IMD & IRD Awards 2020: Best Data Analytics Provider—FactSet

FactSet continues its data analytics reign, being named Best Data Analytics Provider for the fifth consecutive year. The company also retains its double win at this year’s Inside Market Data & Inside Reference Data Awards, keeping its crown in the Best Alternative Data Initiative category.

The firm has continued to expand, providing more than 126,000 users worldwide with integrated data and dynamic analytics across the front, middle and back office, while continuing to add data sources. With an intuitive interface, its workstation is powered by a taxonomy of linkages and hierarchies between entities, securities, people and funds. Users can leverage predefined workspaces or tailor their views, while mobile solutions keep users connected from phones or tablets.

Rob Robie, head of analytics and trading solutions, says: “Winning this award for a fifth year reflects our multiple strengths. We are a leading provider in terms of multi-asset data and analytics coverage. We have heavily invested in our world-class analytical capabilities and allow our clients to interact with these analytics in a multitude of ways across the portfolio lifecycle which spans front-, middle- and back-office capabilities. All of our analytics data and engines can be accessed both on-platform as well as through application programming interfaces (APIs) via FactSet’s development portal. As a result, the breadth of our core existing products and the new solutions and synergies that we have been building with our acquisitions are really resonating with our clients.”

The pandemic has led to increased demand from clients looking for an on-platform user experience that can be accessed from anywhere. “Having invested quietly but aggressively in moving our technology platform to a web environment over many years, it has been very compelling for us to see how easily we were able to make that shift,” Robie says.

Over the past year in particular, Robie highlights the work FactSet has done to integrate its advanced analytics into its Portfolio Management Platform and develop a more open environment. “We have invested in a platform called OpenQuant, which essentially allows clients, through our interface, to interact with different types of code and work with our APIs,” he says. “We have also successfully launched a number of thematic indexes. For example, we very quickly launched a work from home thematic index in conjunction with a large asset manager, determining which stocks should be included based on the granularity of our classification system.”

“Looking ahead,” Robie says, “we recognize that clients want to be able to work within a traditional platform, but also want to be able to build and interact with those platforms in different ways. We are excited about where we are today, but know there is even more we can do to push the boundaries on that open environment.”

Read more about the Inside Market Data & Inside Reference Data Awards 2020 winners