Azure Data Factory vs. Fivetran vs. Cortana (discontinued)

Azure Data Factory is a great data integration tool for developing a cloud data platform, especially within the Azure ecosystem. Azure Data Factory is very good for the Data Ingestion part. It can work for simple data transformation with its Data Flow, but it will also need cluster configuration, and there is some cost. Also, it is an excellent tool for orchestrating data pipelines. But for complex data transformations, you may need to use technologies like Databricks and PySpark.

Incentivized

[Fivetran is] very well suited when you are using popular and common data sources, such as the major ad platforms, and SaaS platforms such as Salesforce. If the majority of your data sources are custom internal applications or databases, may be less value as you aren't leveraging the delivered connectors.

Incentivized

As a provider of software applications to the legal market there is not a huge amount that the Cortana Intelligence suite can be utilised for though at the speed that new features are being added I suspect that will change very quickly. However the current functionality is clearly really well suited for e-commerce companies or vertical markets where process is very prescriptive and linear.

Incentivized

• It allows copying data from various types of data sources like on-premise files, Azure Database, Excel, JSON, Azure Synapse, API, etc. to the desired destination.
• We can use linked service in multiple pipeline/data load.
• It also allows the running of SSIS & SSMS packages which makes it an easy-to-use ETL & ELT tool.

Incentivized

• Simplified ETL from a wide range of data sources
• Stable and painless data pipeline
• Granular control over what parts of the data source are loaded

Incentivized

• Ease of Integration for all AI services.
• Reduced time for development.
• A one stop for all AI related services.

Incentivized

• Limited source/sink (target) connectors depending on which area of Azure Data Factory you are using.
• Does not yet have parity with SSIS as far as the transforms available.

Incentivized

• Doesn't include support for a Kinesis stream as a data source so couldn't be used for some use cases under consideration
• Doesn't support the use of "BEFORE DELETE" triggers
• No support for serverless Aurora

Incentivized

• The language understanding service can be a little overwhelming at first trying to understand the differnces between intents and entities

Incentivized

So far product has performed as expected. We were noticing some performance issues, but they were largely Synapse related. This has led to a shift from Synapse to Databricks. Overall this has delayed our analytic platform. Once databricks becomes fully operational, Azure Data Factory will be critical to our environment and future success.

Incentivized

Very easy and intuitive to setup and maintain as there usually are not that many options. Very well documented (e.g. how to setup each connector, how the schema looks like, any specific features of this connector etc.). Also the operation is intuitive, e.g. you have status pages, log pages, configuration pages etc. for each connector.

Incentivized

It runs pretty well and gets our data from point A to point cluster quickly enough. Honestly, it's not something I think about unless it breaks and that's pretty rare.

Incentivized

We have not had need to engage with Microsoft much on Azure Data Factory, but they have been responsive and helpful when needed. This being said, we have not had a major emergency or outage requiring their intervention. The score of seven is a representation that they have done well for now, but have not proved out their support for a significant issue

Incentivized

Azure Data Factory is more of a universal pipeline. SAP BW is a tool offering good SAP connectivity but very limited third-party connectivity. The same is the case with BW4hana. SAP Datasphere is offering better connectivity with SAP sources, but not so good when compared to adf. Power Center of Informatica is a legacy tool, and Anaplan is a planning tool with limited connectivity options.

Incentivized

Fivetran came well with the connectors' availability and updates with the source changes. We had an idea on data requirements in our case which helped us to work out on cost implication and take a decision for Fivetran as a data provider for our organization. These were 2 places where Fivetran out-performed, other vendors.

Incentivized

IBM Watson Assistant has been early into this market and has improved a lot over time compared to Azure AI Cortana. More documentation related to the services. But Ease of integration Azure AI ranks over IBM Watson Assistant. And again in terms of services offered under the ecosystem, Azure AI precedes IBM Watson Assitant.

Incentivized

• Cost Savings: By automating our ETL processes with Azure Data Factory, we've reduced manual data handling by approximately 60%. This translates to savings from reduced man-hours and the overhead of maintaining legacy systems.
• Timeliness: Our report generation time has reduced by 70% with Azure Data Factory's scheduled pipelines. Faster insights mean quicker decisions for us, enabling our teams to capitalize on time-sensitive opportunities. We can easily share the data visualizations to all stakeholders.

Incentivized

• Saved a lot of manual development days (unable to quantify)
• Accelerated the time to add a new source to the data warehouse a lot

Incentivized

• We do not yet have measurements and impact indicators for the adoption of Azure IA. But I believe it will be of high impact in the years to come.
• We can improve our analysis and optimize team time
• We can improve our digitization

Incentivized