Disrupting the Core Deconversion Market: Restoring Control, Transparency and Quality to Financial Institutions

Guest Editorial by Matt Isger, Founder and CEO, Core Data Unlocked

In most industries, competition drives better service, better pricing, and better outcomes. But for core deconversion data, competition has historically been absent.

For years, financial institutions seeking deconversion data for core system conversions, mergers and acquisitions, data migrations or regulatory/audit needs have been forced to request this critical service from their existing core software provider. Often, this occurs after a decision has already been made to leave that vendor.

This dynamic creates a fundamental conflict of interest. The departing core provider is no longer incentivized to delight the client. In many cases, they are financially motivated to maximize revenue on their way out, and operationally motivated to prioritize active clients over those who are exiting.

The result is a process that frequently feels opaque, expensive, slow, and inconsistent.

Real-World Challenges Emerging in Today’s Market

In recent months, winning core software providers and implementation teams have raised growing concerns about the quality and reliability of legacy deconversion data. These issues are no longer theoretical; they are actively disrupting projects and creating unnecessary risk for financial institutions.

Common problems include:

1. Delayed Data Cuts

Legacy providers have been slow to deliver data extracts, sometimes missing agreed-upon timelines. These delays cascade into:

• Compressed testing schedules

• Implementation timeline risk

• Increased project stress for internal teams

• Added pressure on conversion partners to match the needed date

2. Inconsistent Data Between Cuts

Multiple test files are critical to a successful conversion. Yet teams are increasingly reporting that data between successive files does not reconcile. This forces winning core programming teams to spend countless hours trying to reverse-engineer what changed, instead of focusing on successful mapping, validation, and implementation.

3. Limited Availability and Rigid Work Schedules

Some providers refuse to support weekend work for data delivery or remediation. For financial institutions, this can mean:

• Lost productivity

• Longer project timelines

• Reduced flexibility during critical milestones

4. No Data Cleansing Capabilities

Perhaps most critically, many legacy providers are unable or unwilling to cleanse data before delivery. That means:

• Dirty data flows directly into the new core

• Issues surface later during testing or post-conversion

• Financial institutions bear the operational burden

At the moment when data accuracy matters most, institutions are too often handed raw, inconsistent, and unrefined extracts with little recourse.

Why Disruption Matters: Lessons from Other Industries

Markets evolve when someone challenges the assumption that “this is just how it’s always been done.”

History offers powerful parallels:

• Netflix disrupted the DVD rental market by eliminating late fees, expanding access, and putting consumers in control.

• Uber transformed the taxi industry by introducing transparency, flexibility, and customer-centric design.

• Amazon redefined retail by prioritizing convenience, choice, and relentless focus on the customer experience.

Each of these disruptors succeeded because they:

• Identified a broken experience

• Challenged entrenched power structures

• Introduced transparency and choice

• Built trust by aligning with the end user

Core Data Unlocked (CDU) is bringing that same disruption to the core deconversion market. Financial institutions can choose a partner whose only mission is to protect the quality, accuracy, and usability of their data.

The Benefits of Choice

When financial institutions have options, the entire market improves.

As a credit union, choosing an expert independent provider for deconversion services enables:

• Greater accountability across all providers

• Improved data quality delivered to winning cores

• Faster, more predictable project timelines

• Reduced conversion risk

• Better long-term outcomes for institutions and their members/customers

Choice does not weaken the ecosystem. It strengthens it.

 Taking Back Control of Institutional Data

Data is one of a financial institution’s most valuable assets. Yet for too long, institutions have been forced to rely on vendors with misaligned incentives to access and extract that data during critical transitions. My company seeks to change all that.

By delivering independent, high-quality, client-aligned deconversion services, we're empowering financial institutions to:

• Own their data

• Trust their extracts

• Protect their projects

• And move forward with confidence

Disruption is not about tearing down the industry. It is about making it better. And when it comes to deconversion data, the industry is overdue for better. 

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Matt Isger is the founder and CEO of Core Data Unlocked, a mission-driven company that helps banks and credit unions extract clean, complete core processing data ready for core conversions and mergers. After more than 30 years in the core software industry, Matt saw up close how messy or expensive data can slow down big technology projects, so he built Core Data Unlocked to change that. Matt believes great data shouldn’t be a luxury, it should be the foundation for better decisions, smoother transitions, and a lot less stress for the people doing the work.