Reference Data Technology special report

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Unifying Technology

Regulation, cost savings and risk management are the big three reasons driving technology implementation decisions, according to participants in this issue's Virtual Roundtable. What surfaces in the discussion, however, is that increasing volumes of data mean industry practitioners must solve greater volumes of data issues, all at once.
"Gone are the days when companies can afford to solve every reference data issue individually" says Robert Brachowski, product manager, reference data, Eagle Investment Systems. He does see a solution, however. "Root cause analysis helps firms identify and resolve the underlying cause for several issues at one time, rather than having to resolve each of their issues separately."

Could cloud technology be the one way to address reference data needs? Roundtable participants are generally positive about this prospect. Kingland Systems' Tony Brownlee calls cloud "an incredibly viable strategy". Anna Nicodemou of SIX Financial Information believes it will change how firms manage data sources, data sets and applications; Genevy Dimitrion of State Street calls it nothing less than a "game changer" for the industry. Patrik Neutjens of Swift says cloud services will increase data management agility, reduce costs and decrease complexity in data operations. Yet, as Brian Sentance of Xenomorph points out, data vendors are still leery of cloud technology and firms still have reservations about hosting data remotely.

When asked what capabilities we will see from reference data technology service providers in the future, Roundtable participants mention unifying views of data, connecting research tools, cross-referencing and integration in general. One could conclude that the industry has to connect these solutions together to reduce data duplication and errors, for a coherent and accurate view of data.

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