Informatica PowerCenter Reviews

I use this solution for everything from real-time processing to complex, high-volume batch workflows. 

In terms of performance improvement and tuning, there should be a bit more guidance and documentation. I would also like to see improvement on some of the installation, especially to the adapters. The setup for the SAP adapters is a bit complex.

I have been using this solution for the past eight years.

The solution is stable. 

The solution is scalable. Around 50 employees are using the solution every day at our company. We would like to continue using it and also evaluate using the cloud version.

I would rate the technical support as a four out of five. 

Positive

The initial set up was easy. It wasn't cumbersome. 

Deployment took about a day, and we handled it ourselves. 

I would recommend that others considering the solution go ahead and use it for any batch and high volume loads with complex transactions. Informatica performs very well. I would rate it as an eight out of ten. 

We receive the data files from insurance carriers. We load the data, do some processing, and then make the data available to their internal systems. We apply some business transformations and data validations and share the data in the healthcare domain and EDI B2B exchange.

Its version varies based on the customer, but when it comes to the cloud, we have the latest version. We have been using Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services (IICS) for two years. We have used IICS for two purposes. One is for data integration, and the other one is for application integration.

Complex transformations can be easily achieved by using PowerCenter. The processing layer does transformations and other things. About 80% of my transformations can be achieved by using the middle layer. For the remaining 15% to 20% transformations, I can go in and create stored procedures in the respective databases. Mapplets is the feature through which we can reuse transformations across pipelines. Transformations and caching are the key features that we have been using frequently. 

Informatica PowerCenter is one of the best solutions or products in the data integration space. We have extensively used PowerCenter for integration purposes. We usually look at the best bridge solution in our architecture so that it can sustain for maybe a couple of years. Usually, we go with the solution that fits best and has proven and time-tested technology.

Its licensing can be improved. It should be features-wise and not bundle-wise. A bundle will definitely be costly. In addition, we might use one or two features. That's why the pricing model should be based on the features. The model should be flexible enough based on the features.

Their support should also be more responsive to premium customers.

We have been dealing with this product for around 20 years.

It is stable.

It is easy to scale. It has the concept of a grid, but it is too costly because you also need Informatica big data edition. Informatica PowerCenter has its own software licensing called big data edition. So, whenever we want to scale to a huge volume, we need to go with big data. It has horizontal scaling, which always impacts the price. I can go for a four-node cluster grid or an eight-node cluster grid, which will have an impact on the price.

We have scaled it for one of our enterprise customers, and we had a little bit of complexity in setting it up, but we were able to achieve the desired goals with respect to the performance.

We have been in touch with Informatica support. They should be more responsive. They should react quickly to premium customers.

Different products are suitable for different use cases. One unified product cannot address multiple use cases. For example, Informatica may not be suitable for real-time integration, but it may be helpful for batch integration. Similarly, MuleSoft caters to low latency, but it doesn't get into high latency, which means it is not suitable for larger data processing systems. That's why we need to have a combination of technologies. For example, I may say that I have a resource or a person who has a primary skill and a secondary skill. Primary skill is specialized, and then secondary skill is complementary to that. Similarly, every product has a primary thing and a secondary thing. For Informatica, it is the batch processing, not the real-time data processing. It only processes the structured data, but it does not process unstructured data. For unstructured data, you need to go for a different product. For the cloud version, they have introduced IICS specifically for catering to the application integration requirements.

It is a simple process because we have a pool of experts in our team. Some manual work could be required. We did have challenges while setting it up, but we could also resolve those challenges. 

We provide development, integration, operations, and maintenance services for Informatica solutions to the customers. We do ETL monitoring, and we monitor the daily loads and resolve and manage the pipeline features. 

We also handle the change requests coming from the customer and performance optimization. We may sometimes also look at the transformations optimization, caching, and all those things.

It is for big enterprises. We have leveraged Informatica for big enterprises but not for small and medium enterprises because it is a very costly product as compared to other products. We propose this solution only for enterprise customers. For small to medium enterprises, we would propose the Microsoft solution.

Its licensing is currently bundle-wise. It should be features-wise and not bundle-wise.

It is a very mature product, but now everyone is moving to the cloud. They need to give more attention and focus more on the IICS rather than PowerCenter. PowerCenter on-premises will cater to one or two industries, and they should give more features in IICS. It can cater to only 70% of the features of Informatica PowerCenter. The data integration is currently not as mature in IICS. It doesn't have Mapplets, and we have faced some constraints. We have already logged a service request for this.

I would rate Informatica PowerCenter a nine out of ten.

Informatica PowerCenter is a data integration tool. We use it as an extract, load, transform tool and we can transfer data from production to test or to any other environment.

We have several use cases. For example,  we use it to create data warehouse applications, which are used for analytics and to help generate business value.

Another use case is to modify a test environment such that it is compliant with GDPR regulations. We can use it to transfer production data to a test environment for the purpose of facilitating our testing. Another use case is that if we are working on a data warehouse application, it can be used to extract data from different sources to load into the target environment.

The most valuable features are that it is quick and easy to use. Anybody can master it in a short time.

The interface is very clean and clear.

This tool integrates with distributed systems.

I would like to see improvements made to the custom transformations. It should be more open for users that want to write their own code and use cases. As it is now, writing custom transformations is not user-friendly.

I have been working with Informatica PowerCenter for approximately two years.

This is a stable product.

Informatica PowerCenter is scalable.

We have one person in the company in charge of administration. 

I am part of a seven-person team that uses it, although there are a lot of other applications in the company that make use of PowerCenter. The number of users overall is huge.

We plan to increase our usage in the future.

Our admin team is from Informatica, and if we have any problems then we contact them. For example, the tool that I work on directly interacts with PowerCenter, where PowerCenter works as a backend for my application. If I have connectivity issues or need special access to PowerCenter, I contact the admin team and they help me to sort out the issues.

Prior to PowerCenter, I used an open-source tool called Talend. It was not very good.

The installation is not complex. It is easy to do because you just need one database, such as Oracle, set up as the backend, and some executable files.

I was not involved in the deployment. Another team in our company was responsible for it.

The licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis.

In summary, this is a good tool and I definitely recommend it. It integrates with distributed systems and if the use cases involve data ETL then this is the best tool to use.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We use the solution for businesses that wish to analyze their raw data. The solution allows us to do data cleansing and to transform the raw data into useful, insightful information.

Informatica PowerCenter is a very strong tool which offers a host of features. We can use heterogeneous data to easily merge and derive the useful information. Also, flag files processing is very useful.

An issue which should be addressed is that the solution only allows us to do structured, as opposed to unstructured, data processing. Also, the EPA related data processing should be improved. 

Processing capabilities should be streamlined.

I prefer a third party scheduler tool to that of Informatica scheduler, since the latter is not one which is very physical. The solution is not so helpful if one wishes to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. 

We have been using Informatica PowerCenter for nearly eight years.

Scalability could be improved, as it is of an intermediate level. 

We have plans to increase usage. 

Technical support is really great.

Deployment was simple and straightforward. 

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. 

We have a team of around 40 to 50 people who use the solution.

I would, for sure, recommend the solution to others, since I feel it to be a really strong tool. It is very robust and has complex capabilities. It allows one to accomplish tasks with ease. We are talking about a strong ETL for those who are undertaking ETL related tasks.

Our primary use case for Informatica PowerCenter is for insurance and enterprise data warehouse creation.

The features I find most valuable is that the solution is very user-friendly and the graphical design is very easy to understand.

I would like to see an improvement in the digital adoption. It would be nice if they could be cheaper, because the training is very expensive as they do everything online.

Compared to other solutions, Informatica PowerCenter is very stable.

The solution is scalable. They have a cloud version for a small company. So nowadays start-ups or small companies are using the cloud version, while the big companies like banks and insurance companies are using the full-fledged enterprise version. We have about 100 users in our company and we plan to increase our usage of Informatica PowerCenter.

The technical support is very, very good. They make sure to come on site and help us to fix any issues we may have.

We previously used a Microsoft solution but that was not very scalable. That is why we switched to Informatica, as it is much more scalable. 

The initial setup was really straightforward and easy and it took us about 15 minutes. Three people are enough to do the maintenance. 

I rate this solution an eight out of ten and I will recommend others to use it, even though it is a little expensive, compared to other solutions.

We use the solution primarily as an ETL.

It helps with the automation process. We have a lot of requests from the user to create for them data alerts. We have had some success using Informatica. 

It is an excellent tool. It covers our needs. 

The solution is used mostly to handle our daily data loads in our data warehouse. We've been successful so far using it. 

It provides monitoring and we can therefore be aware of what is happening when we are handling jobs. 

The ETL and monitoring tools are the most useful for us.

The transformations we need to do, to comply with user requests, is very easy with this product.

The solution is stable.

It can scale. 

We also have a data integrator, and if we were to compare the software together, the one thing Informatica doesn't have is the ability to create the script inside the solution. We need to rely on Unix or Windows. We can't do the scripting in Informatica itself. We need better integration potential. 

The FTP tools that the solution has are limited. 

If you want to transfer a ZIP file, it is a pain. You need to use Command-Line. Sometimes we just want to transfer a file. It should be easy to move them from A to B.

I want to eliminate interdependencies on the script. If Informatica could do everything, it would be a more powerful tool.

We'd like to have all of the capabilities available in the cloud available also on PowerCenter.

The solution is expensive. 

I've been using the solution for four years. 

Sometimes we have problems, however, the problems are in the database, not Informatica. The solution is very stable. It's reliable. I'd rate it ten out of ten. 

We're in the process of moving to the cloud. 

PowerCenter itself can scale. 

I've never contacted technical support. Typically, I will Google an answer to my questions. It's easy to find what I need on their website or online. 

I did not use a different solution. This is my first experience working with a data center. I did use the ETL from Microsoft that came with the SQL server. 

I didn't handle the installation. I did practice installing on my workstation to practice, and it was easy. However, for the entire company, it was handled by a third party. 

While it is on-premises right now, we have plans to move everything to the cloud in the short term. We are working on that right now.

The installation process is done by a third party.

I don't deal with licensing and have never seen an invoice. I am aware it is expensive, however. It's as expensive as Oracle. When you want to use the best brands, you have to pay.

I did not evaluate other solutions. By the time I came to the company, this solution was already in use.

When I was in another bank, we selected Informatica which was a recommendation of a consultant. Informatica at that time was one of the best ETL tools, even though it was expensive. 

I'm an end-user.

The solution is very popular. I'd rate it ten out of ten. It is an excellent tool.

We are a solution provider and this is one of the products that we implement for our clients.

The most valuable features are the monitoring tools and the reporting manager.

Integrating new tools can be tricky and challenging.

I have been working with Informatica PowerCenter for more than five years.

I have not seen any issues with respect to stability. 

We have been in frequent contact with the Informatical help center. It is not only me but other people in the company. They have been very good at supporting us.

We were using the cloud version of PowerCenter with one of our clients, but they have since moved to MuleSoft.

Usually, the initial setup for PowerCenter is straightforward. The is nothing complex about it. However, if you are integrating new tools or if you are putting in an adapter for a product like the Amazon Cloud Service or RedShift, it will be challenging.

The price of this solution is high.

With an interval of every couple of years, they upgrade to a new version and stop supporting the previous versions. At this point, you need to acquire a new license. 

If you are looking to add a new adapter then it will be more costly.

My advice is that if you are looking for a traditional on-premises service, PowerCenter is a good option to stick with. If on the other hand, you want a cloud-based service then there are better options.

In summary, this is a good product, and other than integrating with other tools, I don't face any challenges.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

This solution is really the backbone of what we do. Informatica PowerCenter is one of the most used platforms for data governance in the banking and insurance industry. It's quite expensive so it's not used much outside the industry, but it's very reliable and strong in everything connected to data management and data governance strategy. For our industry, that is crucial. We are customers of Informatica and I'm the head of big data and solution architecture. 

From my point of view, the solution has two valuable features. It has the ability to manage a huge quantity of data along with a high level of reliability from a performance point of view. Secondly, it has all the tools and features within the platform to establish a real data governance strategy. That includes lineage data preparation, ETL, ELP, everything regarding monitoring and processes that are implemented in the platform. It's quite feature full in that regard.

The solution currently requires quite an established data center in place because there is no option for software as a service so the best option to install the platform is on-prem. I know Informatica is thinking about it because they are introducing a brand new platform for big data management, but it doesn't yet have the same level of features as PowerCenter. This is something they can improve on. There are some significant differences between the two platforms.

The other issue is price. I understand this is a high-level professional tool designed for big companies that have a great need for managing huge amounts of data and I understand these kinds of tools are quite expensive, but sometimes the cost is too high. Their focus is obviously a high-level market but I think there would be other companies who would want to use it but it's too expensive for them. 

I'd like to see improved on-prem support like Cloudera which is very oriented towards traditional databases, like Oracle, SQL Server and others. 

We've been using this solution for five years. 

It is clearly a stable solution, otherwise it would not be used in industries such as banking and insurance. Technically speaking, it's very stable and reliable. In my opinion, it's one of the most stable and reliable platforms for data governance.

Technical support is good and a lot has improved over the years. 

Most of my customers use solutions in the cloud so I've used Azure in AWS and GCP. There are lots of services, platform services, or software as a service, tools that are used for the same purposes or objectives, like data governance, data preparation, data integration. It's hard to compare because the environment is completely different and they have different issues. PowerCenter is quite a traditional technology. A product like Hadoop, for example, for storage and process management, has the same objectives but they are fulfilled in a completely different way.

The initial setup is not so easy but once it's been deployed it's quite reliable from a performance point of view.

My advice for this product is to be aware of what's involved and be sure about deploying and using it because it's a very technical tool, something you cannot buy and install in some weird brutal machine. It requires planning and has to be managed, not only in terms of using it, but also economically speaking, because of the cost.

I would rate this solution a nine out of 10.