Data as Food for Thought

An article posted to Forbes ("The Importance Of Data Access For Fintech," Zach Perret, February 3, 2017 ) discusses the importance of data, and its access, to the growth of the fintech industry. While this article addresses personal finance and banking, the same need for data and data flow hold true in the investment management part of the tech world.

Noting that the financial technology industry is fundamentally powered by data, the author mentions a trend where larger firms have been considering ways to cut off data for their clients accessing it through third-party applications. Rightfully, the author believes this would have a chilling effect on the technology and innovation that has benefited consumers.

On occasion, we have experienced this as well with other investment management related companies. Some firms become one-way consumers of data, reluctant or unable to distribute data. In a world where finance and investments are almost exclusively electronic records (not actual cash or certificates), this can slow product innovation that could ultimately benefit clients.

Archer, is proud to view data as a tool, not as a commodity to be controlled. (See the article, “The Practicality of Being Data Agnostic”) The ability to connect to a wide array of service providers, sharing data both to and from them, brings a virtual business ecosystem to life. It is the data flow through these connections that allows Archer to provide investment managers access to markets they may not have been able to reach on their own – creating opportunities for new products and expansion into new channels. The essence of this connected ecosystem is illustrated here:

I believe the lesson to be that data, on its own, provides little benefit. Just as food kept solely on display cannot fuel a body, data without connections does not fuel business growth. But data shared through a robust network of connections empowers growth and unleashes innovation.