Bloomberg’s Singapore office recently hosted an event that focused on content and workflow considerations for enterprise data solutions. Speakers discussed Bloomberg’s enterprise data feed offerings, how ESG (environmental, social, and governance) data needs are evolving and what the future of data in the cloud looks like.
ESG represents the increasing sophistication of investing beyond allocating to asset classes or sectors. That said, everyone offers an algorithm today, and navigating all the available data quickly becomes complex and expensive. Nearly 90% of attendees polled at this Bloomberg event have at least one ESG data provider, with 46% having two or more.
One reason for having multiple providers is because the region has so many countries with distinct ESG data maturity. “The coverage is very thin in some of these countries, especially in the region,” said Peter Shen, head of Innovation and Market Data at Eastspring Investments, as cited by Bloomberg. “You have countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand — and even Japan [and] Korea — where they have very specific data sets.”
Attendees agreed on this point, with 40% saying their biggest challenge with incorporating ESG into investment processes is incomplete data or coverage. Another 40% cited metrics that lack standardization.
Data governance is also gaining in importance, both for internal management and meeting regulatory compliance requirements. While “there is no CEO that will say that data is not important,” companies are budgeting for data functions at varying levels of intensity, said Shen. “Firms need to adopt a much more intentional approach to data. And that means more investment.”
The future of data in the cloud
While most attendees are using cloud-based data providers, there’s more room to run in cloud adoption. Almost 60% of respondents have an on-premises data warehouse or other internal build instead of a cloud setup.
Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud use is increasingly popular, said Wendnia Tan, head of Enterprise Data Sales, for ASEAN and India at Bloomberg. That said, cloud adoption is a question every company will answer based on its specific needs, Shen said: “When you look at cloud, you have to then decide, how much abstraction are you willing to impose or accept while still being able to drive value for a customer?”
Companies in Singapore and the wider region are becoming more confident in their understanding and trust of cloud technologies, says Satchit Joglekar, regional director for ASEAN Emerging Markets at Snowflake, as cited by Bloomberg. “We are seeing organizations also looking at acquiring data outside the organization in a more efficient manner to, obviously, reduce costs, but also time to value in generating alpha very fast.”