This article examines the 4 key guidelines that enterprises should follow when evaluating iPaaS integration solutions. Continue reading to learn more.
iPaaS Integration Guideline 1: Know Your Options
iPaaS Integration Guideline 2: Understand Your Needs
iPaaS Integration Guideline 3: Examine your Organization
iPaaS Integration Guideline 4: Data Fabric as a Service
iPaaS Integration Guideline 1: Know Your Options
There are multiple options to consider in the iPaaS integration domain, including:
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Hosting options
iPaaS integration is designed to operate on premises, in private or public clouds, or in hybrid environments. Each hosting option has its own requirements, in terms of data governance and data integration, as well as the management of updates and upgrades. Understanding which deployment options are supported by iPaaS solutions is critical. -
Pricing models
iPaaS offers different pricing and subscription models, including a fixed-fee or consumption-based pricing, which will vary according to features, data sources, and data volume. For example, enterprises with varying volumes of data traffic may find the on-demand (pay-as-you-go) model more cost effective. -
Integration scenarios
From real-time data exchange to enterprise-specific application integration, there are countless Data Integration scenarios to choose from. Different vendors focus on different target audiences, offering different capabilities to best suit their needs.
iPaaS Integration Guideline 2: Understand Your Needs
Speaking of meeting specific needs, here are a few examples of factors enterprises should focus on:
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Privacy and compliance
Enterprises have specific demands, especially regarding privacy and compliance. The right iPaaS platform should be able to answer ever-changing regional regulations like GDPR, CCPA, and more. It should also be future-ready to address new laws or amendments, as they emerge. -
Use cases
What does an enterprise hope to achieve with its data? One of the most popular use cases is Customer 360, for more effective data analytics, operational intelligence, and real-time decision-making. Others include Data Masking, Data Migration, and Legacy Application Modernization. -
Multiple sources and environments
Today’s applications span multiple environments, both on premises, and in the cloud. So must your iPaaS platform. It should effortlessly and quickly integrate all sources with data endpoints, to ensure a single source of truth, and that the data is always available, fresh, and ready for pipelining.
The right iPaaS integration tool makes cross-functional collaboration a reality.
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Multiple teams
Different departments across the enterprise need access to the data, some less tech-oriented than others. iPaaS must be a user-friendly, self-service solution that doesn’t require any expertise or training – which greatly reduces dependence on IT for Data Preparation and delivery. -
Quick time to market
Enterprises always need their data ready yesterday, so time to value is critical. When iPaaS is combined with approaches like Shift-Left Testing, the result is more agile software development cycles, quicker time to market, and, ultimately, more satisfied customers. -
Budget considerations
We’ve mentioned different pricing models, and enterprises should make their iPaaS choice based on cost-effectiveness and ROI calculations. Anticipating future initiatives, such as company-wide data migration, is also wise because pricing may change, as your data volume grows.
iPaaS Integration Guideline 3: Examine your Organization
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Data structure and flow
Organizing your data in a specific structure can impact your integration results you reach. For example, a data fabric based on business-driven data products enables enterprises to improve performance and enhance their data management capabilities. More on that, in Guideline 4. -
Changing needs
Today’s data management is defined by change. The number of data sources may grow, your chosen environment(s) may change, data volumes may fluctuate, and your reliance on Data Service Automation may increase. Picking a flexible platform, capable of adjusting on the fly, is essential.
Data Product Platform can be deployed in weeks.
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Setup factors
How long would it take to properly implement your iPaaS integration solution? How complex is the transition? Will multiple stakeholders need to be involved? If so, whom? Will you be able to incorporate data quality management best practices in the process? And the list goes on…
iPaaS Integration Guideline 4: Take a Data Product Approach
A data product approach is quickly gaining ground among large enterprises. Here’s why:
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Redefined data transformation
Data Product Platform, the ultimate enterprise iPaaS, transforms all data, wherever it may be, into business-driven data products. The data products are originally defined and managed by specific business domains, but then later made available to all departments and data consumers throughout the enterprise. -
Patented, disruptive technology
Data products could be customers, products, suppliers, orders – or anything else that’s important to your business. Each individual data product is managed in its own secure Micro-Database™, continuously in sync with all source systems, and instantly available to everyone. -
Data products you can trust
Data Product Platform delivers a trusted, real-time view of all enterprise data. It deploys in weeks, scales linearly, and adapts to change on the fly. It supports modern data architectures such as Data Mesh, Data Hub, and Multi-Domain MDM – on premise, cloud, or in hybrid environments.
