Data as a Strategic Growth Asset in 2021: Lessons Learned from COVID-19 for Buy-Side and Sell-Side Data Managers

Capital market and finance firms have had a rough ride of late. They face disruption from several directions. The urgency for technology innovation is one. A deluge of regulation, and most recently, the market volatility that the pandemic has caused, are others. Given the conditions that the sector has faced over the last decade plus, it seems likely that the harsh realities from the 2008 financial crisis will be amplified post-COVID-19.

Following the financial repercussions of the 2008 crisis, COVID-19 is now accelerating digital adoption. The pandemic has served as an acid test for the robustness of firms’ digital infrastructure. Some of this transformation work was already underway.

But the global health crisis is catalysing greater innovation and adoption of emerging technologies. Those such as AI, ML, and RPA, Blockchain, DLT and natural language processing promise both cost savings and efficiency gains.