Asset managers and other market players could struggle with how they make data meaningful to their businesses, a survey suggests.
Despite a projected increase in data consumption over the next 12 months, fewer firms appear to appreciate the need for specialists, such as data scientists, to make sense of it.
The discrepancy was described as a “contradiction”.
In total, 90% of respondents to the SIX survey said they were going to increase their data consumption over the next 12 months and 52% stated generating meaningful insights from data was a strategic priority for them.
However, only 41% were anticipating increased demand for data science skills over the next 12 months.
SIX, the Swiss stock exchange firm, said this showed there was less importance placed on matching the necessary skills with the desire to better manage and analyse more data. SIX said the survey showed a need for more data scientists in finance.
Sam Sundera, head of future business financial information at SIX, said: “The findings highlight an important discrepancy in how firms approach data management and analytics. The majority of respondents are looking to generate meaningful insights from data while expecting an increase in their data consumption, but at the same time less than half are anticipating increasing demand for data science skills at their firms.
“This points to a contradiction, as financial institutions need to improve their data science capabilities in order to derive useful insights from a much larger pool of data.”
The survey had 113 responses – 22% were buy-side and 11% were asset servicers.
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