Reverse ETL vs iPaaS: Moving Beyond Data Integration Hacks

iPaaS is a good place to start. But there’s a better way to connect your applications and automate your workflows. Use the power of the data warehouse to scale your business.

When it comes to syncing data, iPaaS tools aren't the right solution

Tired of hacking together CSVs and APIs?...

“Before Census, I’ve always had the problem of getting any sort of data into software tools. Classic ‘if this then that’ tools like Tray, Workato and Zapier are not geared well towards this type of data transfer. I was always looking for cheap tricks or hacks and they never fit the bill.”

Benjamin Lewinsky Director of Sales Operations

...Try a better way. Get Census.

“After months of not being able to pull in data, I was able to pull in an entire engagement section and statistics from our application into Salesforce in less than an hour.”

James McArthur Director, Revenue Planning & Operations

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Centralize customer data and keep every app in sync with a source of truth
Move data into your downstream GTM systems using prebuilt integrations
Accelerate growth with automation & eliminate manual work

5 reasons why you’ve outgrown iPaaS

iPaaS tools fall short in scalability, data quality, reliability, and security. Growing businesses can’t rely on point-to-point integrations to create a trustworthy 360° view of their customers.

1. iPaaS doesn't scale when you add more apps

iPaaS tools are great for a single, simple integration. As your business grows and your teams get larger, you want to connect all your SaaS apps to empower everyone with the best information. Point-to-point connections increase exponentially, creating an unsustainable spaghetti stack. Just 8 apps means 64 potential integrations!

2. iPaaS is easy to use, but also easy to break

At first, iPaaS’s simple UIs and convenient templates might seem easy. But as your business needs get more complex, you have dozens of workflows all dependent on one another and zero workflow visibility. When one connection breaks, this lack of visibility makes error handling and debugging a chore.

3. iPaaS doesn't have a single source of truth

iPaaS was never designed to handle large-scale batch data updates. Data quality is crucial because inaccurate data leads to incorrect decisions. Different apps can wind up with conflicting data because there’s no central point, or hub, that determines which information is the most up-to-date or accurate. Once this happens, it’s a nightmare to figure out which data set is correct.

4. iPaaS lacks security and governance

The point-to-point model is a serious security risk. More APIs = more opportunity for security breaches, and it’s difficult to protect confidentiality and maintain compliance. You can't create clear and consistent access control lists if your data is spread across 30 different apps.

5. iPaaS costs add up exponentially

iPaaS costs increase rapidly when you have to pay per task or per recipe. When you add in multiple APIs, webhooks, maintenance, and fixing time, the total operational cost of managing a point-to-point infrastructure is unsustainable.