IBM Controller
What is IBM Controller?
Solution for legal and management consolidation, the closing and reporting process
About IBM Controller
Self-description of the vendor
IBM Controller BARC Review & Rating
Provider and product description
IBM is one of the world’s largest providers of IT hardware, software and services. The company has over 280,000 employees worldwide and operates in more than 170 countries.
IBM offers a comprehensive portfolio of analytics, performance management and advanced analytics solutions. Key offerings include IBM Cognos Analytics (for BI and analytics) and IBM Planning Analytics (for planning, budgeting and forecasting). For financial consolidation, close and regulatory reporting, IBM Controller is part of the performance management portfolio. IBM supports a wide range of deployment options, offering both cloud, on-premises and containerized applications.
IBM Controller is a purpose-built financial consolidation and close product for statutory and management consolidation use cases with predefined dimensions, consolidation calculations and a library of prebuilt reports for data review, system configuration and audit trail. IBM Controller is industry and organization size agnostic and is available in the cloud and on premises. Standard functionality includes currency translation, intercompany reconciliation/elimination, complex ownership handling, multi-GAAP capabilities and options for custom calculations and flexible reporting. In addition to its 200 built-in standard reports and Microsoft Excel add-in reporting option, it can also integrate with IBM Planning Analytics for OLAP-based reporting and planning.
Strengths and challenges of IBM Controller
BARC’s viewpoint on the product’s strengths and challenges.
Strengths
- IBM Controller is a feature-rich and mature financial consolidation and close solution focused on statutory and management consolidation use cases. Currently, IBM is again investing heavily in modernizing IBM Controller with an expanded development team focused on a web client UI/UX refresh, integration capabilities and AI support.
- Includes currency translation, intercompany reconciliation/elimination, complex ownership handling, multi-GAAP capabilities and options for custom calculations as standard functionality.
- Agnostic in terms of industry and organization size.
- Well established and growing partner community with global product support and expertise.
Challenges
- IBM is just starting to invest in the solution again. There has been no major development or investment in IBM Controller for several years. In terms of functionality, it has fallen behind other market-leading financial consolidation products.
- When using different IBM performance management and analytics products, users are faced with different user interfaces and user experiences. However, over the past few years, IBM has continued to improve and standardize the UI and UX of its products to provide a more consistent, integrated user experience.
- Comparatively expensive performance management products, although the cloud versions of the solutions offer alternatives for a lower level of initial investment and faster time to value.
IBM Controller User Reviews & Experiences
The information contained in this section is based on user feedback and actual experience with IBM Controller.
The information and figures are largely drawn from BARC’s The BI & Analytics Survey, The Planning Survey, The Financial Consolidation Survey and The Data Management Survey. You can find out more about these surveys by clicking on the relevant links.
Why users buy IBM Controller and what problems they have using it
- Get independent information on software solutions, market developments and trends in data, analytics, business intelligence, data science and corporate performance management.
- Make data & analytics decisions based on numbers, data, facts and expert knowledge
- Access to all premium articles and all our research, including all software comparison studies, scores and surveys.
- Unlimited access to the BARC media library
- Consume unlimited content anywhere
Full user reviews and KPI results for IBM Controller
All key figures for IBM Controller at a glance.
- Get independent information on software solutions, market developments and trends in data, analytics, business intelligence, data science and corporate performance management.
- Make data & analytics decisions based on numbers, data, facts and expert knowledge
- Access to all premium articles and all our research, including all software comparison studies, scores and surveys.
- Unlimited access to the BARC media library
- Consume unlimited content anywhere
Individual user reviews for IBM Controller
Number of employees
Industry
Source
What do you like best?
Solide Konsolidierungsmaschine mit transparenten Ergebnissen. Zuverlässige Technik in der Regel. Das Setup ist gut überschaubar, und der administrative Aufwand ist eher gering.
What do you like least/what could be improved?
Das Produkt wurde seit Jahren nicht mehr weiterentwickelt und ist technologisch sowie im Anwenderbereich nicht mehr state of the art.
What key advice would you give to other companies looking to introduce/use the product?
Entweder das Produkt als preiswerte Lösung für kleinere Gruppen anbieten (erheblich günstiger) oder die Software neu aufsetzen.
How would you sum up your experience?
Insgesamt ist der Controller ein zuverlässiges und transparentes Konsolidierungssystem. Der Controller war relativ stabil, und die Funktionalität mit FAP und TM1 hat den Lebenszyklus verlängert und eine gute Reporting-Plattform ermöglicht.
