Mike Atkin, Managing Director, EDM Council

1. What do you believe is the main value of the FIMA events to the data management community?

I believe the folks at WBR are generally providing value in three primary areas. The first is obviously as an annual meeting ground for all those involved in data management. We all appreciate a place where “birds of a feather” can aggregate. So first and foremost, FIMA is an efficient place for business networking. In addition, I suggest we can use FIMA as a target point for delivery of (or at least reporting on) progress in addressing the open issues affecting the industry. And finally, we can use events like FIMA as an annual benchmark on where we stand on the EDM lifecycle.

2. Do you think the industry has made progress in its data management goals since FIMA 2006 in London? In what areas?

It is difficult to measure progress for the industry as a consolidated view because each company operates somewhat uniquely – but in general I’ve noticed fairly clear progress on organisational buy-in/EDM positioning (i.e. most tier one firms are spending less time having to justify the concept of EDM, even if they are still in competition for limited budget and staff resources). I’ve also noticed progress as it relates to understanding internal business unit requirements and with it the prioritisation of data management among the menu of issues that the firm is dealing with. And finally, we see a fair amount of progress on EDM implementation (i.e. less talk/more activity). Bottom line – we’ve gotten what we’ve asked for in terms of the firms’ understanding of the importance of data management and now it is time to stand and deliver incremental results. I consider all of this significant progress on the pathway toward more effective data management.

3. What are the three biggest inhibitors to further success in data management in your view?

The first inhibitor relates to sustaining momentum. Data management benefits and data quality improvements are systemic - and therefore it is easy for them to get lost in the flurry of activity. Getting the EDM initiatives started is hard enough, keeping them on the radar of the business is likely going to be even more difficult. The second inhibitor is probably best described as the challenges of downstream integration. Getting clean and verified data from its newly created repositories into legacy applications (quickly and efficiently – in line with business requirements) is the current challenge for many in this field. The final core inhibitor is resources (staff as well as IT and operations attention). There are lots of brushfires to manage and lots of operational challenges to address. Firms are becoming more cognizant of the challenges associated with over promising and under delivering – a difficult problem given the pace of business and the extent of data issues that exist.

4. How do you think the industry should seek to overcome them?

The three most important criteria are competence, communication and business metrics. The data management team must prove itself to the business users. Gaining internal trust and confidence is the “secret sauce” of EDM. The lessons of competence being articulated to us are “deliver what you promise and don’t promise anything you can’t deliver in short time increments” (i.e. three months or less). A little success goes a long, long way in this industry. The second is about business metrics. Measure everything and measure it often. Business users need constant reminders about the value that the data management team is bringing to the table. The third is communications. Listen to what your internal clients are telling you about their requirements and measures of success. Confirm and reconfirm the requirements as often as possible. Tell them what you are doing and why you are doing it. Keep them engaged. And then tell them what you have done so there is constant reinforcement of the value of data management.

5. In what ways could the providers of data and data management technology better support financial institutions in their data management goals?

Sell less and listen more. Embrace the importance of effective supply chain management. And understand that the original measures of added value are shifting. Data and technology vendors would benefit from getting closer to their customers (like really) and from their willingness to modify their business strategies to be in line with the evolution of customer requirements.

6. What one thing could the industry do better to encourage a step-change in progress towards improved data management?

Fix the problems of unique identification. It is the pre-requisite (foundation) for effective data management. Get the foundation right and move forward from there.