Buy-Side Technology Awards 2017: Best Buy-Side Data Management Product—IHS Markit

IHS Markit’s success is built on its ongoing efforts to provide its buy-side clients with better services through constant innovation. The Enterprise Data Management (EDM) suite, which consists of the core EDM platform, the EDM Warehouse and the EDM Reporting service, has evolved into arguably the top offering across the buy side for capturing, validating and distributing trade and other data for the best part of 15 years. It currently serves 210 members of the financial services industry, five of which are among the largest asset managers globally in terms of assets under management.

Two years ago, IHS Markit released a software-as-a-service (SaaS) version of its EDM offering, which has achieved critical mass over the last year. This move allowed the firm not only to understand how users implement and use the platform, but also to work on new solutions based on client feedback. One of the persistent demands it identified was around using EDM as a data-quality platform for regulatory reporting, which led it to unveiling such an offering this year.

Spiros Giannaros, global head, thinkFolio and EDM at IHS Markit, says the solution supports the whole lifecycle of Mifid II transaction reporting, providing standardized processes for data control, exception management, audits and reporting. Another area of focus for the firm has been to serve more types of data, faster. ““The types of data clients need to understand are becoming more diverse, and the amount of data is becoming greater, so we made enhancements focusing on speed of data processing,” Giannaros says. 

To that end, IHS Markit is building a series of solutions within its EDM suite. For example, it is expanding its data dictionary service and is enhancing its data glossary capabilities. The idea is to provide internal data definitions and visualization for end-customers, with the ultimate aim of becoming a “one-stop-shop” for business terminology.

Giannaros says that one of the current projects is also to expand the services model to start offering testing capabilities. “Our goal is to empower business users by  providing them with better ways to surface data and build workflows around it,” he says.

The firm is also looking to build additional templates within the next year, for both the buy and the sell side, around various capabilities, including independent price valuation.