Informatica Bolsters Cloud Data Management Tools, Certs for Partners

McKinsey & Co. predicts enterprises will ramp up cloud spending in 2021 by 47%. Similarly, Gartner says public cloud spending alone will grow more than 18% this year. All that outlay underscores why cloud data management vendor Informatica is bolstering its portfolio for partners.

On Tuesday, the Silicon Valley company launched new applications and services, a different pricing structure, and additional training and certifications. Informatica said it’s responding to customer demand for digital-first business solutions. It cited cloud applications, modernized analytics and organization-wide data governance and privacy as common areas where enterprises are investing.

Those initiatives and others are pushing enterprise reliance on the cloud. So, Informatica is gearing up for what it calls the “second wave” in digital transformation. That’s a phase that will see companies rely even more on the cloud, Informatica said. And, again, industry analyst forecasts support that view. Along the way, channel partners will prove even more integral to the ensuing implementation and adoption. To that end, Informatica has unveiled the following changes for partners:

• Low- or zero-code application development. Gone are the days of manual coding. Thanks to the low-/zero-code capabilities in its artificial intelligence platform, CLAIRE, Informatica now has a simple drag-and-drop interface. This allows users (or their system integrator partners) to create new applications or update old ones, all according to business process. Plus, the code is reusable and vendor-neutral. That means it works across all cloud providers, Informatica said. The code further features data governance, privacy and cataloging.
• Consumption-based pricing. This option lets clients move to cloud in phases, Informatica said. In other words, they can take advantage of the cloud’s inherent advantages (agility, scalability, flexibility, etc.) at a pace that makes sense for them.
• More cloud data management training and certification. Informatica released the first step in its Foundation Level Certification series last September. Since then, the company says, almost 9,000 partners have completed the curriculum. Now they can work on the 200 Series, which Informatica debuted on Tuesday. The vendor says the 200 Series dives deeper into product architectures, use cases for cloud application modernization, data democratization that considers governance and privacy, and explores finance and customer experiences. Informatica does not charge for its certification series and offers it on demand.

Informatica’s Richard Ganley

“Companies are only 20% on their way to the cloud and we are now poised to see that accelerate in the coming years,” said Richard Ganley, senior vice president, global partners and digital transformation, at Informatica. “We’re excited to double down on our partner growth this year with the best technology and best partners globally to give customers the most flexibility and control of their journey to the cloud.”

Partner Reactions

Informatica made the announcements at Elevate, its annual partner summit. The vendor sees particular opportunity for the channel to help verticals – including financial services, oil and gas, health care, retail and manufacturing – tackle digital transformation challenges. Informatica channel partners include distributors, resellers and system integrators, including Deloitte Consulting and Capgemini. Both companies welcomed the new enhancements from Informatica.

“The industry at large is seeing an accelerated interest in moving to the cloud as part of a larger data strategy and the need for an efficient data-led transformation is continuing to grow,” said Scott Holcomb, principal at Deloitte Consulting. “Deloitte’s business acumen combined with Informatica’s enterprise cloud data management platform is helping organizations move to a cloud-first, cloud-native strategy quickly and efficiently so business can thrive in a post-pandemic world.”

Eric Reich, AI and data engineering offer leader at Capgemini, agreed.

“Informatica and Capgemini share a mission to help customers achieve their data-driven cloud transformation goals,” he said. “Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services, coupled with Capgemini’s capabilities and accelerators, provides customers the ability to master their … data estate and accelerate the speed to business value.”

Informatica provisions its cloud data management through the aforementioned Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services platform. The software supports development for integrations within the cloud, and those between the cloud and the enterprise itself.