COMMENTS
Disclaimer -
I first started using Adaytum products in 1997, joined the company in 1999, and left Cognos to work independently at the end of 2006. I make my living implementing the Cognos product suite.
Scott -
I came across your blog via way of a Google alert, and having read this post, feel compelled to reply.
It is certainly true that the acquisition of TM1 has given Cognos/IBM some interesting alternatives with regards the future development of the planning products.
However, I can only assume that your comments regarding the functionality and architecture of the existing Analyst and Contributor products are either based on near total ignorance of the facts, or driven by a desire to obfuscate your readers.
Hopefully those coming across this blog will take note of the products that your company generates its revenue from, and draw their own conclusions.
Gerald,
Glad to hear that our blog has generated some interesting discourse, but discouraged that you went immediately to bias in your response.
First some facts.
#1 - Strafford has implemented Cognos and would do so again if a client wanted to do so. As a consultancy focused in financial reporting and budgeting/forecasting we are very capable of implementing any tool our there (and have turned away opportunities to partner and implement just about every major tool in the space). Great luxury of being us -- we are not stuck in any one technology stack and thus that bias is minimal.
#2 - Our business is always driven by the needs of our client base. This base changes over time, but current clients with the most demanding requirements (to us) generally are in the $500m-$5b revenue category.
Any review of client bases across the competitive technologies would tell you that Cognos is nowhere near a market leader in finance among companies with revenue in these areas. So, perhaps our thoughts are biased by the needs of these type of clients.
Now, to your thoughts about Analyst/Contributor we would be interested in your opinion (and a review of the facts) as to major changes in the Planning product since acquired by Cognos.
We know several folks that have been associated with Adaytum -- their view is that Cognos let a pretty good product die on the vine while resisting the need to go with a true multi-dimensional database supporting the product. Thus one of the major areas that creates tons of issues that Cognos clients tell us everyday.
Response?
Perhaps another anecdote -- we spoke with (but did not engage) a major biopharmaceutical company that just traded out 900 Cognos Analyst/Contributor licenses due to failure of the solution along many of the lines we could discuss at length (lack of central db, lack of timeliness in reviewing updated data, need to "publish" reports for view, lack of integration across major areas of forecasting, etc.).
I just simply couldn't make this stuff up, could I? We have been telling folks for the last 2 years that we saw the need for a major update of the Analyst/Contributor product and I believe the facts support our case.
On the future, we now believe we are seeing IBM act to complete that update. It might not be done with a grand announcement, but it is coming. We firmly believe IBM is telling us that Planning is a dead product while Contributor will merge with TM1 to form the end product, thus competing nicely with market leading products from Oracle and SAP.
In some respects time will tell. OTOH, we are engaged in several selling cycles where Cognos reps are pitching this, so should they be successful I think we will see more of this?
Again, I do not think this is negative to Cognos -- they are following the needs of the paying clients, which we all must in the end. It is certainly negative for those that have invested with Planning (and perhaps Contributor) over the past year or two as major change is coming...
Scott
Scott,
I agree with you that changes will come since TM1 acquisition. Unfortunately I didn´t see major updates at Analyst portion of planning solution, only in Contributor, much of then at the back office (bi integration, near real time publishing, portal integration) and a litlle in front office (rules validation and document attachments) now in this last version (8.2, 8.3).
Integration of TM1 and Contributor could be a challenge. Very different environments.
Integration with TM1 and BI portion is on the way, maybe released to the end of this year.
I believe in major improvements in TM1 to scale the database for use of thousands of users without then need of application redesign and maybe incorporating some unique Planning Analyst functionality like virtual dimensions and BIFs.
Best regard,
Pablo Labbe