IBM Cognos vs. InsightSquared

Business Intelligence (BI) software solutions enable you to collect, analyze, and interpret business-critical data to turn it into useful insights that can be used for fact-based decision making. Businesses can use a suite of tools like dashboards, reporting, and data visualization and warehousing to understand customer purchasing patterns and marketing trends. 

These tools help businesses better forecast revenue growth, protect themselves from pitfalls, understand customers, and make sound business decisions based on real-time and accurate information. BI software gathers data from a business’s internal sources to give owners a better view of the organization’s performance.

Let’s compare two popular BI software choices: IBM Cognos vs. InsightSquared. We’ll consider their integrations, features, and pricing models to help you come up with a sound choice for your business’s BI software needs. Feel free to utilize our Product Selection Tool to find more options and receive five software recommendations from our Technology Advisors that are tailored to your business’s needs. It only takes five minutes and it’s free and easy to use. 

IBM Cognos vs. InsightSquared: An overview

IBM Cognos is a BI software product equipped with tailored solutions for collecting, analyzing, and transforming data into useful insights. As the upgraded version of IBM Cognos Business Intelligence designed for medium to large-sized businesses, it has core features such as dashboards, reports, analysis, real-time monitoring, forecasting, and advanced data visualization. Its advanced features include collaboration, performance scorecards, strategy management, and financial planning and analysis. Users can build dashboards with comments and annotation capabilities. IBM Cognos allows for on-the-go use through its mobile integration that users can utilize for report making and sharing.

InsightSquared is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and serves numerous companies all over the world. It has analytics designed for businesses with staffing, finances, marketing, sales, and support services. Its sales tools come with Salesforce integration and creates objective performance analysis and predictions based on evidence. Marketing tools help businesses generate leads, analyze campaigns, and identify times with highest conversion leads. InsightSquared equips revenue operations professionals with real-time and actionable intelligence on marketing and sales KPIs.

Read also: 16 Tableau Alternatives For Visualizing And Analyzing Data

IBM Cognos vs. InsightSquared: A comparison of features

IBM Cognos offers the following features:

• Scorecarding: IBM Cognos helps management establish quantifiable goals and targets for employees. It monitors business performance across subsidiaries, geographic regions, and units and lets users take corporate strategy that can be communicated at an operational level of the organization.
• Query and reporting: This BI software comes with an easy-to-manage information system that promotes sound business decision making. Its pre-built reports come from professional design authors. Users can use these pre-built reports or customize their own using easy-to-access information necessary for data-based decision making.
• Collaborative BI: IBM Cognos provides a centralized and searchable corporate memory where users can learn from past business data and foster stronger professional relationships.
• Analysis: With IBM Cognos, both general business users and financial analysts can find information they need in real-time. The information ranges from simple to advanced analysis that financial analysts require.
• Dashboarding: Users can personalize content to suit their decision making ways. IBM Cognos secures data from various time horizons and moves from insight to action.

InsightSquared comes with its own set of features:

• Sales analytics: InsightSquared comes with pre-built sales reports that allow users to uncover insights from historical CRM data. It has pre-built and ready-to-use reports to help manage pipeline, forecast sales, and coach.
• Activity capture: The software automates CRM data entry from all key tools. After InsightSquared syncs key sales activity and engagement, it writes the data back to CRM for sales’ use. 
• Marketing analytics: InsightSquared comes with analytics dashboards that connect to any data source with ease. It provides a full picture of the revenue-generating lifecycle. With the software, sales and marketing speak the same language where dashboards and reports allow evidence-based decisions on current and future spend.
• AI-forecasting: With Artificial Intelligence (AI), businesses can get rid of error-filled spreadsheets by balancing manual inputs with activity capture. InsightSquared streamlines and automates forecast submissions.

IBM Cognos vs. InsightSquared: A comparison of prices

IBM Cognos sets different pricing models for users and administrators. Three licenses are offered for users: Standard, Enterprise, and Workgroup. A four-tier licensing model is offered to administrators: Analytics Explorer, Analytics Administrator, Information Distribution, and Analytics User Authorized. Subscribers will receive documentation, webinars, and in-person training. Interested parties can contact the vendor directly to request a quote.

InsightSquared has a three-tier pricing model: Professional, Enterprise, and Starter. The software does not publicly provide costs for the plans but welcomes inquiries and quote requests from interested parties. It is important to contact the vendor directly to ensure that your business gets the features it needs.

IBM Cognos vs. InsightSquared: A comparison of integrations

IBM Cognos integrates with apps such as pcFinancials, NetDispatcher, Captio Expenses, Limelight, SAP Fieldglass, Workpuls, Key Survey, and CommandCenterHD. The software comes with its own set of studios that allow for efficient data access such as Cognos Data Manager, Cognos Framework Manager, Cognos Connection, Cognos Metrics Studio, Cognos Query Studio, Cognos Analysis Studio, and Cognos Report Studio.

InsightSquared can be used with other apps like Salesforce Sales Cloud, Bullhorn, Zendesk, Marketo, Kayako, Scribe Online, and Rivery.

Takeaways: IBM Cognos vs. InsightSquared

BI software solutions help businesses make sense of the data they produce, which makes it important for business owners to carefully scrutinize options. IBM Cognos is suitable for larger businesses with greater analytics needs while InsightSquared helps with business analytics needs for sales, marketing, finances, staffing, and support. 

Go for InsightSquared if your business is just starting because its features cover different areas and has AI to make tasks simpler and eliminate spreadsheet errors. Go for IBM Cognos if your business demands stricter security and governance. Weigh your options and consider a product’s features that suit your needs and not just its popularity. 

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