Informatica Perspectives

Alan Greenspan stated last week that poor data quality is part of the reason for today’s financial crisis. As many businesses have already learned, databases are only as accurate as the information fed into them. Good data must come from the right sources, be available at the right times, and be centralized correctly so that it remains consistent across different systems. Greenspan specifically stated that incomplete data was being fed into risk management models, thereby blinding financial institutions to the enormous risk that ultimately led to the current crisis. Joe McKendrick,a consultant who blogs for Informatica, offers a similar perspective in a recent posting.

Given the market-place turmoil and the underlying data quality problems, we will likely see increased SEC regulation. A recent NY Times article mentions that SEC Chairman, Chris Cox, testified recently before a US House committee that his organization would need to engage in “aggressive law enforcement” on this front.

As part of that effort, Cox said, the agency's IT department is working with its enforcement division to create a common database of trading information, audit trail data and credit-default-swaps clearing data.

We have been highlighting the need for data quality regulation for years and have developed a blueprint for organizations looking to leverage trusted, timely and high quality data. Our solutions are being used by both governments and businesses to ensure their data doesn’t become garbage – as in “garbage in, garbage out”.