Data Company Series Ep.2 - Questions to Consider After You Evaluated What A Data Provider

Hosted by Convergence CEO John Phinney.
Your due diligence will differ slightly depending on the experience you want and should include the following:
1. I need only data - Meaning that you have the internal data teams and experts to curate and analyze the data to support your ultimate objectives. All three types of data providers may be able to meet your data needs, yet you need to issue a simple RFP to obtain answers to critical questions you need to differentiate the providers from each other. We illustrate a sample set of RFP questions on investment advisers. We suggest the following RFP questions:
a. Data Depth - List the number of active and inactive advisers in your database.
b. Data Breadth - List the number of active and inactive adviser strategies and fund types in your database.
c. Data Subject Coverage - List the data subject and number of data artifacts that you have for each adviser in your database.
d. Data Sources-Independence-Conflicts - List the sources of your adviser data, how much of it comes from the adviser and what conflicts may exist in data coming from advisers.
e. Data Accuracy - Describe the steps you take to ensure accuracy and whether you offer any guarantee on overall data accuracy and how often you update your data.
f. Original Content - List how much of your data is original, meaning derived from source data.
g. Available Time Series - How far-back in time does your data go and are the datasets complete based on today’s rules?
h. Annual Subscription Cost - List the annual subscription cost and any discounts available for a multi-year subscription.
2. I need data as a service - Meaning you do not have the internal data teams and experts to curate and analyze the data to support your ultimate objectives. This limits your choice of service providers to the “DaaS” providers. The RFP questions for DaaS firms will contain the same list of RFP data questions and should include the following:
a. Subject Matter Experts (SME)
Number and expertise of relevant SMEs to support your specific objectives.
b. Data Scientists
Number of Data Scientists on staff to support subject matter experts.
c. Original Content
List how much of your data is original, meaning its proprietary to the creator and not in the public domain.
d. Annual Subscription Cost
Break-out the costs of the data subscription from the “DaaS” service costs. This will help you evaluate the premium you will pay for the DaaS experience.
Complete RFPs will help you differentiate various service providers and set you up for a positive return on your data subscription. We will cover this in Segment 3 - Getting a positive ROI.