SAS Visual Analytics vs. TARGIT

SAS Business Intelligence is more suited to organizations which are already using SAS as the primary software for their analytics needs. Learning curve is relatively shorter for teams already skilled in BASE SAS. For organizations already working with open source software like Julia and Python, it doesn't make much sense to use SAS BI.

Incentivized

Overall, TARGIT is a valuable tool, and more and more associates are realizing this every day. It's become our standard for sales reporting. I would recommend the software for use at other companies, and I often encourage fellow associates to gain access and basic training.

Incentivized

• SAS BI makes it very easy to create interactive dashboards even for someone who is not from an IT background. For some specific requirements, basic knowledge of SQL is good enough.
• A lot of functions have been predefined which makes it very convenient to create dashboards and reports. One doesn't need to be from an IT or a programming background to understand and create dashboards.
• It supports other programming languages like R and also has a seamless API integration with various data management platforms.

Incentivized

• The in-memory cube in the Targit suite is an excellent tool that can replace SSAS in theMicrosoft BI suite of tools. InMemory aggregations are lightning-fast compared to Microsoft SSAS.
• Targit also has a cool HTML5 reporting tool.
• It is a complete suite of BI tools including ETL, cube and reports.

Incentivized

• Business Objects should provide a more consistent mobile/desktop interface so operation between the two is seamless
• Business Objects needs to make it easier to query across disparate data sets such as Oracle to SQL to Mongo DB
• Our installation of Business Objects does not natively allow the export of XLSX documents, only XLS

Incentivized

• I think including the Data Discovery module in the base package instead of charging extra for it would go a long way to making the software better. If you don't have much background with SSIS or SSAS and you do not buy the module, it will be difficult for you to add or modify data sources.
• There are a couple small tweaks to the interface that would be helpful but are far from necessary. For example, unlike an Excel pivot table, you cannot move the measures above the dimensions in a table interface. There are workarounds for this, however.
• I understand the need to make their calculation language as complex as it is, but it still seems like it could be made simpler. It's helpful that it comes with several standard calculations that you can easily add to an object, but if you want to modify a calculation or create your own, it can be more complicated than I would like.

Incentivized

There is no other product that can match SAS. There are some products that can compare to ETL but lack the analytics that SAS has. Others can perform a limited set of analytical procedures but lack the data processing that comes with SAS. Using thin client allows users to access data whenever they have an internet connection.

The use of Targit is widespread throughout our organization. Our users are becoming comfortable with the tool and Targit has allowed our company to truly grasp the concept of Business Intelligence and making better business decisions through the analysis of our data. Our users are not waiting for IT to create reports for them, they have full rich self-service BI with Targit and are able to turn a great analytical idea or ad-hoc query hypothesis into concrete answers with actionable responses within minutes.

SAS BI is good for creating reports and dashboards and then sharing it with the users. It also has ability to manage access to the reports and dashboards but somehow with most of the world moving to open source languages R, Python and Julia, SAS BI feels to be archaic in terms of feature set and integrations it allow[s]. Also, comparing it with other Business Intelligence tools like Tableau and Microsoft BI, the functionality of SAS BI is very limited and doesn't justify the pricing.

Incentivized

Everything on the back end needs to be correct, which sometimes it may not be set up or missing some variables. Some of the more difficult parts of Targit require a lot more attention and object creation to work properly

When you call tech support, you are immediately routed to a person who can answer your question. Often they can answer on the spot. However, if they cannot, you are given a track number and then followed up with. There have been times when I have had multiple track numbers open and they will actually TRACK YOU DOWN to ensure that your problem has been resolved. Issues do not fall into black holes with SAS. They are also willing to do a WebEx with you to diagnose the problem by seeing your environment, which is always helpful.

Everyone I've dealt with at Targit genuinely cares about me and my success, and they respond to questions quickly and accurately. There is literally nothing more I could ask for from their support.

Incentivized

Make sure all of the back end work is done prior to getting Targit set up. Every variable you may need for calculations needs to be correct and every item needs to be uniform so it is read properly.

I have chosen SAS Visual Analytics because one of my colleagues suggests using the software for the same for our work. As earlier, we use to take a lot of time in analyzing the data but after using the SAS Visual Analytics software our work has improved and time has decreased. It's very helpful for us.

Incentivized

While their product is top of the line and works very well for us, we ultimately selected Targit because of their team. We love working with them and they are always super helpful. Whenever we have a request or issue, they are there ready to happily help us resolve it and move forward.

• SAS Visual Analytics licensing cost should be reduced to enable users to use it in mass scale.
• More statistical and mathematical equations and theories should be converted into SAS functions for reusing.
• Because of enriched ETL and reporting capabilities SAS Visual Analytics is most preferred by business users.

Incentivized

• It really has answered questions during decision-making conversations where a task item would have been created with days of turnaround time instead of getting the necessary information within minutes during that same conversation.
• Unified Reporting that maintains in alignment with business needs.

Incentivized