TRG Screen Releases ROI Calculator for Market Data Management

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TRG Screen announced the results of an independent ROI

  • An independent study by Hobson & Company found firms using purpose-built market data management technology achieved triple-digit ROI.
  • One example cited delivered 224% ROI over three years, with a 5.3-month payback period.
  • Across organizations studied, market data spend fell by an average of 10% and reference data spend by 25%.
  • Efficiency gains included up to 50% less internal administrative effort and as much as 90% reduction in exchange compliance workloads.

Independent ROI Results Summary
– Study sponsor/context: TRG Screen announcement of an independent ROI study on proactive market data management.
– Research firm: Hobson & Company (independent firm specialising in ROI analysis).
– Basis described in the announcement: interviews + real-world client data.
– Headline outcomes reported: triple-digit ROI; one cited example at 224% ROI over three years with a 5.3-month payback; average spend reductions of 10% (market data) and 25% (reference data); workload reductions up to 50% (internal administration) and up to 90% (exchange compliance) in some cases.

Introduction to TRG Screen’s ROI Calculator

TRG Screen, a provider of market data and subscription cost management technology, has launched an interactive ROI calculator aimed at a familiar problem inside financial institutions: market data is a major, fast-growing expense category, yet it is often governed with limited visibility and heavily manual processes.

The calculator is positioned as a self-service way for firms to quantify what “proactive market data management” could mean in their own environment—translating operational realities into estimated savings, efficiency improvements, and risk reduction. The tool builds on an independent ROI study conducted by Hobson & Company, a firm specializing in ROI analysis, using interviews and real-world client data.

In other words, the calculator is positioned as a way to reuse that study’s ROI logic in a self-service format, rather than relying solely on generic benchmarks.

The release is also a signal about how market data management is being reframed. Instead of being treated as a back-office procurement function—focused on renewals and invoices—it is increasingly presented as an operational discipline that connects spend, usage, and compliance obligations. TRG Screen’s pitch is that when firms gain end-to-end visibility and control, the benefits show up quickly: reduced spend, reclaimed time, and lower risk.

In that context, an ROI calculator is not just a marketing asset; it is meant to give budget owners and market data teams a common language for investment decisions—especially when the costs are distributed across desks, regions, and vendor contracts.

ROI Calculator Overview and Outputs
What the ROI calculator is (in plain terms)
– What it is: an interactive, self-service model for estimating savings, efficiency gains, and compliance workload reduction tied to proactive market data management.
– Who it’s for: market data leaders, procurement/finance partners, and risk/compliance stakeholders who need a shared view of value.
– What it outputs: estimated ranges/impacts across (1) spend reduction (market + reference data), (2) internal admin time reclaimed, and (3) compliance workload reduction—based on inputs that reflect your environment.
– What it’s based on: the same study methodology referenced in the Hobson & Company ROI research cited in the announcement.

Key Findings from the ROI Study

The independent research by Hobson & Company underpins TRG Screen’s calculator and frames the business case for purpose-built market data management technology. The study focused on the impact of moving from reactive, manual oversight to more proactive management supported by dedicated tooling.

The headline results combine financial outcomes (spend reductions and ROI) with operational outcomes (time reclaimed and compliance workload reductions). That pairing matters because market data programs often struggle to justify investment purely on “hard savings” when the biggest pain points may be fragmented workflows, unclear entitlements, and the ongoing burden of exchange compliance.

TRG Screen’s Chief Customer Strategy Officer, Nadine Scott, argued that the findings align with what the company sees across its client base: market data is one of the largest and fastest-growing expense categories.

“Market data is one of the largest and fastest growing expense categories for financial institutions, yet it is often managed with limited visibility and manual processes.”
Nadine Scott, Chief Customer Strategy Officer, TRG Screen

The study’s results are also used to support a broader claim: that the combination of spend and usage data—paired with compliance oversight—can materially change outcomes, not just marginally improve reporting.

Outcome area Metric reported in the announcement What it’s describing (at a glance)
ROI Triple-digit ROI (example: 224% over 3 years) Returns relative to the cost of technology + associated change effort
Payback 5.3 months (example) How quickly benefits offset costs in the cited case
Market data spend 10% average reduction Lower spend through rationalization/controls tied to visibility
Reference data spend 25% average reduction Larger average reduction, often tied to duplication and sourcing/governance issues
Internal administration Up to 50% reduction Less time spent on inventory, renewals, reconciliations, reporting
Exchange compliance workload Up to 90% reduction Less manual effort to evidence entitlements/usage and respond to audits

Triple-Digit ROI Achievements

The most attention-grabbing finding is the “triple-digit ROI” outcome for firms adopting purpose-built market data management technology. In one example highlighted in the research, an organization achieved 224% ROI over three years, with a payback period of 5.3 months.

Those figures are notable because they imply two things at once: first, that the savings and efficiency gains can be large relative to the cost of the technology and associated change; and second, that the benefits can arrive quickly enough to matter within typical budgeting cycles. A payback period measured in months, not years, is often the difference between a project being treated as discretionary versus essential.

The study frames these returns as the product of proactive management—meaning the organization is not simply tracking spend, but actively using visibility into subscriptions, usage, and obligations to reduce waste and avoid avoidable costs. In practice, that can include identifying underutilized services, eliminating duplication, and tightening controls around who is entitled to what.

While the study’s detailed methodology is not laid out in the announcement, TRG Screen emphasizes that the calculator uses the same methodology as the Hobson & Company analysis, aiming to make the ROI logic portable to other firms.

Cost Reduction Statistics

Beyond ROI, the study reports average reductions in two spend categories that are often managed separately inside institutions:

  • Market data spend was reduced by an average of 10% across the organizations studied.
  • Reference data spend was reduced by an average of 25%.

The split is important. “Market data” is typically associated with real-time and delayed feeds, terminals, and distribution rights, while “reference data” can include identifiers and datasets used across systems. The larger average reduction in reference data spend suggests there may be more structural inefficiency—or at least more opportunity to rationalize—depending on how reference data is sourced, duplicated, and governed.

The research also links cost reduction to visibility and control. If spend is managed with limited insight into actual usage, firms can end up paying for services that are dormant, duplicated, or misaligned with current needs. The study’s results imply that when organizations connect spend to usage and enforce tighter governance, measurable reductions follow.

Efficiency Gains from Market Data Management

The ROI study does not frame market data management as a savings-only exercise. It also highlights efficiency gains—specifically, reductions in internal administrative effort and in exchange compliance workloads. These operational improvements matter because market data teams often spend significant time on tasks that are necessary but not strategic: reconciling inventories, handling renewals, responding to audits, and producing reports for internal stakeholders.

In the study, proactive market data management supported by purpose-built technology is associated with reclaiming time and shifting effort toward higher-value work. That could include more informed vendor negotiations, better internal service delivery, and improved planning—though the announcement is careful to focus on measurable workload reductions rather than broader organizational outcomes.

The efficiency findings also reinforce a central theme: manual processes and limited visibility are not just inconvenient; they can be costly. When workflows are fragmented, the organization pays twice—once in direct spend that is harder to optimize, and again in staff time consumed by administration and compliance.

From Inventory to Savings
Where the time savings typically come from (and what to sanity-check)
1) Inventory & normalization
– Workflow: consolidate subscriptions, products, users/desks, and distribution paths into a single inventory.
– Checkpoint: if inventories don’t reconcile to invoices/contracts, downstream savings estimates will be noisy.
2) Usage-to-entitlement alignment
– Workflow: compare who has access vs who uses vs what licensing allows.
– Checkpoint: confirm how “usage” is defined in your environment (e.g., terminal logins vs application distribution) before acting.
3) Renewals & rationalization
– Workflow: use inventory + usage to remove duplication, downgrade where appropriate, and retire dormant services before renewal.
– Checkpoint: validate business-critical exceptions (trading/risk/research) so rationalization doesn’t create operational disruption.
4) Compliance readiness (ongoing vs scramble)
– Workflow: capture entitlement changes and evidence as part of normal operations so audit response is repeatable.
– Checkpoint: ensure ownership is clear (market data vs IT vs compliance) for producing audit artifacts.

Reduction in Administrative Efforts

One of the clearest operational findings is that internal administrative effort was reduced by up to 50% in some cases.

Administrative effort in market data management typically includes maintaining inventories of services and subscriptions, coordinating changes across desks, managing renewals, and reconciling what is contracted versus what is deployed. When these tasks are handled through spreadsheets, email chains, and disconnected systems, they scale poorly—especially as firms add vendors, products, and distribution channels.

A reduction of up to half suggests that technology-enabled workflows can replace a meaningful portion of repetitive work. The implication is not necessarily that teams become smaller, but that they can redirect time away from “keeping the lights on” activities. In environments where market data costs are large and complex, that reclaimed capacity can be strategically valuable—particularly if it enables more proactive governance rather than reactive clean-up.

The study’s framing also hints at a compounding effect: as administrative burden falls, teams may be better positioned to maintain accurate inventories and controls, which in turn supports better spend optimization and compliance readiness.

Compliance Workload Improvements

The study reports that exchange compliance workloads dropped by as much as 90% in some cases.

Exchange compliance is a persistent pressure point because licensing terms can be complex, and the consequences of non-compliance can be serious. Compliance work can include tracking entitlements, documenting usage, responding to exchange inquiries, and preparing for audits. When usage visibility is limited, compliance becomes labor-intensive: teams must reconstruct who had access to what, when, and under which terms.

A reduction of up to 90% suggests that improved visibility and more structured controls can dramatically reduce the manual effort required to demonstrate compliance. It also implies a shift from “audit scramble” to ongoing readiness—where the information needed for compliance is captured as part of normal operations.

TRG Screen’s broader message is that lower compliance workload is not only about efficiency; it is also about lowering risk. If firms can more reliably align usage with licensing terms, they reduce exposure to violations that can arise from unmanaged access, unclear distribution, or outdated entitlements.

The Importance of Visibility in Market Data Management

Visibility is the connective tissue across the study’s findings: cost reductions, administrative efficiency, and compliance workload improvements are all presented as downstream effects of gaining end-to-end insight and control.

TRG Screen’s Nadine Scott explicitly ties the problem to limited visibility and manual processes. In many institutions, market data is purchased centrally but consumed across multiple desks and systems. That structure can make it difficult to answer basic questions with confidence: What are we paying for? Who is using it? Are we compliant with licensing terms? What can be retired without disrupting the business?

The ROI study’s results imply that when firms can combine spend and usage data—and use that combined view to manage subscriptions proactively—they can reduce waste and improve governance. This is not just about having dashboards; it is about operationalizing the information so that renewals, entitlement changes, and compliance reporting become more controlled and less reactive.

The visibility argument also helps explain why an ROI calculator is being emphasized. If the core challenge is that costs and usage are opaque, then the business case for investing in visibility tools can be hard to articulate internally. A calculator that translates visibility into estimated savings and time reclaimed is designed to bridge that gap—especially for stakeholders who do not live inside the market data function but control budgets.

In short, the study positions visibility as the prerequisite for control—and control as the prerequisite for measurable ROI.

From Visibility to Control
A practical “visibility → action” chain
– Spend visibility (what you pay, by vendor/product/cost center)
→ Identify duplication, misallocations, and renewal exposure.
– Usage visibility (who uses what, how often, via which channels)
→ Right-size subscriptions and retire dormant services.
– Entitlement visibility (who is entitled to access, and why)
→ Tighten joiner/mover/leaver controls and reduce over-entitlement.
– Obligation visibility (license terms, distribution rules, audit requirements)
→ Reduce compliance workload and avoid avoidable violations.
When these four views are connected, “visibility” becomes operational control—not just reporting.

Functionality of the ROI Calculator

TRG Screen’s interactive ROI calculator is presented as a self-service tool that allows firms to model potential outcomes based on their own market data environment. The company says it is built on the Hobson & Company study methodology, aiming to ground estimates in the research rather than generic benchmarks.

At a high level, the calculator is designed to quantify three categories of benefit highlighted in the study:

  • Savings potential (reductions in market data and reference data spend)
  • Efficiency gains (less administrative effort)
  • Risk reduction (lower compliance burden and, by implication, fewer licensing-related exposures)

The tool’s value proposition is not that it replaces a detailed internal business case, but that it accelerates early-stage evaluation. For teams trying to secure funding—or for executives trying to prioritize competing initiatives—an interactive model can make the conversation more concrete.

The calculator also reflects a broader trend in enterprise technology buying: vendors increasingly provide self-serve ROI tooling to help prospects translate operational pain into financial terms, especially when the costs are distributed and the benefits span multiple teams.

ROI Model Inputs and Outputs
What you typically need to run an ROI model like this (and what you’ll get back)
– Inputs to gather
– Current annual market data spend (and, if possible, by vendor/product/desk/region)
– Current annual reference data spend (if managed separately)
– Basic inventory signals (number of subscriptions/terminals/feeds, renewal cadence)
– Current admin workload signals (time spent on inventory, renewals, reconciliations, reporting)
– Current compliance workload signals (audit prep/response effort, entitlement tracking effort)
– Assumptions to make explicit internally
– What counts as “market data” vs “reference data” in your accounting
– How you define and measure “usage” (so right-sizing decisions are comparable)
– Whether savings are modeled as gross reductions, net of implementation/operating effort
– Outputs you should expect
– Estimated spend reduction ranges (market data and reference data)
– Estimated time reclaimed (admin and compliance workload)
– A payback/ROI view that can be used for early-stage prioritization

Customization Features

A central feature of the calculator is customization: firms can input details about their own market data environment to receive tailored estimates rather than one-size-fits-all projections.

TRG Screen describes the tool as enabling organizations to quantify their own savings potential by modeling spend, usage, and compliance-related factors. While the announcement does not list every input field, the intent is clear: the calculator adapts the ROI methodology from the independent study to the user’s context. What it does make explicit is the focus on modeling outcomes tied to spend, usage visibility, and compliance-related workload.

This matters because market data environments vary widely. Two firms with similar total spend can have very different drivers of inefficiency—such as duplication across desks, uneven governance across regions, or differing compliance burdens depending on exchanges and distribution models. Customization is what makes an ROI estimate credible enough to be used in internal discussions.

By anchoring the calculator to the Hobson & Company methodology, TRG Screen is also attempting to address skepticism that often surrounds vendor-provided ROI claims. The message is that the model is not purely promotional; it is derived from an independent analysis.

Actionable Insights Provided

TRG Screen positions the calculator as more than a number generator. The goal is to provide a breakdown of where savings and efficiency gains could come from—turning the study’s findings into actionable insights for decision-makers.

In practice, “actionable” in this context means helping firms identify areas where proactive management could reduce costs and workload. The study highlights reductions in administrative effort and compliance workloads, and the calculator is intended to reflect those categories in a way that supports planning and prioritization.

The tool also implicitly supports a governance conversation: if the calculator shows meaningful potential savings or time reclaimed, the next question becomes what operational changes are required to capture that value—such as improving visibility into usage, tightening entitlement controls, or standardizing processes that are currently manual.

For market data leaders, that kind of output can be useful in aligning stakeholders. Procurement may focus on spend reduction, operations may focus on workload, and risk teams may focus on compliance. A single model that speaks to all three can help build a shared rationale for investment.

Implications for Financial Institutions

For financial institutions, the announcement lands in a familiar tension: market data is essential to trading, risk, and research functions, but it is also a large and growing cost category that can be difficult to govern. The Hobson & Company findings—triple-digit ROI, double-digit spend reductions, and major workload improvements—are likely to resonate with firms that feel they are managing market data through a patchwork of manual processes.

The immediate implication is that market data management is being framed as a measurable transformation opportunity, not just a cost-control exercise. If firms can reduce market data spend by an average of 10% and reference data spend by 25%, that is a direct budget impact. If they can also cut administrative effort by up to 50% and compliance workloads by up to 90%, that is an operating model impact.

The ROI calculator is designed to make those implications tangible at the firm level. Rather than relying on generalized claims, institutions can model potential outcomes and use that as an input into investment decisions—whether that means adopting purpose-built technology, rethinking internal processes, or both.

There is also a governance implication. The study’s emphasis on visibility and control suggests that institutions that treat market data as a distributed, lightly governed utility may be leaving value on the table—and carrying avoidable risk. Conversely, institutions that invest in end-to-end visibility may be better positioned to negotiate with vendors, rationalize subscriptions, and respond to compliance demands with less disruption.

Ultimately, the announcement reinforces a shift: market data management is increasingly judged by outcomes—savings, efficiency, and risk reduction—rather than by the mere ability to track invoices.

Key ROI Tradeoffs to Consider
What to weigh alongside the ROI headline
– Change effort vs speed-to-value: payback can be fast in the cited example, but outcomes depend on how quickly inventory, usage signals, and renewal workflows can be operationalized.
– Data quality dependency: savings and compliance improvements rely on accurate inventories and consistent definitions (what counts as usage, who owns entitlement records, how costs are allocated).
– Governance lift: tighter controls can reduce waste and audit effort, but they may require clearer ownership across procurement, IT, market data, and compliance.
– Business disruption risk: rationalizing subscriptions can create desk-level friction if exceptions and critical use cases aren’t validated before changes.
– Measurement discipline: to sustain gains, teams typically need repeatable checkpoints (renewal calendar, entitlement change controls, audit-ready evidence) rather than one-time cleanups.

The Future of Market Data Management

Embracing Technological Advancements

The ROI study and TRG Screen’s calculator both point to a future where market data management is less manual and more technology-driven. The research links purpose-built market data management technology to measurable outcomes: reduced spend, reclaimed time, and lower compliance workload.

That direction is consistent with the core problem described by TRG Screen: market data is often managed with limited visibility. As environments grow more complex—more vendors, more products, more distribution paths—manual approaches tend to break down. The study’s efficiency findings (up to 50% less administrative effort and up to 90% less compliance workload) suggest that automation and structured workflows are not incremental improvements; they can be step changes.

The ROI calculator is a practical artifact of that shift. It is meant to help firms quantify what technology adoption could unlock, using a methodology grounded in independent research rather than purely internal benchmarks.

Strategic Decision-Making for Financial Institutions

The strategic question for institutions is not whether market data costs matter—they do—but how to make decisions that balance cost, operational resilience, and compliance risk.

The Hobson & Company findings provide a framework for that decision-making. If proactive management supported by purpose-built technology can deliver triple-digit ROI, with a payback period measured in months in at least one cited example, then market data management becomes a candidate for near-term investment rather than a long-term “nice to have.”

TRG Screen’s calculator aims to bring that framework into budgeting and planning cycles by letting firms model their own potential outcomes. For executives, it offers a way to compare market data management initiatives against other transformation projects. For market data leaders, it offers a structured way to communicate value in terms that finance and risk stakeholders recognize.

In a category defined by complexity and ongoing growth, the future of market data management—at least as framed by this announcement—looks increasingly like a discipline of measurable control: visibility first, then optimization, then sustained governance.

This lens aligns with how regulated, multi-stakeholder cost and compliance programs tend to succeed in practice: tying spend to usage signals, then operationalizing controls so savings and risk reduction are repeatable—an approach familiar from Martin Weidemann’s work building and scaling technology-driven businesses in fintech, payments, and other regulated environments.

This article reflects figures and claims as presented in a public announcement citing an independent ROI study by Hobson & Company, based on publicly available information at the time of writing. Actual ROI, payback, and percentage reductions may differ significantly depending on firm size, vendor mix, licensing model, and the completeness and accuracy of inventory and usage data. Product capabilities, methodologies, and licensing practices may change over time, and updates may be needed as new information becomes available.

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