Golden Copy: Untapped Goldmine
Unstructured data has been around for a long time, but its importance is emerging in new ways
More firms and providers in the financial industry are trying to harness the value of data analytics and apply it to their data management. One facet of reference data is emerging though, as a giant "goldmine" for the application of data analytics, and that is unstructured data.
This type of data is probably nothing new, as Australian data-development expert Leif Hanlen describes it: "50 million Word documents saved over the last 10 years and put in a box" ... cannot automatically "turn out to be as good as the accounting machinery they have been using since the 1970s." Hanlen is a business development executive at the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), a digital operations consultancy, backed by Australian national and state governments, and CSIRO's Data61 subsidiary.
Unstructured data has started to bubble up as a matter of concern and interest in Inside Reference Data's coverage this year. In March, ISITC executive Jeff Zoller pointed to unstructured data about investment behavior and patterns, as well as industry analysts' commentary, and social and economic behavior, potentially supporting the disruption of data-management technology. In May, MUFG Canada Branch chief information and operations officer Ron Lee, speaking about how his firm is consolidating systems, noted this effort would increase the capability to work with unstructured databases.
The task for analytics of unstructured data is not to build a brand new goldmine, but to extract elements of information from that unstructured data
Leif Hanlen, Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organization
Legal entity identifier (LEI) work is also addressing unstructured data, as Karla McKenna, head of standards at the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation, noted in June, saying entity legal form information – a data element in the LEI repository – remains in "unstructured form."
When addressing unstructured data, Hanlen counsels that firms should realize there are two different types. "Unstructured data sitting inside the enterprise – in the customer relationship-management system, in fields called ‘other' – is like a hole in the ground that's yet to become a goldmine," he says. External unstructured data from sources such as social media and market surveillance is already being tapped for its golden value, as Hanlen describes.
Data analytics can come into play for the former type of unstructured data, he says. "The task for analytics of unstructured data is not to build a brand new goldmine, but to extract elements of information from that unstructured data."
CSIRO and Data61 have worked on analyzing payments, documents predicting market outcomes and price signals based on the likelihood of future events. The challenge Hanlen finds in working with such unstructured data of a predictive rather than measuring nature is placing that data in a credible spectrum, which can be used to anticipate the future or a likely outcome.
Unstructured data may be a goldmine, but it appears to be one that industry experts are just beginning to figure out how to tap, for a variety of purposes.
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.waterstechnology.com/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. Printing this content is for the sole use of the Authorised User (named subscriber), as outlined in our terms and conditions - https://www.infopro-insight.com/terms-conditions/insight-subscriptions/
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. Copying this content is for the sole use of the Authorised User (named subscriber), as outlined in our terms and conditions - https://www.infopro-insight.com/terms-conditions/insight-subscriptions/
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
More on Data Management
This Week: HKEx's new derivatives platform; GoldenSource; Quonian-SimCorp, and more
A summary of some of the latest financial technology news.
Chris Edmonds takes the reins at ICE Fixed Income and Data Services
Edmonds is now leading ICE’s fixed income and data business as the rush to provide better data and analytics in fixed income builds.
Deutsche Börse democratizes data with Marketplace offering
Deutsche Börse Group is set to unveil its Marketplace, a one-stop data shop designed to simplify and streamline data acquisition and consumption for its clients, while also surfacing data from across the firm to its own users. Jan Stiebing and Sven…
DSB says industry is ready to meet UPI mandate ahead of deadline
The Unique Product Identifier will be required for certain OTC derivatives in the EU at the end of April, following US adoption in January.
Mapping a successful data journey: strategy, execution and sustainability
A well-planned data journey can positively impact an organization’s long-term trajectory. However, it is important to have clarity not only in the strategy but also in successful execution and sustainability for the long haul, argues data veteran Subbiah Subramanian.
The IMD Wrap: The growing data catalogue space
With their potential to manage costs and surface strategic datasets, it’s no wonder Max gets excited about data catalogs. This week, he takes a look at a new startup entering the space.
LSEG to sunset Redi EMS in favor of Tora
Sources say competitors will look to seize on the decision to win over Redi’s sizeable US client base.
The IMD Wrap: Taking stock of inventory management
With market data and associated costs typically representing a firm’s third-largest expense, there’s a lot of incentive to manage data and its usage more efficiently. Max flings open his fridge to illustrate what’s new in this space.
Most read
- Chris Edmonds takes the reins at ICE Fixed Income and Data Services
- Deutsche Börse democratizes data with Marketplace offering
- Waters Wavelength Podcast: Broadridge’s Joseph Lo on GPTs