History
A few years ago, the issue of choosing an integration solution was not faced by small and medium-sized businesses. Just 5 years ago, the introduction of a data bus was a sign that the company had made significant progress and needed a dedicated data exchange solution.
The thing is that such a temporary solution as point-to-point integration, with business growth, does not allow you to control the data exchange process. In addition, systems that communicate in this way are overgrown with complex code that implements API resources for integration with each individual system.
You can still find giant companies on the market, even in the field of retail, which continue to support long-outdated , , solutions simply because they are heavily modified to fit the needs of the business. Updating them is akin to migrating to a completely new system. Companies have to maintain a large staff to constantly support and develop these solutions, operating systems and .
In such an environment, the βold-timerβ effect begins to appear - people who thoroughly understand the solution and can transfer their experience to new employees. In this case, the fact that management can be too relaxed and calm is dangerous, because all issues have been resolved in one way or another for many years. Sooner or later, such people may leave the company, which will entail a serious inhibition in terms of development and support without experienced employees. In turn, this situation will increase the utilization of resources and dramatically push back the deadlines.
The solution to such problems, in part, is the use of such industry solutions as data buses - (). They are designed to standardize the processes of information exchange between the internal systems of the enterprise, reduce the cost of additional development and support of target systems. In addition, along with the implemented solution, you will gain many years of experience from companies that have been developing and using the software package for a long time. This means that most of the fundamental integration tasks will be solved within the product itself and will not require additional efforts for analytics and the implementation of simple solutions.
On-premise
Going back 5-10 years ago, you can find that all integration solutions were exclusively on-premise systems. A few years ago solutions began to fill the market everywhere. The fashion trend has not bypassed this industry either. Most companies in this market have not missed the opportunity by offering their customers integration solutions "in the clouds". Such solutions can significantly reduce the cost of support, at least by excluding the rental of server capacities and their maintenance from the cost items.
Taking into account the peculiarities and volumes of business, not every company can afford the transfer of integration solutions to the cloud. Often, this is due to security issues or industry specifics, sometimes the costs of migration exceed the expected benefits from the project. As a result, on-premise integration solutions continue to be in demand in the market and take a leading position compared to cloud ones.
Cloud
Thanks to the rapid development of cloud-based integration solutions, this direction began to receive customers from the segments of small and medium-sized businesses. Subscription service usage model ( - Software as a Service) attracts most customers with a simple start and a transparent use process. In addition, solution development companies often offer their consulting services for implementation, initial setup of integration processes and their support.
The model of using cloud solutions allows the client to reduce resources and time for implementation. As a rule, such integration platforms qualitatively and quantitatively differ from their on-premise counterparts in a set of ready-made connectors to most common business systems. Many of them also offer ready-made exchange scripts for popular business scenarios. For example, it is typical for retail to transfer data between ERP and CRM systems, in this case, very often, the developer of the integration platform (SaaS) prepares a standard data exchange scenario between such systems. For the client, it is enough to specify the minimum required set of configuration parameters, such as: accounts for connecting to systems, request configuration for receiving data from the source system (what type of data, in what form).
From the client side, this solution looks attractive due to -an approach when most operations are performed using a visual editor and do not require immersion in development. As a result, we get a loyal customer for the long term. It remains for the developer to maintain the stable operation of the platform and high ), and continue to develop the platform, creating new connectors, scenarios, updating the existing ones along the way.
With this approach, it is important to initially have a realistic idea of ββββthe monetization model, because this is not a one-time payment. Further collaboration will include the cost of server time and the further development of a supported solution. This approach is used in many solutions. At the same time, each client receives its own isolated space (often, the isolation level depends on the type of subscription), where it can deploy its own processes. The detailing of configuration mechanisms for managing integration scenarios differs for each platform, so it is very important to determine the likely scenarios for yourself in advance in order to choose the right platform.
iPaaS Comparison
Let's try to analyze and compare some of the popular integration solutions - iPaaS. To do this, I chose the first 5 solutions on the market from , which appeared first in Google search results at the time of publication.
This solution is a set of tools that allows you not only to set up integration scenarios, but also to develop, manage APIs, develop your applications, and set up processes.
This software package was acquired by Dell in 2010 and quickly became the market leader in iPaaS solutions according to the ratings of the consulting company last xnumx years.
Applicability: for large and medium-sized enterprises from different industries.
Cost: from $549/month.
Demo/Trial: .
This product is a development of a giant in the field of integration solutions. Referring to the experience of Oracle, the solution captivates with industry best practices and ready-made integration flows that are built into the product. A library of ready-made connectors will significantly save on initial setup. Check out the rating of the product by opinion and feedback from companies that have implemented the solution.
Applicability: for large and medium-sized enterprises from different industries.
Pricing: Many subscription options, including a pay-as-you-go plan starting at $1.2097/message and a monthly flexible plan starting at $0.8065/message.
Demo/Trial: .
Π you will find more than 300 ready-made customized integration scenarios between popular solutions. In addition, the product has a simple and clear script designer that will help you create your own integration processes.
The solution has been in the "magic quadrant" from the company for several years .
Applicability: for small and medium-sized enterprises from different industries.
Cost: from $1499/month.
Demo/Trial: .
TIBCO Cloud is an iPaaS solution from a company with years of experience. The product allows you to configure integration scenarios using a simple interface, which will be convenient if you plan to transfer the task of configuring processes not only to experienced developers, but also to business professionals. The platform has a fairly high rating according to the results of the evaluation of a consulting company .
Applicability: for small and medium-sized enterprises from different industries.
Cost: from $400/month.
Demo/Trial: .
The elastic.io integration solution allows you to create and customize integration processes using a simple visual editor. The solution has to connect to popular Ecommerce, ERP and CRM platforms, including those located in a secure local area network of the enterprise. The company calls this solution Local Agent - it can be very interesting and useful from a security point of view if you do not want to open external access to your internal systems. Despite its young age, the product is already mentioned in the ratings of the agency .
Applicability: for small and medium-sized enterprises from different industries.
Price: from β¬199/month, it is possible to use the platform according to the OEM model.
Demo/Trial: .
Conclusion
When deciding on the choice of an integration platform, it will be necessary to evaluate more than 20 products on the market. Important selection criteria will be the availability of a library of ready-made connectors and script templates for an easy start of an implementation project, the availability and simplicity / power of a visual editor for customizing scripts, support and advice from developers, a convenient billing and payment model. Each of the products is unique in its own way and offers a set of solutions that includes the platform itself, a script editor, a library of ready-made connectors, support from developers and the community.
To determine which of the solutions has a set of all the necessary features, only a careful analysis will help. Fortunately, most of the platforms can be taken for a free "test drive" for a while. If you still cannot switch to the iPaaS model, for some reason, then there is a huge market for you on-premise solutions that have more flexibility, but require significant implementation and support costs.
The choice is yours.
Source: habr.com