The financial services industry has been shaped by a surge in both data sources and volumes. According to the IDC, the amount of new data created and consumed by our industry is expected to double by 2026.

The result has been a great focus by financial service actors to manage data in a coherent and secure manner. Fundipedia presents a neat solution for this, allowing clients to store and extract data in one database. However, as the demand for data management has grown, the number of proposed solutions has increased too.

The main issue with the current technology ecosystem is that these differing platforms do not communicate with each other in a reliable manner. This has given rise to a fractured, incompatible data infrastructure with operational inefficiencies at all levels of financial organisations, preventing growth and increasing costs as firms are more reliant on data access.

The absence of a coherent, cross platform solution or a governance strategy also leaves businesses vulnerable to cyber attacks. To make matters worse, these murky waters allow scope for some data companies to leverage this fragmentation for their own financial gain, charging customers multiple time for the same data across multiple sources. This is not Fundipedia’s modus operandi, and we have been committed to finding a solution that moves the industry towards a model of secure, open data.

Consequently, finding an integrated ecosystem solution is imperative to creating a world in which open data can be relied upon across contrasting platforms. This would make data storage more secure and allow free and open access to all stakeholders. We believe that Fundipedia’s new Connectors feature is the first step towards this solution.

Introducing Fundipedia Connectors

Our latest system-to-system feature allows clients to send and receive data straight from Fundipedia to any number of external systems.

With Connectors, reports can be fully configurable to be sent in the format required by the recipient, and can even be run on a schedule, reducing the need for repetitive administration or the possibility for errors.

In addition to the wide range of connectors available out of the box, we also work with clients to set-up any connectors or APIs that they may need and these become available to all other customers instantly.

How it works

Connectors leverages another new piece of Fundipedia functionality called Distributions.

With this latest update, managers are able to view all distributions in one place, giving them an all-encompassing summary of data schedules, destinations and relevant parties, as can be seen below.

A connector is first established by setting up a distribution. This simple process allows the user to take advantage of all existing Fundipedia functionality, enabling them to select existing reports in Fundipedia, configure the file format, the mapping, and any request any details required by the connecting system, as can be seen below.

Connectors can then be used in combination with existing features in Fundipedia to send data in any required format. For example, reporting standards can be configured to change field names to those required by the recipient. Clients find this particularly useful for Openfunds and EET reports. Any number of options can be added, examples of which are below.

Users can even add additional settings, such as requiring an approval before a distribution is sent or skipping a transfer if no data is contained in the file, to ensure that data security is not compromised with this more open approach to data.

Why use Fundipedia Connectors?

Fundipedia’s connectors is another big step towards an open data ecosystem. Connectors will allow our clients to send and receive data more freely and securely, while leveraging the existing power of Fundipedia to bring the following benefits:

Cost and time savings

  • System-to-system communication reducing the need for human administration
  • Less reliance on APIs and other IT centric solutions, which in turn reduces the need for IT resource
  • Central dashboard of distributions, showing users all active connections and scheduled reports, helping administrators to track data lineage and check distribution statuses
  • Scheduled distributions of reports to connected systems, ensuring the regular, punctual delivery of reports to stakeholders
  • Fully configured reports using mapping and reporting standards in Fundipedia, eliminating the need for weekly spreadsheet editing across multiple parties

Data security

  • Gated distributions allowing users to enable approvals before any data is sent downstream
  • Fundipedia permissions and controls, allowing only pre-determined users to create, view or edit distributions or connected reports
  • System-to-system data communication, eliminating risk for human error when passing documents between parties

Future growth

  • A connector marketplace where you can add new connectors that are already Fundipedia partners, or request new connectors from the Fundi team when they arise
  • Planned connection to dynamic data, allowing for language variations, data collection from third parties for reconciliation, and client reporting
  • Compatibility with Workflows, allowing for distributions to be integrated into longer processes and further automation of data exchange with stakeholders
  • Further opportunities leveraging advancements in AI, creating a truly integrated ecosystem
  • Using the time and cost savings of open data to invest in growth and further enhance productivity

We’re incredibly excited about Connectors and the positive impact that they are already having on an increasingly fragmented data ecosystem in the financial services industry.

This is just the first step towards an integrated, open approach to data, and we are excited about the potential for future updates to bring us ever closer to this vision.