What needs improvement with Informatica Supplier 360?

The tool could be improved in terms of ease of use, particularly for those without technical expertise. Understanding and extracting data from the table-based structure requires some SQL knowledge and technical skills. Additionally, while Informatica MDM has moved towards a cloud-based MDM with a UI similar to Reltio, I haven't used it, so I can't comment on its effectiveness.

In Informatica, we can export the metadata in XML format, and then we can see what all are available. Metadata querying is right now not there in Informatica Cloud Data Integration. Informatica Cloud Data Integration needs to make metadata querying available in the tool, and Informatica needs to put more reports to get the lineage details and then the source system, if at all there is a need for us to identify them. It is an area where we face big challenges. I started using Informatica Cloud Data Integration recently.

It is expensive.

There are some tool limitations. Some connectors do not scan the metadata properly. If I want to scan the metadata from the data lineage or the Python code, such areas can get tedious in the tool. To manage such areas, one needs to have a lot of coding knowledge, and you need to know how to apply the code, and only then can you get it fixed. There is no user-friendly enterprise. There are certain shortcomings even if we opt for subscription-based technical support.

The user interface could be more intuitive. Currently, it's not very user-friendly, and users need to be thoroughly trained to use the tool effectively. Additionally, more integration features, like third-party plugins for address search and other functionalities, would be helpful for users across different geographies. While some integrations exist in other Informatica products, they are not available in Axon. Search enhancements would also be beneficial.

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.

EDC is only used for cataloging and meetings. Currently, not many different databases are integrated with it. The ETL logic should be visible within the tool. If EDC is integrated with Axon, you will see the data lineage and catalog because of EDC. If EDC is removed, you cannot see any lineage or catalog. We need EDC on the application level. Currently, it is only at a system level. It can be shown as an application layer between policies or regulations. This kind of feature can be enabled. The integration with other data management tools can be enhanced. For instance, there is no integration with tools like Collibra or Hubview.

I want to get a deeper understanding of the logic that is being used in the ETL. Informatica Axon does not provide complete transparency about the level of detailing you need and the logic used in ETL. I cannot use Google Fusion for ETL because I don't have a connector within Informatica Axon. I am stuck if I don't have a connector with an ETL tool. One of the biggest disadvantages of Informatica is that it's very expensive. Many clients don't want to go with Informatica Axon because of its cost structure. You have to buy every component separately. If a customer wants governance, they obviously would need cataloging and lineage also. Other tools like Collibra have cataloging, lineage, and governance in the same package. You don't need to buy them separately. With Informatica, you have to buy Axon for governance and EDC for cataloging and lineage. So, it becomes difficult for customers to pay for every component.

The user interface of the product needs to be improved. Informatica Enterprise Data Catalog captures huge amounts of data and along with this data, the interface becomes comprehensible only for users with advanced technical knowledge. Even for advanced users, it becomes challenging to move around vast amounts of data collected by the solution. Some competitors of Informatica are trying to implement some brilliant ideas, but they lack the coverage provided by Informatica Enterprise Data Catalog. The data lineage feature can also be further improved. While using the solution, the data is being transmitted outside the client's network to the Informatica cloud, which can be a security concern; the vendor can solve this by enabling the product as part of a public cloud like Azure, AWS, or Google. The aforementioned scenario can be a concern for institutions like banks where there are legal restrictions and data needs to be fully under control.

The product is difficult for an untrained professional to operate. Specialized skills need to be acquired by learning the tool and executing it for data operations. Informatica Enterprise Data Catalog needs to be more user friendly, the UI is extremely complex. For instance, if I have to view the tool, the first deterrent is that it gets highly technical. Thus, a limited number of professionals can understand the tool processes. Unless you are a data professional, it's very difficult to use Informatica Enterprise Data Catalog. The tool operates with Power BI sometimes.

The user interface can be a bit more functionality-aligned.

Compared to other tools in the market, Informatica MDM is costly.

The product isn't mature enough to provide suitable connectors to various data engines. The performance of the solution in transporting data between data lakes and Big data infrastructure is not up to the mark. At our company, we use a similar solution called Spark, which is much better than Informatica MDM in terms of performance and speed. The data support capabilities of Informatica MDM can be improved.

They could improve the product support for the Arabic language. Currently, there are limitations in processing and the interface itself regarding Arabic language support.

It offers integration with some of the latest data platforms, streaming platforms like Kafka, for example. And the setup of the platform is very challenging. Regarding the cloud, it is deployed in the private cloud of the vendor, so it poses challenges regarding the security of the data and the confidentiality of the data. There was no offering of a cloud version deployable in the client's tenant where all the data would reside.

You have to deal with a minimum of five, even if you want to go and check only a particular logic, making it an area with issues where improvements are required. Certain shortcomings in the product's UI make it an area where improvements are required. The tool should provide ease of use and flexibility.

Certain applications aren't accepted. For example, for IBM applications, it takes a lot of time. And certain applications are not being synced with the ION.

Informatica Axon's response times and certain aspects of the admin panel could be enhanced for better usability.

They could provide more robust performance for data integration processes. It would help in improving the data quality more efficiently.

I feel the out-of-the-box APIs or the API management could be improved slightly from their current state. It could be more user-friendly. In future releases, I would love to have more reports and dashboards available within Informatica MDM specifically for master data reporting. Currently, there aren't many reporting functionalities offered. While it's true that reporting isn't a core feature of any MDM system, they do have basic dashboard reports. I'd like to see them made more customizable and offer more options for creating reports.

I use the solution to integrate on-premise and cloud products. There are issues with connectors to cloud applications. The integration process is not easy. The customer experience must be improved. When we implemented it, we did it with the help of Informatica professionals. I would not recommend them as an implementer. They didn't have any experience. It was very hard. The customer experience was not good. It's hard to understand the new features of the HR list. The tool must have more options for connectors. It is hard to connect to some of the applications. The remediation process is not straightforward.

There is room for improvement in the Data Marketplace aspect. Specifically, we found some basic functionalities lacking, like transparent integration of quality indicators. Customizability and additional features in the Data Marketplace would be welcomed in future updates.

The management of different properties is sometimes divided between different user interfaces. The tool should provide a unified user interface to manage the data objects.

Data integration should be improved. Another area of improvement is customer applications, along with business 365 application case integration between applications.

One area where Informatica Cloud Data Integration could improve is in providing more accelerators for certain functionalities. For example, for master data management, having additional accelerators could streamline implementation. Additionally, enhancing compatibility with metadata sharing across different applications, similar to what is achievable with PowerCenter, would further enhance the product's capabilities. I would like to see more connectors for on-premise databases in the next version of Informatica Cloud Data Integration. Currently, CDI free is a great option for cloud integration, but expanding the connectors to include databases like Oracle or MySQL for on-premise environments would make the tool more versatile and accessible for smaller businesses or those not fully in the cloud.

There are some limitations with Informatica Axon when one tries to connect or integrate it with Jira. For example, I can't delete any workflows after the integration process. There are issues with the integration capabilities of the tool with third-party solutions, specifically Jira.

One area I would like to see improvement in Informatica Axon is achieving feature parity between the on-premise and cloud versions. It would be great if the cloud version could match the full range of capabilities available on-premise. This would ensure a seamless experience and allow users to leverage all of Axon's features regardless of their deployment environment.

The speed with which the data should be moved could be improved because of the firewall. It's becoming quite slow. And the integration with Teams or with Microsoft is not so smooth. So these are the areas of improvement. So, probably, they might even look for some upgrades or some changes over there. But these are the two key areas that we are facing issues with. One is the data moves a bit slow, and the integration within Microsoft products. Maintenance is another issue that takes a lot of time and money. It can be a challenge in the long term.

It is more complicated to extract data using the product compared to Visio. The system could display the details on the screen. Additionally, they should add AI features and the capability to provide data streaming insights.

I think everything related to the APIs and the manageability of the APIs in Informatica MDM are areas where improvements are required.

Accuracy is one of the key areas a client looks at before using a solution. Considering internal data from legacy systems, it is quite difficult to know if Informatica Data Quality meets that high level of accuracy criteria. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement in the solution.

The solution should improve its integration.

I cannot specifically point out an area in Informatica Enterprise Data Catalog that needs improvement since it properly functions as a data catalog tool. You cannot use something like Atlas to get catalog ranges, making Informatica Enterprise Data Catalog a comparatively powerful tool. The UX and UI of the solution are areas with certain shortcomings where improvements can be made in the future. If I want to get some extra features in the product, I can contact Informatica's research and development team, who can add some new features to the product and make the tool available in the market.

Exploring the possibility of incorporating AI capabilities that can suggest additional rules would significantly streamline our data analysis process following data profiling. Many other tools offer this feature, enabling them to suggest rules, which can be generated with just one or two clicks.

I don't see any area of improvement required when it comes to Informatica MDM since it is one of the leading products in the market. Some unification in Informatica MDM's UI side would probably make it better. I find Reltio more intuitive when compared to Informatica MDM's UI. Informatica MDM's UI is not intuitive enough. Informatica MDM's UI can be made a bit more intuitive. I think all the latest up-to-date features are made available in Informatica solution. When it comes to Informatica MDM, all the features are mostly included, because of which there is nothing that needs to be added. The long response time taken by the technical team of Informatica can be considered for improvement.

It is complicated to establish the lineage in EDC using PowerCenter mappings. We have to do the process manually every time. This particular area needs improvement.

Informatica Axon needs to improve its interface.

Inserting the GenAI into the master data management will reduce the overall effort of operational activities.

It would be helpful if there was a GenAI feature integrated into the system, especially regarding the data quality. It would ensure improved decision-making processes and better insights.

The major points of improvement are stability, integration, and permission to sub-folders or categories of data. If you want to provide access to a particular type of data discovery to a team, it exposes a lot of data points which in turn makes Axon not that useful for them. Permissions, scalability, and connection with other informatic tools are the main areas that need development. Integration with other tools, such as IDQ, is challenging. The management of data discovery is highly challenging because many data points have identical definitions. Mostly, this will come under the data security permission level or admin access.

There's certainly room for improvement. One crucial area is generating detailed reports on file statuses. Presently, this is represented visually, often as graphs or charts. Such reporting could offer comprehensive insights into the areas that demand attention and further scrutiny.

I would like to have the solution in one product and technical support needs to be better.

While my company operates on the cloud, we have seen that Informatica Cloud Data Integration has some performance issues causing it to lag. I feel that Informatica is still in the process of improving its cloud. Sometimes, there are connectivity shoes in the product causing it to have multiple issues, because of which the solution hangs or lags. The product may have issues because they are new to the market and are trying to improve their services.

There are a few improvements which can be done. So those are on data governance and making an image of each object that is being created on top of Informatica, I mean, on top of applications. So those need areas to be improved. The logging methods are really traditional. So logging, in order to track any operations happening on this interface, will catch a log file. That needs to be more precise. In future releases as well, I would like to see additional features. So there is no platform where code conversion can happen easily. For example, if you want to move Informatica jobs in various areas, it's quite easy and straightforward. But still, you require some manual intervention for code changes that need to be done throughout the platform. So these things need to be improved. And other things are the compatibility of other services. For example, if you have a running Spark code and you want to run the Spark code into Informatica IICS, which is not compatible, so you need to rewrite the whole syntax to make it compatible. So those are the areas that really need improvement.

I need to have some insight into the tool's cloud capabilities.

Though it is a robust tool, the cloud version could be better in terms of pricing.

From a data or master data management perspective, the solution is pretty evolved. But from a business process automation workflow standpoint, it could be a bit more intuitive, rather than technically complex, such as in workflow alteration using ActiveVOS. The solution also needs adaptive rules elaborating AI/ML technologies.

The solution's cloud-based version has a few limitations compared to its on-premise version.

Informatica Axon needs more integration connectors so that it can connect to systems and different kinds of datasets.

The solution's capability to handle large volumes of data compared to its on-premise version needs improvement. Its features for partitioning and optimization could be better as well. There needs to be more options for partitioning, including database partitioning, pass-through partitioning, etc. Additionally, it doesn't support XML data types for SQL server databases. Also, it captures success and targets rows only within a system-defined area. It should be able to capture and track the number of rows processed by each pipeline. Presently, users need to write code against the existing APIs to access information data. It is a complicated process due to the limited functionality of APIs. Instead, there could be an option to write queries against repository tables to fetch the data like its on-premise version.

Informatica MDM has a complex user interface, which could be improved.

IEDC can improve the comparison of lineages, which is one thing I see in other data catalog tools that Informatica does not have, basically data catalog tools.

They could improve technical support because it is not good enough at the moment.

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. So things are not very mature. They need to improve in the aforementioned areas. We are hoping that it will be sorted out in some time, and we will get to experience a hassle-free life.

Most of the demand is about how MDM can be automated so the changes occur automatically. The whole server will change the storage engine, like any tool key, so everything can be automated. Informatica MDM has limitations with connectivity. This is evident when we connect with our console, especially sometimes the process gets filled. With the tools we are locally running from our end, there should be some specific instance to register that is helpful and can support Informatica in running its modeling. More automation is much required nowadays, as mainly the work will convert into a complete normal manual process. There should be some specific integration tools, the managed services, involving the application, and then the code they use. That should be sufficient, meaning there should be leverage to openly adopt any new integration environment like PySpark that we will use. Some resiliency with the particular application, the code, and the type of files only can we address.

I think there's only one area that could be improved. Currently, when we apply the Data Masking rate, we don't have a way to view the masked data. It would be helpful if there was a feature to allow us to see the actual information. Once the data is masked, it cannot be reversed. Having the ability to revert it back to the actual value would be beneficial, especially if we need to see the original information. Although our enrollment has decreased, it would still be helpful to have that feature.

The product could be improved in the area of architecture and technology. All the parts are old. I would like to migrate it to a new technology. It's better to have a new method for every IT system. Integrate with API, Kafka, and JMS, as API has in Jira code or Jira.

The GUI needs to be a little more user-friendly and appealing. Salesforce, for example, although in a different category, is very user-friendly and I think if they were to include some of the Salesforce principles, it would be helpful. Informatica needs to do a better job in terms of educating users.

All the functionalities of the solution that are currently available on the on-prem version should be made available on the cloud. The on-prem version's functionalities may not be available on the cloud version. So, Informatica is working on it, and it may take some time. In short, adopting the functionalities of the solution's on-prem version could be faster in the cloud.

The tools required to migrate existing mappings and server rules through cloud data quality are not available. Additionally, there is no alert mechanism in place for the existing IDQ that can be integrated with email alerts.

The cost of Informatica MDM is expensive and has room for improvement. Although the solution is good, it is not worth the high cost.

There is room for improvement at the highest level in terms of useability and connectors for various types of new applications. The row processing performance could be better because you experience some latency dealing with high volumes of data. Most organizations will be dealing with multiple cloud applications, so you could see performance issues moving from one system to another.

The configurations could be better. It is a bit confusing because we must develop two tools when building a data model in Informatica MDM. Even though Informatica MDM is a single tool, we have our hub console plus the provisioning tool within that. Whatever data model we are building in the hub console, we have to develop it in the provisioning tool again. It is double the work to create a data model. We are also using external calls or the Java custom plans functions. This can be both positive and negative. Since MDM as a client does not support any complex validation, we have to depend on the external call or a Java call. Every time we deployed, the entire solution was impacted if something went wrong.

They are moving from on-premises to the cloud. I expect all the on-premises features in the cloud version as well.

The AC integration between EDC and Informatica Axon has room for improvement for the on-premises version, but that has been taken care of with the cloud. The stability and the integration of the solution have room for improvement.

Informatica Enterprise Data Catalog could improve by having a much better user interface. It is not user-friendly. In a new release of Informatica Enterprise Data Catalog, it would be beneficial to have some new features including data sharing.

Although the solution seems complete currently, it could be improved by including a buffer that saves data when there is a connectivity issue.

When we're dealing with huge amounts of data, we need to reach out to Informatica. There are some kinds of API records that we need to modify configurations for. Application integration, as compared to data, is a bit slow, and it can't handle millions of records. There could be a lot more application integration. Like data integration, we find there are a lot of places where we can go ahead and improve performance. When it comes to application integration as a developer, we don't have that much flexibility. We have constraints. Our hands are tied, and we can't do anything. We need to speak with either the target system or the core system and say, "Okay, do this thing."

The main issue preventing Brazilian companies from migrating to Informatica Cloud Data Integration from on-prem is the price. The license is now based on subscriptions, which is a change from the past. This has caused Brazilian customers to hesitate, wondering if they should migrate or not. The technology is fantastic, but the price is terrible for the customers. They are forced to migrate because the platform is a must in terms of technology. However, the price is too high causing a big problem here in Brazil.

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. In a future release, the UI should be more developed to allow more features.

We would like to have accessibility to the repository. We had that feature in Informatica PowerCenter, and we were able to have access to the repository query, which helped us build some tools, audit tools, and review tools. In Informatica Cloud, accessing the repository query is a challenge.

Recently, we're trying to connect to the Amazon API. There's no direct way to connect to Amazon APIs from Informatica Cloud. From Postman, there's a signature site called AWS Signature, which would actually generate the signatures for us with AWS APIs. In Informatica Cloud, we have to build the logic, and then we can generate the signature and hit the AWS APIs. Instead of generating that signature, it would be better if we could have the same connector in Informatica Cloud. Sometimes when I open the processes or any service connectors, the labels are not properly displayed. The backend names are displayed rather than the front end label. I usually log out and log back in, and sometimes it disappears, and sometimes it doesn't.

There is always room for improvement in making the look and feel more user-friendly. There are also some technical issues sometimes with integrations because clients have a lot of different types of data sources. One thing I miss with Informatica is the sandbox environment. I do freelance consulting, meaning I give trainings, and sometimes clients ask me to give a training in my own environment, my sandbox environment. I have an environment that Collibra provides me with for certifications of training, so I can use a kind of sandbox to actually show a few things to clients. I have the same thing with Microsoft. With Informatica, it's a bit more difficult. They're not that willing to provide the sandbox to an individual consultant, so I'm just on my own. That's a bit of a pity because sometimes if a client has something that is not configured, I can quickly configure it in my own environment and then show it in a demo. I don't have that opportunity with Informatica. I have to work on the client's system, which then sometimes causes security problems.

One area that could use improvement is the speed of the web interfaces. At present, they are very slow. I think it is essential that we are original and robust on-premises.

The initial setup is very, very difficult. The solution is quite expensive. I would like them to extend the coverage to other technologies like web services and programming languages.

I've found that whatever functionalities are available on-prem, can become a bit of a challenge sometimes in the cloud. There are no simple rules for customization so they need to be applied which is a challenge on the cloud side.

We are in this transition mode, where we haven't yet got IDMC, the cloud version, so we don't actually have hands-on experience and have not actually seen the features. All we rely on, at the moment, is just the available documentation. What I don't like on the IDQ side is just the fact that in the on-premises version, you have all these applications, with separate configurations. In the cloud solution, it is fixed so that you have everything on one platform. The performance isn't as good on-premises. For example, when you install clients, it's slow compared to the cloud. Still, we need to see. We haven't experienced it ourselves. The upgrades are a downside. On-premises you manage all the changes in the software. You have to do that yourself, and if there's some problem with compatibility, it makes things that much harder. With the cloud, everything is managed by Informatica on the servers. Managing the licenses with the on-premises version was difficult. However, with the cloud, it will be much simpler.

This is a costly solution. We have several customers who evaluate it but then look for other solutions because of the cost. At present, Informatica MDM comes as an on-premises or cloud-based solution. I would like to see them offer a SaaS-based MDM model. I think they are working on it.

I think the UI could be improved. We're also currently facing issues with real-time integration and if Informatica had their own it would be helpful. They need to look into the user mechanism and the security access mechanism in the data governance process. One of the major features is access control and access data management and they need to work on that because I have observed some data glitches.

There are challenges when we use Cloud Application Integration (CAI). We want add-ons when we complete data integration and merge images. The current features are a bit complicated, and we need to write big scripts and test.

We'd like to see the microservices, which don't run yet because the solution is not yet fully cloud-based.