Waters Rankings 2021: Best EDM system provider—IHS Markit

WHY THEY WON

One of the biggest reasons why IHS acquired Markit five years ago was because of the latter’s data management capabilities. The vendor has since continued to position itself as a forward-looking company, which has been evidenced by its expansion into the private markets and the launch of its Data Dictionary.

WHAT’S NEW

To improve its EDM offering, IHS Markit has mainly focused on performance tuning, integration capabilities, and visualization.

One of its biggest projects was the launch of a standalone Data Dictionary, which provides users with greater visibility of their data. While firms understand that data is a strategic asset, many business users are not taking full advantage of their organizations’ data estates because they do not have a complete picture of what data is available to them. The Data Dictionary, delivered as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution, provides a web-based interface that allows users to see what data is available within their organization and includes data governance metadata, including how the data is defined, where it has come from, who owns it and who has altered it.

EDM is expanding into the private markets, servicing general partners and limited partners through a new private asset use case, with Hamilton Lane being its first client.  

EDM now also supports the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which imposes new transparency obligations and ESG disclosure requirements for asset managers. 

WHAT’S TO COME 

Following the launch of the Data Dictionary, the main focus for IHS Markit will be the delivery of its SaaS platform, as well as the go-live of a number of applications. 

The company plans to continue to expand into the private markets, as well as into sectors outside of financial services such as energy and maritime, where IHS Markit now has over 40 clients on the platform. 

IHS Markit is also looking to add value beyond just an EDM platform by offering IP and guidance around the datasets—be it asset-class specific or focused on the new data sets required by emerging regulatory and compliance initiatives.