Wall Street Letter VOL. XLV, NO. 36 - December 2013 | Page 18

DECEMBER 2013

COMMENT

Benchmarking and
maturity assessments
Gavin Kaimowitz , director at Sapient Global Markets, explains how
benchmarking and maturity assessments can position your project for success

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ith data sitting at the heart
of all activities across the
capital and commodity
markets, market participants, regulators and
intermediaries alike need
to gain a clearer, deeper understanding of their data
management practices across the enterprise. There
is a lot we can learn from data. From industry best
practices to most common problem areas large firms
face with managing data, there is tremendous value
in identifying how the industry is addressing the
challenges big data present. This piece will discuss
improving data management processes through
peer benchmarking, the benefits of sentiment-based
assessments, the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) an industry recognized measure of maturity and one
of the tools used in self-assessment - and where data
visualization can help.
WHAT IS PEER BENCHMARKING?
Benchmarking is a continuous, systematic process
used to evaluate and compare the capability of a team
or the organization as a whole against its peers and/
or industry standards in order to optimize processes.
To benchmark itself externally against its peers, an
assessment must be performed based on an industryrecognized measure. During the assessment process,
the analysis uncovers the current state of maturity of
processes, governance, and technology, allowing for
the organization to determine the steps it must take to
improve and defines how to measure progress.
When going through the benchmarking process,
many firms tend ask too many questions and review
excessive amounts of documentation, giving them
more data than they need to get the answer they seek.
By taking a sentiment-based approach to gathering
and interpreting data, firms can capture the opinion,
attitude and/or perception of the user and further
reinforce the value of the capability maturity exercise,
by asking the right people the right questions. This
approach allows firms to quickly uncover areas of
strengths and inefficiencies, allowing for stakeholders
to make informed decisions to improve efficiencies.
THE CAPABILITY MATURITY MODEL
The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is an industry-recognized measure of maturity and one of the

tools used in self-assessments. In its simplest form, a
maturity model is a matrix of five levels of maturity
that describes how well the practices and processes of
the organization function. By simplifying the questions being asked across the firm when conducting
the sentiment analysis, key pain points can be identified and acted on much more quickly.
CREATING AND RUNNING A CAPABILITY
MATURITY ASSESSMENT
Once the CMM matrix is defined and the assessment
has gained buy-in from all participants, running the
actual exercise is very straightforward. To achieve the
most accurate and comprehensive result, it is critical
that key stakeholders across all business lines record
their perception of the current state as well as their
perception of future goals and priorities.
Results are scored and used to define measures of
success to institute subsequent actions and achieve
business goals.
In the final stage of assessment, stakeholders will
often define a vision statement that will guide the
formation of the foundational layer of information
capabilities and responsiveness.
QUICKLY GAINING INSIGHT WITH A HEAT MAP
A useful tool that allows executives to identify the
most pressing issues and make quick improvements
is the heat map. A heat map is a graphical representation of data where the values collected are represented
in a two-dimensional matrix by color. When used as a
strategic tool, a heat map allows executives to quickly
pinpoint the highest priorities, most pressing issues
and the areas that can be quickly resolved with relatively little effort. Doing so awards them more time to
tackle the firm’s bigger and more complex initiatives.
CONCLUSION
Firms today operate in a rapidly changing regulatory
and market environment, and in an attempt to adapt,
many run an array of change programs across departments and divisions. These programs are often initiated without a preliminary self-assessment. Without
the data from an initial self-assessment, key program
stakeholders often lack a common understanding
of the gaps and inefficiencies. B enchmarking and
maturity assessments are an easy step that can help
organizations position projects for success.