Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) Reviews

I manage the environment and admin-related tasks.

I have integrated Axon into EDC, PowerCenter, and data quality tools, and I face no difficulty integrating with those tools.

I also handle installation, configuration, and troubleshooting issues, in addition to when users face access issues or need help seeing their DQ technical roles.

With Axon, you can easily call and verify DQ rules. You can also upload your business gallery, and the business team can easily verify your data because it is secure.

Some of Axon's valuable features include creating your business glossaries, importing DQ rules, and creating change management.

They could improve technical support because it is not good enough at the moment.

I am a consultant and have been working with Informatica Axon for three years.

I rate the stability an eight out of ten because I have not yet seen the environment go down.

I rate the scalability of the solution a five out of ten. We have faced some performance issues. We have about five or six Axon business users who are data owners and stewards. They are not very active with the solution.

Personally, for the last month, I have not touched Axon or the servers. There are no plans to expand Informatica Axon's usage at the moment.

I rate the initial setup a seven out of ten. The clients gave us their Linux servers, and I set up the solution on-premises.

I could set up the environment, the installation, and the configuration in one day.

My organization's initial steps required us to get licenses for the installation, and we needed specific kinds of ports opened from our environment. We first needed to install the Axon agent and Axon server on different directories. Once we did that, we needed to update a couple of files to communicate with data quality and other functions.

The solution requires some maintenance. I might have to perform a sync-up or make sure the environment is not down, but that is very rare.

The solution was implemented in-house, with me deploying the solution single-handedly.

I rate the pricing a six or a seven out of ten because the price is neither too high nor too low.

Informatica is a big name in the market and the tools are trustworthy, which is why our client chose Informatica Axon-EDC. I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Test data management is a common use case. When conducting testing in lower environments, we want to avoid exposing sensitive information. To achieve this, we use Data Masking to modify the data. 

For example, we change personally identifiable information, phone numbers, and emails so that they cannot be viewed. The modified data retains the structure and format but doesn't reveal the actual information.

The tool is mainly valuable for testing teams, as it helps protect sensitive data during testing. It can also be used to mask production data for different users, ensuring that only authorized individuals can access sensitive information. These are the main reasons why we use this tool.

I think there's only one area that could be improved. Currently, when we apply the Data Masking rate, we don't have a way to view the masked data. It would be helpful if there was a feature to allow us to see the actual information.

Once the data is masked, it cannot be reversed. Having the ability to revert it back to the actual value would be beneficial, especially if we need to see the original information. Although our enrollment has decreased, it would still be helpful to have that feature.

I have used Data Masking as part of my work.

Stability is good. It's definitely reliable.

Scalability is good. It's definitely scalable to handle higher volumes across different platforms as well. It performs well in terms of scalability. 

Additionally, when it comes to implementing more source systems, there haven't been any issues.

Our experience with customer service from Informatica has been excellent. They are always available and responsive.

Positive

The initial setup is generally straightforward. However, there can be some challenges during the on-prem installation process, even though we have the steps and prerequisites. Dealing with installation issues is quite common, but overall, it's not excessively complex to set up.

The need for maintenance depends on the team. Sometimes, the solution you configure in the tool determines the level of maintenance required. However, overall, maintenance hasn't been a significant issue.

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

Axon is a platform that lets everyone see all the data assets, business glossaries, lineage, catalog, classification, etc., but the real activities are being done on EDC.

We have only been using Axon for a short time in my organization, and we are decommissioning it, but I used the solution at my previous organization for data governance projects. Data owners, software developers, and architects all access the solution. In total, we have around 150 to 200 users on it. 

Axon has a marketplace that allows you to showcase all the assets the data owner has, so they can request access. That's one feature we use extensively.  Axon also offers great visibility and intuitive searchability, allowing you to easily search data assets. You can check the lineage and see the work EDC does. EDC handles all the classification, cataloging, and lineage. It's integrated with Axon, and anyone can see that.

Though EDC has maximum coverage, a few things were not available to scan, but I think EDC is evolving to address this issue.

I have been working on Informatica EDC and Axon for nine months.

Axon is stable.

Scaling isn't a problem. It depends on how the implementation is done. Kafka is scalable If the implementation has an image, and it would definitely be scalable on the cloud. We run Axon on our private cloud instead of a Kubernetes cluster. If we wanted to implement it on Kubernetes, we could scale it easily. 

I rate Informatica support eight out of 10. 

We tried an open-source solution, but we stopped it midway through the project and adopted EDC and Axon. We also started using Atlas and Ranger.

Setting up Axon wasn't too complicated. One to three people were involved. It took about three months to implement the solution and onboard various data assets. It was a continuous process, which means we were onboarding new assets as soon as we got them. After deployment, we only need one person for maintenance. They handle this in addition to some other responsibilities.

I can't give an ROI measured in dollars, but we see qualitative benefits. You gain the confidence of our customers because they know their data is secure and only accessible to those with authorization. Data quality is improving. We are gaining our customers' confidence, and they rely on us for data classification.  

EDC comes with an Enterprise Licensing Agreement, whereas Axon is a yearly subscription. That is an expensive affair. I don't know the exact cost because the asset management team handles that. We only tell them how many licenses to get.  The administrator who manages the platform distributes the licenses, and we provide them to data owners who are making policy changes.

Axon is sold separately, and it's subscription-based. Usually, EDC is included in a big data package as an enterprise license. It would be nice if EDC and Axon could be bundled in one enterprise license.

Every tool is evolving. New technology platforms and applications are coming out all the time, like Databricks, Scala, IBM Db2, z/OS, etc. 

I rate Informatica Axon eight out of 10. It's a leading solution in the data governance segment. If you're looking for a quick and easy implementation, I recommend Informatica EDC and Axon.

We utilize Intelligent Cloud Services for various transformations during mapping, applied logic, and data manipulation. We use it to complete tasks such as using joiner, filter, and expression transformation to load data into the target table. It can integrate with any cloud system.

There are two things regarding synchronization: one synchronizes the source to the target, which can be incremental, and the other is non-incremental. This functionality keeps the data updated with the latest information.

In terms of data volume processing, Intelligent Cloud Services does not match the efficiency of Power Center. The processing speed is slower for large volumes of data. I'm not sure if there have been improvements in the latest versions as my experience is from six or seven months ago. Additionally, not all transformations available in Power Center are present in Intelligent Cloud Services, like the XML parser and normalizer.

I have been working with Intelligent Cloud Services for around three years.

Stability is quite good. I've faced no significant difficulties or downtime issues. The services were always available for my projects.

I rate the scalability of Intelligent Cloud Services as quite high. On a scale from one to ten, I would rate it as nine.

Customer service and technical support are excellent. Whenever I raised tickets, I received solutions promptly. I would rate them ten out of ten.

Positive

The setup is very simple. The administration is not involved with Intelligent Cloud Services. Informatica handles the setup since it's hosted by them.

Pricing is moderate. I do not recall the exact numbers for the license cost at the moment.

I recommend Intelligent Cloud Services for companies of all sizes, including small and medium enterprises, as administration costs can be saved, and the service offers cloud connectivity and plugins.

I'd rate the solution 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. 

I use Informatica Data Quality to consolidate master data across our organization, ensuring consistent and high-quality data. Combining MDM and data quality features, we address issues like customer data inaccuracies. Additionally, we document business terms in our data catalog for a unified view across the company.

The profiling feature in Informatica Data Quality is incredibly effective for data governance. It helps identify data types and potential duplicates, streamlining the detection process. It also suggests matches with predefined fields in our catalog.

There is room for improvement in the Data Marketplace aspect. Specifically, we found some basic functionalities lacking, like transparent integration of quality indicators. Customizability and additional features in the Data Marketplace would be welcomed in future updates. 

I have been working with Informatica Data Quality for three years.

I would rate the stability of the solution as an eight out of ten.

Scalability with Informatica had some initial challenges, especially when ingesting metadata into the data catalog due to the large volume of source systems and data. While it eventually worked, it took considerable time. Overall, I would rate it a six out of ten for scalability at the moment.

Initially, a few hundred users were using Informatica, but now it is a few thousand. 

The technical support is good. I would rate them at a seven out of ten.

Neutral

Maintenance and troubleshooting are handled solely by the vendor.

Informatica's licensing cost is among the highest in the market. I would rate it as a five out of ten in terms of costliness. With Informatica, we have a single bundled agreement covering the entire solution based on total capacity rather than specific modules. 

Before choosing Informatica, we evaluated various vendors, including IBM and Microsoft. Initially, we considered a best-of-breed approach, but Informatica emerged as the preferred choice for three out of four key areas: MDM, data quality, and data marketplace. While there were some limitations in certain tools like the data marketplace and data catalog, we opted for Informatica's complete suite to avoid additional integration efforts and to capitalize on its strengths in critical areas.

The rule-based strategies feature in Informatica Data Quality has greatly benefited our data quality initiatives. With predefined rules in place, it provides a solid framework for assessing data quality. While data quality ultimately depends on source system updates, these rules give valuable insights and are heavily used alongside automatic profiling for effective data management.

Informatica Data Quality works within our IT setup for analyzing and reporting on data quality. It doesn't directly integrate with other tools, but it gives us clear insights. Data flows from sources to Informatica for analysis, and then to data stewards for updates, but there is no integration back to the original applications yet.

Navigating between modules within Informatica isn't always seamless. For instance, actions in the catalog might not be visible in the data marketplace.

Overall, I would rate Informatica Data Quality as an eight out of ten.

The solution is used for data quality implementation. We handle the whole life cycle of data quality from end to end, including rule specification and exception handling.

We're seeing more productivity. The tool provides accelerated libraries that we can use instead of building things from scratch. It's looking very promising from a productivity perspective.

The profiling features are much better than the on-premise version.

We have complex datasets. Logical views are a little bit behind in comparison to the on-premise version.

I have been using the solution for less than three months. I am using the latest version of the solution.

The product is very solid.

I rate the product’s scalability a nine out of ten.

The technical support is very good.

Positive

We have used the on-premise and SaaS versions of the solution. All our on-premise infrastructure is in Informatica. It was a natural move to Informatica Cloud Data Quality. It was easy.

The initial setup is quite straightforward.

The pilot is not in production. It's in a lower environment. We are not at the stage of doing performance testing until the new year. We are not fully utilizing our on-premise infrastructure. Moving to the cloud could save us some money.

People wanting to implement the solution must consider it like launching a new data management program from scratch. Rather than just thinking about migration from on-premise to the cloud, try to adjust your mindset to use the solution as a completely new tool. If you just migrate from the on-premises to the cloud, if you have any technical debt in the on-premise version, you'll just replicate that into the cloud.

Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

We use Informatica Axon to make sure our data is in good shape across different apps. It helps us work with clients to set rules for data and keep things organized. For a bank, it makes sure customer info, like contact details, is correct and follows privacy rules. Axon also made it easy for our team to check and trust the data we were using. It is like a tool that brings everyone together and helps us find and use data better.

The most valuable feature of Informatica Axon has been the data marketplace. It has been a favorite because it not only boosts user engagement but also fosters collaboration. Implementing it was straightforward, and it seamlessly became a part of our organizational culture, making it easy for people to work together and share information.

One area I would like to see improvement in Informatica Axon is achieving feature parity between the on-premise and cloud versions. It would be great if the cloud version could match the full range of capabilities available on-premise. This would ensure a seamless experience and allow users to leverage all of Axon's features regardless of their deployment environment.

I have been using Informatica Axon for almost two years.

I would rate Informatica Axon at eight out of ten for stability. The main thing to improve is making the features and interface consistent between the on-premise and cloud versions. The cloud interface looks modern with DDGC, but the on-premise one is a bit outdated. Aligning them would be a big plus.

It is quite scalable. We had approximately 500 end users.

The standard support is good – they usually get back within the agreed time. If you have a higher-level support contract, like gold, silver, or platinum, you get a faster response, but the support team is generally effective and helpful.

Setting up Informatica Axon varies, but it generally depends on having a good grasp of data concepts. If you understand data well, the setup becomes more straightforward. Deploying and maintaining Informatica Axon depends on the use case, but I would say not too many people are needed. I would recommend at least two people per department or business unit to start with. It is good to have a mix, like an admin or engineer and a developer. One person could handle the technical side, while the other, who understands data and processes well, can provide expertise.

The licensing for Informatica Axon is expensive, but it provides value for the investment. With the new cloud platform, they have introduced a consumption-based license model, where you only pay for what you use. This change has made it more affordable and easier for users.

For those looking to start using Informatica Axon, my advice is to do thorough research, especially on available solutions, as integration with other software plays a big role. With the Informatica cloud solution, you have the flexibility to choose features that suit your needs. Starting with data quality is usually a good move before diving into more complex tasks. Consider exploring tools like robotics for repetitive or tedious tasks. Having someone experienced with data is a significant advantage, as these projects often have long cycles. Experienced individuals can guide you, help set realistic expectations, and emphasize the need for patience, as data governance projects take time to show results. Overall, I would rate the solution as an eight out of ten.