The whole market data universe, finally in order.
Explore is BCG Expand's consumer-led market data catalogue and AI assistant, built on one searchable, standardised view of 13,000+ products from 300+ vendors. Find what you already license, kill duplication, and walk into every negotiation knowing exactly what the competitor landscape looks like.
Market data spend keeps climbing, and the board keeps asking why.
Across the industry market data costs continue to grow relentlessly, and firms are consuming data from a wider range of vendors than ever before. Most firms still can't see what they own, use, or duplicate.
Inventory is fragmented across multiple systems and business units
Limited visibility into what data is owned, used, or duplicated
Time-consuming vendor searches slow discovery and onboarding
Users can't self-serve, so business workflows stall waiting on data
Visibility, control and discovery, in one catalogue.
Explore turns a sprawling vendor landscape into a single source of truth, then embeds it into the workflows where money is actually committed to data.
Visibility & governance
A standardised taxonomy and enriched metadata create one consistent view of usage and spend.
- Clear visibility into product usage and cost allocation across business units
- Consistent, structured spend reporting that reconciles to finance
- Easy identification and removal of duplicate or overlapping products
Cost optimisation
Embedded into procurement, Explore drives smarter demand and strips out waste.
- Guided selection so users request the right data from the outset
- Reduced duplication through visibility of existing subscriptions
- Lower cost via demand management and stronger vendor negotiations
Self-service discovery
A centralised, searchable catalogue that people actually want to use.
- Faster discovery of relevant, available datasets
- Filter to licensed products to avoid unnecessary purchases
- Broader visibility of alternatives for competitive sourcing and RFPs
Your AI market data assistant
Explore's assistant sits on top of the catalogue and your live inventory, so answers come back instantly, licence-aware, and ready to act on.
- Query the catalogue, Expand's benchmarks, and your inventory using natural language.
- Linked to your inventory, so it highlights already-licensed products and helps you avoid over-buying.
- Significantly reduces time spent searching for products, answering user queries, and prepping for negotiations.
One messy line item in. A governed record out.
Expand's proprietary taxonomy is what makes the catalogue defensible, and we do the work for you. As part of the service, Expand maps every line of your inventory to our catalogue, enriching and standardising it, then delivers that mapping back to you via API feed for easy integration into your inventory systems and other internal tools. The result: reporting that finally reconciles, and duplication you can actually see.
Accurate by default
Automated inventory maintenance keeps every line item current and correct, with no manual upkeep.
Consistent, comparable reporting
Standardised product types mean spend finally reconciles and trends reliably year on year.
Reliable spend forecasting
Consistent, granular data makes forward spend predictable instead of guesswork.
Decision-ready for the business
Detail that's clear enough for business heads, giving leadership real visibility into what they pay for.
Inventory mapping
Inventory enrichmentMapped by Expand, delivered via API. We carry out this mapping to our catalogue as part of the service and feed it straight back to you, ready to drop into your inventory systems and internal tools.
Expand's catalogue and taxonomy are fully integrated with TRG Optimize and Calero MDM, allowing for seamless integration.
After integrating Expand's taxonomy and Catalogue with our inventory system, we immediately saw the highest rate of cancellations through self-certification we've ever seen.
Market Data Manager, BarclaysCost savings across the data life cycle.
Explore creates leverage at every point where a firm commits money to market data.
Buy less, knowingly
Surface similar products you already license, and alternative vendors you haven't yet approached on price, before a new subscription is ever signed.
Cut what you don't use
Show end users the product descriptions and metadata behind each line: do you still need this? Self-certification becomes transparent and effective.
Negotiate from evidence
Walk into renewals armed with the competing products and pricing context that move a negotiation, to secure a lower price or right-size usage.
Three ways to ingest and consume Explore.
From a fully managed feed into your inventory to a self-serve interface for your teams, Explore fits the way your firm already works.
Inventory system integration
Direct integration that enriches your inventory line items with Expand's standardised metadata.
- Fully automated integration with inventory providers
- Line-item enrichment: vendor, product, taxonomy, descriptions, URLs
- Metadata flows into reporting, self-certification and order workflows
API feed & MCP Server
API and MCP access to Explore and inventory mapping, integrating into any internal system.
- Real-time access to vendors, products and metadata
- Flexible integration into internal platforms
- Full inventory mapping across catalogues and ordering systems
- Integrate catalogue data into your AI workflows, including Claude, Copilot, Gemini and ChatGPT
Web-based UI
A browser interface to search the full catalogue, linked to your latest inventory.
- Searchable catalogue of 12,000+ products
- Rich product descriptions, tags and links
- Licensing and availability visible at a glance
Everything your teams need in one view.
AI search
Combine catalogue insights with public information and ask questions in natural language.
Licensed tag
See instantly whether you hold an exact or parent licence before you ever buy.
Product filters
Narrow by vendor, asset class, product type and geography to reach the right product fast.
Rich metadata
Descriptions, asset classes, geographies, delivery and links, structured for every product.
Usage stats
See how widely a vendor or product is used across the industry to benchmark your position.
Vendor pages
Drill into vendors for revenue performance by year, market segment and region.
Product pages
Open any product for full detail and a list of similar products to widen your options.
Licensed-only view
Toggle to your licensed estate to spot duplicates and avoid unnecessary new spend.
Built by consumers, for consumers.
The catalogue commissioned by Tier 1 banks, steered by the firms that use it, and trusted across the industry.
Consumer-led, not vendor-led
Commissioned by Tier 1 banks and steered by a committee of the firms that use it, built around buyer priorities.
A proprietary taxonomy
Standardised product types and enriched metadata that reconcile to finance and make duplication obvious.
Benchmarking heritage
Backed by Expand's proprietary market data and the rigour behind its financial-services benchmarks.
System integration
Full integration with internal systems and inventory tools, bringing Explore central to your workflow.
See the power of Explore.
Book a demo to see the efficiencies, opportunities and negotiating leverage Explore surfaces for your firm.
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