IBM updates Cognos business analytics tools

IBM has added new features to Cognos TM1 and Cognos 8 Controller

IBM has released a number of updates to its performance management software, promising to help chief financial officers get a better grasp of business analytics.

The firm claimed that new features in IBM Cognos TM1 and IBM Cognos 8 Controller will cut planning cycles in half, and reduce reporting cycles from days to minutes.

IBM added that organisations adopting the new tools will be able to handle demands for real-time data while reducing their budgets.

The new features include better business analytics, financial consolidation tools that pull information together and allow for better analysis, and the quicker rollout of planning and analysis tools, according to IBM.

Companies will be able to model likely scenarios for their businesses using Cognos TM1, for example, allowing them to "access information in the right context and engage decision-makers in a structured and automated way, creating an enhanced modelling environment for easier, quicker deployment of planning and analysis applications".

IBM also announced a number of new Blueprints for IBM Cognos Performance, pre-built models that it said can help firms roll out systems quickly.

Likely applications inclde underwriting analysis for insurers, demand planning for consumer goods firms and product profitability and financial analytics tools for other industries, IBM said.