AWS Data Exchange vs. HCL DataConnect

AWS Data Exchange fits best for scenarios where you have datasets that you would like to sell and you want to deliver it to anyone who would like to purchase it. It really beats having to set up downloads via your own website or portal. However, it can get complicated to manage if you're trying to deliver a dataset a client has already paid for.

Incentivized

The choice to use Actian DataConnect really comes down to pricing and the type of integration project you are performing, specifically with the requirements, whether you want the integration to be on-premise or in the cloud, can you install agents on your servers etc. For integration tools it runs head to head with its competitors.

Incentivized

• Simplified data delivery
• Ability to create any amount of data products
• Ability to integrate payment plans with data products
• Tracking data downloads and users
• Integration with other AWS data services

Incentivized

• Map multiple source and destination tables - what would be done in many steps in SSIS can be done in one or two "maps" in Data Integrator.
• Platform independent, cloud based, no client software.
• Conversion of data types, write flat files - this helps us with integrating systems.
• Fairly straightforward to use if the user has ETL experience.

Incentivized

• Integration with more data sources
• Ability to deliver data to clients without AWS accounts
• Inclusion of direct data downloads in addition to asynchronous methods

Incentivized

• Integration Manager needs better scheduling improvements. Like dependencies, and not running a process again if the prior run is still running.
• New connector development does not seem a priority.

Incentivized

There have been a lot of problems with ADX. First, the entire system is incredibly clunky from beginning to end.First, by AWS's own admission they're missing a lot of "tablestakes functionality" like the ability to see who is coming to your pages, more flexibility to edit and update your listings, the ability to create a storefront or catalog that actually tries to sell your products. All-in-all you're flying completely blind with AWS. In our convos with other sellers we strongly believe very little organic traffic is flowing through the AWS exchange. For the headache, it's not worth the time or the effort. It's very difficult to market or sell your products.We've also had a number of simple UX bugs where they just don't accurately reflect the attributes of your product. For instance for an S3 bucket they had "+metered costs" displayed to one of our buyers in the price. This of course caused a lot of confusion. They also misrepresented the historical revisions that were available in our product sets because of another UX bug. It's difficult to know what other things in the UX are also broken and incongruent.We also did have a purchase, but the seller is completely at their whim at providing you fake emails, fake company names, fake use cases because AWS hasn't thought through simple workflows like "why even have subscription confirmation if I can fake literally everything about a subscription request." So as a result we're now in an endless, timewasting, unhelpful thread with AWS support trying to get payment. They're confused of what to do and we feel completely lost.Lastly, the AWS team has been abysmal in addressing our concerns. Conversations with them result in a laundry list of excuses of why simple functionalities are so hard (including just having accurate documentation). It was a very frustrating and unproductive call. Our objective of our call was to help us see that ADX is a well-resourced and well-visioned product. Ultimately they couldn't clearly articulate who they built the exchange for both on the seller side and the buyer side.Don't waste your time. This is at best a very foggy experiment. Look at other sellers, they have a lot of free pages to try to get attention, but then have smart tactics to divert transactions away from the ADX. Ultimately, smart move. Why give 8-10% of your cut to a product that is basically bare-bones infrastructure.

Data Integrator was initially a part of a package deal for us with our new Student Information System. It was chosen prior to my arrival at the institution. Since I discovered we have SQL Server licenses, we have decided to use SSIS instead since I have a background in the MSBI stack and SSIS appears to be more straightforward (process flow philosophy vs "map" philosophy.)

Incentivized

• Reduced time to publish datasets for sale by more than 80%
• Increased net profit from dataset sales by ~10%
• Reduced data delivery time to clients by 15%

Incentivized

• Our customer likes the consistent reliable integrations we have built so we [got] a definite return on investment.
• Problems are fairly easy to handle and rework.

Incentivized