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Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs Informatica PowerCenter comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Informatica Intelligent Dat...
Ranking in Data Integration
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
181
Ranking in other categories
Data Quality (1st), Business Process Management (BPM) (7th), Business-to-Business Middleware (3rd), API Management (8th), Cloud Data Integration (3rd), Data Governance (2nd), Test Data Management (3rd), Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) Solutions (1st), Data Management Platforms (DMP) (2nd), Data Masking (2nd), Metadata Management (1st), Test Data Management Services (3rd), Product Information Management (PIM) (1st), Data Observability (2nd)
Informatica PowerCenter
Ranking in Data Integration
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
Data Visualization (8th)
 

Q&A Highlights

NC
Feb 13, 2022
 

Featured Reviews

Raj Sethupathi - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 13, 2024
Offers profiling and address standardization but can be complicated
Informatica Data Quality has its data warehouse, primarily using Oracle and some SQL databases. You need a database to host the data. The cleansed version of the data is stored in the data warehouse. It integrates with PowerCenter and other Informatica tools. The integration details can be complex, but a regional setup is involved in this process. Profiling smaller datasets, such as 10,000-50,000 records, worked fine. However, unexpected issues could arise with larger datasets, such as thousands of records or more, especially with tables containing many columns. Handling tables with fifty or more columns can be challenging, even in Excel. A mismatch in data types could cause the entire system to crash. Continual enhancements are being made to address these issues, which can be unique to specific industries like finance and healthcare.
Lars Borchers - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 4, 2023
A stable and reliable product that provides a variety of features for data integration
We use the product for everything that's possible in data integration. We have a data warehouse, and we load each stage. We use the product for data exchange and API services. We also use it to load data into cloud platforms and generate Customer Letters The reliability of the product and the way…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I think the integration feature is probably one of the key features in Informatica MDM...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The profiling feature in Informatica Data Quality is incredibly effective for data governance."
"Informatica MDM has data quality, mastering the data's capability."
"I think that it's a good solution...It is stable because we have the experience to deploy this solution."
"The most valuable feature of Informatica Axon is that it is flexible and user-friendly."
"Informatica is user-friendly, stable, and scalable. These three aspects are the most valuable for us. If we can make it work well with the CRM, we can continue or try again this year to complete that part of the project. I am confident that this kind of solution is what we need because we have a third-party resource that works in the development."
"The solution has multiple valuable features for metadata collection"
"The application integration will give you more flexibility when dealing with APIs."
"Informatica PowerCenter is a very good ETL tool."
"The features I find most valuable is that the solution is very user-friendly and the graphical design is very easy to understand."
"If the systems get migrated or upgraded, the amount of resources required are very minimal. We can change the connections and establish a new connection. It's very helpful."
"The interface is very clean and clear."
"It has helped us monetize."
"It has good standard features for ETL development."
"The most complex task, in this case, was to read and transform BLOB data, and Java transformation in Informatica Power Center was a great solution."
"Error handling capability is quite good in Informatica PowerCenter because it provides a very detailed session log, which is really helpful to identify errors."
 

Cons

"The only thing that I can imagine that might be improved is how the available transactions verify addresses used. These transactions have a valid end date and must be used within the agreed timeframe."
"One area where Informatica Cloud Data Integration could improve is in providing more accelerators for certain functionalities."
"Most of the new features added by Informatica are through Elastic Mapping. It would be helpful to have features like multithreading or partitioning for Salesforce to enhance performance."
"One thing Informatica could improve is the way IPUs are used. Each customer purchases a certain amount of IPUs per month, but you can use more or less than that defined quantity. The only problem is if you don't use the all your IPUs, they don't carry over into the next month. I think customers should have the ability to transfer unused IPUs into the next month or year. This improvement could help give customers more flexibility, especially since cloud solutions need flexibility in how we use and pay for them."
"If I want to scan the metadata from the data lineage or the Python code, such areas can get tedious in the tool."
"Metadata querying is right now not there in Informatica Cloud Data Integration."
"The product isn't mature enough to provide suitable connectors to various data engines."
"IEDC can improve the comparison of lineages."
"We had stability issues, mostly with JVM size."
"Integrating new tools can be tricky and challenging."
"There can be scalability issues. Huge amounts of data ingestion will impact performance."
"While Informatica is great for data-integration, it does not have any analytics features. Thus, organizations have to always look for another product for their BI needs."
"The performance of Informatica PowerCenter could improve."
"Its scalability can be improved. It is not scalable."
"The solution's commercial cost is very high. Other open-source tools can do the tool's functions for free. The world is moving to the cloud, but the solution hasn't updated its drivers. I presume that its downfall will start soon. The tool is trying to cross-sell or upsell without helping customers derive benefits from the existing products. They have multiple tools and licenses. It is better to bring the smaller tools in one umbrella."
"Its interface can be modernized. It is an old product. I have been working with it for 14 years, and it still looks the same. It hasn't been modernized much. It also needs to handle more modern formats, such as JSON files. It works with the old text files and databases, but it does not always work with the newer, modern stuff. You need to make your own programs to support that kind of stuff. Support is also a kind of difficult with Informatica. They don't do direct support and rely on using their distributors around the globe for support, which means that you kind of have to go through this layer of different companies before you get help."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the product's price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is the cheapest and ten is the most expensive. The product is a bit expensive."
"I rate the product's pricing a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high price."
"The price is neither too high nor too low."
"The solution is very expensive."
"I'm not sure about the most recent pricing trends, but I don't believe it's significantly different from PowerCenter. I believe it is nearly the same."
"The product is very expensive"
"The product is not very pocket-friendly for small and medium-sized businesses, and it is understandable because of the kind of features the tool gives."
"You pay for this solution based on IPUs, Informatica Processing Units. This depends on how much data you process and how much memory you consume from the cloud provider, and you pay as you go."
"Pricing for Informatica PowerCenter isn't cheap, but if I compare it with IBM, it's as expensive as IBM, however, Informatica PowerCenter is more innovative, especially when compared to a giant company such as IBM that has thousands of products. Informatica PowerCenter is limited only to data management, but it has new features that come out every quarter. Points for ease of use and flexibility go to Informatica PowerCenter, but price-wise, IBM and Informatica are equal because they're both expensive."
"The licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"We have a site license, but we do pay by the division."
"Price-wise, it's more expensive than SSIS, but it's a better tool, so it has more features. Licensing is on a yearly basis."
"I am not sure about the most recent price, but I think it should be $100,000 or more."
"Cost could be improved."
"Licensing costs are excessive and pose an obstacle to someone who lacks familiarity with the solution and wishes to have a proper understanding of it."
"Its maintenance is expensive."
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Comparison Review

it_user90069 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 20, 2014
Informatica PowerCenter vs. Microsoft SSIS - each technology has its advantages but also have similarities
Technology has made it easier for businesses to organize and manipulate data to get a clearer picture of what’s going on with their business. Notably, ETL tools have made managing huge amounts of data significantly easier and faster, boosting many organizations’ business intelligence operations…
 

Answers from the Community

NC
Feb 13, 2022
Feb 13, 2022
Complex transformations can easily be achieved using PowerCenter, which has all the features and tools to establish a real data governance strategy. Additionally, PowerCenter is able to manage huge quantities of data with a high level of reliability. We also like the metadata repository and the data warehouse application console. We would like to see the licensing improved, though. We would lik...
2 out of 3 answers
RC
Oct 25, 2021
Cloud Data Integration
Nov 21, 2021
Complex transformations can easily be achieved using PowerCenter, which has all the features and tools to establish a real data governance strategy. Additionally, PowerCenter is able to manage huge quantities of data with a high level of reliability. We also like the metadata repository and the data warehouse application console. We would like to see the licensing improved, though. We would like to see a feature-wise option as opposed to the current bundle option. PowerCenter is a very expensive solution. The numerous levels of transformation and multiple interfaces can make it a very confusing solution to learn. Cloud Data Integration offers great options for data cleansing, data mastering, data masking, master data management, and API management. The UI is very easy to use and the setup is straightforward. The new licensing is very flexible. Cloud Data Integration has inbuilt tools that allow for a lot of data transformation without changing any SQL queries from the code. This is one of our favorite features. We would point out, though, that there are some limitations with performance using Cloud Data Integration. We experienced some connectivity issues, making things run a bit slow. There are some issues with data residency laws in some countries. More regions should be added. Finally, it would behoove Cloud DataIntegration to consider adding more data sources. Conclusion: These are two great solutions under Informatica Brand which is synonymous with quality, reliability, and price. (Very high price.) Cloud Data is best suited for small to medium organizations and is somewhat limited in the regions it can be used. PowerCenter is most applicable for large enterprises that can more easily absorb the cost and best utilize everything PowerCenter has to offer with their current bundle licensing tier.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Azure Data Factory compare with Informatica Cloud Data Integration?
Azure Data Factory is a solid product offering many transformation functions; It has pre-load and post-load transformations, allowing users to apply transformations either in code by using Power Q...
Which Informatica product would you choose - PowerCenter or Cloud Data Integration?
Complex transformations can easily be achieved using PowerCenter, which has all the features and tools to establish a real data governance strategy. Additionally, PowerCenter is able to manage huge...
What are the biggest benefits of using Informatica Cloud Data Integration?
When it comes to cloud data integration, this solution can provide you with multiple benefits, including: Overhead reduction by integrating data on any cloud in various ways Effective integration ...
How does Azure Data Factory compare with Informatica PowerCenter?
Azure Data Factory is flexible, modular, and works well. In terms of cost, it is not too pricey. It offers the stability and reliability I am looking for, good scalability, and is easy to set up an...
Which is better - SSIS or Informatica PowerCenter?
SSIS PowerPack is a group of drag and drop connectors for Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services, commonly called SSIS. The collection helps organizations boost productivity with code-free compo...
How do you evaluate the pricing model of Informatica PowerCenter?
The pricing model of Informatica PowerCenter is suitable for big companies and enterprises. This is an amazing product, and it certainly does its job, however, if you are a medium or small business...
 

Also Known As

ActiveVOS, Active Endpoints, BPM, Address Verification, Persistent Data Masking, Cloud Test Data Management, PIM, , Enterprise Data Catalog, Data Integration Hub, Cloud Data Integration, Data Quality, Cloud API and App Integration
PowerCenter
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

The Travel Company, Carbonite
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, LexisNexis, Rabobank
Find out what your peers are saying about Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs. Informatica PowerCenter and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
813,418 professionals have used our research since 2012.