

June 17, 2020

5.0

I use IBM Cognos daily, as this is the tool made available by SAP Concur to work with Business Intelligence reports. I use it to provide the necessary information to those who require it, and it works more or less like a database, where you can apply SQL language - but in a slightly different format.

Pros

I think this tool is quite good, since it allows the user several functionalities: create and adapt BI reports, automate the export of a report in a set period and for the necessary containers (they do not need a license to receive), etc. . I love working with this tool from IBM. It allows some SQL language, and some configuration features that are very good too.

Cons

One thing I can point out as a cons of this tool, is the fact that it does not always return the correct information (because the user, without knowing it, can mix incompatible information) - and only at a more advanced stage do we notice that the information is not correct - because we have no error information. When we actually have information about the errors, this is also not very detailed, that is, we are left without knowing what the error is anyway. It is difficult to make correct associations in this tool, because it is very restricted in relation to the use of the database and the compatibility of the data between them.

Review Source

Elaine E.  
Analyst  
  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Great capabilities, but really difficult to use practically."

March 17, 2018

4.0

Pros

Cognos Analytics has really great capabilities. There is so much that you can do with the framework if you know what you're doing. Good security features. Good for enterprise level reporting.

Cons

If you're hoping this will replace a dedicated reporting team or IT team, it will not. The ease of use depends on several factors and be SURE that you have an experienced team built the framework. No support whatsoever from Cognos themselves for end users, and they take a long time to get back to us on issues. The new visualizations can be clunky, especially maps. They are unusable for detailed maps. Scheduling features slow down the system considerably.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Principal Manager - Marketing & Communications  
Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Effective Tool for Customer Management"

November 6, 2022

5.0

Great tool for Sales & Marketing Function

Pros

\- Provides great Dashboards- Provides effective Reports- Helps in Data Visualization

Cons

\- Requires training to understand it effectively- Not very intuitive

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
BI Developer  
Banking  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "One Of The Best Self-service BI Software"

January 10, 2020

4.0

one of the best complete solution for delivering insights from data at enterprise level

Pros

the powerful framework manager, allow us to implement complicated logic into model and deliver a package to end user, business user can do ad-hoc report easily.

Cons

steep learning curve for beginners. not mention people who doesn't have BI experience, Had a few new team members from tableau background. the FM package complexity is much more than they have done in the tableau data source.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Information Systems Specialist  
Higher Education  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Great Analytics Tool"

October 24, 2019

5.0

Overall, I would recommend using Cognos Analytics for data analysis. My whole company uses it from daily reporting to more advanced analyses.

Pros

IBM Cognos Analytics is a great data analytics tool. It can handle a lot of data and makes it easy for users to create reports to view their data. I like that it allows for a variety of output formats.

Cons

Cognos Analytics can be hard to learn how to use. You have to really understand your data first so that you can figure out how to make the tool do what you need it to do.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Sr Cognos Developer, Administrator  
Government Administration  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Complete Package for your Analytical Solution"

September 11, 2019

5.0

It is good software but requires a learning curve

Pros

The best thing about this software is that it is a complete package for your BI Solution. The software is good for Standard Reporting as well as Adhoc Reporting. The new Analytics software has dashboarding as well as storytelling.

Cons

Too Many client tools for the same purpose Like Transformer, FM, Dynamic Query Analyser, Data Manager and Decision Stream. Maintenance is the biggest thing.

Reason for choosing IBM Cognos Analytics

It has greater flexibility for Standard reporting as well Dashboarding

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Business Intelligence Analyst & Developer  
  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "I recommended this SW of BI to a company that had several departments to connect and collab together"

April 5, 2018

4.0

uses multidimensional and relational data source transforming data into metadata, Cognos is a complete platform for data experts

Pros

It is a very complete software already from the basic version (it already offers the map graph). it allows real-time monitoring useful also for predictive analysis. It allows you to work anywhere even offline, producing interactive reports being able to consult them even without connection. It's easy to use even without having followed a specific training program. Charts that can be customized at the the maximum level (so complete from this point of view).

Cons

Not captivating and innovative graphics with the times (it seems like an office pack years 2000). when the graphics are very complex they are difficult to display on web pages, they do not always fit. there isn't a feature where you can search where a particular data field is located/stored. The scheduler it's not easy to use and automating the sending of static reports to users is not easy

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Business Process Leader  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "IBM Cognos Report Studio"

March 28, 2019

3.0

I would recommend for company reporting, works great with a big database

Pros

Complex reports can be achieved with IBM Cognos Report studio, great for setting up scheduled reports.

Cons

Interface is not user friendly, certain features are not logically placed.Charts are not great when downloaded into Excel.

Review Source

pR

pavan R.  
IT Manager  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Cognos - A good Enterprise Reporting Tool"

December 12, 2016

3.0

I used Cognos as an analytical tool by linking our ERP (Microsoft Dynamic NAV) to it. All the financial data would be mapped & a lot of customized reports were taken out like Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). The user interface is pretty good. The CUBEs are little confusing but once you get the grip they work very well. The ability to drill down the reports to very basic level is a plus point A little tough to learn & customize. It's a little slow when dealing with a medium amount of data.

Pros

Easily integrating with most of the ERPs, very good for customizing reports, very detailed reporting

Cons

Tough to learn & not many resources available, you will get the value of the money invested in it only if you are able to get the most out of it

Review Source

NC

Nabeel C.  
Finance Manager  
Government Administration  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Cognos Review"

November 18, 2017

4.0

Overall, if there is a company that wishes to automate it's reports and improve efficiency across their organization, Cognos is a must-have tool. There is a bit of upfront cost involved to get the reports created in Cognos but the efficiency achieved is almost unparalleled.

Pros

Cognos is an incredibly powerful reporting tool offered by IBM and it has a wonderful ability to be customized across different industries and companies. It can transform work efficiency but automating virtually any data that exists in a company's primary accounting and finance system.

Cons

Cognos is not very user-friendly and often times it can take a while for an individual working with Congos to get familiar with the functionality and the power this tool possesses. Furthermore, report writing and query studio functionality require some database knowledge so the true power of the tool is sometimes limited by these factors.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Director, Information Technology  
Non-Profit Organization Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Invaluable Business Intelligence"

September 6, 2019

5.0

Data is extremely vital to any organization and the ability to generate useful reports and dashboards on demand across multiple sources is invaluable.

Pros

Scheduling reports, configuring prompt pages on reports for users to run a standardized report with custom filters are both fantastic features that I used hundreds of times across all reporting.

Cons

Report building was intuitive for a power user but average users found it overwhelming. This just meant a bit more training from my department.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Planning Engineer  
  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Cognos review"

October 12, 2017

5.0

helpfully to seeing analytics. I am engineering in mining operation company in Mongolian

Pros

Its all of my majority. Planners are always analyzed in daily productions. Good design, dashboard, pivot tables. That's all i need analyse data and prepare to reports

Review Source

AR

Alvaro R.  
Consultor  
Management Consulting  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "The best software for business forecasts with functionalities for creating scenarios and sandboxes for each user."

June 11, 2017

5.0

TM1 allows you to build business models that display online results available to all authorized users of the organization.

Pros

IBM Cognos TM1 facilitates the creation of business models with the participation and contribution of users throughout the organization regardless of their physical location. TM1 is a enterprise-level platform that allows an integral, flexible, rigorous and perfect control over the users that contribute with the creation of the budget. It allows building multidimensional models that incorporate the business rules that govern the financial processes of the company.

Cons

IBM Cognos TM1 needs to train personnel to administer the platform. The construction of the models requires specialized IT staff. The cost of the licenses is for medium and large companies.

Review Source

CR

CHANDAR R.  
BI SPECIALIST  
Human Resources  
Used the software for: Less than 6 months

### "COGNOS"

November 10, 2016

5.0

Cognos makes it easy to design reports that match the look-and-feel required by the client. Report rendering time is also very fast. Browser support can be touchy and Dynamic Cubes are very hardware intensive.Cognos has strong out of the box capabilities with a wide array of add-ons, and good interoperability with other IBM analytics and data suites

Pros

Compatibility mode queries allow for custom ODBC and JDBC connection to made, so even if there is no native compatibility other databases can still be used as a source if needed. Dynamic Cubes are capable of querying against millions of rows in seconds when properly set up with sufficient hardware resources. Standard Reports are snappy, returning data and rendering quickly, as long as the pagination is kept to reasonable quantities.

Cons

Due to Active Reports packaging all of the data in the file and prerendering charts, file size can get quite large (easily several megabytes) and the initial load time can be quite long when opening it. It is best used for basic overviews and other times when some "flash" is needed, but not a large amount of data. Configuring the interoperability with TM1 and SPSS is a little more on the technical side than most other tasks. You could call the development process "Front heavy" meaning most of the development will be modeling. This means that it will take longer to end up with visualized data than other tools.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
GRP Analyst  
Banking  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Excellent data source"

November 13, 2018

4.0

Excellent, I really like the reports included and the accuracy of the data

Pros

It has a lot of reports included and providing the information needed

Cons

Some reports were not easy to run and I have to go to the home page to run a different report

Review Source

nS

natasha S.  
ITA  
Information Technology and Services  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "valuable yet expensive "

August 23, 2019

5.0

overall its good and it is one of the initiators in the reporting market. We are still using it and find it quite useful to fulfill our client requirements.

Pros

you can combine multiple queries in one report to create your desired report, which can be formatted in multiple ways to meet your desired structure.

Cons

its little bit tricky to handle. You need to understand it thoroughly which actually takes time to began working with it from scratch. Also lacks the graphics and user interface.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Owner  
  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Seems a bit archaic and was not easy to learn how to use"

December 27, 2017

4.0

Pros

Once you have mastered the learning curve and know exactly where to click and what to type to querie your data, you are able to get what you need

Cons

Not intuitive and knowing where to go or click for different queries/reports/data searches and you really need a colleague who has done it before to show you how.

Review Source

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