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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 15.0%, up 14.0% compared to last year.
Microsoft MDS, on the other hand, focuses on Master Data Management (MDM) Software, holds 13.3% mindshare, up 13.0% 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

"I know that there are two good features, APN and ServiceNow but we haven't explored all of its features yet."
"We have a lot of integrations, and it's very easy to create integrations. They have a lot of connectors."
"It is a scalable product."
"The serverless capability and the packaging application of the solution are valuable."
"It's got a reputation in the industry as one of the best solutions for master data management. So, it's what we see in the Gartner top right quadrant as the best product in that space."
"The feature that allows me to search across the entire organizational database and then look through what objects are in which tables and which locations is quite handy."
"I like the fact that you can find almost any product connection that you need and the list is always expanding."
"It comes with lot of features and is a one-stop-shop solution for integration, data modeling, and data governance. Everything can be built under one particular umbrella. If any issues come up, then there won't be any blame game saying that it could be an integration issue or an MDM hub issue because it's wholly owned by Informatica. That's the biggest advantage of Informatica MDM over that of any other tools that are available on the market."
"Compared to other databases, it is easier to manage and administer."
"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 best thing about it is that it comes with the Microsoft package."
"It's very easy to use."
"Technical support is very good."
"More generic related things can be included in the services."
"The solution is easy to install."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft MDS is its compatibility with ETL tools like SSIS, which simplifies operations for end-users."
 

Cons

"Informatica Axon needs to improve its interface."
"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."
"It can be improved in terms of performance and execution. I'm expecting better performance. It currently has some restrictions in terms of execution. For example, if we want to run it in the command mode and execute it, there are some restrictions, and we are facing some issues with a huge volume of data. These restrictions are not there in Informatica PowerCenter because we are able to execute a huge volume of data, and there are more ways to execute it."
"We haven't had many technical issues. We don't use all of the components of the tool that are more complex and error-prone."
"Informatica is very expensive."
"Metadata querying is right now not there in Informatica Cloud Data Integration."
"I think everything related to the APIs and the manageability of the APIs in Informatica MDM are areas where improvements are required."
"Informatica Axon's response times and certain aspects of the admin panel could be enhanced for better usability."
"More generic related things can be included in the services."
"If Microsoft MDS were part of Azure, it would be significantly more helpful."
"The Microsoft license cost could be lower."
"Microsoft MDS is outdated and lacks modern capabilities."
"There are occasions when the solution maintains SD and we get duplications of MDS."
"Microsoft MDS isn't getting strong support because Microsoft is focusing more on cloud solutions."
"Most of the Microsoft partners, especially digitally, are separate. Personnel are business people, and they do not have technical expertise, so you end up as a company spending a lot of money training your staff and your engineers."
"The solution could be better integrated into Microsoft's other products."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing is difficult to understand, but the team is always available to explain anything. They are very helpful."
"I have heard from customers that the product comes with a huge license cost."
"The pricing is high compared to other tools on the market."
"The solution's pricing model is easy, but it is very expensive."
"It's offers value for money. They're more competitive with respect to pricing and offerings."
"Informatica MDM's pricetag should come down. They have to cut some costs."
"Our customers sometimes are able to negotiate a much better price for Informatica Cloud Data Integration based on their relationship with the vendor."
"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."
"The solution does require a license and we have enterprise licenses."
"Product licensing is very complicated. It would be helpful to have an online calculator to estimate the cost of a license."
"The pricing of this solution is good."
"With Microsoft, we buy everything though an agreement, so we purchase volume licensing every year."
"I would like to see better pricing."
"SAP is more expensive than Microsoft."
"MDS is a part of the SQL Server enterprise license. I am not aware of any additional costs."
"Microsoft MDS is an expensive solution."
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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
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Insurance Company
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
14%
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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