Financial services (FS) is one of the world’s most highly regulated sectors. That’s understandable given its role as critical national infrastructure and the enormous volumes of sensitive customer and corporate data that institutions hold. But with regulations come challenges. Authorized users looking to make better decisions need access to data, but controls to ensure data is securely stored and handled at all times are essential.
Unfortunately, new StreamSets research reveals that many FS firms are struggling with fragmented data ecosystems and line of business (LoB) users working independently to get data projects done quickly. This has created an ungovernable “wild west” exposing them to excessive risk. It’s time to take back control.
Two Big Problems
Effective data-driven decision-making is the goal of most growth-oriented businesses, and financial institutions are no different. Whether it’s customer purchasing habits or share price tracking, data can provide FS leaders with invaluable insight to successfully navigate a risk landscape in constant flux.
But FS firms have two major challenges to ensuring data governance:
- Complex IT architectures – spanning hybrid and multi-cloud environments, legacy systems, point solutions, and custom-built tools – are difficult to gain visibility and control of
- Amid confusion over who is responsible for managing data, LoB users are acting outside of IT’s purview by creating datasets without first consulting IT
The result is that many (38%) of those we spoke to can’t maintain governance and automate policy controls around data, or enforce consistent security measures to protect data flowing between on-premises and cloud sources (40%).
When Governance Breaks Down
The problem with LoB users acting without IT knowing is particularly acute. Respondents say that this behavior opens up a risk of data not being used in a compliant way (41%), that it might be accidentally or maliciously breached (41%), or that the organization might use inaccurate data (41%).
These can lead to serious consequences for FS firms, including:
- Reputational and financial damage stemming from a major data breach
- Non-compliance with increasingly rigorous ESG reporting requirements
- Poor decision-making stemming from inaccurate data
Control and Compliance
The findings paint a clear picture for FS organizations: It’s time to strike a better balance between control and compliance. 78% of the FS data leaders and practitioners we polled want to empower LoB teams to use data while maintaining visibility and control. An even greater share (81%) say they want to enable a self-service data model for end-users. How could this work in practice?
It starts by establishing effective governance over the fragmented data ecosystem from a single, centralized platform. That should give IT the visibility it needs to apply the right policies to the right data while empowering LoB users to extract maximum value from corporate data. In this way, FS firms can make the right business decisions and create innovative new customer experiences without compromising security or compliance.
To learn more about these challenges in the financial services industry, download our report.