The Result ✔️
Greater visibility of data usage brings control and cost savings.
Xmon monitors data usage in real time, allowing the firm to manage reference data in an agile way.
The data team knows which user or system is making each data request. This allows them to block unwanted or expensive requests, making it easier to keep tabs on costs.
“It has provided transparency on usage. We now know which environment is requesting what. We have been able to catch unwanted requests from development environments.
These are huge savings because, in many cases, these are a pure waste of money.
Xmon, also available as a fully managed service, goes further. It enables the data team to set rules on usage, helping ensure compliance with vendor licence agreements.
Whether managed in-house or by Xpansion experts, Xmon also makes recommendations for potential cost-savings 💰
Xmon allows managers to set rules covering which requests are sent to data vendors. Any request for reference data over a specified cost can be blocked and only sent after a manual approval. (Have you already seen our webinar recording on Reference Data Usage Management?)
After implementation of Xmon, the first item the firm tackled was end-of-day price requests covering some 20,000 instruments. What they found was that 15 percent of them were either expired or unlisted.
“By cutting them off, we were able to take a quick win and reduce costs significantly. We can really control what goes to the data vendor and, by doing that, avoid costs.”
The clarity brought by Xmon has made it easier for the client to budget and to reconcile and check invoices from data vendors. On Xmon’s dashboard, managers can see how costs vary over the month.
“We have much better governance of our data consumption. We are able to reconcile the invoices sent to us and be sure they are accurate, which wasn’t the case previously.”
Managers can also perform “what if” calculations to test the impact of potential changes in what reference data is requested.
With the help of Xpansion, the client simulated the impact of a change in a major vendor’s pricing model.
This helped the firm push back in negotiations with the provider, meeting one of its goals. It moved from a “per security” model to a “scheduled” model.
For the client, cutting costs was not, and still isn’t, the primary reason it chose Xmon. Nonetheless, the move released significant savings 📉
“We have been able to reduce costs by about 10 percent. By having the understanding, we know there is still room to make additional savings by reducing some high-cost categories of data. All this is pinpointed by Xmon.”
These additional savings could amount to 20 percent of the firm’s total reference data invoice.
“It’s really good to feel that we are controlling data usage and that we won’t be getting any nasty surprises next month.”
