I’m attending the Snowflake Summit conference now where we have been learning more about the latest thinking on how technology can continue to modernize infrastructure, as well as deliver greater value-added services and cost efficiencies to the financial markets sector and our clients at DTCC. For me, the big technology theme we are currently hearing about and discussing with clients is the importance of data warehousing and data transformation.
Related: DTCC CEO shares how data will guide clients' journey
The rise of cloud technology has provided a new avenue for financial services companies to store, manage, and analyse vast amounts of data more efficiently. The fast development of cloud-based tools has significantly boosted this progress, facilitated the creation of new data insights and enabled more efficient roll-out of new business processes. Market participants who adopt such tools can gain a distinct competitive edge. These trends, combined with industry collaboration and increased demand from businesses, has created the opportunity for large-scale progress in data management.
However, despite these advancements, data quality and siloed data sources are stubborn issues for market participants, limiting their ability to extract strategic insights and optimize decision-making capabilities. Many organizations are still grappling with the challenge of not only making data more accessible, secure, and cost-effective but also ensuring the quality and cleanliness of the data. This is because in many instances they are wrestling with disparate middle office systems leveraging different technologies each with multiple data sources. This, coupled with the persistence of manual processes in several areas of post-trade processing, means that data which is potentially valuable doesn’t get analyzed or stored in technology platforms.
The industry has attempted to address these types of issues but unfortunately many of the solutions developed have tended to be asset-class specific solutions which are tailored to each firm but not flexible enough for automated transaction processing. We are working with Snowflake and AWS to address some of these challenges by leveraging their cloud and data transformation capabilities to develop, test and launch new services.
For example, in our Repository & Derivatives Services business, we initially focused on enhancing the Global Trade Repository (GTR) application and data, after which we modernized the underlying platform technology, extending to the cloud and then leveraging best-of-breed data platforms. DTCC’s investment in automation and application re-architecture has increased our delivery agility, enabling better client service and enhanced product quality, improving data access and insights for clients and regulators alike.
Given that right now the hot topics for clients are data warehousing and transformation, it has been great to hear first-hand about the journey that Snowflake is on with its customers across all sectors and what they predict for future development in these areas. Stay tuned for more insights after the Snowflake Summit!