Empower Business Units to Drive EDM Projects, Say Speakers

SYDNEY - Data management projects need to be sponsored and driven by business units as opposed to risk divisions, according to speakers on the Inside Reference Data panel at the FISD Asia-Pacific Road Show in Sydney in April.

Melbourne-based Chris Butler, project director, data management, risk department, National Australia Bank (NAB), said risk units can act as a partner on data management projects, but business units should be driving the initiatives.

Following the financial crisis, there is a general recognition that risk units have become more involved in data management projects, as they are large consumers of data. Melbourne-based Nassar Ahmad, director client operations, Asia Pacific, GoldenSource, said risk units are taking a more advisory role.

Data is an enabler for compliance and risk, meaning these divisions can occasionally be sponsoring the data projects. Melbourne-based Rory Manchee, managing director, S&P, said that from a vendor perspective, most discussions will start with the business units but then move on to other stakeholders. "The conversation will very quickly include risk and compliance and IT," he said.

In fact, IT still often has the responsibility for data. Hong Kong-based Ian Cumberpatch, director of sales and business development, Asia Pacific, Asset Control, said a data project may be an IT implementation, but the system will have to meet business requirements. "I think we should be focusing on the business requirements. Business units in this region are being empowered," he said.

Meanwhile, there is no industry-wide agreement on where data should sit and how it should be governed. Panelists said it makes sense to have a chief data officer (CDO), someone with a strategic vision, but the challenge is to ensure the role's description does not overlap with other C-level professionals.

Ahmad said the data management area should warrant a C-level position, and if data sits under the chief information officer it will typically be one of a broad range of responsibilities that person covers. "I think a CDO is required to give data management power at the C-Level," said Ahmad.

Yet, the key point is to have a single champion of data. "I don't think many can afford a dedicated C-level professional," said Cumberpatch. But even without using the CDO business title, it should be possible to appoint someone with strategic vision. "I think firms need someone who is accountable and can articulate what the business is looking for," said Manchee.

At the moment, what many businesses are looking for is flexibility. "The software has to have the ability to be very flexible," said Cumberpatch, explaining that markets have become more complex, and one of the reasons data management software vendors exist is to manage that complexity.

The technology solution needs to constantly be evolving, and provide users with tools to effectively respond. "At a platform level, we have to empower users and help them in modelling new data requirements," said Ahmad.

Tine Thoresen.