We use Informatica PowerCenter to extract the data from legacy products and load it into new applications. We're using it for this purpose only. Apart from that, we use the Data Quality tool for data quality issues. We use this solution to extract and load.
Senior Architect at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
A high-performance enterprise data integration solution with a useful automated scheduling feature
Pros and Cons
- "I like the automated scheduling feature."
- "Support could be better."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
I like the automated scheduling feature. Suppose we want to automate data anonymization, we have tools within PowerCenter for that. In terms of the capability of data loading features, Informatica products are better.
What needs improvement?
Support could be better. Technical support's friendly, but we should be able to get responses from them more quickly.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We found PowerCenter to be stable. When comparing the tools within the Informatica PowerCenter and IDQ, we felt that PowerCenter was more stable for data quality and extraction purposes. Through the command mode, we can do many things for loading purposes, and for all that, PowerCenter is better.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Informatica PowerCenter is highly scalable. Whether it's 4000 records, one million records, or ten million records, we did all these use cases, and it was fine.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is fine, but we got some delayed responses or didn't get proper responses in certain cases. But overall, it's okay.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used some other tools, but we found this solution when we had a huge dataset. We felt that PowerCenter was capable of doing the extraction and loading better than other products. We were also using Microsoft SQL Server DTS in the previous year.
How was the initial setup?
It's easy for me to install Informatica. But for configuration and domain creation with multiple nodes, it will take time. If you have to do it multiple times, it'll take even more time.
For a simple installation, it's straightforward. Otherwise, it will take three to four hours for multiple nodes under multiple services. For example, if you're doing it for only an integration service, it's very simple. But for our data integration service and other services, it will take more time.
What about the implementation team?
I implemented this solution by myself.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend it to potential users.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give Informatica PowerCenter an eight.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Data Scientist at IME
Informatica PowerCenter mainly performs ETL that is able to extract transform load from a variety of data sources and it has a good GUI interface.
Pros and Cons
- "Technical support, and their approach is good. They have a support portal and support tickets. If you open a ticket it has multiple levels of severity from level one to very high or critical."
- "The licensing cost for Informatica is very high. Other all-in-one solutions have much lower prices than Informatica."
What is our primary use case?
ETL ; Extract Transform Load from data base to data warehouse based on specific business rules.
How has it helped my organization?
Informatica PowerCenter satisfies our customers need; thus making Extract Transform Load from data base to data warehouse based on specific business rules.
What is most valuable?
There are two valuable features. The first is the main typical functionality that the PowerCenter gives, that is the ETL. The ETL is able to extract transform load from/to a variety of sources, like Oracle, Microsoft's SQL Server, and Big Data.
The second is the capabilities of the GUI interface; drag and drop solution.
It's a powerful tool and might be the first ETL tool based on Gartner to extract, transform, and load data operations.
What needs improvement?
The licensing cost for Informatica is very high. Other all-in-one solutions offer much lower prices.
Also, sometimes with data capture, the solution doesn't support some data types so you must find an alternative, Informatica Data Replication, for instance. You end up buying two very expensive products to get just a little bit more functionality. They need to offer an all-in-one package.
I'd like Informatica to provide more use cases. We have a huge knowledge base, but use cases in specific domains like healthcare, banking, and financial transactions would be helpful. There are some tools that exist for making predictions in different domains. I want something like that in Informatica so we can see use cases that showcase better management, better quality, and better governance, in different domains.
The solution needs better support and training. Informatica can do a better job in making it clear at the beginning what is supported and not supported, and what the licenses include and do not include. That way we are better able to communicate with the clients and to get assistance from support. It would also save us time in raising issues with support if we knew what was covered.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is mainly written in Java programming language. If someone is working as a data engineer and he is not from a computer science background, he may fear there are some errors, specifically in Java packages that Informatica has built. It is not yet stable, but some hotfixes in the big data edition of Informatica, in versions 10 and 10.1, work well to patch any issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very scalable but at the same time, it is very expensive. It's a scalable platform and is distributed, but on the other hand, you have to pay for many separate things. For instance, a real-time integration like a cloud connector for grabbing data from the cloud may be advantageous, but the disadvantage is that the whole package would cost a very huge amount of money for the license.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support and their approach is good. They have a support portal and support tickets. If you open a ticket it has multiple levels of severity from level one to very high or critical.
Also, you can buy a support policy for 24/7 support.
Sometimes, we've had issues where customers complain so we have to keep pressuring support and escalating the matter to upper management to get things fixed in a timely fashion. However, this doesn't happen too often. The process as a whole is good.
What other advice do I have?
Our company has many locations, in the Middle East and Africa, but we're mostly based in Cairo, and have about 100 engineers using the solution.
In terms of advice, I would give to others considering using the solution, I'd say this: they should start with a datasheet of every product on Informatica. Licensing is expensive, so you should study the needs of the customer or your business and make a compliance matrix between the products and what the company needs. You'll run into big problems if your customer's needs aren't met in the Informatica products you choose.
I would rate the solution at a seven or eight out of ten. They're still far away from offering a holistic solution for better management, and there can be more enhancements in use cases, but it's a good solution.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller.
Buyer's Guide
Informatica PowerCenter
December 2024
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824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Simple to set up, stable, scalable, simple to manage and debug
Pros and Cons
- "It's a complete package, which is why we use this solution."
- "There is some room for improvement in terms of pricing."
What is our primary use case?
I have worked with Informatica PowerCenter in different companies for different projects.
We use Informatica PowerCenter for ETL. We need it for our data integration project.
What is most valuable?
It's quite suitable for our needs.
It's a complete package, which is why we use this solution.
We have not had any issues with this solution.
What needs improvement?
There is some room for improvement in terms of pricing.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Informatica PowerCenter for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Informatica PowerCenter is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Informatica PowerCenter is a scalable product.
How are customer service and support?
We haven't encountered any problems that would require assistance from the technical support team.
We did however contact technical support about pricing for the implementation of the site.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have been working on ODI (Oracle Data Integrator), but we prefer Informatica.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is quite easy. It is easy to handle and debug as well.
Normally, it doesn't take long, but it depends on the issues we face.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I was unable to locate any pricing information on the website. I made an appointment to meet with a representative through the internet.
According to what I've heard and read on various blogs, it's quite expensive when compared to similar competitive products.
Based on what I've read, I believe the price can be customized.
What other advice do I have?
There are several products, but we recommend using this solution.
I would rate Informatica PowerCenter an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Integration developer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Easy to code, provides Data Integration and Data Quality solutions
Pros and Cons
- "Good product if you are trying implement data quality, data integration, and data management projects."
- "There can be scalability issues. Huge amounts of data ingestion will impact performance."
- "We had stability issues, mostly with JVM size."
How has it helped my organization?
We are trying to implement both Finance and Operations modernization with the help of Informatica. This tool is mainly used in data ingestion, where we bring different sources into a Hadoop environment.
What is most valuable?
- Big Data connectivity, Data Integration solutions, and Data Quality solutions.
- Easy to code and understand solutions in Informatica.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Yes, we had stability issues, mostly with JVM size.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Yes, there can be scalability issues. Huge amounts of data ingestion will impact performance.
How is customer service and technical support?
I rate tech support seven out of 10.
How was the initial setup?
Straightforward.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
There are a lot of other data integration tools available in the market. Based on our needs we have to choose which is applicable: Talend, SSIS, Ab Initio, DataStage, ODI (Oracle Data Integrator).
What other advice do I have?
Good product if you are trying implement data quality, data integration, and data management projects.
We have a good relationship with the vendor. We get notifications related to new products for user validation and beta release. We have given user experience feedback for Operational Insights tool.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Manager of Data Analytics at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Costly yet Effective & Efficient tool for moderate sized DW projects. Performance issues with very large data volumes
Informatica has grown steadily in the data integration domain, ranking in the leaders quadrant of Gartner's analysis. It has been largely in pace with industry demands, serving a large set of requirements through various products. Not surprisingly, Informatica as a Data Integration platform is ahead of many competitors in the domain, with collective force of a product suite strengthening it's position as a leading Data Integration platform.
Here's my assessment of Informatica PowerCenter suite:
- Ease of Development is HIGH. Intuitive GUI, along with drag & connect features, bode well for developers when pressed against stringent timelines.
- Component Architecture, based on SOA, smoothens scalability and flexibility.
- Ease of Integration with nearly all market leading products and application standards, for both Source & Target. Like XML, RDBMS, Message Queues, Flat File, SAP, TIBCO, Mainframe etc.
- Seamless integration with many widely used components: shell scripts in UNIX, Stored Procedures, FTP, VSAM, Salesforce.com, Control-M, Maestro, Autosys etc.
- Enables Real Time integration and Change Data Capture.
- Well organized Community Support, Partner support and documentation.
- People availability with relevant skill level for development is comparatively easier.
- License cost is reasonably HIGH.
- Performs well for DWH of up to Moderate data volumes. When data volume grow beyond millions records per day/ week, performance degrades severely.
- Product release cycle is stiff, with frequent upgrades must to maintain relevant support level. Upgrade cost for Data Integration tool is rather tightly budgeted and hence, a challenging ordeal for Infrastructure, Development and Stakeholders.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
DW Admin at a hospitality company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It collects business information for centralized reporting and analytics.
Pros and Cons
- "Once you figure it out, it is a powerful and simple ETL tool. Its stability has been very satisfactory."
- "The UI is outdated and old-fashioned, at least in our current version. Also, we have experienced some stability issues with the Workflow Monitor application."
What is most valuable?
Once you figure it out, it is a powerful and simple ETL tool. Its stability has been very satisfactory.
How has it helped my organization?
Like any other ETL tool, it collects business information for centralized reporting and analytics.
What needs improvement?
The UI is outdated and old-fashioned, at least in our current version. Also, we have experienced some stability issues with the Workflow Monitor application.
For how long have I used the solution?
Our company has used it since 2002, I started using it in 2009.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The integration service itself is very stable. The applications suffer from minor stability problems.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product scales very well, beyond our needs.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support team is eager to help but the problems that we have faced were usually too complex. However, there has always been a workaround.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Our company has always used this solution.
How was the initial setup?
I was personally not involved with the initial setup, but from what I have heard, it was fairly straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have found the pricing very cost-effective. The licensing is CPU and data source-based.
In the new version, it is supposed to allow a variety of data sources with the standard license.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I was not involved with choosing the product.
What other advice do I have?
Choose the right tool for the right job.
For the purpose that this product was designed, I believe it is still the best in the market.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Associate Director at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Good performance with easy to use interface; good documentation provided
Pros and Cons
- "Good interface, reasonable documentation."
- "Lacks ability to calculate cost of the product."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case of this solution is for building data warehouses for clients with data visualization tools. We need to pull data from other sources so we use Informatica as the ETL. The solution is generally deployed on-prem but sometimes on cloud.
What is most valuable?
The solution provides good performance with an easy to use interface and reasonable documentation.
What needs improvement?
One of the things that I found lacking is that there should be some sort of a calculator where you can input your requirements regarding the number of data switches required, number of users, and the number of data switches in order to get a general idea of cost. It would save me time rather than having to run to the company to get the information.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stabl.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's a scalable solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven't had any issues with technical support.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This is an expensive solution.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution an eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Data Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Feature rich, user-friendly, and straightforward installation
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable aspects of Informatica PowerCenter are the many features, ease of use, and user-friendliness."
- "The performance of Informatica PowerCenter could improve."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Informatica PowerCenter for data integration in a health insurance company.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable aspects of Informatica PowerCenter are the many features, ease of use, and user-friendliness.
What needs improvement?
The performance of Informatica PowerCenter could improve.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Informatica PowerCenter for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Informatica PowerCenter is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have found Informatica PowerCenter to be scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I have not used the technical support from Informatica PowerCenter.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used Data Quality, EDC, Axon, and Metadata Manager.
How was the initial setup?
The initial installation of Informatica PowerCenter was straightforward. The amount of time it takes for the process depends on the deployment site, and how many maps, workflows, and tables there are.
The time it took used for the deployment was approximately two hours.
What about the implementation team?
For the implementation of Informatica PowerCenter, we used one or two developers and one person from the DBA team.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I did not evaluate other options.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Informatica PowerCenter an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: December 2024
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