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.
Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud
InformaticaExternal reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
An easy setup with efficient data synchronization that keeps information updated
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Intelligent Cloud Services for around three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is quite good. I've faced no significant difficulties or downtime issues. The services were always available for my projects.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate the scalability of Intelligent Cloud Services as quite high. On a scale from one to ten, I would rate it as nine.
How are customer service and support?
Customer service and technical support are excellent. Whenever I raised tickets, I received solutions promptly. I would rate them ten out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The setup is very simple. The administration is not involved with Intelligent Cloud Services. Informatica handles the setup since it's hosted by them.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing is moderate. I do not recall the exact numbers for the license cost at the moment.
What other advice do I have?
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.
Improves the workflow and has high availability and easy deployment
What is our primary use case?
It improves the workflow.
How has it helped my organization?
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
It is expensive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Informatica Cloud Data Integration for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the solution’s stability a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
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.
How was the initial setup?
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.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
They do have additional costs in terms of usage.
What other advice do I have?
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.
Has good reusability and CDI features
What is our primary use case?
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.
How has it helped my organization?
Informatica has CDI. So, if you find some issues, you can always integrate your CDI and then fix your data.
What is most valuable?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Informatica Cloud Data Quality as a partner for three months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the solution's stability a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
How are customer service and support?
Support response time could be better.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
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.
How was the initial setup?
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.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
What other advice do I have?
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.
An easy-to-use solution for ETL purposes
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for ETL purposes.
What is most valuable?
Informatica Business Process Manager is easy to use and learn.
What needs improvement?
I need to have some insight into the tool's cloud capabilities.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for four to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is fairly stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product is scalable and my company has 20-25 users for it.
How are customer service and support?
The tool's support is excellent.
How was the initial setup?
Informatica Business Process Manager's setup was easy and fast.
What other advice do I have?
Informatica Business Process Manager is very good and I would rate it a ten out of ten.
A stable and scalable solution that needs some improvement with connectivity and automation
What is our primary use case?
The solution is mostly used to automate MDM, send keyword dimension sites to the engineering team, or address historical records for the training-based employee.
What is most valuable?
The valuable feature is that we can automate the integration part. Also, it's suitable for data quality. The solution also helps create the data that has been helpful in data governance. We performed some effective or administrative charges in real-time and, most recently, in a real-time solution. So, it allows enrollment to capture and transform the data anytime.
What needs improvement?
Most of the demand is about how MDM can be automated so the changes occur automatically.
The whole server will change the storage engine, like any tool key, so everything can be automated.
Informatica MDM has limitations with connectivity. This is evident when we connect with our console, especially sometimes the process gets filled. With the tools we are locally running from our end, there should be some specific instance to register that is helpful and can support Informatica in running its modeling.
More automation is much required nowadays, as mainly the work will convert into a complete normal manual process.
There should be some specific integration tools, the managed services, involving the application, and then the code they use. That should be sufficient, meaning there should be leverage to openly adopt any new integration environment like PySpark that we will use. Some resiliency with the particular application, the code, and the type of files only can we address.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Informatica MDM for more than ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution for sending any new setup or data. Approximately six hundred users are using the solution.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support team is good. The administration has access to both servers. They can only provide access to run the tool, allow authentication, and how data can be secured. I rate the service and support as ten out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, I have used Microsoft SSIS and AWS Glue, but Informatica is capable of doing multiple things for integration purposes, but also for data evaluation.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. The deployment took ten to fifteen minutes, and almost fifteen administrators were needed for the deployment.
What was our ROI?
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would say that based on the current scenario, the market trends show that it is not required for the price to be increased. But, functionality-wise, and considering that now as the trend of microservices is going on in the market if Informatica MDM can be replaced in a similar way with particular tools or components to meet the client's demands, we can use only those particular things for the DDoS service covering, for the backup, for the security, and data encryption. So that can be helpful. Part-wise, if somebody needs only the pipelines to be created, someone needs to get a complete data flow task, or someone requires only the MDMs to get in place and not complete information that they need to make. We have licenses, and we are provided with certain particular services in the solution.
What other advice do I have?
I urge those planning to use the solution to understand how they are modeling data encryption and data governance activities. Suppose you are implementing without knowing your data quality and data governance. In that case, the installation of those sources through MDM is not affected. So better to better understand the basics.
Then it will be helpful to use something specific.
I rate the overall solution a seven out of ten.