Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) Reviews

So my use case was on migration.  I've been using these products for migration activities. And providing any QA solution for the integration to other platforms like Databricks.

There are newer technologies in the market that offer better solutions compared to traditional ETL operations. For example, if we use Spark on Databricks, it's more optimized and runs much faster due to its backend capabilities. Whereas Informatica Inc.'s Cloud Services provide cloud-based solutions. The ETL works on the Informatica engine, which is comparatively slow. But the compatibility of data and other integration and data warehouse works well for IICS.

The interface is really good. Another valuable feature is that it is user-friendly.

There are a few improvements which can be done. So those are on data governance and making an image of each object that is being created on top of Informatica, I mean, on top of applications. So those need areas to be improved.

The logging methods are really traditional. So logging, in order to track any operations happening on this interface, will catch a log file. That needs to be more precise.

In future releases as well, I would like to see additional features. So there is no platform where code conversion can happen easily. For example, if you want to move Informatica jobs in various areas, it's quite easy and straightforward. But still, you require some manual intervention for code changes that need to be done throughout the platform. So these things need to be improved. 

And other things are the compatibility of other services. For example, if you have a running Spark code and you want to run the Spark code into Informatica IICS, which is not compatible, so you need to rewrite the whole syntax to make it compatible. So those are the areas that really need improvement.

I have been using Informatica for three years. We currently use the version Informatica Cloud IICS.

Stability is good. I would rate it a seven out of ten. 

Scalability is good since from on-prem to cloud, there's a huge performance boost. So on a scale from one to ten, I would rate it eight.

The setup is complex. Because it's not about the data; it's about the complexity of the pipeline, the complexity of models which have been designed for data engineering. And it's not something straightforward, and the migration cost goes higher on this aspect for this reason.

We have multiple platforms with it. Some of them are running on-prem, and some of them are running on the cloud.

There is definitely an ROI because many companies are preferring to put data in the cloud, and they want to reduce the migration cost. So without any major efforts or challenges in the migration activities, if that's the case, then moving from Informatica on-prem to IICS is a better choice.

Comparatively, other services are providing a lower price, but since moving from Informatica on-prem to IICS, the pricing factor is much better. So when we compare two platforms of the same vendor, it's a good price.

On the evaluation, I have personally evaluated the migration work that I have done. So it is really easy for Informatica users who have been using the same on-prem product. For them, there won't be any challenges in learning any technical aspects of the cloud. So it is almost straightforward. And there are good services provided by Informatica, like integrated things and driver compatibility. So, everything looks much better when it is in the cloud.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Informatica Cloud Data Integration is being used to transform data. Primarily, it is for creating data pipelines.

Informatica Cloud Data Integration is being used to transform data. Primarily, it is for creating data pipelines.

Integration is a valuable feature. Currently, the integration makes our security more robust, especially when compared to IICS, where we would need to make arrangements through native or other ways to handle that, and here using sum up makes our lives easier.

With the solution, we had some issues, and we have every day, and we used to open a ticket. Sometimes, there are data issues and transformation issues. So things are not very mature. They need to improve in the aforementioned areas. We are hoping that it will be sorted out in some time, and we will get to experience a hassle-free life.

My company does business with Informatica. We are using their product. I have been using Informatica Cloud Data Integration for four to five years. I am an end user of the solution. Also, I am using the solution's latest version.

I think they are working. Their engineers are still working on some transformations and some features. It is not as stable as they are thinking, but in the last two years, we have seen good progress. So, we are hoping for a similar thing in the future as well. So it is scalable. But, stability-wise, I think that a more stable version is going to come.

I think it is a scalable product. Around a hundred users are using the solution in my company.

The support is very good. On a scale of one to ten, I rate the technical support between eight and ten.

Positive

So we've got many solutions. Not before going to Informatica, but we were evaluating and working with other sets of tools as well. So, on AWS, it is EMR and Glue. We quite frequently use Glue for data pipelines. We also use SAP S/4HANA for delegation. I like IPC and IICS because I have experience in them for the last fifteen years, and I'm working using the same tools. So, I mean, it is my biased opinion. Otherwise, since I have not caught exposure to the other tools in the market that the people in my company are using in different teams, I don't have much exposure to them. Had I gone through those experiences, I would probably have recommended some other tools as well. Currently, I'm in this industry using this tool only, so I recommend it only for that reason. 

The initial setup was very easy. Currently, we are in a deployment process. We've not yet orchestrated that part, but we are in the process of creating the deployment pipelines.

I have deployed the solution on the cloud. Also, there is no maintenance required for the solution.

Cost-wise, I think it is on the higher side, and that is why we are looking for some better options. Licensing costs are huge compared to other players in the market and for my company.

It's a good tool to start with in the beginning.

The product is maturing and has not matured yet. If I look at the market, there are other tools that are providing this stable solution. I rate the overall solution between five to six out of ten.

We use Informatica as our one-stop cloud integration solution. We are connecting two different data systems like SAP or Salesforce, integrating on-site financial data with some applications that process financial information like an ERP to plan budgets and forecast revenue. I'm creating a data warehouse and using that with tools like Power BI to create reports and dashboards.

Informatica is good for integrating data and cloud applications. We have connectors for integrating cloud applications like Salesforce. You can quickly integrate anything with an exposed API or a REST API.  The industry is increasingly shifting to the cloud, so we need more products that can connect to cloud-based applications. The integration is seamless and works in real time. It's also secure because you don't need to expose databases or tables. 

There is room for improvement at the highest level in terms of useability and connectors for various types of new applications. The row processing performance could be better because you experience some latency dealing with high volumes of data. Most organizations will be dealing with multiple cloud applications, so you could see performance issues moving from one system to another. 

I have worked with Informatica products for about seven or eight years.

I rate Cloud Data Integration seven out of 10 for stability. Even though Informatica is based in the cloud, it still depends on a secure agent deployed on-prem. The performance of the individual machine where you install the gateway can affect the stability. 

I rate Cloud Data Integration eight out of 10 for scalability. 

I rate Informatica support eight out of 10. They have a dedicated customer success portal where you can search a lot of knowledge base articles that tell you how to use Informatica in various scenarios. You can also use the portal to raise a support ticket describing your scenario, what you hope to achieve, and where you're having problems. The technical support responsiveness and dedicated customer support are decent enough. 

Positive

I have some experience with Azure Data Factory, and I worked with another Informatica product called PowerCenter. I switched to Informatica Cloud Data Integration because my customers' needs changed. More companies began prioritizing clouds. As developers, we also needed to scale up our services.

I'm not aware of the exact licensing cost because the senior management handles that, but I know that products like Azure Data Factory are less expensive than Informatica. At the same time, Informatica gives you more options and connectors. Everything is possible, whether you want to do API-based integration, traditional data integration, etc. 

Azure Data Factory is more useful for connecting with the Azure cloud. You can also play around with the native data integration tools that other cloud providers offer, like GCP or AWS.

I rate Informatica Cloud Data Integration eight out of 10. I recommend Informatica as an integration tool for large and medium-sized enterprises migrating to the cloud. Cost is something to keep in mind because Informatica might be too pricey for smaller companies. Large and medium-sized companies can easily afford it if they plan to use it as a one-stop solution for all their cloud integration and management needs.

If you need a middle layer to build your pipeline, that can be achieved using Azure Data Factory or any other data integration tool. Still, Informatica has some advantages in terms of connectors and help desk resources. When you contact the Informatica help desk, you can speak with engineers who helped develop the Informatica platform, so they have rich experience with integration technologies. The product itself is highly reliable and suitable for your integration needs. 

Azure Data Factory has almost 80 percent of the same features, and it might work for you if you have a Microsoft ecosystem. Using Data Factory is cheaper. However, if you're a large or medium-sized organization or a reseller and your data is more valuable, it might make more sense to use Informatica at that scale. You'll be interacting with many more types of applications and might need to integrate the applications in various ways.

We primarily use the solution for data integration as well as application integration.

Currently, we have a multiple-source system. With Oracle ERP, it's very hard to pull data from Oracle ERP, since it's API based. Therefore we have to make use of Informatica Application Integration to pull data from Oracle ERP.

We are pulling our supplier information, customer data, and data for projects related to information.

It's a beautiful tool. It eliminates the use of a third party or some other tool as it provides beautiful functionality.

In an earlier version, when we are working with an on-premise tool, it was hard since we had to concentrate on the configuration, et cetera. However, now, when we are working with the cloud, most of the time it's very easy to handle.

Data integration happens seamlessly and is pretty fast.

The application integration will give you more flexibility when dealing with APIs.

Every week, we seem to get notifications of new features and updates. They are always trying to improve the product. 

When we're dealing with huge amounts of data, we need to reach out to Informatica. There are some kinds of API records that we need to modify configurations for. 

Application integration, as compared to data, is a bit slow, and it can't handle millions of records.

There could be a lot more application integration. Like data integration, we find there are a lot of places where we can go ahead and improve performance. When it comes to application integration as a developer, we don't have that much flexibility. We have constraints. Our hands are tied, and we can't do anything. We need to speak with either the target system or the core system and say, "Okay, do this thing." 

I've been working with the solution for more than two years. 

It is a stable, reliable product. Sometimes there is a bug or a cache issue. We might get an error when connecting and when that happens, we reach out to support. We find it's a pretty common issue. It might be a glitch. 

It is very scalable. We have some challenges around application integration, and that requires speaking with support. We tell them we need to change a configuration to a specific size. They can assist us when that happens. That's only for application integration, not data integration. With the cloud, we can easily handle millions of records of data.

A variety of people use the solution in our company. There are 50 to 500 users, approximately. 

Technical support seems to take their time in responding. We'd like a faster reaction time. Sometimes it takes one to two days to get a response.

Positive

We did not previously use a different solution. Currently, we're working with data and application integration with Informatica only.

We've mostly dealt with on-premises deployments. As a developer, most of the time, we face a lot of challenges, which are overcome when it comes to Informatica Cloud. Informatica Cloud is much more convenient, as well as fast, and gives good performance as well. With the cloud, we don't have to install software and there aren't any dependencies. It's much more convenient and easy with Informatica Cloud.

The deployment hardly takes more than a few minutes. 

When it comes to the cloud, there is no maintenance necessary. Informatica takes care of any support tasks. They do the updating, et cetera, as well. 

We handled the initial setup in-house. There were no third parties involved in the deployment process. 

We have not looked at ROI.

The solution is subscription-based. Users are charged based on how many resources are used.

The pricing is pretty good. I'd rate it 8.5 to nine out of ten. 

We did not evaluate any other solutions previously. Our client already had this as a pre-existing tool and did not want to switch. 

I'm working with the latest version of the solution. 

Informatica is a stable, easy tool. New users should go and explore it. There is improvement required in Informatica Application Integration; not the cloud.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. We're quite happy with the product. 

The client has integrated all their internal systems and external systems using Informatica Cloud Data Integration, including all transactional information for different systems, such as SAP ECC or SAP HANA as a business intelligence suite. The solution is used to exchange data between the invoices in Italy and USA, and to exchange information about materials using all sectors around the world. We use the solution to establish a connection between different systems. For example, to generate payments for different companies such as human services, data warehouses, and external companies.

The solution is straightforward. We can build on a process the first time and implement it. In one single view, it's possible to understand, make the connections, define the strategies, monitor the process, and verify performance.

The solution is a unique platform that makes high-velocity development possible, independently from the connection. The connection is fantastic because the solution has connectors for all types of external systems, SAP, Salesforce, and different databases working on the cloud or on-premises.

We can implement Data Integration with Data Quality in the same platform, using just one license to implement. It's not necessary to install different types of platforms or features and the solution is user-friendly.

The solution has great integration with metadata management.

The main issue preventing Brazilian companies from migrating to Informatica Cloud Data Integration from on-prem is the price. The license is now based on subscriptions, which is a change from the past. This has caused Brazilian customers to hesitate, wondering if they should migrate or not. The technology is fantastic, but the price is terrible for the customers. They are forced to migrate because the platform is a must in terms of technology. However, the price is too high causing a big problem here in Brazil.

I have been using the solution since 2019.

I give the stability a ten out of ten.

It is very easy to scale the Informatica platform. I have never seen another platform that is so easy to implement. For example, my organization in Brazil uses the Informatica platform to integrate some systems with its data warehouse. In parallel, IBM developed their own solution, which we developed in parallel with their technology and implementation velocity. IBM is confusing to configure and slow to implement. With Informatica, it is easy to configure and fast to implement. There is no wasted time with the particularities involved for each solution. 

I give the solution a ten out of ten for scalability.

The technical support is very good. Not only in terms of the support team, because all Informatica documentation is very simple to understand. The components, the problems, and the directives to implement are all easy to understand. The support team as well as the documentation are great. The level of support is unbelievable.

Positive

The initial setup is straightforward and I give it a ten out of ten for ease.

The price is very high and has become a big concern for our customers who require the solution in order for their business to function smoothly. The cost to migrate to Informatica Cloud Data Integration from on-prem is too high for a lot of our customers that have already put a significant amount of equity into the on-prem version.

I give the solution a ten out of ten.

As a partner, I'm very comfortable with the level of implementation and the technology involved independently of the price but for our customers whose primary concern is cost, the price of the solution is very high.

The comfort and simplicity of the products are unbelievable. The ability to implement, operate, and develop is very easy. We reduce the time and know-how required for developers to implement Informatica Cloud Data Integration because of the easy deployment. 

We are using Informatica Cloud Data Integration in a large organization, and we have customers all across the world. 

Informatica Cloud Data Integration is for migrating data from a source to a target. The major advantage of working with this solution is that it can handle large amounts of data. The drawback is the performance is a bit slow but it can handle a large amount of data compared to other tools.

The most valuable feature of Informatica Cloud Data Integration is Pushback. You are able to push the data to the solution itself, and it can handle the queries. It helps us a lot. With other tools, the burden is kept on the server.

Informatica Cloud Data Integration can improve by being more user-friendly. When you're working with the solution a lot of technical knowledge is required. It's not a solution that anyone can use properly, you need knowledge of what's happening at the back end, such as SQL. When you get stuck, you need to look into your logic. For other tools, such as Dell Boomi, anyone can use them.

In a future release, the UI should be more developed to allow more features.

I have been using Informatica Cloud Data Integration for approximately four months.

Informatica Cloud Data Integration is stable. 

I rate the stability of Informatica Cloud Data Integration a four out of five.

There are some performance issues sometimes.

We have more than 50 developers using the solution in my company.

I rate the scalability of Informatica Cloud Data Integration a three out of five.

The support from Informatica Cloud Data Integration is great. They respond quickly and if there is an issue it can be resolved fast.

I rate the support from Informatica Cloud Data Integration a four out of five.

Positive

Informatica Cloud Data Integration is famously known for its high price. The vendor targets large enterprises, and not medium or small companies. These large companies, and organizations, handle large amounts of data. If you go into any large bank, such as American or Canadian banks, these banks use this solution because it is more reliable, secure, and has more functionality.

There can be extra changes, such as using the cloud.

I rate the price of Informatica Cloud Data Integration a two out of five.

This is a good tool and others should use it. This solution is known for its ability to handle large amounts of data and in the market, there are not that many tools available. However, there are competitors in the market, such as Oracle and IBM.

If an organization's data is very limited and they are not using large amounts of data, then I would suggest going for a smaller targeting solution, such as Dell Boomi. When it comes to large and secure data, I would recommend others to use this solution or SAP BODS or IBM.

Informatica Cloud Data Integration has a nice GDP rating and a good European market.

I rate Informatica Cloud Data Integration a seven out of ten.

It improves the workflow.

In terms of the user experience, it's very Integrated, and the implementation is very fast. You can integrate the platforms for different services to deliver all the banking needs.

It is expensive.

I have been using Informatica Cloud Data Integration for two years.

I rate the solution’s stability a ten out of ten.

The scalability is impressive. Implementing something is easy, and there's no need to wait for licenses or other potential roadblocks. It is a highly efficient and smooth process, which makes it even more appealing.

The main reason for the switch was the cost. IBM solutions are quite expensive, and migrating to the cloud platform is complicated. Another significant expense comes from the database, as IBM typically recommends DB2 when implementing DataStage, and using Db2 can be costly. The company considered moving to a more versatile platform that supports different databases and cloud providers. With IBM, there are limitations, and the cloud strategy is more rigid, which influenced the decision to explore other platforms.

Deployment is straightforward. I have experience implementing the platform for various customers here in Brazil, where I live, and I can confirm that it's quite easy to implement. It takes around six months to deploy.

Data has been migrated from IBM DataStage to Informatica Cloud. In this process, we worked with NextPath MSA, which generated new metadata based on the iDMC platform. After this, the company produced the data, and here at the bank, we are validating the conversion from this process. In some cases, adjustments or parameterization were needed with Informatica to refine the processes. The company is responsible for translating the code and generating the required information for each project. We migrate this to the development environment, then to the test environment for validation, and finally to production, where about sixty percent of the projects are implemented for data integration. The entire process, from creation to production, has taken approximately six months.

We are reviewing all components and executions, and overall, the migration process has been a success, with only minor adjustments. It’s interesting to see how the company has successfully converted the original metadata to the new metadata, showcasing its expertise in the process. We have 40-50 professionals involved.  We have different levels of specialists across various areas involved in this project. For example, we have experts with extensive knowledge of IBM DataStage, others with experience in IBM CA, and some professionals specializing in databases. Each group brings expertise and experience with these solutions, contributing significantly to the project's success.

They do have additional costs in terms of usage.

The bank acquired the platform and utilized almost all its services except MDM. We use APIs, messaging, data governance, and data integration for the enterprise. The platform's full range of services is involved. The combination of data integration with application integration is precious to us. It allows us to acquire information through APIs, treat this information via data integration, and generate files or intermediary databases for future consumption by messaging systems. This type of usage is efficient and straightforward to implement. The implementation and usage are simple and effective for our needs.

In our daily operations, we receive data from external and internal systems for Kuzena and generate information in real-time for various departments within the bank, such as the risk and human resources departments. The platform’s ability to efficiently deliver this information is precious.

When a platform provides data from external systems and other sources, combined with HEP implementation and fast integration, the platform ensures high data quality and the ability to deliver information efficiently. This simplicity allows all departments in the bank to adopt and explore this type of usage easily.

I know of other companies using Informatica Cloud, like Ferrero in Chicago. They used Informatica Cloud for three years but migrated to SAP CPI this year. While I know why they made the switch, it's hard to justify it fully. For context, Ferrara produces candies and is owned by Ferrero Rocher in Italy. The IT team in Italy used SAP CPI for data integration, closing their operations with Informatica products. It's surprising, especially because Ferrero had given us positive feedback about Informatica Cloud regarding usage, implementation, and cost.

Its open platform allows it to connect with everything you need, making it very versatile and efficient for various integrations.

Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

The solution was part of building our data warehouses, where we needed a tool for bulk data migration that didn't require mappings when migrating from a source to a target.

The product's most valuable feature is the replication tasks. It allows the creation of identical tasks that can be applied across multiple tables, ranging from 100 to even 1,000 tables. 

The product interface could be improved to be more intuitive. It requires navigating through several steps to access mappings and pre-created metrics. Enhancing it to provide a more streamlined structure or dashboard would allow quicker access to maps and other essential features.

We used Informatica Cloud Data Integration for six months. 

The product was stable. I rate the stability a ten. 

We had 30 Informatica Cloud Data Integration users in our organization. I rate the scalability an eight. 

The solution didn't require much setup, and since it was browser-based, it was fairly easy to use. I rate the process a ten out of ten.

The product was pretty easy to use. The connections to other platforms worked fine. 

I recommend it to others and rate it a seven. 

We've 300-400 data quality rules and different kinds of rules for completeness, conformity, and timeliness. We're using Informatica to implement those rules in Cloud Data Quality.

Informatica has CDI. So, if you find some issues, you can always integrate your CDI and then fix your data.

The reusability factors are nice. The Cloud Data Quality is much better. A major flaw in the previous version was integration with the catalog, which is now seamless.

I have been using Informatica Cloud Data Quality as a partner for three months.

I rate the solution's stability a nine out of ten.

We want to keep costs down, so we are not getting enough resources.

It is suitable for enterprise level.

I rate the solution's scalability as nine out of ten.

Support response time could be better.

Positive

I use Collibra Data Quality. I switched to Informatica because Collibra cannot integrate. Colibra Cloud Data Quality is a very basic tool. There is no integration capability. If you have problem records, there is no fix to remediate them using the same tool. With Informatica, you can integrate with CDI and then create a remediation plan.

The initial setup was straightforward, and we were able to start configuring the rules quickly, etc.

It took about half a day to deploy since we are also learning.

There are different tiers based on consumption, but there is no flexible option. The catalog grows slowly over time. It would have been nice to use a flexible feature at the beginning and then transition to a model where you have a fixed set of units that you consume and pay for. If you exceed those units, you move to the next tier. We were expecting a flexible pricing structure, which we did not get.

We would have preferred a pay-as-you-go model. Although pay-as-you-go is slightly more expensive, we know our consumption will not be high initially. 

It is easy to integrate cloud data quality with IT workflow. We haven't faced many challenges. It is fairly straightforward.

I recommend the solution. 

Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

We use the solution for data cataloging and lineage.

The valuable feature is metadata management. If you want to trace sensitive data, you can auto-classify them. You can search for sensitive information through EDC. Using Discovery, you can identify if there is any type of data set.

EDC is only used for cataloging and meetings. Currently, not many different databases are integrated with it. The ETL logic should be visible within the tool. If EDC is integrated with Axon, you will see the data lineage and catalog because of EDC. If EDC is removed, you cannot see any lineage or catalog.

We need EDC on the application level. Currently, it is only at a system level. It can be shown as an application layer between policies or regulations. This kind of feature can be enabled.

The integration with other data management tools can be enhanced. For instance, there is no integration with tools like Collibra or Hubview.

I have been using Informatica Enterprise Data Catalog for seven years.

The solution is stable.

EDC needs many ports to run. Therefore, to improve performance, you need to increase the number of cores.

The initial setup is easy and takes two weeks to complete. One person is enough to deploy it.

EDC gives you a better understanding of architecture and the system used. You cannot use EDC completely unless you have access.

The product is expensive.

EDC is a standalone application, so it doesn’t really make much sense. It doesn’t give you a lot of features that way; it’s primarily for cataloging and classification. Nobody would buy EDC as a standalone application. When people are buying EDC, it’s always with Axon.

I recommend buying the solution altogether with Axon.

Overall, I rate the solution as seven out of ten.