Re-Defining Managed Services

Managed services have been around awhile in the reference data space, but more recent uses developed for market data and trading may be bouncing back to change the way managed services are applied to reference data operations, according to service providers speaking in a panel discussion at the FISD Real-Time Technology Roundtable on September 18.

Xignite's Trevor Vale said deploying cloud resources for managed services adds layers of service for reference data operations. With greater resources offered by the cloud, this provider can optimize the use of reference data and reduce costs at the same time. "It can be viewed from the perspective of outsourcing certain functions of the business, like using a third party to handle the storage of data," he said. "It's saving you IT costs because you're reducing infrastructure and giving your data to someone else to store on your behalf."

Firms have been taking "snapshots" of reference data at intervals to produce workflow for hosted, managed services format environments for years, according to Mark Wright, vice president, managed services, NYSE Technologies. Now, however, a firm outsourcing enterprise data management (EDM) into a managed services environment can save on costs, he added.

Managed services may also be a way for reference data operations professionals to meet the challenge of tying sets of content together, as Matthew Spedden, vice president, product and content group, S&P Capital IQ, sees it. "It all points to one thing—do I buy or sell a security? The more we can tie our content and services together, the better the picture we provide back to the client," he said, noting that the content includes ratings, research and estimates.

Instead of taking "snapshots," the new managed services model for reference data looks more like a single pipe or single connection, providing everything, according to Spedden. As Inside Reference Data has noted in our coverage (see this portion of a May 2013 feature), the demand for reference data has been moving steadily closer and closer to real-time. That in turn appears to be changing the old time-honored definition of managed services for reference data.

On another note, Inside Reference Data and Inside Market Data are preparing to present the European Financial Information Summit in London on September 26. Watch for our coverage here, and for the conference buzz on Twitter at #EFIS2013.