Are you still disseminating fund data in the old way?

KNEIP

The way asset managers disseminate data to media vendors and platforms has changed dramatically in recent times, as the introduction of new technology has turned a complex process into something simple, transparent and accurate.

Yet many product manufacturers still disseminate data in the same way they have done over the past decades. This has always generated (and continues to generate!) many challenges, but it doesn’t have to be this way anymore.

So how do you know if you are still disseminating data in the old way?

1. The data you disseminate is not accurate

Can you trust the quality of your data? Has your sales team ever complained about wrong or missing data on one of the main platforms? Have you ever had to rush into fixing issues with vendors?

Data quality is critical to success in fund distribution, and it determines how funds will be perceived by investors. Yet the fund industry struggles to publish consistent data, as only 6 in 10 data points published across different data vendors and platforms match all their iterations.

Data inaccuracy is expensive, particularly in the age of ETFs, where computer-generated portfolios react against inaccuracy by not selecting funds. As funds are not presented consistently or even not made available to the right audience of potential investors, they are discarded which results in lost revenue. This also has an impact on fund ratings, which are critical to the process of fund selection.

2. You find data dissemination complex

The initial task of sourcing data internally is often where the challenge begins. Fund data tends to be stored on different systems, owned by different teams, and there is almost never one single source that you can extract it from.

Then comes the task of generating different files for different purposes to ensure all destinations requirements are covered. This is often done using cumbersome tools and techniques and mistakes can easily appear, which means that manual checks often need to be carried out to ensure consistency. Once your files are ready, they need to be stored so you can track versions, and then sent to the different destinations that make up your distribution footprint (often for different timings).

In return, destinations may have queries that your teams need to investigate and this is time consuming. If something goes wrong, the whole process must be done again.

3. You have no visibility after instructing your provider

Disseminating data with a third-party provider can leave you in the dark. Has my data been disseminated? Why is it taking so long? Was it even accurate?

The only way to find answers to these very basic questions is to contact your provider, via email or phone, and to enquire line by line about each instruction. In addition, you are not offered a view over your data quality and the existence of any discrepancy. From your perspective, what happens between instruction and dissemination is entirely opaque.

Fund data dissemination: See what’s possible

So what does a modern fund data dissemination process look like? Firstly, it does not push complexity onto you and you can provide data using a template of your choice (no fixed template imposed). Onboarding becomes simple, and then you can access a complete live view of your data in a clean, unified place, including the controls, the publication and the data processing.

And of course, you can publish whatever destination, in whatever format, through whichever channel, and reach further than ever by tapping into a global distribution footprint. Your data is disseminated 100% accurately across all destinations, so your fund ratings and other crucial data points can always be trusted, and your teams can focus on what really matters.