Taking the Pulse of the Sifma Tech Expo

I'll go out on a limb this week and give a peek "behind the curtain" as it were, as we get ready for the Sifma Tech Expo June 19–21. I've been to more of these annual events than I'd care to admit to, and have seen a noticeable drop from years past in the number of invitations and requests for meetings. Working now in covering the reference data space, I'd expect to see some of the big names in that field, if not exhibiting, at least around the show.

However, as my colleagues have been saying, the possible cause of the drop-off in pre-show correspondence could be that there are numerous new names on the list of exhibitors. Could it be, in reference data and throughout the financial services provider community, that there are a lot of new upstarts trying to get a foothold in the business? Has the decline been a result of large fish swallowing up small fish following the 2008 crisis—and will these new providers bring "creative destruction" to spur advances in the space?

There do appear to be a handful of unfamiliar data management names on that exhibitors list. It's uncertain whether their offerings are innovative or meet an unaddressed need. There are certainly changes happening in reference data that warrant attention—especially moving from single golden copy toward trusting cloud resources for managing data, and developing and distributing tablet and mobile applications that will make reference data management more portable.

The Sifma Tech Expo will be a good place to see if these trends are indeed gaining ground in the industry and among service providers. I'll have this in mind as I make my rounds this coming week.