What keeps you busiest in your Treasury role right now?

In collaboration with treasuryXL expert Adriana Ciuche, we looked at how treasury professionals are likely to spend their time in 2026, across operational work, analysis and planning, and strategic responsibilities.

Analysis and planning ranked highest, followed by operational work and systems, while strategic work received the fewest votes. Based on these results, we asked Adriana to share her perspective and practical advice.

Analysis and planning seem to take up most of the time. What’s your advice for making this work both effective and impactful?

According to Adriana, the key is keeping analysis practical and decision-oriented. “Analysis should clearly support a decision or a next step,” she explains. “Not everything needs to be perfect or overly detailed. The focus should be on what actually helps move things forward.” In her view, impact comes from relevance, not complexity.

Operational work and systems are still a major time investment. How do you stay efficient without losing sight of the bigger picture?

Adriana is realistic about the fact that operational work and systems will always require attention. Efficiency, she says, comes from a combination of factors: standardisation, automation where possible, and regularly reviewing and redesigning processes, especially manual ones.

“Good data quality is essential,” she adds. “Polluted data leads to misleading decisions.”

Making smart use of systems such as TMS and ERP, combined with well-designed processes, helps free up time for more value-adding activities and increases engagement within the team.

Strategy received the least attention in the results. How can Treasurers make sure long-term priorities don’t get lost?

“It’s logical that strategy gets pushed aside by day-to-day work,” Adriana notes. “That’s exactly why it needs to be intentional.” Her advice is simple but effective: consciously block time for strategic thinking and actively connect strategic goals to daily activities. “That way, longer-term priorities stay visible, even when operational demands are high.”