The Coronavirus pandemic is driving a huge increase in the number of companies filing for bankruptcy. Corporate bankruptcies in the USA are up 76% through June 2020. We are on track to match (and surpass) the Great Recession in terms of bankruptcies and assets lost.

There are several reasons this phenomenon could be important to you:

• What if your largest client(s) file bankruptcy?
• Are any of your key vendors headed toward bankruptcy?
• Which companies in your investment portfolio may be affected?
  

Let’s dive a little deeper into the bankruptcy numbers to see where your risk (and potential reward) may lie.

It’s just not the number of corporate bankruptcies that is alarming, but the value of assets involved.  Based on DIH’s new bankruptcy data set, we’ve seen $173 billion worth of assets going into bankruptcy through June. That surpasses the total for all of 2019, which included the whopper $71 billion bankruptcy of the California utility company, PG&E. Besides the staggering amount in assets, we’ve seen a severe increase in the number of large companies filing. So far, 29 companies with over $1 billion in assets have filed versus only 19 in all of 2019.

Several industries have been hit especially hard, including Energy (30% of total assets) followed by Telecom, Airlines and Retail. Several filings were by well-known brands like Hertz, J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus and Chuck-E-Cheese.

Unfortunately, there is nothing in the data to make one think the current trend won’t continue. Ben Schlafman at New Generation Research, Inc. notes:

“Many companies have raised vast new sums of debt to fund their upcoming cash flow shortfalls. June’s high-yield issuances of over $50 billion is a monthly record, and the year-to-date total of $205 billion is 70% above this time a year ago. But lower revenues and earnings have reduced these companies’ ability to service their existing debt, much less the new debt. And, the proceeds aren’t generally being used to fund profit-generating initiatives but rather merely to keep the lights on. This heightened default risk isn’t necessarily priced into high-yield bonds. Investor optimism over the economy’s re-opening, along with explicit verbal support (albeit little actual high-yield bond-buying) by the Federal Reserve, has driven aggressive buying, which has narrowed the spreads over investment grade bonds.”

So, has this COVID bankruptcy crisis affected your business, clients, vendors or your investment portfolio? If so, you are certainly not alone. Plenty of firms have already requested bankruptcy data from DIH.

If you’d like more details on corporate bankruptcies and how to navigate an uncertain business future, please contact us.

Also, you can connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Stay Healthy. Stay Safe.

Regards,
Tom Myers

As with past crises, COVID-19 is likely causing you to consider how you can reduce your data costs. Now is a great time to act on ways you can reduce costs while not disrupting your operations.

Several factors contribute to data costs:

•    Managing relationships with multiple data providers
•    Handling numerous data subscriptions
•    Fees for data
•    Data compliance
•    Data engineering and IT

Below, I discuss these challenges and offer a few thoughts on what you can do to alleviate costs.

In addition, James Marshall, Product Manager for Clear Capital, weighs in with some of his own valuable insights and strategies. Clear Capital is a leader in real estate property valuation management and data solutions.

1. Understand Data Contracts, Services, and User Consumption

It is critical to know when your existing data contracts are due to renew, and when you can cancel your subscription without a penalty.

Keep track of which data services are being used by whom within your organization. If there is a data service that is redundant or underutilized, cancel it!

Reconcile all data invoices and allocate costs accordingly.

Finally, provide detailed reports to decision makers and end-users for data expense allocations and budgeting.

2. Validate Data Needs and Usage

Regularly review data spending with end-users. This makes it easier to identify data services that are redundant or could be downgraded.

For GUI data services with per-seat charges, encourage end-users to share terminals.

Clear Capital’s James Marshall offers this sound advice for data managers balancing the needs of end-users with a company mandate to cut costs:

”When initially procuring a data set, it’s easy to say, ‘We need all of the data you offer,’ because you never know how you’re going to utilize it. After a couple years of usage, it becomes more apparent what data is necessary based on your usage patterns. Upon renewal of a contract, it’s worthwhile to discuss if there are options to pare down the data delivery to only the essentials to take advantage of lower pricing.”

3. Optimize Your Data Sourcing Process

A standardized process for sourcing new data can help reduce your overall data spend.

First, create a schedule of when data services renew to give yourself time to consider less-expensive alternatives.

Use templates so end-users can fully document requirements, and potential data providers can answer critical questions about the sources of raw data, how much history they will provide, frequency of updates, file formats, delivery methods, etc.

For data samples, have pre-defined parameters, so you can get the same sample from each potential provider for easier apples-to-apples comparisons. Designate who will review the data samples and what criteria they will use. Such criteria must align with requirements and the use case.

Set a deadline for completing the review. Too many data projects get delayed because the individuals involved don’t have the time/urgency to complete due diligence tasks. In some cases, a longer data trial or proof of concept (POC) may be required to effectively evaluate a data set.

When possible, don’t be afraid to include upstart providers in the process that are likely more flexible on pricing and contract terms.

James at Clear Capital adds a good point about “data sustainability”:

”Data consumers often forget to ask how the data provider is set up to ensure consistent delivery for several years into the future. This necessitates learning a prospective vendor’s data gathering techniques, their sources, and the compliance of their contracts behind the information being sold (e.g., screen scraping versus direct license agreements with data sources).”

James also advocates not basing your decision solely on price:

”You should dive deep into the standardization and quality practices of a prospective data vendor to potentially save hundreds of thousands of dollars in operating expenses in the future. It’s the old adage that you’ll eventually pay for an expert — either now, or in the future.”

Finally, ask data providers to be flexible. If you only need seven fields in the file, ask for just those fields (don’t pay for the entire file). If the end-user will be analyzing the data using Excel, ask the data provider to send the file in Excel format.

4. Ensure the Most Favorable Commercial Terms When Choosing a Data Provider

Take the time to conduct regular vendor meetings so you know what data is available and what is in the pipeline. This enables you to have a substitute source cued up for each data provider. If you want/need to switch, it will be less painful.

Data fees are important (of course), but don’t forget the fine print (e.g., payment terms, renewal terms, duration of subscription, data sharing restrictions, etc.). Avoid “purge clauses” that demand you delete all of the data you’ve already paid for if you ever decide not to renew the contract.

5. Understand Your Data On-Boarding Process

Implementing a new data service, or switching providers for an existing service, is often a pain point (I’ll have more about data on-boarding in a future post).

First, determine who exactly will be managing the on-boarding project. Then nail down the following:

•    What is his/her availability?
•    How soon can they start the process?
•    How many hours will the on-boarding project realistically require?

If you lack internal resources, don’t be afraid to ask the data provider for assistance. They may already have loaders you can use. Perhaps a different file format or delivery method would expedite the on-boarding.

When it comes to getting your data engineers involved as soon as possible, Clear Capital’s James Marshall offers this insight:

”When a new customer signs up with Clear Capital, we ask for a meeting that includes the data engineers who will be interacting with the data. This allows them to have a direct explanation of the best practices for working with the specific dataset in question. The benefit is a much smoother process when working with the data, and limits the number of dead-ends a data engineer can run into based on the nuance of the product/service.”

James also offers some practical advice on the importance of being mindful of data storage costs:

”At Clear Capital, we are self-aware data hoarders. We are getting better at maximizing our storage options based on the needs of the products. We’ve found that it’s worth the investment to spend time architecting data access that utilizes a balance of fast and slow storage determined by product usage patterns. For example, if one percent of our end-users are requesting 90 percent of the information available, it makes sense to use an on-demand storage solution that keeps 90 percent of the data on a cheaper platform, such as S3, while keeping the most popular 10 percent at our end-users’ fingertips.”


These are just a few of things you can do to reduce your data costs, now and with an eye toward the future.

I’ll be expanding these ideas in an upcoming white paper. Sign up here to receive the white paper.


Also, you can connect with us on:

LinkedIn
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Stay Healthy. Stay Safe.

Regards,
Tom Myers

I hope you, your colleagues and your families are healthy and staying safe. I’m happy to report that everyone at Data In Harmony (DIH) is OK so far, and our operations for the most part have been unaffected.

I’m reaching out because I’ve been talking to DIH clients, and after sharing quarantine stories and worries, the conversation inevitably turns to work and the big question: “What’s next?”

Most believe their firms will survive, but think cost reduction will be the mantra for months to come. Much like after 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis, you will be asked to manage even more data with smaller budgets and fewer staff.

Those conversations got me thinking: How can DIH help you right now, and what can we do to help as things return to a (new) normal?

Some folks have already asked me about:

1. How to reduce their data costs without sacrificing data quality.

2. How to speed up their evaluation process for new data sets (without cutting corners).

3. Relatedly: How to speed up and/or improve their data on-boarding process.

I’d like to hear from you, too.

What would you like DIH to focus on in future blog posts?

Please click here to send me your feedback.

Also, you can connect with us on:

LinkedIn
Twitter


Stay Healthy. Stay Safe.

Regards,
Tom Myers