Data Connectivity and Integration

In an age where it is imperative that firms have access to trusted data for use in their Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) processes, the ability to use data integrated directly into your workflows will allow you to:

  • Create speedy and accurate compliance decisions
  • Automate data collection processes
  • Reduce the number of resources required to execute compliance processes
  • Provide support for the management of risk
  • Build customer satisfaction and avoid losing potential business

With these many benefits, connectivity and integration are completely central to the successful use of internally or externally sourced data. Conversely, without integration capabilities any firm that has access to even the very best data content will never fully realise its practical utility; unless, in the first instance it is able to connect to the data (get it), and secondly, integrate that same data (distribute it) into the business processes of the firm.

Industry leaders have defined integration as, “discovery, cleansing, monitoring, transforming and delivery of data from a variety of sources.” Utilising connectivity through application programming interfaces (APIs) and internal integration capability, the iMeta Assassin platform exchanges data with locations both inside and outside organisations. Data can be collected from a growing number of external sources and turned into relevant information that firms would find difficult to create, or would have had to obtain and manufacture manually. iMeta assists with the ability to integrate and use publicly available data collected and managed by others to further enhance an organisation’s KYC / AML knowledge and required operational data sets.

In our experience we have noted that many business processes also require an assemblage of data from different sources; either internal, external or a combination of both. This means that after initial acquisition, the need for data aggregation capability comes into play as well. Combining information from various sources into something useful is the primary purpose of an aggregation capability. As both a technical competence and a business process, this is about efficiently managing data and making it available to those who need it, in the form that they need it. Tools that automatically produce composite records comprised of the most recent and most favoured data chosen from all contracted data sources are therefore foundational.

Additionally, per the concept of a Satnav that shows you how to transit the road system from where you are to where you need to be, data mapping for integration is also often necessary. In an integration context, mapping is the process of defining the source and destination of data, in addition to, per above, the transformations that need to be performed on the data, as it is moved between source and destination.

Avoiding a situation of “data, data everywhere, nor any value gained”, data connectivity and integration are indispensable, behind-the-scenes enablers, that assist both critical and valuable business activities in organisations. For maximum value, we have also learned that data needs to be transformed and re-purposed, not just moved from A to B. In nearly every business dimension it is now imperative that we cater for a working world where aggregated, synchronised, current and quality-assured compliance and operational data is delivered daily. iMeta is well placed to assist.
Mark Bands – Head of Product Strategy and Regulatory Intelligence