iPaaS – The Express Lane to Cloud Integration Services

Cloud integration services are revolutionizing the way enterprises approach data, security, and business insights. Read about the drivers, benefits, and requirements here.Table of Contents

Cloud Integration Services, a.k.a. iPaaS
Drivers of Cloud Integration Services
Benefits of Cloud Integration Services
Requirements of Cloud Integration Services
Seamlessly Orchestrate your Data with a Data Product Approach to Cloud Integration Services

Cloud Integration Services, a.k.a. iPaaS

More than 90% of enterprises today have adopted a multi-cloud strategy. But alongside the benefits of this approach, a multi-cloud strategy also breeds many challenges, such as management complexity, data governance, security concerns, and interoperability. Today, more than ever, organizations face a paramount need to quickly and safely integrate their data and applications.

Traditional, centralized data and application integration platforms and tools are not equipped to handle the demands of a multi-cloud strategy. Instead, enterprises should pursue cloud integration services, which are designed to manage the complexities and scale of a multi-cloud IT infrastructure.

iPaaS (integration Platform as a Service) provides for a set of cloud data integration services that connects formerly disparate applications, data sources, and IT environments, to enable real-time and batch exchange of data and processes.

The goal is to create a unified, cohesive IT infrastructure that streamlines the flow of data across the enterprise and allows data consumers to access data on-demand.

However, selecting the right solution out of a growing pool of providers isn’t easy.

Drivers of Cloud Integration Services

The increasing popularity of a multi-cloud strategy is one of the biggest drivers of cloud integration services. The vast majority of enterprises – 92% – have a multi-cloud strategy, and use an average of 2.6 public, and 2.7 private, clouds.

One of the most significant effects of the move to the cloud is the difficulty in accessing, and extracting value from, the data locked in separate cloud-based silos. The need to merge multiple cloud environments across the enterprise has now become clear.

Data silos created by on-premise legacy systems are another major driver. Migrating on-premise data to the cloud, with the objective of creating one unified data infrastructure has become crucial to business success.

Cloud integration services must overcome the obstacles of accessing,
and using, data locked in separate cloud-based, or on-premise, silos.

Without a streamlined, integrated approach to cloud data management, data engineers face the overwhelming task of creating customized (and often, redundant) integrations, and delivering low-quality data to data consumers. From a business perspective, siloed data integration limits productivity, creates bottlenecks, and results in inferior business outcomes.

Benefits of Cloud Integration Services

Cloud integration services are revolutionizing the way businesses approach data, security, and business insights. Here are the main benefits of a modern iPaaS platform:

• Easy use case integrations
  A cloud integration platform creates and manages scalable data pipelines between source and target systems for both operational and analytical use cases.
  
  

• Cost savings
  By using cloud data integration services, enterprises no longer have to purchase, operate, and maintain integration-specific hardware and software.
  
  

• Increase speed and business agility
  iPaaS solutions make it easier to address future integration needs, because they enable enterprises to go to market faster, and develop applications more agilely.

Requirements of Cloud Integration Services

Here are 7 must-haves to look for when assessing cloud integration services:

1. Enable key enterprise use cases
   The right cloud integration services platform will let an enterprise:

   1. Provide complete, holistic, and real-time access to Customer 360 data.

   2. Automate data pipelining, to speed up insights.

   3. Seamlessly migrate on-premise data to the cloud.

   4. Protect data at rest, in use, and in transit, with data masking.

   5. Provision high-quality test data on demand.

2. Support a wide range of data sources and applications
   Enterprises today are comprised of hundreds, or thousands, of data sources and applications. A cloud integration services platform can only deliver on its promises, if it can integrate with all applications, systems, repositories, and IT environments, and ensure data is always available, fresh, and ready for pipelining.

3. Ensure maximum privacy and security
   Data privacy and security requirements are becoming increasingly stringent. Your cloud integration services platform should be configured to comply with industry standards, such as GDPR and CCPA. Otherwise, you risk noncompliance, which could lead to costly consequences.

4. Scale effortlessly
   To stay competitive and agile, your organization needs a cloud integration services platform that’s built to manage increasing data and workflow volumes. If the system is unable to handle rising data volumes correctly, it could impair performance and negatively impact your business.

5. Offer low-code and no-code support
   A cloud integration services platform with low-code and no-code support allows non-technical business users and citizen developers to easily build customizations, applications, and workflows that meet their needs with minimal coding.

6. Enable a self-service approach
   By enabling non-IT workers to fulfill their own needs for data customizations, apps, and workflows, enterprises can reduce their reliance on data engineers who are already spread thin. By democratizing these capabilities, data literacy is improved throughout the enterprise, enabling business teams to work more productively with data.

7. Allow for rapid deployment
   Enterprises don’t have the option to turn off their systems while they undergo data migration, or data integration. That’s why you need a cloud integration services platform that can be deployed quickly, with zero disruption or system downtime.

Seamlessly Orchestrate your Data with a Data Product Approach to Cloud Integration Services

Traditional, centralized application integration platforms aren’t built for data integration across a multi-cloud environment. iPaaS integration is the only solution that allows enterprises to streamline data, applications, APIs, and process integration projects across both cloud-resident and on-premise endpoints.

But not all iPaaS platforms are created equal. An iPaaS solution based on a data product approach unifies everything a company knows about a particular business entity (e.g., a customer, product, or order) across dozens of fragmented source systems – into an integrated data product, augmented with situational awareness. Only when data is organized by data product, with every instance stored in an individual micro-database, can enterprises reap the full benefits of cloud integration.