Technology is the treasurer's new gold

The earliest known use of the term “treasury” was in the 14th century, to describe a place where stores of wealth are kept. Some 700 years later, the word still conjures up images of chests full of gold, or of a person counting out piles of coins. This traditional role of the treasury – i.e. as custodian of finances – is so deeply ingrained that it’s hard to imagine the extent to which the function is changing as we head into the third decade of the 21st century.

Yet we must imagine the change, because the forces of digitalization – coupled with the requirements of regulatory changes – are pushing and pulling companies’ treasury departments into ever more strategic roles. This is driving the function into a deep rethink of its identity, and the people, processes and technology behind it.

The treasury goes digital

The treasury’s core responsibilities – i.e. payments, cash management, account monitoring, budgeting, risk management and reporting – are not going to change. Whether the wealth of an enterprise lies in a chest of gold or in a billion electronic transactions a day, it’s the job of the treasury to handle the money.

What is changing though is the way digital technology can be used to enhance this traditional role. The next-generation treasury will pull together a digital toolkit from the best of artificial intelligence, automation, analytics, machine learning, cloud services and more to become a data-driven strategic competence centre for the company its part of.

The changes brought about by these technologies are already hitting parts of the business outside of the treasury. In a mid-2018 study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of Deutsche Bank, more than half of the senior treasurers surveyed said their company had already adapted its business model on the back of disruptive technologies.

Many of these same treasurers said their function was locked in a reactive mode, changing slowly out of necessity, rather than actively by design. As always, the treasurer’s primary instinct is to guard the company’s money, so any change needs to enhance this traditional role – not diminish it. That’s why there is one very clear place to start with a digital transformation of the treasury: the payments function.

Easier payments, better cash flow

In the treasurer’s world, cash will always be king. It’s the treasury’s job to collect the payment data that tells the company how much cash it has available and where, so that the cash can be collected and re-distributed as necessary.

This can be challenging though – particularly when a company has operations in multiple countries – as treasuries often need to contend with multiple banking systems, authentication tools, currencies and other constrains when gathering payment data and making payments. The future-proof answer? Installing a cloud-based payment platform in an intermediary role between the company and its banks.

The benefits are immediate and widespread. Cloud-based payment platforms not only give the treasury a real-time view on its cash position, they also free up internal IT resources and potentially reduce the costs associated with bank charges. In this way, the value is experienced not only by the treasury, but throughout the organization it serves. At the same time, the treasury takes a giant leap forward into the strategic future it is destined for.

Download our factsheet for more about how digitalization enhances the strategic position of the treasurer: https://bit.ly/2LrePM3

About TIS

TIS (Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH) – founded in Walldorf, Germany in 2010 – combines deep experience and competence in payments and cloud computing. The Financial Times named TIS as one of “Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies” for 2019.

Our TIS solution is a comprehensive, highly-scalable cloud platform for managing company-wide payments and liquidity globally. TIS enables smart payments that help our customers make better decisions by analyzing their financial and operative performance based on real-time payment flows.

The TIS solution has been successfully used for many years in both large and medium-sized companies, including Adecco Group, BMW Group, DACHSER, Fresenius, Marquard & Bahls, Swiss International Airlines and Volkswagen Group.

TIS is provided as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), offering our international customers the advantages of lower costs, risk prevention, a higher degree of transparency, shorter integration times, fast worldwide roll-outs, and smooth software updates. The high level of security and deep integration of the platform with existing ERP systems is certified by ISO-27001, SOC 1, SOC2, and SAP.

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