In the Covid-19 world Market Data team workloads have increased exponentially. Teams being under BAU pressure, working remotely, and split across locations have additional challenges. Contract Renewals and Roll Overs are often overlooked or pushed down the priority queue as business users constantly demand new data sets, alternative data, and wider data distribution.
Opportunity to Reduce Costs
This has created opportunity to review existing Market Data Contract and License agreements looking for smarter ways to reduce costs, avoid price hikes and help meet aggressive budget targets.
All Market Data Teams should be continually monitoring the terms and conditions of their contracts to ensure they know and monitor the basics.
Good Contract Intelligence Includes the Following Aspects:
- Contracts with vendors may look similar, but the devil is in the detail and can be both substantial and subtle while data usage policy & license impacts may not always be obviously clear
- Vendor contracts tend to be created within the framework of the domestic market and legal system, which often means different things can be open to interpretation
- What are the Contract Enforcement and Audit rights? Out of contract usage results in back payments which would be unbudgeted and unwelcome – usage awareness is critical
- Contract Terms and Notice periods vary considerably with few vendors allowing a break out of the term period with automatic rollovers a common fixture, monitoring rollovers and placing any cancellations as required by the business is critical for Market Data Teams to manage well
Helping a Client to Significantly Reduce Market Data Costs
We recently completed an assignment for a Sell Side Institution who were concerned that despite in house attempts to reduce costs, the overall Market Data budget had continued to rise. We suggested an initial review, analysis and comparison of all existing contracts to the current invoicing position, which when completed by our Managed Services team, identified a number of unused products, contracts not renegotiated or verified but still billing and some duplicate data subscriptions in different parts of the business – achievable cost savings when a ‘fresh pair of expert eyes’ is engaged which will reduce ongoing costs for the client and give a cleaner position moving forward.
West Highland Support Services offers Financial Services firms a bespoke Managed Service to help Market Data Teams stay on top of Contract Reviews and maintain a full compliance analysis & review position of contracts, usage and licensing, creating a higher level of contract transparency within the organisation which can in turn be used to help negotiate better terms, remove unused data & services and identify the best services to meet business needs.
Contact us at sales@westhighland.net for a no obligation conversation at your convenience.
