What Is a Data Share?

As its name suggests, a data share is a tool in a data consumption solution that shares data from one cloud-based account with other cloud-based accounts. More technically, a share is a package of data offerings on a cloud account that other data consumers can subscribe to. In addition, shared database objects are immutable, as they are read-only and cannot be altered.

BNY and Snowflake: A Powerful Data Share Team

The flexibility of a Snowflake share enables consumers to enhance their data sets, and they can then share data back with the provider¹. With the data located in one place, consumers know where to find data, when they need it.  Moreover, a unique differentiator of Snowflake is that there is no file transfer, which means data is immediately available for reading.

Clients without a Snowflake account can participate in a data share via an authentication process that links the client’s chosen cloud account to BNY’s Snowflake instance. In either circumstance, the near-instantaneous access to high-quality data offers firms the tools to collaborate, innovate, and grow.

Accessibility: The Key to Collaboration

Access to data is necessary for any aspect of wealth management—be it estate planning, investment management, business succession, and more. When teams across the enterprise can access data across the firm, they can collaborate more easily, which in turn enables them to:

• Solve business challenges to improve performance and outcomes.
• Drive innovation to create new products, services, and business models.
• Enhance differentiation to gain an edge over competitors.

With a cloud data share, data is accessible in near real time. In BNY’s Snowflake data share, BNY aggregates data from multiple sources and then makes it accessible to the consumer via either a subscription or authentication process. This way, data consumers within BNY and data consumers who are clients of BNY can easily access the data they need. In addition, since cloud updates are nearly instantaneous, consumers can be sure they are working with the latest information.

Catalogue: Benefiting from a Data Superset

Nevertheless, access to data is not enough.  Consumers must also be able to find the right data at the right time. A data share offers a centralized, easy-to-use data catalogue.  The distinct data marts in a share are large databases organized around a unifying principle. Just as a library has different sections (e.g., Fiction, Young Adult, Nature), a data share provider offers various data marts (e.g., Accounts, Transactions, Market Value). Within each share that consumers subscribe to, data is documented and organized.

For instance, one firm might only subscribe to streaming custody data, but another may subscribe to both streaming data and the derived data that provides performance information.  Regardless of their subscription details, both firms can:

• Scan and index data sources across platforms and environments
• Identify the gaps and overlaps in their data landscape
• Optimize data storage and performance

The result is a wealth management data superset fit for purpose. Data consumers know what data assets they have, where they are, how they’re structured, and who owns them.

Quality: Confidence Behind Innovation

Knowing where and how to find data is great, but data integrity and quality are also critical to addressing business needs. On the one hand, a share mitigates version control issues that can arise from repeated consumer use. Since a share is read-only, the number of consumers who download, interrogate, and examine the data will not affect its quality.

On the other hand, a share enables providers to set up automated functions that scan the data and measure key quality metrics. Snowflake, for example, offers pre-defined data metric functions (DMFs) to monitor the data’s quality, but it also enables other data share providers to customize their own DMFs, schedule assessments, and define when alerts regarding quality should be instigated.

In addition, a share can provide real-time data quality dashboards and reports that enable you to track and visualize the quality of your data, thereby reducing errors, risks and the time spent evaluating data for inconsistencies.

Governance: The Foundation for All Pillars

Governance is the set of policies, standards, and processes that define how data is collected, stored, accessed, and used across the enterprise. Cloud-based data governance can provide the tools and workflows to manage data policies, roles, and permissions. A data share enhances:

• Compliance: Knowing the state of your data and where it is helps you meet regulatory and industry standards
• Accountability: With clearly delineated roles and responsibilities among data stewards and engineers of a data share, teams can rely on quality data and meet client and partner goals.
• Data-driven culture: Accurate, easily accessible data fosters data literacy across the organization.

Data governance, then, is inextricably linked to data inventory, quality, and accessibility. Most important, a data share implements all encryption, backup, and recovery policies, as well as subscription rules and access requirements.

Cloud-Based Data Share Is the Future

Cloud-based data platforms offer tools to access, explore, and visualize data for various types of reporting and analytics. A secure data share is the foundation for an effective and scalable way to access high-quality data when and where you need it.

An experienced partner, an interoperable platform, and fit-for-purpose products, such as a data share, can help wealth management firms scale their operations in the cloud. By adopting best practices and using the right tools for data inventory, quality, governance, and accessibility, firms can overcome longstanding data challenges and successfully create and sustain a modern culture of data-driven growth.

To learn how a BNY cloud-based data share can help you grow your wealth management business, contact your BNY Pershing relationship team.