In my last piece, I talked about the industry’s shift from siloed operating models toward what I call total portfolio truth – a unified view of data that investment teams can trust and act on. If you missed it, you can read that HERE.
This next part of the conversation turns to an area that quietly determines the efficiency, accuracy, and credibility of nearly every downstream investment process: benchmark data. Everyone uses benchmarks, but very few manage them well.
Across asset managers, asset owners, and insurers, the pattern is nearly identical: benchmark processes have become too manual, too fragmented, and too dependent on tacit institutional knowledge. As the volume and complexity of benchmark data grows, these old operating models simply can’t keep up.
And this is the core problem: Benchmarking isn’t failing. The benchmark operating model is.
Benchmark Data: The Hidden Friction Point
When I speak with COOs, Heads of Data, or Performance leaders, they all describe the same bottlenecks:
- Performance and risk teams reconciling because benchmark sources don’t align
- Manual intervention masking underlying data quality issues
- Licensing and vendor complexity driving unexpected costs
- Product and portfolio teams waiting for benchmark changes to be processed
- Audit pressure increasing as regulators look harder at lineage, permissions, and governance
When benchmark management works like this, it becomes a tax on the entire organization – slowing down processes, adding operational drag, and creating unnecessary risk. This isn’t a resources issue. It’s a structural one.
Why the Industry Can’t Ignore This Anymore
There are three forces pushing investment firms to rethink how they handle benchmark data:
Governance standards are rising fast
- Regulators want to see lineage, traceability, and clear oversight. A network of spreadsheets and email approvals won’t stand up to modern scrutiny.
Data costs are increasing while budgets aren’t
- The more fragmented the environment, the easier it is for duplication and inefficiencies to creep in. Without an integrated strategy, firms overpay without even realizing it.
Growth requires scale – not more manual work
- As firms expand into alternatives, custom strategies, ESG overlays, and new geographies, benchmark processes need to scale without adding complexity or headcount.
What a Modern Benchmark Model Really Looks Like
The firms making the biggest improvements aren’t asking for more tools. They want a simpler, cleaner, more controlled benchmark ecosystem.
In practice, that looks like:
- A single golden copy for benchmark and security data
- Automated validation and quality checks that remove unnecessary manual work
- A controlled governance framework that stands up to vendor and regulatory scrutiny
- Cloud-native distribution so data flows consistently to performance, risk, reporting, and investment teams
- Human expertise embedded in the process, because edge cases happen and experience matters
This combination is the only way to reach true enterprise consistency without sacrificing flexibility.
Where Rimes Fits
At Rimes, our focus has always been simple: help firms build benchmark environments that reduce friction, improve trust, and scale with the business.
Our Enterprise Benchmark Solution (EBS) is built exactly for this purpose. It takes the strength of our established Benchmark Data Service and deepens it with:
- Enterprise-grade automation
- Stronger governance and controls
- Cloud-native integration through the Rimes Data Lakehouse
- A service layer that ensures anomalies aren’t just spotted – they’re resolved
And because speed matters, clients can access thousands of ready to use datasets across benchmarks, private markets, ESG, and more through the Rimes data marketplace. It’s about accelerating value, not adding more work.
he Impact When Firms Get This Right
When firms move to an integrated benchmark strategy, the change is meaningful:
- More accurate, consistent data across the entire investment chain
- Fewer reconciliations and manual steps, freeing teams to focus on analysis
- Lower operational and licensing costs through consolidation
- Faster audit responses backed by clear lineage and governance
- A scalable model that supports new products and strategies without breaking processes
In short, benchmark management stops being a friction point and becomes an enabler.
A Final Thought
The industry has moved towards cloud-native data management, stronger governance, and more automation across the entire investment lifecycle. Firms that modernize their benchmark strategy now will be far better positioned to adapt to whatever comes next.
Those that don’t face growing limitations – commercially, operationally, and strategically. Benchmark data shouldn’t be a burden. With the right model, it becomes a strategic advantage.
If you’re ready to reframe benchmark data as a driver of confidence and control, let’s continue the conversation. Contact us today.
