Crystal Report Challenge 5: Dependence on specialized report writersĬrystal Developer report writers are specialized, and companies find themselves tied to keeping these workers on board, either in a full-time capacity or as a consultant.
However, today’s users tend to demand more self-service features and the ability to access data more dynamically, but to get this from SAP, users must move to BusinessObjects - a considerably more expensive product. The most common use case for Crystal Reports is to provide users with static reports, whether for internal or external use. Crystal Report Challenge 4: Lack of access to data While still supported, it’s a bit of a dinosaur compared to some other software, both within and outside the SAP ecosystem. SAP appears to have shifted its priorities and focus to some of its other products -Crystal Reports was last updated in 2016. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it does mean that a legacy product like Crystal Reports might not get the attention some others do.
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SAP is one of the world’s largest software companies with hundreds of products in its lineup. Crystal Report Challenge 3: Slow pace of development Users of the software find it difficult to navigate, noting a preference for newer software that has a sleeker, more straightforward interface, and better user experience. Despite that, however, the look and feel are still that of a legacy software application. Crystal Report Challenge 2: Difficulty of useĬrystal Reports has added several new features, including dashboards and web access, that users expect in BI software. After factoring in the cost and amount of work required, many organizations simply decide to switch to another software.
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There is no simple migration path from the older versions of the software, so companies performing an upgrade must completely redo their reports. And even once a company shells out the cost of the upgrade, there is work to be done. Many organizations are still operating legacy versions of Crystal Reports, and there is a cost to upgrade to the most current version. One of the downsides to software that has been around so long and through so many permutations is that older versions are not easy to upgrade. Crystal Report Challenge 1: Cost of upgrading There are several reasons this might be the case let’s look at a few of them. They rely on business intelligence software to visualize it and make it actionable and usable.Īs volumes of data grow, however, so do the needs of the businesses that use it, and in some cases, they’re finding Crystal Reports is no longer the right tool for their needs. Businesses are tasked with managing this data and using it to determine growth metrics, business strategies, and more. According to the World Economic Forum, the entire digital universe is expected to be 44 zettabytes in 2020 - that’s a number that was almost incomprehensible 30 years ago. As one would expect from a product that has been around for so long – and one that is owned by software giant SAP – it’s widely used and very popular.Īs the amount of data generated grows, so does the need for software that can make sense of it. Developed in the early 1990s, the original software went through several acquisitions and name changes before its parent company was bought by SAP in 2007, which then rebranded the software as Crystal Reports in 2011. Crystal Reports is practically synonymous with business intelligence (BI).