Following its purchase of Capco Reference Data Services (CRDS) and restructure earlier this year, Netik has launched a new solution for the management of the end-to-end lifecycle of reference and market data and stepped into the outsourced service provider arena. Dubbed Netik Global Securities Master (Netik GSM), the new offering is based on a combination of CRDS’ technology and Netik’s data mart and data warehouse.
The launch of GSM represents a significant change of tack for the vendor with regards to its commercial offering. While previously it depended on its clients to provide a primary application system from which to source the reference data, now Netik is taking advantage of CRDS, which it purchased in February, to populate its data warehouse. CRDS has allowed Netik to move beyond being a pure software provider to establish itself as an outsourced service provider.
Netik stated its intentions to become a software and service provider at the time of its purchase of the CRDS business, which was facilitated by a strategic investment by Palo Alto-based Symphony Technology Group. The purchase included the assets acquired by Capco’s purchase of Iverson, its outsourcing deal with ING and the Reference Data Manager rules-based matching system it inherited post Capco’s abortive joint venture with Reuters (Synetix).
“It is the only proven solution that addresses the whole of the data lifecycle and it is end-to-end, unlike other solutions on the market,” boasts Netik president Colin Close. He is hopeful that, despite the historically lacklustre take up of managed reference data services in this space, the scope of Netik’s offering will compel clients to sign up.
According to the vendor, Netik GSM covers all asset classes and reference data types and provides financial institutions with data acquisition, management of vendor sources, cleansing and enrichment operations and intelligent data distribution technology integrated into enterprise application.
The solution combines Netik’s InterView technology and CRDS technology, which is itself based on a combination of Iverson Financial Systems, Synetix and ING. It brings together the CRDS capability to scrub multiple data sources to create a “single version of the truth” with the Netik data warehouse technology for reporting and data management.
Netik GSM is a “fully managed service solution” for its clients, as it is a single outsourced software platform that acts as a concentrator for multiple market and reference data feeds. It has been designed to provide a single source of data for an organisation, says Close, and this should result in significant cost savings and a reduction in complexity. “Netik GSM clients can save 30% of their reference and market data costs by using this service,” contends Close.
Close feels that a “consortium” approach to tackling reference data by using a number of vendors across the data lifecycle results in problems with accountability. “Who takes charge when something goes wrong?” he asks. This is his rationale behind offering a fully outsourced end-to-end service for his clients: “Responsibility and accountability rests with only one vendor – Netik,” he says.
“Netik is not afraid of SLAs with teeth; they can hurt us but we can take it,” adds Close. The vendor is willing to be held accountable for managing all of a client’s data and this includes checking the quality of data received from data vendors. In fact, these “teeth” can take the form of financial penalties if the problem is deemed to have come from a processing error, says Close.
Although it is a managed solution, Close stresses that it is not tied to Netik’s data mart model, as it can tailored to suit individual clients’ needs. “There are three main options for clients with regards to deployment,” explains Close, “it can be used as a point to point solution, or with a data mart, or a with a data warehouse.”
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