Sisense vs BusinessObjects

Last Updated:

Our analysts compared Sisense vs BusinessObjects based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Business Intelligence Tools, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

BusinessObjects Software Tool

Product Basics

Sisense is an end-to-end data analytics platform that makes data discovery and analytics accessible to customers and employees alike via an embeddable, scalable architecture. With a back-end powered by in-chip technology, it allows analysts to blend large datasets from a variety of sources into a single cohesive database for the entire company. On the front-end, users of all technical skill levels can craft visualizations, reports and dashboards to explore and share insights that drive businesses forward. Its AI-driven, cloud-native analytics offering, Fusion, embeds into business workspaces and empowers teams to view key metrics and data insights where they work.

Designed for companies of all sizes, it can be deployed on-premises, as a private cloud-hosted SaaS, as a fully managed SaaS or via a hybrid strategy. It is available via annual subscription pricing and offered in three packages: its main offering BI & Analytics Teams, its embedded analytics component Product Teams and code-driven cloud analytics through Cloud Data Teams.
read more...
BusinessObjects is a suite of business intelligence (BI) tools that helps organizations collect, analyze, and visualize data to make better decisions. It's most suited for large enterprises with complex data needs, as it offers a wide range of features and capabilities. Key benefits include improved data visibility, enhanced decision-making, and increased productivity. Popular features include data modeling, reporting, ad hoc querying, and dashboards. User experiences highlight its ease of use, robust functionality, and scalability, though some note its potential for complexity and higher learning curve. Compared to similar products, BusinessObjects often stands out for its comprehensiveness and integration capabilities. Pricing is typically based on a per-user or per-named-user basis, with annual subscription fees.

Pros
  • Easy to use
  • Robust features
  • Scalable
  • Comprehensive
  • Integrates well
Cons
  • Can be complex
  • Steeper learning curve
  • Costly
  • May require training
  • Can be resource-intensive
read more...
$1,500 Monthly, Freemium
Free Trial is unavailable →
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
$5,000 Annual
Free Trial is unavailable →
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Brings Intelligence to Every User: Empower every user with data literacy via access to an intuitive data workflow. Leverage self-service BI to connect, mash up, blend and analyze data in a user-friendly, visual framework that is easy to manipulate. 
  • Optimizes Data Prep: Eliminate barriers between analysts and the data they need to reach answers through single-stack technology. Reduce the time needed for data prep and clean data within the interface without changing any of the original data in its source. Perform error-free analysis with better quality assurance. Incorporate everything from a database to ETL to analysis to visualizations within a single architecture in an end-to-end BI system.
  • Delivers Analysis Quickly: Through its proprietary AI-powered in-chip technology, perform thousands of queries on massive amounts of data and return results at faster speeds with in-memory processing, allowing for more efficient decision making.
  • Keeps Data Secure: Leverage advanced machine learning, detect anomalies in the data and send alerts instantly. Set role-based access restrictions, safeguard sensitive data from users who shouldn’t have access to it, and maintain greater oversight and transparency. Offer scalable data security protocols at the process level, system level, object level and data level to ensure tight security. Incorporate built-in recovery and audit strategies to prevent data loss as well as protect the organization’s audit trails.
  • Uncovers Actionable Insights: Make predictions and business decisions based on facts by analyzing data trends and identifying patterns. Improve business practices, reduce oversight errors, boost ROI and streamline general business efficiency. Utilize smart suggestions to best-match visualizations, uncover patterns and highlight trends in data. Build narratives that facilitate deeper interaction with data, and keep a digital assistant analyst at the ready.
  • Promotes Collaboration: Collaborate with others to share reports and insights on KPIs and goals, while ensuring data security compliance by keeping users on a secure network.
  • Offers Customization: Customize the platform to meet users’ needs via an open API framework. Only pay for features they’ll use and get exactly what they want out of a BI tool.
  • Scalable: Agilely adapt to users’ needs. Minimize costs via reasonable pricing and grow with business. Scale to tens of thousands of users and terabytes of data, while powering complex analysis with in-chip machine learning technology.
  • Provides Insights On-the-Go: Stay connected to data that fuels business decisions even while on the move. Access dashboards on any device and elect to receive notifications and real-time updates.
  • Try Before You Buy: Test it hands-on through a 14-day free trial. 
read more...
  • Real-Time Analysis: Connects to a range of data sources, including other SAP applications, to deliver real-time data and up-to-the-minute updates, so users are never behind the times. 
  • High-Volume Delivery: Distributes content over a large organization to ensure all users have real-time access to data, visualizations and collaboration. 
  • Extensive SAP Ecosystem: Integrates and connects seamlessly with other SAP tools through built-in APIs. This extends usability and draws data directly from a range of SAP systems. 
  • Self Service: Users of all technical levels can manipulate data, explore trends, create visualizations and share them with others without waiting for a data scientist to deliver insights. 
  • Enterprise-Grade: As one of the largest software providers in the world, it offers a robust solution that can handle the largest, most complex data sets for any size enterprise. 
  • Intuitive Visualizations: Create a variety of intuitive visualizations from data, making patterns and trends more apparent and transferring information more efficiently than numbers or text reports. 
  • Better Business Decisions: Historical patterns and data tracking helps identify trends and make accurate predictions for the future. Make data-driven business decisions and implement proven best practices. 
read more...
  • In-Chip Analytics: Free up processing power for other tasks, improve the speed of processing and reduce downtime caused by overworked RAM or disks. Combine a columnar database with smart algorithms in an in-chip cache. Choose between either disk or RAM, rather than solely disk or RAM, as an alternative to in-memory processing.
  • Data Connectivity: Draw from many different data sources and formats with hundreds of built-in connectors with cloud applications such as Zendesk and Salesforce. Drag and drop to import from databases and spreadsheets. Pull directly from CRMs or embed the BI interface into the CRM, providing versatility in workflow options.
  • Data Blending: Blend huge datasets from a range of sources instantly into one centralized location, and receive a holistic view of all data. Investigate further through slicing, dicing and exploration of data via a simple, accessible interface.
  • Data Visualizations: Organize user data into easy-to-understand visualizations like bar charts, scattergrams, pie charts, line graphs, interactive maps, etc. Access a rich library of prebuilt graphics and widgets or open source designs, and easily manipulate them from within an intuitive UI. 
  • Interactive Dashboards: Drag-and-drop to build interactive dashboards that encourage deeper data exploration. Help users to build widgets and filters, and leverage AI-assisted exploration and automatic analysis to provide further insight. 
  • Real-Time Insights: Set up and maintain live connections to data and monitor dashboards in real time. Establish push notification alerts to receive automatic updates when changes to KPIs occur. 
  • Single-Stack System: Perform a range of data preparation tasks, such as exploration, analysis, visualization and collaboration, without needing to switch to other platforms.
  • Publish and Share: Enable everyone in an organization to access and filter information with web-based dashboards. Publish a dashboard with one click and open it to the entire company for easy access without needing to download files.
  • Augmented Intelligence: Leverage Sisense Pulse, powered by machine learning algorithms, to continually monitor KPIs and receive proactive alerts when anomalies and variations are detected. Automate previously manual tasks and data-driven workflows, personalize the BI experience with a tailored command center and deliver a dynamically updated feed that keeps users up to date.
  • Embedded Analytics: Turn data into data products that deliver BI to clients with a white label solution in Product Teams.
  • R Integration: Perform predictive analysis and access better BI reporting and decision-making through R programming language.
  • Add-Ons: Extend the functionality of the platform by downloading and equipping any number of free and premium native and third party extensions from the marketplace.
  • Natural Language Processing: Empower users of all data literacy levels to derive the full value of their insights through natural language generation with Sisense Narratives. Simplify into everyday language the complexities of data analysis for accessibility and easier understanding through AI-generated text-based insights.
  • Mobile BI: Access BI on-the-go directly from iOS and Android phones with a native app that renders mobile-optimized responsive dashboards with touchscreen integration. Alternatively, access the platform through a browser from any laptop, tablet or smartphone, no downloads or installation required.
read more...
  • Native Mobile Apps: Take visualization features like charts, reports and more on the go with native iOS and Android apps. 
  • Pre-Built Data Connectors: Draw data from over 25 pre-set sources such as SAP HANA, Apache, Hadoop, Hive, Cloudera, Impala, Amazon, IBM and many more. 
  • Integrations: Provides powerful integration capabilities with other applications such as CRM, ERP, web applications and more. Includes SAP tools and others like the Microsoft Suite. 
  • Data Discovery: Collects, cleans and analyzes data from a variety of sources to help users identify trends and patterns. 
  • Data Transformation: Converts data between formats and structures — organizes and structures unstructured data into usable information. 
  • Visualizations: Generates graphical data visualizations such as bar charts, pie graphs, scattergrams, line plots, maps and more. 
  • Secure Collaboration: Users can securely share visualizations with team members, clients and others through email, web embedding and other platforms. 
read more...

Product Ranking

#11

among all
Business Intelligence Tools

#14

among all
Business Intelligence Tools

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

80
we're gathering data
82
we're gathering data
49
we're gathering data
100
we're gathering data
Show More Show More

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Sisense
BusinessObjects
+ Add Product + Add Product
Advanced Analytics Augmented Analytics Data Management Data Pre-processing Data Transformation Data Visualization Embedded Analytics Capabilities Geospatial Visualizations And Analysis Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Reporting 82 49 100 100 97 87 93 68 47 83 87 0 25 50 75 100
77%
0%
23%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
46%
0%
54%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
100%
0%
0%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
100%
0%
0%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
90%
10%
0%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
77%
0%
23%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
86%
0%
14%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
50%
13%
37%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
43%
0%
57%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
78%
0%
22%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
75%
13%
12%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

100%
0%
0%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
96%
0%
4%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
86%
0%
14%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
88%
13%
-1%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A

User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 1979 reviews
Great User Sentiment 1869 reviews
88%
of users recommend this product

Sisense has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 88% when considering 1979 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

81%
of users recommend this product

BusinessObjects has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 81% when considering 1869 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

5.0 (22)
n/a
4.3 (720)
3.8 (237)
4.5 (357)
4.2 (158)
4.4 (765)
4.2 (722)
4.4 (115)
3.9 (752)

Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Sisense and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Data Pre-processing.

Data Pre-processing Award

we're gathering data

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Customer Service and Support : More than 92% of users mentioning customer support said that responses to their queries were prompt and informative, and that there’s good access to online user communities.
Data Integration: Approximately 92% of users who mention data source integrations express satisfaction with its ability to import, blend and streamline data from multiple sources into a cohesive database.
Data Visualization: Citing stunning dashboards with a range of visually powerful visual tools like widgets, graphs and scattergrams, 85% of users who mention data visualization say it’s a strong feature of Sisense.
Ease of Use: More than 93% of users mentioning the platform’s ease of use praise it as user-friendly, citing self-service BI features such as interactive dashboards and data visualizations.
Cost: Among users who comment on its pricing, more than 85% said that Sisense offers great value for its cost, with some reviews coming from long-time customers.
Show more
Ease of Use: It is a straightforward and easy to use platform, as noted by over 65% of reviewers who mention ease of use.
Flexible Reporting: Around 84% of the reviewers who specify reporting state that it offers a flexible reporting feature to fit individual needs.
Integration: It enables integration with SAP products and third-party software, as observed by 89% of the users referring to integration.
Customization: It provides highly customizable tools and options, as noted by 88% of reviewers who specify customization.
Show more
Data Preparation and Modeling: About 50% of users who mentioned data modeling say that it is not as intuitive for non-technical staff, requiring strong IT support.
Training: More than 60% of users who write about learning how to use the platform say that with frequent new releases, a lack of sufficient documentation, coupled with the difficulty of using a programming language make this a tricky tool to master.
Show more
Learning Curve: It involves a steep learning curve for beginners, as stated by 80% of the users mentioning the learning curve.
Implementation: Over 80% of reviewers who discussed implementation report that the process is cumbersome.
Pop-ups: Error messages and pop-ups are technical and hard to decipher, as observed by 100% of reviewers who refer to pop-ups.
Performance: Around 86% of the users who specify performance report that it becomes slow and crashes at times when multiple prompts are opening.
Show more

Users appreciate how Sisense creates large datasets from constantly evolving data sources to be seamlessly streamlined into actionable data, and presented easily in the form of graphs, bar and pie charts, scattergrams, line graphs, interactive maps and many more visualization types. Regarding customer support, users praise their prompt and informative responses - from implementation to handling subsequent queries — as high quality customer service that comes neatly packaged with pricing plans. Users mention that the implementation of this solution, though easy for basic setup, can be quite demanding in terms of scripting and configuration setup, especially for advanced analytics. Non-technical users might find it challenging to set up the data objects - ElastiCubes - without strong IT support. On the front-end, dashboard customization and formatting of visualizations can be tricky as these require basic knowledge of CSS, Javascript and development. Though a large number of users find this solution to be cost-effective, smaller businesses and startups that only need a limited number of licenses might find it expensive. Overall, Sisense is a strong BI solution with strong data capabilities, and its drill-down functionality empowers users to glean insightful and actionable analytics that drive business strategy by aiding in decision-making processes. To maximize its potential, businesses may require strong IT support for implementation and formatting of visualizations. It is certainly worth considering for enterprise BI needs, if the price is right!

Show more

User reviews for BusinessObjects paint a picture of a powerful BI tool with both strengths and weaknesses. On the positive side, users praise its comprehensive features, enabling them to tackle complex data challenges. "It's like a Swiss Army knife for data analysis," one user says, "from basic reports to advanced modeling, it's got it all." This feature depth is often contrasted with simpler competitors, with users appreciating the ability to handle diverse needs without needing multiple tools. However, the learning curve can be steep, especially for non-technical users. "It's not exactly drag-and-drop for beginners," another user admits. This complexity can lead to frustration and require investment in training, which some users find less intuitive compared to competitors. Despite the learning hurdle, many users highlight BusinessObjects' scalability and integration capabilities as its main differentiators. "It seamlessly connects with our existing systems," one user notes, "saving us time and effort." This smooth integration is often lacking in competitors, making BusinessObjects a preferred choice for organizations with complex data ecosystems. Overall, user reviews suggest BusinessObjects is a powerful and versatile BI tool best suited for organizations with complex data needs and the resources to support its learning curve. Its comprehensive features and integration capabilities set it apart, making it a strong contender for those seeking a robust BI solution despite the initial investment required.

Show more

Screenshots

Top Alternatives in Business Intelligence Tools


Cognos Analytics

Domo

GoodData

Grow

Logi Symphony

Looker Studio

MicroStrategy

Oracle Analytics Cloud

Power BI

Qlik Sense

QuickSight

SAP Analytics Cloud

SAS Visual Analytics

Spotfire

Tableau

Related Categories

Head-to-Head Comparison

WE DISTILL IT INTO REAL REQUIREMENTS, COMPARISON REPORTS, PRICE GUIDES and more...

Compare products
Comparison Report
Just drag this link to the bookmark bar.
?
Table settings