Association Data Monetization | HKA Data Processing Corporation

In the past thirty-five years,

HKA Data has built and sold two companies whose major partners were associations. The focus of these companies was the collection, aggregation and monetization of the quantifiable data present in the activities and deliverables of the members of the association. Working with the association, HKA identifies data centric opportunities and factors that make the partnership a win – win situation typically self-funded by the monetization of the data collected. The association has the knowledge to assess the opportunity and perform the due diligence necessary to determine the value proposition. Development is done in a collaborative manner for complete transparency. Industry stewards need to publish information quickly and accurately. Associations that seize the opportunity to form industry specific databases establish themselves as the source for industry data, and as such are seen as the spokesperson for issues which increasingly have to be backed up by solid data and research. As time passes, the value and depth of the data form an asset that cannot be matched. Working with the association, HKA Data identifies designs and provides complete in-house back-office support for these operations. Much less expensive than a turn-key application due to less client stewardship and attendant end-user documentation; HKA’s hands on access permits full time support from the developers, immediate resolution of any operational issues and staff to maintain the data stream from disparate sources; including data entry from forms, data import from existing systems as well as the seamless integration from any third party applications.

Case Studies

Fundata

In the mid-eighties The Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC) oversaw the brokers and dealers of mutual fund investment products. In addition to helping form and govern the rules for their members, they also gathered the prices for each fund daily. The net asset value per share of a mutual fund (NAVPS) was called in to IFIC by telephone, written on a sheet of paper and physically delivered to the wire services where it was published daily. Often errors were made; prices were misquoted, or mis-typed. HKA designed and operated a system to accurately record the prices. Reports were printed for the wire services and the data were retained for statistical and archival purposes. As the number of mutual funds grew, it would be untenable to have every individual mutual fund to report their NAVPS to every newspaper. Fundata Canada Inc. was formed in 1984, owned 50/50 by IFIC and HKA Data and continues to be Canada’s source for all the mutual finds prices, dividends and other investment fund dealer and broker data. In 2019 Fundata sold for a valuation of 110M.
Source: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/04/05/1797630/0/en/Glacier-Reports-Sale-Of-Fundata-Interest-And-Acquisition-Of-Castanet-Media.html

Industrial Supplies

The Industrial Supply Association (ISA) represents the tool manufacturers and sellers in North America. The sellers rely on images and specifications to sell their goods. Large companies have sophisticated data systems to serve their resellers, but smaller manufacturers (90% of the ISA members) are challenged when it comes to getting images and accurate data compiled and distributed to their resellers. ISA and HKA set the data points of an industry wide database that relieves manufacturers of their need to publish and distribute their product data and images. HKA Data completed a 2000 product database and catalogue which led to standards in product details, weights and sizes in US and metric notation.

Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society

Some industries have complex remuneration and human resource issues. Unionized industries are one example, but there are many other non-unionized industries that struggle with human resource scheduling, tiered compensation formulae and even expense account reconciliation. Many emergency services and other first responder personnel have to be on-call in the event of disaster. Fair scheduling and remuneration are challenges that can become very complex due to specialized skills, individual availability and in some cases revenue sharing among work teams. Anaesthetists in a major Toronto hospital were paid as a department, and the department head struggled with scheduling his team in a balanced manner. Some would not work Saturdays, some would not attend abortions, and most did not want to work consecutive holidays. HKA consulted with this hospital and others in Canada to establish generic rules that could be applied programmatically. The system that resulted helped the department heads capture, balance and report on the many individual requirements of their teams. Of note, some unions have embraced this software as a requirement that ensures that a balanced workload is adopted by management, and is specified in their collective agreements.

Also see: Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society

Volume 36, Number 6 (1989), 722-727, DOI:10.1007/BF03005430

Familiar Applications – Member Data Monetization

In addition to being of value to the individual members, some industry associations control the digital rights of their members’ data and offer the data on a subscription basis. Copyright of the data is now widely understood and respected. Monetization of the data requires an understanding of the industry, the identification, control and standardization of the data generated by the industry, and the accurate collection and organization of these data. Cost is linked to data volatility, volume and distribution. Just as the mutual funds have individual price data that are published daily, the data itself is used by third parties to do their own analysis or resell in value-added publications. This model has not been lost on the sporting industry; virtually every sport’s statistics are gathered and distributed for a fee.