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IBM BPM vs Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

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

IBM BPM
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
110
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (7th), Process Automation (5th)
Informatica Intelligent Dat...
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
181
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (3rd), Data Quality (1st), Business-to-Business Middleware (3rd), 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) (1st), Data Masking (2nd), Metadata Management (1st), Test Data Management Services (2nd), Product Information Management (PIM) (1st), Data Observability (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

Mohammed Almalki - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good case management and its integration with process design but there's a learning curve
If you're already an IBM shop with the necessary skills and personnel, then I would recommend using it. However, it requires a yearly investment. So, if you're prepared for that, then go for it. New users will need at least six months to get comfortable with IBM BPM, at least initially. So, there's a learning curve. Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten. Two main reasons: the skillset required to manage it and its integration complexity.
Raj Sethupathi - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Everything is coupled together and comes as one solution."
"The solution is stable."
"One of the most notable things is how you can develop use cases with the customers, internal customers, but directly within. The software process model that BPM supports is really exciting in that aspect."
"It is a very powerful solution."
"This is one of the best tools to support the business and the way we work, and the numerous processes we need to implement."
"It continues to keep up with the changing needs of the business. That is the strong value proposition of BPM. It's not a one-time automation."
"Enabled us to convert most of the paper-based work into an automated workflow process, and some of them were converted into straight-through processing, with no human interaction involved whatsoever."
"Its most valuable features are usability and integration with other IBM products."
"The solution's initial setup is quite straightforward."
"Informatica MDM stands out as a tool that can give you the flexibility needed for doing channel-specific data quality or business validation."
"Whether we need data cleansing or data mastering, we get it all in one platform."
"The capability of the tool to scan and capture the metadata from a variety of sources is one of the capabilities that I find most useful. The central repository into which it is going to put that captured metadata is the best."
"It has all the advantages of the Cloud in that you can use it without worrying about infrastructure, upkeep, or upgrades."
"It has become an easy way to exchange information through any cloud application."
"In the latest version, I like the outlay of the business roles creation. I like seeing that visualization as you're building it, as opposed to going through metatables or XML mappings. We liked that piece, and it makes it more intuitive for the business."
"Its data cleansing capabilities are very valuable. The match and merge and the audit trail functionalities are very good."
 

Cons

"They don't have a mechanism to achieve processes, data sources, and data."
"I hope IBM uses something from IBM Content Navigator to make the interface easier to navigate."
"The pricing is a little bit high. It's gone up in cost."
"User Interface components could be further refined to enhance and extend customizations dictated by end clients."
"Performance in the development environment space. I know that they have been taking it off the desktop version and putting on the web, and it is not 100% yet."
"The setup was quite complex because the solution was cutting-edge at that time and IBM invested considerably in the implementation, likely at a loss to themselves."
"Needs better reporting. I do not think that we are fully taking advantage of what it already has yet."
"There are a few areas, like triggering mechanisms, externally exposed variables, and changing its values."
"The customer servive and support could be faster. There is a slow turnaround."
"Informatica's issue is the licensing. Right now, there are a lot of new gen MDMs that are offering a lot in a single licensing model."
"Once the data is masked, we won't be able to reverse it back to its original value."
"Right now, although they offer some templates, I would want more templates available to be imported."
"Metadata querying is right now not there in Informatica Cloud Data Integration."
"I would also like to have profiling functionalities and quality transformations in the cloud."
"Their support should be improved. We have had some trouble with their support from time to time. Its scalability should also be improved. I would also like to have a bit more modern and friendly UI for the end-users. There should definitely be a simplified way to configure and set it up."
"Exploring the possibility of incorporating AI capabilities that can suggest additional rules would significantly streamline our data analysis process following data profiling."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM BPM cannot be considered a cheaply priced product. IBM BPM is a really expensive product compared to other companies. One needs to opt for the perpetual licensing model offered by IBM."
"The solution might be expensive, but I can't give you a precise number. In the market here, I've seen two main products for BPM: IBM BPM and Camunda. Camunda is very popular and open-source, so there's no direct comparison."
"I wish it was less expensive. I don't know why their pricing model is so high for a piece of software that could benefit so many. It just seems to me that they could have a lower cost, maybe with fewer features or whatever, but it should be possible to do a lower cost workflow software that uses the same interface and underlying engine but does not cost so much that you have to be a Fortune 50 company to buy it. It is annoying to me. There are a lot of solutions that IBM has that are really powerful but nobody can afford them. They know their business, but I still feel that there are a lot of customers who would benefit from this sort of thing. I don't know what this elitism is all about. I am sure they have people doing the money numbers, but it seems like you can make a lot more money by selling it to way more people for a little bit less."
"I already compared some solutions related to business process management, and I saw that the cost of IBM BPM is more expensive compared with that of Camunda, for example."
"Our customers do see ROI. They'll identify some particularly painful or uncoordinated processes to start with, then build out from there, picking off low hanging fruit."
"The product is expensive considering the hardware and software costs."
"Starting out with Express can also help reduce the cost for adopting the product."
"It has a low cost to implement. You'll get your money back in the same year that you complete the project."
"I have heard from customers that the product comes with a huge license cost."
"My understanding is that Informatica is quite expensive compare to other tools that are available in the market."
"The price is neither too high nor too low."
"Informatica MDM is very expensive. Apart from licensing fees, they have broken down their products into multiple products, and they charge for each and every product. If the data is huge, they charge for the data. At times, we have to use third party services for data cleaning, and they charge for that as well."
"The price of Informatica Cloud Data Integration could be reduced."
"We have licenses, and we are provided with certain particular services in the solution."
"Informatica Axon is expensive."
"it's expensive, but if you're looking for a stable solution, Informatica MDM is a good one to choose."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
32%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better, IBM BPM or IBM Business Automation Workflow?
We researched both IBM solutions and in the end, we chose Business Automation Workflow. IBM BPM has a good user interface and the BPM coach is a helpful tool. The API is very useful in providing en...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM BPM?
SAP is more expensive, but IBM BPM is very expensive. If a scale of one to ten is used, I would rate IBM BPM at nine in terms of pricing.
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 ...
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Lombardi Edition, IBM Business Process Manager, IBM WebSphere Process Server
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
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Barclays, EmeriCon, Banca Popolare di Milano, CST Consulting, KeyBank, KPMG, Prolifics, Sandhata Technologies Ltd., State of Alaska, Humana S.A., Saperion, esciris, Banco Espirito Santo
The Travel Company, Carbonite
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM BPM vs. Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.