IMD & IRD Awards 2020: Best Overall Data or Service Provider for 2020—Bloomberg

Bloomberg is crowned Best Overall Data Provider for 2020, reflecting a stellar run in this year’s Inside Market Data & Inside Reference Data Awards. This brings its award tally to five, with four other category wins for Best Market Data Provider (Vendor), Best Reference Data Provider, Most Innovative Regulatory Solution and Contract Win of the Year.

Gerard Francis, global head of enterprise data, says that this win demonstrates the extent to which Bloomberg’s data products and services are resonating with customers, something backed up by readers voting for three of Bloomberg’s four category award wins. “Bloomberg is perceived to be the market leader in all things data. We hear that directly when we talk to our clients, and it is very exciting to have that confirmed with this award,” he adds.

Common themes emerge across Bloomberg’s award wins: the breadth and depth of its content, its unique datasets, and the quality and accuracy of its data are fundamental cornerstones of the company’s success. The firm has also focused on access and usability: investments in open architecture and the rolling-out of its global collaboration with Amazon Web Services for cloud storage particularly stand out.

According to Francis, “these awards are different windows into one and the same thing. Our One Data strategy means we are building a single set of well-connected data, delivered through modern technology, which clients can use in the cloud or onsite. At Bloomberg we have the expertise and the history to take out complexity and make the data problem really simple for our customers.”

Francis is also keen to highlight Bloomberg’s continuous journey of building new products and increasing customer engagement. “In spite of all the challenges of Covid, we’ve rolled out some phenomenal products during the course of this year,” he says. “These include the launch of our enhanced Enterprise Access Point website, where clients can browse, discover and purchase data. We’ve released new alternative datasets that are especially useful at this particular time, and we’ve increased digital engagement with our customers. A lot of the work that we have been doing has been very timely.”

“Overall, Covid has reinforced our view of where we think the market is going,” Francis adds. “It has accelerated existing trends for more digitization, more self-service, a much higher desire for traditional and alternative data, and a much higher dependency on the cloud.”

“When we look to the future, we see a world where data is ubiquitous, where clients can access any data through a simple interface from which they can get immediate value. That really means plug-and-play data in the cloud that integrates with any system that clients may have. We aim to be at the forefront of these changes, continually anticipating our clients’ needs.”

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