Why Manage Market Data Spend?

Market data costs have surged over the last decade – rising 8.1% last year alone –  compounded by renewal fee increases of 14-18% between 2022 and 2024. A recent report even described current cost levels as “unsustainable.” As data license expenses outpace budget growth, firms must manage spend with discipline and precision and the tools are becoming increasingly essential.

Spend management tools provide the visibility needed for smarter decisions – tracking inventory, usage, and cost while supporting compliance and strategic planning. But migrating away from a legacy platform correctly is complex and rarely a straightforward task. Each tool is different,  and a successful transition is beyond mere a “lift-and-shift.” It requires data validation, cleansing, and workflow alignment to ensure reporting and planning accuracy.

Why Change How Spend Is Managed?

Firms migrate spend management tools for various reasons—vendor limitations, system consolidations, or broader strategic changes etc. Regardless of the trigger, each migration is an opportunity to address legacy inefficiencies and gaps, implement best practices, and potentially realise significant savings.

For example, a feasibility study conducted by CJC’s Commercial Management team for a global bank revealed that consolidating their market data platforms could save the firm £1.3M annually.

However, these projects are not without risk. Poorly executed migrations may lead to parallel system costs, compliance issues, data inaccuracies, and missed savings. Without the right expertise, firms may ultimately spend more than they gain.

Want To Maximise Your Chance To Succeed?

To reduce risk and maximise value during tool migration, firms must prioritise three critical areas:

1. Deep Market Data Expertise – Market data is both complex and expensive.
2. Clear Workflow Understanding – Minimising business disruption requires full visibility of underlying workflows.
3. Vendor-Agnostic, Multi-Tool Knowledge – Vendor-aligned teams often lack familiarity with your existing platforms, limiting their effectiveness.

This is where CJC’s Commercial Management (CM) team excels. With hands-on experience across all major spend management tools – like Excel-based systems. FinOffice, In-house solutions, INFOmatch, MDSL, and Optimize Spend – CJC offers more than just migration support. Our team transforms and backfills legacy systems into optimised, enriched platforms through a structured process (Illustration A) with demonstrated benefits and includes:

Illustration A: CJC’s Inventory Maturity Model

This approach has delivered measurable results. Following a series of acquisitions, CJC supported a global financial services client in consolidating fragmented inventory data into a single, unified system. Within six months, the number of managed contracts rose from 56 to 411, including a surge in Bloomberg contracts from 1 to 98. This transformation enabled significantly enhanced oversight, improved data integrity, and greater operational efficiency (see Example 1 below).

Why is CJC's Support a Good Option?

However, migrations are only the beginning. CJC also delivers ongoing support to help clients improve processes, manage contracts, and streamline invoice management to enhance finance reporting and strategic planning.

Unlike vendor-aligned service providers, CJC is completely independent.  We do not develop or sell proprietary tools, allowing CM to offer unbiased advice and support across all platforms. The CM team is trained in multiple systems and brings extensive best practice experience from Tier 1 banks, brokers and vendors.

Advantages of working with CJC include:

• A client-first, vendor-agnostic approach.
• 100+ years of combined market data experience.
• Multi-spend management tool expertise.
• Deep understanding of market data structures and workflows.
• Proven track record of success.
• Industry backgrounds spanning database vendors, tier-one banks, and brokers.