Decision trees drive smart decision-making and efficient data handling
What is our primary use case?
Our customers' main use cases for this solution are everything that needs statistics calculations, then we do it there.
I use the Custom Tables module in IBM SPSS Statistics.
The government office of education is one of my customers for IBM SPSS Statistics, but basically, every enterprise in the country almost uses IBM SPSS Statistics.
Regarding the ability to handle large data sets, the tool has that ability, as we are using very large data sets.
I'm not using the reporting feature of IBM SPSS Statistics; I'm using Cognos on IBM SPSS Statistics data to build the reports.
What is most valuable?
There are so many features of the tool that are the most useful, such as decision trees, which we can't live without.
Decision trees help by making all of our decisions in the company, such as deciding whether to go on a specific technology or to try and sell different products. Every decision we make we do with the decision trees.
Custom Tables helps to enhance data analysis capabilities by basically recreating all the tables that you have from your current data; it's replacing a semantic layer for BI, so the same thing for IBM SPSS Statistics. It's designing the metadata.
The biggest benefit of the IBM SPSS Statistics tool for my customers and me is that it's very old, meaning they have more experience. When the tool was first released, we had customer service that created surveys with the customers asking which way they wanted to go, what they would see within the tool, and what would be helpful. IBM basically created the tool according to this knowledge. It's very suitable, and they're very experienced, so there are no bugs, it's working great, and it's even implemented in every school here that teaches statistics.
It provides efficient and accurate analytics, with quantifiable metrics.
What needs improvement?
I have faced some challenges with IBM SPSS Statistics; you need to know what you're doing because it's not very user-friendly. It's not something a person can come and intuitively work with.
The basic knowledge takes about a week to learn how to use the tool, but if you want to dive deeper, then it takes longer.
To make IBM SPSS Statistics better for the future, I think just the interface needs improvement, as the engine on the back is amazing.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with IBM SPSS Statistics for two to three decades now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very stable. When I sell the licenses, I'm also providing support, and this is one of the few tools that customers never have issues with.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Regarding scalability, it's easy to scale the solution as you can always add more.
How are customer service and support?
I've had a chance to work with the IBM support, and my impression is that it's fine; it's similar to all other vendors. I'm business partners with other vendors, but it's not the best support I've ever had.
If I were to rate the support from one to ten, I would give it a seven.
To achieve a ten for support, I think they should improve the levels of support; the first level of support is where technical knowledge is not sufficient, and the ticket must go through first level, then second level, then third level.
How would you rate customer service and support?
How was the initial setup?
It is easy to set up the solution; just click through the installation process.
If I were to rate the setup from one to ten, I would give it a nine, meaning it's very easy.
What was our ROI?
They see value for their money, meaning a return on investment with this tool.
They see the value in that it saves time when using the decision tree, as it helps you get the right decision and saves a lot of money.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I think the price of the solution is very reasonable.
The cost depends; you have the option for subscription or you can purchase the license. Most of our customers are paying every year for a type of subscription, a yearly subscription.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated other solutions as well of the same category from different vendors, but it was a while ago.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend to those who plan to use IBM SPSS Statistics to use it because it's a really good tool.
I would recommend using it because it's very good, and I really have no issues with it, especially compared to other tools.
On a scale of one to ten, I rate IBM SPSS Statistics a nine.
SPSS review
What do you like best about the product?
It has more features than I thought. I like that it is specialized for statistics.
What do you dislike about the product?
At first, I didn't understand much about how to use the tool, but with videos on YouTube, I was able to follow along with the tool haha
I don't know if my problem is that it's not very intuitive
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It is for medical study activities, I was using it with my partner for their classes.
Robust statistical analysis tool with an intuitive interface
What do you like best about the product?
SPSS offers a clean and structured interface that makes advanced statistical analysis accessible even to users with limited coding experience. I especially appreciate the wide range of built-in tests, its flexibility in handling complex datasets, and how easy it is to visualize outputs. The syntax feature is great for repeatability, and it integrates well with Excel and CSV workflows.
What do you dislike about the product?
SPSS can feel outdated in terms of UI compared to modern tools, and the licensing structure is somewhat rigid and expensive for individual or smaller team use. Also, while it's great for structured analysis, it lacks some of the flexibility and extensibility of open-source alternatives like R or Python when it comes to custom modeling or data wrangling.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It allows me to run advanced statistical tests (like regressions, ANOVA, factor analysis) without having to write extensive code, making it ideal for quick turnaround on research projects, business insights, or academic evaluations.
It’s especially useful when working with large datasets and needing reproducible, presentation-ready outputs. SPSS reduces the learning curve for team members who are less technical while still offering powerful functionality for more advanced users. This has improved the speed and accuracy of our reporting and supported better decision-making in both academic and client-facing environments.
A learning experience
What do you like best about the product?
i liked the user freindly GUI, pretty plain simple and straight. another main feature which i have liked is integration of python/sql into it.
What do you dislike about the product?
i believe the graph and histograms can have little bit modern view. it seems straight out of microsoft excel.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
helping to integrate my sql platfiorm into spss and transform my data is the most important thing that i am getting benefit from it
Pretty good tool and user friendly interface
What do you like best about the product?
its user friendly and I have used it for stats and regression, the output is really easy to interpret
What do you dislike about the product?
Not great for big data, doesn't support advance algorithms
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
SPSS makes it easier to do stats without needing to write any code. It’s great for things like surveys, finding patterns, or running basic tests like regression. I like using it when I need quick results without setting up anything complicated. It’s simple, clear, and helps me get the info I need fast.
Helps a Non-Technical Person As Well
What do you like best about the product?
As a person had never been technical, and more importantly a psychology major in both undergrad and grad school, I loved the interface, as it looked clean and appealing, allowed me to do my work effectively in research, generating outputs that helped me to put together my case studies in a great light. It was easy to setup, and I felt comfortable using it on a daily basis.
What do you dislike about the product?
Sometimes the outputs were a little too intimidating. If I needed to generate other formulas I would have to get some training on it, but fortunately I needed to only know a few things for my research studies (power, significance, F and T ratios).
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It is helping me to generate reports for my psychological research.
Delivers reliable results for academic research and keeps you close to your data.
What is our primary use case?
I used SPSS mainly for tasks such as cross tabs, correlation, regression, and chi-squared tests, which are commonly seen in published papers. I also utilized it for my published papers a long while ago, but nowadays I tend to use Knime. It helps me to ensure good quality data.
How has it helped my organization?
It is quick and easy to use. However, it rather distances you from your data. So, although it is fully featured on the statistical front, it is less useful for machine learnong, where Knime has the edge.
What is most valuable?
SPSS is perfectly adequate if all you want are some results. If you only need the results, you do not require the trail of evidence on how you obtained those results. I mainly used it for cross tabs, correlation, regression, chi-squared tests, and similar analyses often seen in published papers; I used it for my papers as well. For wider uses I find Knime keeps me in touch with my data, however much I transform them.
What needs improvement?
Better guidance both in producing programs and interpreting their output.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SPSS for about 40 years or more, since the first month it was released. For Knime, about 4 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I cannot recall any significant stability issues. SPSS has usually been pretty reliable over the years.
How are customer service and support?
Outstandimg, although it is rarely needed. I have had to pose only 2 queries, both were answered within 24 hours. Both worked.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Recently, I have moved away from SPSS and started using KNIME since it is particularly easier for students. It is also better for data munging.
How was the initial setup?
I did not have to perform the initial setup as it was handled by the university's tech people. There was no problem for me during the setup. Similarly for Knime, which has very strong support, education, lots of pre-built modules available as drag-and-drop, videos, an active Consultation Hub and many extensions which are simple to install and which just seem to work.
What about the implementation team?
What was our ROI?
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
SPSS is horrendously expensiver. On a laptop Knime is free of charge (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I am currently learning to use R with a front end called RStudio, which is widely used by scientists. For beginners, KNIME is easier. This is based on my participation in a webinar by UK data service on R programming language.
What other advice do I have?
I suspect that SPSS is used by many in universities or other organizations with budgets for it. In that context it is often free of charge to end users, with costs covered by the organization, not the individual researcher. This represents a significant financial saving for researchers. After thery graduate, it is different.
I have not been involved in purchasing it for a long time since it is provided by the university where I work.
On an SPSS functionality scale I'd rate the solution six out of ten.
Ibm statistics tool for visualisation
What do you like best about the product?
This tool is very easy to access all menus and user-friendly.
Can get an overview of our data quality
What do you dislike about the product?
Cost is too high for small business.
Can improve visualisation part for better experience.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Understanding weather a difference is meaningful or random error.
"IBM SPSS: Recommended for Data analysts and researchers"
What do you like best about the product?
I would recommend IBM SPSS for researchers, data analysts who need to perform advanced statistical analysis and data visualization.
It provides range of statistical techniques such as inference and data visualization tools such graphs,charts etc.,
Integration with other IBM products is easy and effortless
IBM support is excellent for users.
What do you dislike about the product?
The pricing is overwhelming for beginners and small organizations
Would love more optimized SPSS for big data analytics like other big data engines such as Apache spark or Power BI
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
1. Efficient Statistical analysis
2. Advanced statistical tests that I need , saving my time and effort.
3. Data visualization using charts,graphs so its easy to understand
IBM Statistics Tool
What do you like best about the product?
User friendly and easy to workout and very usefull and more improved tool compare to other tools
What do you dislike about the product?
no easily accessible and cant modify or extend the tool
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
IBM SPSS Statistics is solving the challenges of handling complex data, performing advanced statistical analysis, managing survey data, and creating professional reports. This benefits users by saving time, increasing accuracy, enhancing data-driven decision-making, and making sophisticated analytics accessible to non-experts.
