April 30th 2018 is the key date. If you are currently running IBM Cognos 10.x this is a date that should be inked into your diary, preferably in rather large type. Why? That’s because this is the date when IBM will withdraw support for the product and instead focus on Cognos 11, or Cognos Analytics as its now called.
In terms of what this means for you, ideally you’ve been planning for this change and everything’s lined up to ensure it’s a nice smooth transition for your business. However, if this is all news to you, don’t panic for help is at hand!
Drop the SWBI team a line at 0117 287 2547 and we’ll guide you through the process.
It’s more than just a lack of future 10.x patches and updates that should encourage you to upgrade to Analytics. Set out below are some of the rich new features which will transform your existing business intelligence experience for the better.
1. The New Interface
The interface has been completely overhauled and now enables users to undertake “data discovery” and “traditional BI reporting” all in the one space.
2. New Features and Functionality
Tell rich data stories with enhancements that let users easily create both infographics and layouts to guide the flow of your message. You can also use the new visualization engine with an expanded range of supported chart types.
3. Intent-Driven Modeling
There is a lot of smart technology built into Cognos Analytics and it is all based on IBM Watson technology. Need to build a report on sales and product but not sure which tables to pull data from within the database? Now you can use natural language to search for answers.
4. Data Discovery
This is a feature that Cognos has struggled with in the past but has been addressed in Cognos Analytics with enhanced data modules and dashboarding.
5. Dashboard Creation
The dashboarding capability of the Cognos solution has been completely overhauled and now offers the ability to just drag and drop data onto the screen to see the visualization change to suit the analysis.
6. Analytics anywhere
You can view the same reports on both your desktop and mobile device; you can even author them directly from your mobile!
7. Upload Data Files
Users can upload data files allowing them to store data from delimited text and Excel files in a high-speed columnar storage format on the file system rather than in-memory or in an RDBMS.
8. Out-the-box geospatial mapping
Cognos Analytics has added powerful geospatial mapping to its repertoire of reporting capabilities.