Proving return on investment (ROI) while attempting to take an incremental approach to enterprise data management projects remains a significant challenge for managers seeking sign-off for EDM projects, delegates at A-Team’s Data Management for Risk, Analytics & Valuations conference in London heard.
According to panellists on the event’s discussion on ‘Technology Challenges of Building an Enterprise Data Management Infrastructure’ session, EDM projects remain a challenge irrespective of the current economic climate. Colin Gibson, head of data architecture for Royal Bank of Scotland’s Global Banking and Markets division told the audience that in good times, internal clients were in a hurry to realise the fruits of data management projects, while in bad times they were reticent to spend.
Notwithstanding the financial climate, panellists agreed that consistency and content coverage were key attributes of any project to unify internal data. While good data governance helps, they said, education is also a major factor to ensure internal clients understood the benefits they would receive, and most importantly when they could expect to receive them.
Christopher Thompson, vice president, reference data, in the Securities Services Department of Mizuho International, said the days of ‘blue-sky’ EDM projects were likely over. Victoria Stahley, associate director and senior project manager at Royal Bank of Canada, said users should get used to the idea that projects may not simply take a year, and could take longer to bear fruit.
The panellists, including Thomson Reuters global head of enterprise data management, Sally Hinds, expressed some appetite for outsourcing some of the data management process, possibly to a data utility. At the same time, they conceded that certain elements of a firm’s data relied on heavy customisation, and would be difficult to outsource to a third party.
