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.

Data quality is missing enterprise-wide in our bank. We use the solution for all the customer data to judge the metrics of software data quality from the source systems.

Server maintenance, server hosting, backup, restoration, and DB capabilities are not needed in the cloud. There is no crashing of the servers. The admin part is very seamless in the cloud, while administration is a big task for the on-premises version.

The on-premises version is very mature, but many of the on-premises features are missing in the cloud. It is still in the development stage and has not yet matured in the cloud. The tool has a lot of product errors that need to be fixed. We face a lot of internal product errors while doing the configuration and quality checks.

The on-premises version has many use case transformations, but they are missing in the cloud. The cloud version has only four to five types of use case transformations. You cannot import the data discovery rules you create in the solution to the Cloud Data Governance and Catalog (CDGC).

I have been using Informatica Cloud Data Quality for six months.

We face many glitches during the configuration because it is a new product. It will take another year to mature.

The solution's scalability is seamless in the cloud. You can scale the solution within one or two hours.

The solution's customer support is wonderful, but they are not up to the mark knowledge-wise.

Positive

The solution can be implemented in one or two days. There are steps available to deploy the tool. One person is enough to procure the VM or the server.

Informatica Cloud Data Quality is a costly solution.

The solution's competitors include Oracle Data Quality, Collibra, and Azure Purview.

The solution provides data standardization capabilities. Since Informatica Cloud Data Quality is a SaaS solution, it does not require any maintenance. Since it is a cloud product, many connectors have configuration issues. They have to add some other parameters in the tool levels. We face such challenges in the cloud, not on-premises.

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

We use the solution for ETL.

It's a powerful tool to create data warehouse solutions for our clients. We take unstructured data and use Informatica Cloud to structure it in various ways, making it usable on a reporting front end. This enables clients to make informed business decisions based on the data.

It's the accessibility and the range of features that stand out. Before using Informatica Cloud, we were working with Informatica PowerCenter. The transition from PowerCenter to Cloud wasn't entirely effortless, but it was seamless enough for our developers to adapt and continue their work smoothly.

Our main issue is transitioning from on-premise to cloud data storage. As many clients move their data to cloud platforms like Azure, Snowflake, and AWS, we're encountering problems with Informatica. Errors that were straightforward and clear with on-premise databases now appear ambiguous in cloud environments. Our developers spend significant time reducing these generic errors, often simple issues like a column not accepting null values. This lack of clarity is causing unnecessary delays as they have to sift through logs or contact support to diagnose problems that would have been more easily identified in an on-premise setup.

I have been using Informatica Cloud Data Integration as a financial partner for over five years.

We have about seven developers. It is a scalable solution.

When errors arise, contacting support can be frustrating. Sometimes, the technician can't solve the issue and transfers us to someone else. This makes us less confident that the person helping us is truly equipped to resolve the problem.

Neutral

The initial setup is simple and depends on the task. However, it usually takes a couple of hours if development is complete and we're moving from the development environment to production.

ROI is strong because we have a structured portal that ensures development is done correctly. It is shareable, scalable, and equipped with enough monitoring tools to quickly address any issues. Ultimately, the client doesn't care what tools we use. They just want problems resolved quickly. Informatica provides the necessary tools and features to help us do that effectively.

It has premium pricing. Depending on what we're working on and which features we're using within Informatica, there can be additional costs. It's mostly data integration, but you might need to upgrade your license to include other aspects of Informatica. Certain connectors require a license upgrade to access.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight 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.

Informatica MDM is used for our customers' master data management journey. The solution meets our client's requirements for their customer-supplier or any other entities.

The solution's most valuable features are its data quality, match-merge engine, and CLAIRE AI engine, which helps with AI automation.

Compared to other tools in the market, Informatica MDM is costly.

I have been using Informatica MDM for 13 years.

Informatica MDM is highly stable compared to any other tool in the market.

Informatica MDM is a highly scalable solution. Our clients for Informatica MDM are mostly medium and enterprise businesses.

I rate the solution eight and a half out of ten for scalability.

Technical support refuses to support us if we customize the tool. We customize the product based on the customer's needs, and we expect Informatica to provide support during that time as well.

Positive

On a scale from one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the solution's initial setup an eight out of ten for on-premises and nine out of ten for the cloud version. Setting up the tool in the cloud via IDMC doesn't take much time.

The solution can be deployed within a few hours.

Our customers have seen a return on investment with the solution.

Informatica MDM is an expensive solution. On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing nine and a half out of ten.

I would recommend the solution to other users because of its reliability and stability. Compared to other product vendors, Informatica MDM always has additional features. Informatica MDM has a CLAIRE AI engine, which helps with AI automation.

Overall, I rate the solution eight and a half out of ten.

You have to deal with a minimum of five, even if you want to go and check only a particular logic, making it an area with issues where improvements are required.

Certain shortcomings in the product's UI make it an area where improvements are required. The tool should provide ease of use and flexibility.

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

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a five out of ten.

I see that my company faces frequent challenges in the tool when it comes to the area of UI and related to the area of characters. In my company, we have experienced some issues that occur when upgrading the tool.

It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Enterprise-sized customers can choose Informatica Cloud Data Integration.

The technical support for the solution is helpful, but it takes them time to figure out the issue. The time taken to close the ticket depends on the support that Informatica gets from their backend technical team. It takes a long time to close a ticket. I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

Neutral

The product's initial setup phase was not difficult.

The product's deployment phase can be carried out by linking a .exe file provided by the solution with your server.

The solution is deployed on the cloud.

Against Informatica Cloud Data Integration, I recommend SnapLogic, which is a cheaply priced product. People know about SnapLogic, as it comes with very good features and ease of use.

The feature of the product that I find the most beneficial for data warehousing tasks is the use of the tool for extracting and loading purposes, which depends upon the connector's availability. Many connectors in Informatica are not free or out of the box, and you have to purchase them. The tool has quality connectors.

I haven't used the tool for real-time data analytics, but I have used it in my company for batch-oriented purposes. Data integration will not be supported in real-time in Informatica Cloud Data Integration. For real-time data integration, you have to go with either the application integration or other products like Informatica PowerExchange.

In Informatica Cloud Data Integration, the transformation feature was almost the same as that of Informatica PowerCenter. In Informatica Cloud Data Integration, the transformation features may offer a couple of more functionalities.

In terms of the ease of learning that the product provides, I would say that those who have experience with Informatica PowerCenter can easily adopt Informatica Cloud Data Integration. A person who has worked on Informatica Cloud Data Integration may not be comfortable with Informatica PowerCenter. In terms of ease of use, I consider Informatica PowerCenter to be easier than Informatica Cloud Data Integration.

I rate the ease of use experience attached to the tool a six out of ten.

Only after considering the use cases of people can I recommend the product to them. If a person only wants a product for extraction and loading purposes, then I feel that there are many cheap products in the market that can satisfy their needs. Suppose someone is looking at a tool that offers widespread features, like application integration and real-time functionalities. In that case, all of it comes under Informatica, which can be a good option.

The tool is the most expensive one compared to any of the other products in the market, especially in terms of ETL functionalities or integration features.

My company has integrated SAP, many databases, and APIs into Informatica Cloud Data Integration.

I can see that the performance of the product keeps improving with every new release, especially in the area of job executions, even though the hardware may be the same.

I rate the tool a seven out of ten.