Oh, the sacrifices we make for our audiences….
My family – mostly my daughter – will testify that I have put on a few pounds over the summer. I put this down to the fact that I’ve spent the past few months scouring the world – well, the City – for talent and ideas for our next Data Management Summit on October 3, as often as not lunching with the familiar faces and rising stars of our industry. Glad to say those efforts have not been in vain.
I’m excited about our lineup for October 3, which we’re publishing today. I think you’ll agree that it hits the mark as far as the day’s theme goes: Strategy, Innovation & Technology. There’s plenty of each of these for practitioners to get their teeth into. And then, of course, there’s the inaugural Data Management Awards, of which more later.
One of the sessions I’m most animated about is the post-lunch panel on performance measurement for data management. Not to be confused with data management for performance measurement, this discussion will look at how data managers and their teams – with a specific nod to the raft of CDOs that have taken office in the past year or so – will ultimately prove their worth to their masters.
The topic is a good example of how adding an inch or two to the waist can pay dividends. Several newly appointed CDOs and CDO-wannabes confided over lunch – and perhaps a glass of wine – that measuring the performance of the data management function was one of their key challenges.
Some said they’d be up for discussing the issue on a DMS panel; most said they’d like to hear what a panel has to say. So now they – and you – have their chance. We’re still rounding out the panel, but I’m thrilled to be welcoming Credit Suisse CDO Colin Hall and Diaku director Patrick Dewald to lead the discussion.
We’ll kick off with RBS’s chief data architect, Colin Gibson, who’ll keynote on whether carrots or sticks represent the most effective approach to instituting a robust data architecture. Colin, HSBC’s Chris Johnson, Bank J. Safra Sarasin¹s Robert Hofstetter and gamekeepers-turned-poachers Matt Cox (DenverPerry) and Sally Hinds (Data Management Consultancy Services) will look at challenges facing our industry over the next 18 months to two years. Then, Rupert Brown of UBS, Stuart Grant of SAP, and John Glendenning of Datastax will discuss the industry¹s technological response to these challenges.
We’ll drill down into detail in a couple of panel sessions on specific topics. First, we’ll have a session on entity data management, led by a scenesetter from RBS entity data head Neville Homer, followed by a discussion with Bloomberg’s Devesh Shukla, S&P Capital IQ’s Christian Nilsson, Interactive Data’s Marty Williams and Datactics’ Stuart Harvey.
Second, we’ll look at managed reference data services, and the concept of a utility-based approach that seems to be growing in acceptance among industry practitioners. It promises to be a lively session, with several protagonists taking part: Martijn Groot of Euroclear, Jonathan Clark of Tech Mahindra and Steven Cheng of RIMES Technologies. They’ll be kept honest – or at least on their toes – by Diarmuid O’Donovan, CDO of Legal & General, and Tom Dalglish, CTO for group data at UBS.
During the afternoon, I’ll be relieved of my duties as conference host by ‘the EDMs’. The EDM Council is using DMS to host its London member meeting, and Mike Atkin has prepared a lively programme for EDM Councillors. Concurrently, EDM Works will be running a workshop looking at various aspects of the data management challenge, courtesy of Dennis Slattery.
Just before cocktails, I’ll come back and MC those awards….
I have to say that I’ve been knocked out by the response. There is still time to vote so if you haven’t done so, please make sure you do before Friday.
October 3 promises to be an action-packed day. Join us.
