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.
Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud [Private Offer Only]
Carahsoft Technology CorporationExternal reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Helps in consolidating all our master data across the entire organization
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Informatica Data Quality for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability of the solution as an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is good. I would rate them at a seven out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
How was the initial setup?
Maintenance and troubleshooting are handled solely by the vendor.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
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.
What other advice do I have?
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.
A stable and powerful tool that provides good support and excellent out-of-the-box features
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for party data management. The tool ensures that the information is the same in every business system so that all the systems have the same view of what parties are involved in an agreement.
What is most valuable?
It is easy to create REST-based interfaces of the master data objects. It can be used for reading, creating, and modifying the master data objects of the parties, their addresses, and contact information. The creation and modification features always consider the data quality rules, and it is a very powerful way to provide a data interface to master data objects. It is missing in many other tools.
The solution meets the performance needs of my organization. There isn't much that Informatica doesn't do. The maintenance of the data quality rules has been improved. It’s a lot better than it was when we started. Replacing the old SOAP APIs with the new REST APIs is a great improvement. It’s still a work in progress. Some interfaces still use the old SOAP APIs.
What needs improvement?
The management of different properties is sometimes divided between different user interfaces. The tool should provide a unified user interface to manage the data objects.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the tool for ten years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The tool can scale according to our needs.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was not difficult. We had very good support from Informatica’s professional services.
What about the implementation team?
The team was a mix of in-house, vendor and other consultants.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product has a high price point. However, it does not lack features. TIBCO EBX and Profisee are much cheaper. However, they lack features that Informatica MDM provides out of the box. Though the list price of Informatica MDM is high, it is negotiable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
What other advice do I have?
I do not have experience with the new workflow engine. It is much more extensible because it is a full business process engine. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.
Easy to setup and efficient tool for data management
What is our primary use case?
I mainly use it for data management.
What is most valuable?
It's for tool management, maintaining the golden record of customer status.
What needs improvement?
Data integration should be improved. Another area of improvement is customer applications, along with business 365 application case integration between applications.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for three years now. I work with the latest update.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability a six out of ten. There is room for improvement in the stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate the scalability of the solution an eight out of ten. There are currently nine end users in my team. There might be more people in the company.
Recently, Informatica MDM upgraded, it transitioned from its traditional on-premise MDM offerings to a cloud-based platform called Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services (IICS). So, we are not planning to expand its further usage.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support and service are helpful.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.
It is very easy to set up. However, the deployment time depends on the configuration. It can take 10 to 15 minutes.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is reasonable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
What other advice do I have?
The users should have more training on Informatica MDM, especially practical training. The vendor should provide some practical training.
Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Excels in mapping development, searching for contracts in data governance, creating data quality rules, and designing merging processes
What is our primary use case?
We use Informatica Cloud Data Integration to migrate to the cloud, upgrade our data warehouse, and implement master data management. It helps us with in-depth analysis, leveraging shared history, and addressing data governance questions.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Informatica Cloud Data Integration for our clients are the AI capabilities within Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services. It excels in mapping development, searching for contracts in data governance, creating data quality rules, and designing merging processes. The ability to identify duplicates and automate analysis coverage is particularly beneficial. Additionally, the cost-effective option of using Informatica Cloud Data Integration for smaller projects or departments has made it more accessible and attractive for experimentation.
What needs improvement?
One area where Informatica Cloud Data Integration could improve is in providing more accelerators for certain functionalities. For example, for master data management, having additional accelerators could streamline implementation. Additionally, enhancing compatibility with metadata sharing across different applications, similar to what is achievable with PowerCenter, would further enhance the product's capabilities.
I would like to see more connectors for on-premise databases in the next version of Informatica Cloud Data Integration. Currently, CDI free is a great option for cloud integration, but expanding the connectors to include databases like Oracle or MySQL for on-premise environments would make the tool more versatile and accessible for smaller businesses or those not fully in the cloud.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Informatica Cloud Data Integration since 2016.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Informatica Cloud Data Integration has been generally stable, with occasional editor issues. However, SLAs are consistently respected, and we typically experience minimal downtime, averaging around two to three hours per month.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Informatica Cloud Data Integration is high. With advanced pushdown optimization, it performs well in various environments like Snowflake and AWS. It is suitable for companies of all sizes; for small to medium enterprises, starting with fewer IPUs is cost-effective, and scalability allows for growth as needed.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate Informatica's vendor support as a seven out of ten. It is generally good, but there is room for improvement, especially as they shift focus from on-premise to the cloud. We often find answers in the community for software issues, but sometimes we encounter challenges that require official support tickets.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for Informatica Data Integration is straightforward. Deployment is simple, involving exporting and importing development processes. The ability to pilot the Informatica Data Integration platform from various APIs makes continuous integration and deployment easy to manage through API calls.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would rate Informatica's pricing as an eight out of ten in terms of affordability. Starting with a small IPU volume is cost-effective, and as we grow, the pricing adjusts favorably based on consumption, which makes it reasonable for our needs.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Informatica Cloud Data Integration overall as an eight out of ten. It is a comprehensive platform covering data integration, API integration, data quality, data governance, master data, and privacy tools—all within one platform. The accessibility to all functionalities with the purchase of IPUs is a significant advantage compared to the past where certain features required additional payments and permissions.
The product has excellent profiling features and accelerated libraries that improve productivity
What is our primary use case?
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.
How has it helped my organization?
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.
What is most valuable?
The profiling features are much better than the on-premise version.
What needs improvement?
We have complex datasets. Logical views are a little bit behind in comparison to the on-premise version.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for less than three months. I am using the latest version of the solution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is very solid.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate the product’s scalability a nine out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is very good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
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.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is quite straightforward.
What other advice do I have?
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.
A scalable and stable product with good workflow functionalities
What is our primary use case?
My company works with our different customers to implement and install the solution.
What is most valuable?
The workflow in Informatica Axon is intelligent and good. Informatica Axon provides good data collection and good search criteria. In Informatica Axon, workflow and business glossary are good.
What needs improvement?
There are some limitations with Informatica Axon when one tries to connect or integrate it with Jira. For example, I can't delete any workflows after the integration process. There are issues with the integration capabilities of the tool with third-party solutions, specifically Jira.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have experience with Informatica Axon for two to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a very stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution.
I recommend the solution to big companies because its functions are suitable for high-end companies.
How are customer service and support?
The P1 support offered by the solution's technical support is very fast. If it is not P1 support, the support a user might get will be slow as it takes time. I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
For data governance, I work with Informatica Axon only. I prefer Informatica Axon for enterprise metadata management at an enterprise level, data quality, and integration. I only recommend Informatica Axon, mainly for data governance.
How was the initial setup?
The product's initial setup phase is very easy.
For each of our company's customers, with an installation scope in place, it doesn't take much time. The product's implementation scope differs from the installation scope. I usually help our company's customers implement the tool.
The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.
What other advice do I have?
Informatica Axon is a very good product with an easy implementation phase and a lot of information about the tool available online on the internet.
I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.
An exceptionally scalable tool with a straightforward initial setup phase
What is our primary use case?
I use Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services since it is a platform that offers cloud data governance or cloud governance policy, making it applicable to what you need. For customers who just want to understand the data better, make better decisions, provide better service, and avoid any sort of legal issues during the vacation period of its users, The product keeps up with some of the standards to adhere to some of the use cases.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of the product is that, as a platform, it helps with data quality, and everything is sort of one console. The on-prem version of the product has different applications and different user interfaces, offering users consistency in the look and feel, which I like about the product.
What needs improvement?
The product's pricing is definitely an area where a bit of improvement is needed. Improvement in the product's pricing can help Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services gain more customers, especially in small and medium enterprises where there is a need to upgrade the solution.
Certain improvements are needed in the product, considering from a feature parity point of view. There needs to be some improvements in the product's upgrade options since it can allow users to see all of the on-premises features from other products that are a part of Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services.
The product's price is an area of concern and needs to be reduced, especially in Africa, where it is considered a huge investment, even if it is used in banks.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services for a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate the solution's scalability a ten out of ten.
Between 100 to 200 people in our organization use the solution.
The solution is extensively used in our company.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I haven't worked with any solutions similar to Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services since I come from a background where I had to deal with workflow and VPN sort of background and robotics, specifically software robotics.
How was the initial setup?
The product's initial setup phase was a bit straightforward.
The solution is deployed on the cloud.
The deployment phase did not take a long time since the product is a cloud-native solution. Once you have your environment set up by the team to access the product with the signed permissions, the deployment phase doesn't take more than a day to be done, but ultimately it depends on the organization. After considering a lot of things required during the deployment phase, the complete deployment process won't take more than a week to be completed.
A team of technical personnel would be useful to take care of the deployment and maintenance phases of the product, as it is a broad platform.
What about the implementation team?
The product's installation phase was carried out in our company with the help of Informatica's partner. Informatica's partner, who helped our company with the installation phase, works in the same industry as our company's customers, which proved to be extremely beneficial, especially from the resources point of view, since the availability of skilled resources and trained people were made available to help our company's customers on time.
What was our ROI?
Personally, I have not experienced any return on investment from the use of the solution. I have seen and heard about some use cases that fetch some return on investment for the users from the use of the solution. I haven't worked with the solution long enough on any project to see the return on investment that the product can offer.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is expensive.
There is a need to make annual payments towards the license costs attached to the solution, but it is usage-based.
What other advice do I have?
I would ask those who plan to use the solution to go ahead with the proof of concept stage initially and choose a scenario that they want to know more about so that they get a better understanding of the tool.
I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.
A product that offers easy integration capabilities to users
What is our primary use case?
I use Informatica Cloud Data Quality in my company, as most of our customers have data from different systems and just want to standardize and enrich that data. If you have data like cell phone numbers, it is important to ensure that there is a consistent format to adhere to, like the area code, IDs, or social security numbers. The tool also helps users check email addresses because sometimes a user may find that their data has an incorrect email address. A lot of the use cases related to the tool involve understanding the data from all of the systems and starting the journey to unify some of those data fields, having some consistency in how the data is being captured, and helping look at the completeness of the data. In short, the use cases are to understand the data from different systems and different sources generally. Data could come from the CSV, a web service, or out of the database, but Informatica Cloud Data Quality allows you to extract from all those sources to give you a unified interface to decide how you want to customize and standardize the data.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that the product's integration capabilities are easy to work with, along with another feature, the name of which I forgot, but I know that it helps users to compare the quality of results from two different points in time just to see if there have been any improvements.
What needs improvement?
I think Informatica Cloud Data Quality is one of the more mature cloud products, so I can't think of any areas where improvements are required. Informatica Cloud Data Quality is a product that is very similar to what Informatica offers for data quality on-premises, so there aren't too many gaps compared to the others, and I can't really think of any area requiring improvements.
I would like Informatica Cloud Data Quality to offer more integration capabilities with different platforms. I need to consider the fact that Informatica Cloud Data Quality supports a lot of the standard protocols for which most platforms use endpoints. In short, integration is not really an issue with the product.
The high price of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Informatica Cloud Data Quality for a year and a half to two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a cloud-native microservices-based product that can manage a lot of data. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
Though at the moment we are not currently using the product in our company, a while ago, around 15 employees used to use the product.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support was good. There were no issues with the solution's technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have experience with Informatica Intelligent Cloud Integration Services.
How was the initial setup?
The product's initial setup phase was easy.
To get the product running, you just need to switch it on, so I don't think it takes more than a day. After deciding the sources from where your data would come from, you can decide if the cloud needs Informatica Cloud Data Quality while ensuring that nothing gets installed on the server, but the only thing you might need is a secure agent on your machine and that is really quick to set up on a virtual machine, which I feel won't take more than a day.
The solution is deployed on the cloud.
I can't remember the deployment process of the product since I am currently working in a different space.
What about the implementation team?
The product's deployment was carried out with the help of a consultant, an integrator, and our company's in-house team. A consultant would be useful to guide a customer, but typically, customers tend to want some hand-holding and someone who can look towards them. Once someone shows the customers of the product how to do the deployment process, then they can do it themselves.
What was our ROI?
I have seen some benefits from the use of the solution in my organization.
It is a tool that is easy to trust with your data. The tool's service provider also ensures customer experience satisfaction from the use of the product. In one of the use cases, the tool helped the user identify which systems would be decommissioned because of the outdated data that the user had, and now that the user has updated everything, it should be much easier to cut down on those systems that they don't need to use.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing costs attached to the solution are pretty high, but then, with the cloud model, the prices depend on what it provides for the value of money, which I feel was very high.
What other advice do I have?
Those who plan to use the solution should conduct a pilot or proof of concept before choosing the product to understand the tool and also present the facts of the business because it will be much easier for a normal user to understand the purpose and the value that the product provides in an actual or real case scenario.
I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.
Makes sure our data is in good shape across different apps
What is our primary use case?
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.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Informatica Axon for almost two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
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.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is quite scalable. We had approximately 500 end users.
How are customer service and support?
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.
How was the initial setup?
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.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
What other advice do I have?
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.
A tool with the ability to aggregate and put together data from multiple sources into a single place
What is our primary use case?
I use Informatica MDM to align data in my company.
How has it helped my organization?
The ability to aggregate and put together data from around fifty sources into one environment allows us to have a preview of everything in a single place, which is something we did not have previously in our company.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature I see in Informatica MDM stems from everything that touches the area of data governance.
What needs improvement?
I think everything related to the APIs and the manageability of the APIs in Informatica MDM are areas where improvements are required.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Informatica MDM for five years. I use the solution's latest version. I am a user of the solution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Around 250 users of the solution exist in my company.
There is a need to use the solution in my company at least three times a week.
How are customer service and support?
I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have experience with other solutions. I switched to Informatica MDM from other solutions since it offers better scalability options and interoperability.
How was the initial setup?
I rate the product's initial setup a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a difficult setup process, and ten is an easy setup process.
My company has deployed Informatica MDM with the services offered by our cloud partner.
Informatica MDM's deployment phase takes around a year to be completed.
Two people, who are data engineers specialized in Informatica MDM, are required for the deployment phase of the product.
What about the implementation team?
Informatica MDM's deployment phase was carried out with the help of my company's in-house team and Informatica's partner.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I rate Informatica MDM's price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price.
What other advice do I have?
Ideally, only one person is required to take care of the maintenance part of the product, but with the number of terminals where the solution is deployed, there may be a need for three or four people.
I recommend the solution to those who plan to use it.
I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.