8th Investment Data & Technology Summit
22 August 2023
The Fullerton Hotel Sydney
Agenda
09.00-09.10 // Welcome and conference opening
09.10-10.00 // Navigating trends and hypes: transformation in practice
Buzzwords continue to circle around the data and technology space, but for all the focus on innovation, it’s important to ensure that key objectives are met and controls remain robust.
This session will discuss how different firms are structuring their data and technology capabilities to enable teams to improve investment decision-making:
- Data architecture transformation
- Data fabric, mesh, vaults, and lake-houses: critically assessing ‘new’ solutions and their benefit to improving investment decision-making
- How can you balance centralised and de-centralised models to achieve optimum agility?
- Tooling up – or slimming down – to meet the needs of investment teams: enabling predictive analytics and optimising data selection
- Practical case studies
10.00-10.45 // System architecture: future-proofing frameworks
As investment management firms move away from traditional database constructs, this session will discuss how firms are improving their system architectures. It will consider:
- Upgrading system architecture and frameworks: a peer perspective
- Data storage, distribution and delivery to internal business units
- Advantages and disadvantages of new and evolving tools
- Governance and security considerations: segregating data sets, restricting access and securing delivery
10.45-11.15 // Refreshments and networking
11.15-12.00 // Governing a fragmented data model
Fully centralising data might be too hard to achieve for many firms who have experienced IT bottlenecks. However, the de-centralised ‘data mesh’ model that is increasingly proposed as an alternative comes with its own set of risks and requirements, not least of which the onus it places on various business teams to ensure data quality is correct.
This session will discuss how firms that are adopting a more de-centralised approach are managing these processes in practice. It will consider:
- Practicalities of pulling in data from different sources
- Tools and architecture considerations
- Maintaining consistent quality control and governance checks
- Managing expenditure
12.00-12.45 // In focus: designing effective data catalogues
This session will discuss how different firms are building data catalogues that are thorough, meaningful and provide sufficient context to different groups of users within the business.
- Solutions design: what works, what doesn’t?
- Tool selection: how do some of the newer solutions available compare to existing tools?
- Lineage: what level is required and how do you achieve and use it?
- Loading and distributing catalogues at scale
- Maximising business interactivity and optimising the user experience
- Curating meta-data and associated material
12.45-13.45 // Lunch & networking
13.45-14.15 // Beyond dashboards: self-service and virtualisation
This presentation will explore different initiatives to take data integration, self-service and ‘citizen development’ to the next level. Chiefly, to further provide front office teams with scope to explore and investigate investment ideas without exposing the business to risk. It will consider:
- To centralise or decentralise: selecting the right self-service model
- Technology: tools and use cases
- User-friendliness and uptake
- Security and governance considerations: segregating learning environments
14.15-15.00 // Advanced analytics in practice
This session will discuss advantages, disadvantages and practical applications of advanced analytics tools, such as Synapse, Databricks and Snowflake, along with prospects for general purpose artificial intelligence tools to support the generation of investable insights:
- Practical use cases
- System architecture and organisational support requirements
- Advantages and disadvantages
- Beyond ChatGPT: assessing prospects and practical applications of general purpose AI to support analytics
15.00-15.30 // Refreshments and networking
15.30-16.15 // Tuning for performance: maximising organisational structure and capabilities
This panel will discuss how different investment management firms are set up to achieve maximum cooperation and efficiencies between different functions in order to optimise uplift investment decision-making. It will discuss:
- Organisational structures, reporting lines and responsibilities: the roles for IT, data, analytics and investment functions
- Aligning priorities and maximising cooperation between different functions
- Tool kits and technological capabilities to facilitate collaboration
- Optimising data and technology skillsets
16.15-17.00 // Staying on top of ESG exposures: avoiding greenwashing
Regulators are closely scrutinising investments that are labeled ESG and are increasingly taking action against greenwashing. This session will discuss how investment managers can set up ESG data architectures with appropriate governance, reporting and alert systems to allow investment teams to respond quickly when risks arise.
- ESG data sourcing: advantages and disadvantages of aggregation services
17.00-18.00 // Networking reception, drinks and canapés