Rapid Access, Data Governance, and Aggregation

Interesting concept from Read Write Web writer Chris Lamb on information liquidity:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2011/10/how-the-cloud-makes-financial.php
The section on Emerging Opportunities is spot on:
"One of the key drivers is flexible and rapid access through web services interfaces, and flexible commercial terms. One company, Xignite, has built its business around this new model.

Another key opportunity is in financial data management and data provenance. Regulators and counter-parties back in 2008 were unable to understand their financial positions because the definition of the data itself was ambiguous. Was this Lehman Special Investment Vehicle the same as that one? Nobody knew. Data management and data provenance can help sort this problem.

A third opportunity, aggregation tools, will also play a role in this new world. The ability to aggregate data from radically different domains (not just different trading venues), the ability to combine structured and unstructured data, the new dynamic portioning models will radically alter the landscape."


These same basic opportunities are found in many other sectors, not just financial. Some quick examples:

• In the Energy sector where I work with Oil and Gas companies on exploration, I see the need to aggregate data across many different sources, both structured and unstructured, to forecast the best locations for drilling opportunities.
• In the Personnel security sector I see the need to give rapid access to data, especially through mobile devices so that decisions can be made to avoid potential issues while traveling world wide
• In the Defense sector where I deal with different Services and missions the importance of data management and governance (provenance) is critical so that we are talking about the same data in the same way.

There are many other example across other sectors that I work but these opportunities are some of the fundamental building blocks need to be addressed.