Data technology is the next financial services evolution, and it’s already underway, according to Tom Pfister, vice president of global strategy at Confluence.
Pfister suggested that the effects of datatech will prove as dramatic as the shift in the wake of the 2007 credit crisis.
He explained that datatech represents the natural progression of regulation technology; the use of techniques and processes originally designed for the purpose of regulatory monitoring and reporting for a wider range of business applications.
Regtech allowed paper based documents on regulatory reporting and human disclosures become machine-readable information. This created a dramatic shift in the wake of the 2007 credit crisis.
While datatech does not replace regtech, it does build on it. Pfister said: “Information collected for regulatory reasons can be repurposed and put to a range of uses: in statutory and marketing reporting and to better inform management decision making.”
He suggested that redundant data processing and process proliferation will be eliminated as the data will need to be captured just once and then turned out, at the press of a button, in as many formats as are needed. He noted that the potential efficiency gains speak for themselves and resources will be freed for growth.
Pfister concluded that although datatech will not replace human staff, it will free them from time-consuming, manual tasks to better analyse and add value.
He said: “It is about transforming data into valuable information, which, in turn, will become a powerful enabler of business growth.”
