Top 5 Investment Management Technology Challenges Addressed by the Cloud
First Published Tuesday, 14th February 2012 02:30 pm from Xand : John Neff
The opinions expressed by this blogger and those providing comments are theirs alone, this does not reflect the opinion of Automated Trader or any employee thereof. Automated Trader is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by this article.
/>
src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fxignite.web-services-blog.com%2F2012%2F02%2Ftop-5-investment-management-technology-challenges-addressed-by-the-cloud%2F&source=xignite&style=normal&b=2"
height="61" width="50" />
src="http://cdn.xignite.com/blog/02_13_12/clouds-buildings.jpg"
alt="" width="200" height="200" />One of the investment
management industry's most pressing issues is to better manage
the ever-increasing deluge of market data. Key to this challenge
is quickly and cost efficiently integrating market data into the
growing number of end-user applications.
A
siloed approach where each department or group maintains its own
market data solution is no longer feasible given the redundancies
and overhead. Instead, to optimize transparency and rein in
costs, firms must embrace a more holistic market data solution,
one that powers everything from internal research portals and
portfolio management systems, to compliance reporting and mobile
applications.
Introducing the
market data cloud
Cloud
technology is beginning to revolutionize market data management,
marking a radical shift in the way investment management firms
consume data across the enterprise.
Market data clouds enable firms to
bypass the sizeable investments in infrastructure, hardware,
software, and maintenance that are typically associated with
traditional datafeeds. Utilizing this new type of market data
solution helps firms gain economies of scale, lower costs, and
increase agility.
Below are five key
investment management technology challenges that are addressed by
the adoption of a cloud-based market data solution. Future posts
in this series will expand on each of these areas.
Investment management technology
challenge #1
Transforming the deluge of market data
into an asset
In the wake of
the recent economic crisis and market downturn, it's more
essential than ever for investment managers to broaden the scope
of their research efforts. This requires finding a way to
incorporate new sets of market data into the investment process
without getting bogged down in technical data management
issues.
Accessing market data via the cloud
enables investment management firms to incorporate broad sets of
real-time and referential data quickly on demand within
proprietary in-house systems and 3rd party applications. The
market data cloud's flexible, easy to implement delivery
methodology reduces the frustration of dealing with traditional
data delivery methods, enabling immediate access to a wide range
of financial instruments to get new investment strategies up and
running quickly.
Investment
management technology challenge #2
Reducing market data
expenses
As investment
management firms look to cut costs in today's highly competitive
environment, market data expenditures are an obvious target. One
of the largest outlays within this cost center is market data
terminals, which don't align with evolving business needs for
data flexibility. Terminals target the fat part of the bell
curve, but as firms increasingly look to differentiate themselves
with new strategies their needs become more unique, the curve
flattens, and terminals become less relevant. With desktop
terminals, you pay a premium for data sets that you don't use.
Firms with multiple terminals pay for the same data multiple
times.
In contrast, a cloud-based market data
solution enables investment management firms to more easily
develop custom research portals and applications that better
address the exacting needs of each internal constituency. And the
on-demand pricing structure of the market data cloud is based on
actual usage. This means that custom apps and portals designed to
a firm's specific requirements can result in much lower overall
market data spend than market data terminals.
Investment management technology
challenge
#3
Streamlining and simplifying portfolio
and compliance reporting
Demands for improved transparency have made reporting
infinitely more complex. New regulations have resulted in onerous
reporting requirements that are made even more difficult by
inflexible systems, and the inability to quickly integrate market
data.
A cloud-based market data solution
allows firms to instantly enrich their regulatory and investor
reporting with comprehensive coverage of real-time, historical,
and reference data. No infrastructure required.
Investment management technology
challenge #4
Creating branded, data-rich mobile apps
that differentiate
In an
increasingly connected world, customers expect detailed real-time
market information wherever they are, whenever they want it. One
way to differentiate from the competition is to provide data-rich
mobile applications that showcase a firm's retail offerings and
keep customers coming back for more. Problem is, integrating
market data into mobile applications using traditional datafeeds
requires extensive development.
A cloud-based
market data solution is well-equipped to meet mobile application
challenges head on. Cloud-based web APIs stream real-time and
referential data to mobile apps seamlessly. With a market data
cloud, firms can reduce the development cycle and launch Android
and iOS applications in less time.
Investment management technology
challenge #5
Seamlessly integrating market data into
proprietary Excel models
Microsoft Excel remains a central application in the
investment management workflow. Incorporating market data can be
cost prohibitive using Excel add-ins from traditional data
vendors, and these add-ins don't always include access to the
full range of data required.
A cloud-based
market data solution seamlessly delivers information into Excel
via flexible web APIs. All that's required is a few lines of code
and an internet connection. And with on-demand pricing where you
only pay for the data that's used, it can help investment
management firms reduce market data budgets.
Share and
title="email" alt="email" class="sociable-hovers" />
title="Twitter" alt="Twitter" class="sociable-hovers"
title="Facebook" alt="Facebook" class="sociable-hovers"
title="LinkedIn" alt="LinkedIn" class="sociable-hovers"
title="Digg">
src="http://xignite.web-services-blog.com/wp-content/plugins/sociable/images/digg.png"
title="Digg" alt="Digg" class="sociable-hovers" />
title="StumbleUpon" alt="StumbleUpon" class="sociable-hovers"
title="Technorati" alt="Technorati" class="sociable-hovers"
title="Suggest to Techmeme via Twitter" alt="Suggest to Techmeme
via Twitter" class="sociable-hovers" /> rel="nofollow" target="_blank"
href="http://delicious.com/post?url=http%3A%2F%2Fxignite.web-services-blog.com%2F2012%2F02%2Ftop-5-investment-management-technology-challenges-addressed-by-the-cloud%2F&title=Top%205%20Investment%20Management%20Technology%20Challenges%20Addressed%20by%20the%20Cloud¬es=One%20of%20the%20investment%20management%20industry%E2%80%99s%20most%20pressing%20issues%20is%20to%20better%20manage%20the%20ever-increasing%20deluge%20of%20market%20data.%20Key%20to%20this%20challenge%20is%20quickly%20and%20cost%20efficiently%20integrating%20market%20data%20into%20the%20growing%20number%20of%20end-user%20applic"
title="del.icio.us">
src="http://xignite.web-services-blog.com/wp-content/plugins/sociable/images/delicious.png"
title="del.icio.us" alt="del.icio.us" class="sociable-hovers"
title="Google Bookmarks" alt="Google Bookmarks"
title="Live">
src="http://xignite.web-services-blog.com/wp-content/plugins/sociable/images/live.png"
title="Live" alt="Live" class="sociable-hovers" />
title="FriendFeed" alt="FriendFeed" class="sociable-hovers"
src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Xignite/~4/jdMKnIkMFu4"
height="1" width="1" />
