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Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs Microsoft MDS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Informatica Intelligent Dat...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
185
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (3rd), Data Quality (1st), Business Process Management (BPM) (10th), Business-to-Business Middleware (5th), API Management (7th), 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)
Microsoft MDS
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Master Data Management (MDM) Software (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Data Integration and Access solutions, they serve different purposes. Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) is designed for Data Management Platforms (DMP) and holds a mindshare of 14.3%, up 13.1% compared to last year.
Microsoft MDS, on the other hand, focuses on Master Data Management (MDM) Software, holds 13.3% mindshare, down 13.6% since last year.
Data Management Platforms (DMP)
Master Data Management (MDM) Software
 

Featured Reviews

Saikat Ghosh - PeerSpot reviewer
Match and merge functionality is still the best but cloud version needs more functionality
There are various areas for improvement in IDMC. Enhancements on basic data management functionality and the UI front, such as multiple templates and improved grid views, would be beneficial. Bulk data management features could be improved from the UI perspective to get to the level of the on prem versions of Informatica MDM. The tool needs to mature but missing small but important features, like restricted dynamic attributes functionality, data inheritance rules in master hierachies, identifiers not being passed in jobs is a drawback.
Satyam Saxena - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced data management and cost effective with flexible integration capabilities
If Microsoft MDS were part of Azure, it would be significantly more helpful. Additionally, integrating fuzzy duplication within MDS itself, rather than relying on SSIS, would streamline operations. The current requirement to store data in Azure tables after processing it in MDS, due to its lack of direct Azure integration, is a drawback.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The Mapping Configuration and PowerCenter wizards are valuable. We use them to run our business logic."
"The feature of auto-onboarding of the assets, enterprise assets via EDC is good."
"The scalability of the solution is excellent."
"Informatica MDM stands out as a tool that can give you the flexibility needed for doing channel-specific data quality or business validation."
"The product's most valuable feature is the ability to select the data flow and lineage."
"The Mapping Designer allows for declarative ETL development (visual scripting) that leverages a wide array of different transformations."
"Informatica Data Quality is a product that is worth the money."
"It is a scalable product."
"One of the main features I have found useful is the integration with Azure active directory."
"It has a very good feature called Excel plug-in. You just have to install the plug-in, and then it directly connects to the MDS instance where you can maintain and manage your data and publish it right through Excel. You don't need to go to the front end to make any changes. It has easy integration with SQL Server, and you can use SSIS to do the ETLs. It is a part of the Microsoft stack. It works with most of the Microsoft stuff."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft MDS is its management."
"The tool is easy to use."
"What I like about Microsoft, is that it has a huge database with many users."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft MDS is its compatibility with ETL tools like SSIS, which simplifies operations for end-users."
"Compared to other databases, it is easier to manage and administer."
"The solution is easy to install."
 

Cons

"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."
"Cost-wise, it could be better."
"Informatica Cloud Data Integration can improve by being more user-friendly. When you're working with the solution a lot of technical knowledge is required. It's not a solution that anyone can use properly, you need knowledge of what's happening at the back end, such as SQL. When you get stuck, you need to look into your logic. For other tools, such as Dell Boomi, anyone can use them."
"The regions in which the data resides are still limited. This could be an issue in terms of the data residency laws of some of the countries. They should get more regions."
"Its look and feel needs improvement. It has a lousy look and feel. Informatica PIM is designed specifically for the retail industry. They need to make sure that it is also applicable to all the other industries and verticals."
"There may be some types of limitations with the performance."
"Its cloud-based version has a few limitations compared to the on-premise version."
"The UI is terrible and not user-friendly."
"I do not like using Silverlight and Internet Explorer. The new 2019 version gets rid of that, which is one of the reasons why we are looking to switch."
"The stability could be improved."
"If Microsoft MDS were part of Azure, it would be significantly more helpful."
"JMD repositories have records that come in thousands and millions, which takes a long time to process."
"There are occasions when the solution maintains SD and we get duplications of MDS."
"In the next version, I would like to see integration with Azure."
"The program's navigation tools could be improved."
"It would be a better option to have an on-cloud version."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"it's expensive, but if you're looking for a stable solution, Informatica MDM is a good one to choose."
"We got a 50% discount."
"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."
"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."
"It's a very expensive solution"
"I rate the product's pricing a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is the lowest price and ten is the highest price."
"We have licenses, and we are provided with certain particular services in the solution."
"Pricing is determined by the number of licensed users as well as the number of Core CPUs."
"With Microsoft, we buy everything though an agreement, so we purchase volume licensing every year."
"MDS is a part of the SQL Server enterprise license. I am not aware of any additional costs."
"The pricing of this solution is good."
"Microsoft MDS is an expensive solution."
"I would like to see better pricing."
"The solution does require a license and we have enterprise licenses."
"SAP is more expensive than Microsoft."
"Product licensing is very complicated. It would be helpful to have an online calculator to estimate the cost of a license."
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Answers from the Community

RT
Feb 7, 2022
Feb 7, 2022
Hi @Richard Tibbetts, There's no short answer to your question. Nearly all existing MDM solutions on the market offer a broad range of patterns to ingest master data from various sources and distribute cleanse and consolidated information, also to the Azure stack. Many vendors offer prebuilt connectors for the most common sources (databases, various file types, storages, business applications i...
2 out of 3 answers
InitZero - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 14, 2022
Hi @Richard Tibbetts, There's no short answer to your question. Nearly all existing MDM solutions on the market offer a broad range of patterns to ingest master data from various sources and distribute cleanse and consolidated information, also to the Azure stack. Many vendors offer prebuilt connectors for the most common sources (databases, various file types, storages, business applications including MS Dynamics, Salesforce, etc.), but also support a generic way of ingesting/exposing data via Rest APIs, file drops, etc. MS MDS is an extension of the MS SQL server 2016. I don't know Microsoft plans to extend it, but I know that Profisee and CluedIn are very active in promoting their solutions as-built having Azure in mind and being a part of the stack. Informatica MDM has three types of offerings these days: on-prem, hosted MDM, and cloud-native option - they differ in the functionality and integration options. Obviously, there are many more MDM tools on the market particularly good in various data domains (products, customers/suppliers - so yours, multi-domain, etc). I think that you should start your MDM journey by answering which current challenges you try to solve or what new capabilities you need to enable to the organisation. Once these questions are answered and based on your organization's Enterprise Architecture principles, look for the best fitting tool. It may (or may not) be the one that fits the best into the Azure Reference Architecture. I hope this helped.
GM
Feb 4, 2022
I agree with @InitZero...  I would add that there's no future roadmap for MDS and they don't have an Azure solution for it.  Since it's a free product with an SQL license, don't expect Microsoft to invest in it.   Even though we are highly dependent upon it currently I'm starting to look towards the future where we need to find a replacement - hopefully, a PaaS solution. It would be great if Microsoft came out with something in Azure but I'm not hopeful at this point.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Insurance Company
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

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 ...
What do you like most about Microsoft MDS?
More generic related things can be included in the services.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft MDS?
Microsoft MDS is free. Currently, there is no pricing concern with the tool.
What needs improvement with Microsoft MDS?
Microsoft MDS is outdated and lacks modern capabilities. It is too slow and does not support automated mapping or AI-based functionalities. Although I created Python scripts for some machine learni...
 

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
Microsoft Master Data Services, Microsoft MDM, Microsoft SQL Server Master Data Services, MS MDS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

The Travel Company, Carbonite
ETA a.s., Apeejay Surrendra Group, Blue Star Infotech, Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation, The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, New Belgium Brewing
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