TIS is growth champion for the third time in a row and is carrying its success story forward

| 03-12-2019 | TIS |

FOCUS BUSINESS and Statista rank the cloud-based payment expert among the fastest-growing and most promising companies in Germany. 

Walldorf, 28. November 2019. Above-average growth in turnover and staff as well as new and innovative ways of making corporate payment processes simpler and safer – with these qualities TIS (Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH) has now established itself on the list of the 500 FOCUS business growth champions for the third time in a row

Statista, the Hamburg-based statistics portal, had created a ranking of the 500 fastest-growing German companies for FOCUS BUSINESS, a well-known business magazine in Germany. 12,500 companies with particularly strong growth in sales or workforce were extracted from two million commercial register entries. The companies must have their principal place of business in Germany and have achieved organic growth. Based on these criteria, a shortlist of 1,654 firms was created and from this ultimately a top 500 ranking of champions who achieved average annual revenue growth of 52 % between 2015 and 2018. The list of 500 growth champions for 2020 was published in edition 3/2019 of the FOCUS BUSINESS magazine.

The fact that TIS is now listed in the ranking for the third time in a row is primarily thanks to the confidence which customers have placed in  its cloud-based payment  platform. The consistent upward trend of TIS also proves that rapid growth is essential in the big context of digitalization. Through features like ERP-integration, payment automation, process standardization, and a single login for all stakeholders to manage bank accounts and payments, TIS customers benefit from improved simplicity and security in handling all their payment transactions and gain greater insight into their cashflow data.

Jörg Wiemer, CSO and co-founder of TIS, proudly tells to the press: “We are delighted and very proud to be among the winners in the FOCUS growth ranking once again. We could only achieve the impressive business performance with the commitment of an outstandingly performing team in TIS, to whom I owe my special thanks. We are continuously working towards the acceleration of our further growth in Europe and in the USA with a solution that is highly appreciated by our customers.”

About TIS

TIS (Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH), founded in Walldorf, Germany in 2010, is a global leader in managing corporate payments. The Financial Times named TIS as one of “Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies” for 2019.

Offered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), the TIS solution is a comprehensive, highly-scalable, cloud platform for company-wide payments and cash management. For businesses, TIS creates a community of trust and empowers customers to make better decisions with 100% real-time cashflow visibility. Key benefits are lower costs, risk prevention, a higher degree of transparency and fast worldwide roll-outs. For banks and partners, TIS generates growth and revenue opportunities through continuous innovation for better payment experience.

The TIS solution has been successfully used for many years in both large and medium-sized companies, including Adecco Group, Hugo Boss, Fresenius, Fugro, Lanxess, OSRAM and QIAGEN. More than 25% of DAX companies are already TIS customers.

The high level of security and deep integration of the platform with existing ERP systems is certified by ISO-27001, SAP, SOC 1, SOC 2, and TISAX.

Your World of Payments. One Login.

Visit TIS.biz

Why are you still paying too much banking costs? There is a simple solution to save money

2-12-2019 | treasuryXL | Vallstein |

Do you have full transparency in your banking cost? Do you fully trust your bank(s)? You can easily save a significant amount of money and create strong ties with your bank(s) for a better relationship.

We interviewed Huub Wevers, Head of Business Development at Vallstein, he will take a deeper dive into the advantages of using WalletSizing® , give you a better insight and even shares a success story.

Can you tell something about WalletSizing® ?

WalletSizing® is a SaaS platform with a number of modules that gives Corporates full transparency on how much they spent on their banks and how profitable they are for their banks. A CFO would like to be able to drive the meetings with the bank supported by independent data showing exactly what a corporate is doing with the bank AND how profitable the corporate is for the bank. This is exactly what WalletSizing® delivers. WalletSizing® drives the focus and strategy of the meeting by showing how much a corporate is spending on their banks and how profitable they are for their banks. It ensures that a corporate gets value for money from their relationships with their banks.

An additional module of WalletSizing®, the bank fee edition is able to upload all bank invoices for cash management and comparing them with the original price agreements. Am I paying the price as agreed during the RFP phase?

WalletSizing® the Bankfee edition, can be used together with the other WalletSizing® modules or stand alone.

This module uploads all bank invoices (any format) for cash management and audits them with the original price agreements: Am I paying the price as agreed during the RFP phase? Are there unforeseen billing charges? I was not aware of these unusual situations like:

  1. a) manual payments,
  2. b) investigations,
  3. c) volumes… leading into continuous internal processes improvements.

WalletSizing® Bankfee edition is all about Automation, Control and Transparency, down to account level and including tailor made reporting for Auditors and Control teams. WalletSizing® Bankfee edition it is not a daily reconciliation system. It is an audit process that can be ran in different frequencies as those fits’ client requirements.

What is, in your perception, the biggest benefit of using WalletSizing® ?

Let me explain the following questions that WalletSizing® answers:

  • How much am I spending on my bank products & services?
  • How profitable am I for my banks?
  • Is the above fair?

The last question is the most important one and can be answered through the benchmarking capabilities of WalletSizing® and the underlying methodology. WalletSizing® is calculating the exact profitability on the basis of the relevant credit ratings, bank fees and the latest Basel III/IV regulations.

Another benefit is during the RFP or price revision process where the proposed prices from the Banks are also uploaded in the system and amongst other criteria, compared with the Vallstein Benchmark. This benchmark is a Vallstein property owned database with hundreds of thousands of data points collected over the last 20 years.

How does the customer project phase look like from start till actual use?

A typical WalletSizing® project takes 6 weeks where Vallstein will handle most of the work, typically 90%. We will gather all necessary data and integrate, translate and upload into the system. Through a number of workshops we ensure the client domain is 100% accurate and the client is versed in making the analysis and acting on it. “Having learned how to fish instead of just been given a fish” as the saying goes. During the project we will also set-up and agree how to continue maintenance of the system, ensuring an up to date system.

How fast can customers experience the impact of WalletSizing® after implementation?

Already during the implementation clients will be able to get benefits from the system by detecting missing bills. After an implementation, clients can immediately review their bank relationships and typically will reach very significant savings in their banking costs through that. And on the long run, clients will have more transparent and better relationships with their banks. When you have clarity on how much you are really paying, you have time to talk about more strategic topics with your banks.

What was your biggest challenge with WalletSizing® ?

The biggest challenge with WalletSizing® we had over the last 20 years is the data quality of the banks and the speed at which they deliver the data to our clients.  Fortunately this is improving due to invoice standards like CAMT.086 and a more shared belief in transparency in the market place. Things have changed for the better and we hope that we have and are contributing to that.

Can you share a great WalletSizing® success story?

A client of ours implemented WalletSizing® Bank Fee Edition. We Started with 9 Banks, 12 countries and 170 different accounts. We have now made the bank process completely automatic. Banks are sending the required and detailed fees data on a quarterly basis and this data is being uploaded into the system.

We found no unique and individual product codes across the banks. Product descriptions are not clear and fees are not consistent across the same billing items and accounts. This has been resolved completely by the system which is now automatically mapping all billing items into unified product names and codes. It is more easy now to compare different banking terms and conditions and market benchmark. Needless to say significant savings and 100% transparency has been achieved.

After this implementation the client agreed that they now had done the difficult part of Bank Relationship Management (Cash Management Fees) and were interested to pursue the analysis of the full banking wallet across all their banks. An exercise to understand the current situation, reduce the number of banks, but with full visibility across all banks on how much business and how profitable they were right now. In the end the client reduced their number of banks from 17 towards 9 and have an even spread of their business (Wallet) across all their banks.

visit Vallstein.com

You are only one step away from saving a lot of money

Huub is thrilled to help you. Fill out the contact form and we arrange a call for you.

Ready for automated payment transactions? Fully integrated in a few days

| 26-11-2019 | TIS |

Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH (TIS) is the leading cloud platform for managing corporate payments, liquidity and bank relationships worldwide. The company delivers SMART PAYMENTS to help customers make BETTER DECISIONS.

TIS is web-based. That means you don’t have to install any software locally. Save yourself high IT and ERP maintenance costs and connect TIS to your ERP system in a secure, simple and straightforward manner.

Cloud-based: This is how TIS is integrated.

Simple implementation and intuitive operation.

Many companies have to fight against non-transparent and decentralized payment processes due to the accumulation of organizational and IT structures. TIS understand this problem and can provide a solution to both issues. The TIS platform is web-based and is available productively across the whole company in just a few days. It can be integrated seamlessly into your ERP system via a plug-in. Every user, all over the world, can log in to the platform straightforwardly and manage the business processes for the areas for which they are responsible.

TIS Agent: Support for all ERP versions.

No changes to your ERP systems are needed.

Integration of the TIS Corporate Payment solution is independent of your ERP system. Interfaces for ERP systems other than SAP are either already available or they can be easily deployed by using the TIS Agents. Furthermore, interfaces to banks are already available and additional interfaces are continuously being integrated. Connection to your ERP systems can therefore be achieved straightforwardly.

Cost-efficient.

Fast ERP rollouts and lower maintenance requirements.

Reduce your costs by deciding for the introduction of a SaaS solution.  Systems that are located on your own servers will have considerably larger implementation expenses, risks and will involve major IT projects.

There are also expensive maintenance requirements. Every time the payment and bank statement processes between the ERP or accounting systems and the banks are standardized, your IT system will have to be involved. TIS enables fast and cost-effective ERP rollouts, without large IT costs, via the web-based solution. You will therefore save money and simplify your bank communications in the long term.

Particularly easy SAP integration.

TIS Bank Transaction Manager has been officially approved and certified by SAP.

As a certified partner of SAP SE, we guarantee that our SaaS solution is completely compatible with the SAP Business Suite. This means that TIS can integrated seamlessly via an SAP certified plug-in with

SAP ERP

SAP Business ByDesign

SAP S/4HANA

Once TIS has been incorporated into an ERP system, the user no longer has to save the bank files locally and transmit them to the bank. Payments are now triggered in the SAP environment and transmitted directly to the TIS cloud platform. Inversely, bank statements go from the bank to TIS and are collected there by the ERP system. As a SaaS solution, the platform is connected seamlessly to your ERPs, and you can design your national and international payment transaction process efficiently and in a future-oriented manner.

TIS Bank Transaction Manager

Integration of the TIS solutions is thus quick and easy. As soon as the TIS Bank Transaction Manager has been integrated into your business processes, you can centralize your payment process and increase your processing speed and data quality. Reduce errors from manual input and gain valuable time via standardized automation. Depending on what type of support in payment management you require, you can manage your payment processes entirely in accordance with your needs using additional TIS modules.

Visit TIS.biz

Thrilled to take the next step with the redesign of our website

| 19-11-2019 | by Kendra Keydeniers |

In 2016 we launched our website with the goal to bring everybody who is interested in corporate treasury into our community. We are convinced many will benefit from bringing treasury expertise to a broader audience and experts having in-depth and up-to-date knowledge.

Every day we post new articles and blogs for our readers and if you like scrolling through your timeline you can see our latest news via social media. Friday is our recap day and all of our subscribers receive our weekly newsletter just before the weekend will start. So much is happening constantly.

Over the last months we looked back and discussed with treasury and community management experts how to move forward. As a result we made changes to our site in order to act future proof.

How to inform Treasurers and Non-Treasurers
In the past we tried to make a split between content for treasurers and those who have to deal with treasury not being an expert. We named the last group non-treasurers. This distinction seemed to make sense but in reality was not very practical. A lot of information is relevant for both groups, not all treasurers are experts in all treasury sub categories and there are non-treasurers who have in-depth knowledge.

We also assumed treasurers and non-treasurers use different social media channels, visit different events and consume different products & services. As it turns out this is partly true, there is a huge overlap in their media consumption and this is a good thing. A social media post about forecasting where the treasurer, the controller and the CFO respond is valuable for all.

Our analysis is that a lot of our valuable content does not reach all relevant audiences.

Website redesign
The most important change we made in our site is the first investment to enable further relevant steps. We have introduced an overview of the most relevant topics. With input from experts we had to make choices between being comprehensive and being an attractive read. We created an overview serving both the treasurer as well as the non-treasurer. As an example, cash pools will often be a treasurer topic, working capital management a topic also for non-treasurers and both groups will enjoy a good read about FX management.

The set of topics is not cast in stone. With your input we can tweak and adjust in order to be trendsetting and -following. Do know that reorganising all blogposts and other content in order to put them in the right category is quite a choir: over the years we posted about 700 blogs!

Topic overview:

What is next?
Building upon this investment we will initiate further initiatives. Answering questions about specific topics and offering tailormade information can be done. This is a good thing for both our reader audience, as well as our partners. It will be easier to get detailed insight, as dossiers will be organized in a sensible structure and relevant further info can be offered.

Enabling the match between subject matter experts with those who need input will be easier. You will know who is the expert in FX, trade finance, TMSs, et cetera. Broadcasting from these experts through social media channels can be done better: we will steer away from “spray and pray” and will be sharpshooters.

We are excited about these changes and are thrilled for the upcoming period. Will you join us and do you have any further input? Thank you and see you in our topical environment.

On behalf of Team treasuryXL,

Kendra Keydeniers
Community & Partner Manager at treasuryXL

Information session Treasury Management & Corporate Finance

18-11-2019 | by Kendra Keydeniers | Vrije Universiteit

The VU Amsterdam would like to invite you to the information Session of the Executive Education programmes at the VU Amsterdam on Thursday 28 November 2019. This evening gives an insight into the content and organisation of the programmes

 

The Information session of the postgraduate programme Treasury Management & Corporate Finance is from 18.30 hr. to 19:15 hr.

Anyone interested in the programme is welcome. We are looking forward to seeing you at the VU Amsterdam!

Register here

 

Take a dive into RT career stories from graduates

The VU has been delivering RT graduates successfully for a few decades. That means that there are hundreds of graduates working, most of them in corporate treasury. How do their careers look like after they graduated? treasuryXL asked some of the RT graduates about their career development and their thoughts about the RT programme. Check it out:

Cash Management in the Age of Digital Transformation

| 15-11-2019 | TIS |

Treasury Leaders Summit – London 2019

The Treasury Leaders Summit provides senior treasury and finance professionals with access to in-depth research, analysis and the opportunity to discuss key issues impacting the profession with senior level peers.

Our partner TIS will also be part of this Summit. Visit TIS at their stand and discuss your business case.

TIS Co-Founder, Jörg Wiemer, will hold a session about “Cash Management in the Age of Digital Transformation”. This will take place on Tuesday, 19th November at 4.30 PM GMT.

Also, do not miss our session on Day 2 with our customer HUGO BOSS. Get valuable insights on how they found the perfect-fit solution for their corporate payments processes.

This session will take place at 12.30PM GMT.

Request a meeting by filling out the form here.

Date:
19th – 20th November 2019

Location:
Leonardo Royal Hotel London City, 8-10 Coopers Row, London, EC3N 2BQ

 

Why You Don’t Need a Treasury Workstation

| 11-11-2019 | treasuryXL | BELLIN

Location dependence vs. universal collaboration and access

Often times, terms and definitions change over time; and sometimes terms remain the same but their meaning shifts. Take for example the word “bookkeeping:” accountants nowadays no longer put pen to paper and make manual entries in a book. Transferring this concept to treasury, we only need to look at the name of the department itself. Treasurers no longer watch over dungeons filled with treasure troves and other valuables (maybe with the exception of Fort Knox). But that’s not the only shift in meaning: we can also come across obsolete terms and definitions when it comes to the digitalization of treasury tasks and specifically with the term: treasury workstation.

Looking at search requests in Google, one of the most commonly searched terms in treasury is “treasury workstation” – a term that has been in use for treasury systems for many years. However, we need to ask ourselves if the term and the understanding of technology and processes associated with it are still appropriate today. Should they have long been replaced by other terms?

“Treasury Workstation” – is that what treasury is?

“Treasury workstation” contains the element of “station” that appears to have no place in today’s treasury world: mobile communication and the flexible use of systems are such obvious characteristics of our daily work that a “station” clearly no longer delivers. A workstation is literally stationary and therefore limited: it sits in one single place and is only available right there. Conversely, this is precisely where modern systems differ: they’re web-based and can be used from any mobile device without any limitations regarding security, user-friendliness, and functionality. Indeed, the very fact that modern systems are not stationary makes them so powerful. They’re mobile and any number of people can make use of them from anywhere.

Today, large departments and units need to be able to readily collaborate and exchange knowledge and data; a workstation seems inappropriate to meet these demands and stands for a status quo that IT has long left behind. No one wants to install software on a workstation anymore; no one wants to be tied to a desktop computer. The internet with all its enormous potential drives the optimization of business processes and data communication to the point where companies can no longer afford to back workstations, in particular in treasury.

Collaboration with a Treasury Management System

At BELLIN, their system, tm5, is not a physical workstation limited to a specific location. The system is a web-based and dynamically-integrated platform that excels in ensuring global visibility, maximized security and uncapped work-hours saved. The key ingredient in regard to this article is that the system is web-based, yet accessibly by anyone company wide. We call this our Load Balanced Treasury approach which means no per-user licenses, ensuring subsidiaries can share data seamlessly, profit from real-time transparency, and maximize global security.

While many treasurers still refer to modern platforms as workstations, the distinction is important. Modern, web-based systems are platforms for collaboration, for cooperation and for uniting internal and external parties and partners who all contribute to treasurers always having the information they need to do their job: make decisions that reduce business risk, optimize asset management, manage funding and hedging and give the company the overall stability to meet the company objectives.

This is by no means limited to treasury. Unlike a workstation that is only ever available to the people in one particular office, treasury management systems serve the entire company and people from any department can be involved where needed. This allows treasurers to share the workload, get information first hand and have a fully integrated and connected workflow that ultimately benefits everyone.

Conclusion

Treasury workstations are a thing of the past and platforms like the BELLIN tm5 have long become established as industry standards. Consequently,  it is time we reflect that fact in our terminology in order to find what businesses really need and stop searching for things that were modern years ago. “Station” ultimately suggests inflexibility, stagnation. As time goes by, both terminology and processes are subject to change and move forward – just as treasury does. Perhaps this is just a semantic error or term that has stuck over the years? Either way, as treasury enthusiasts and experts, we are keen to help the industry acclimate to the existing technological ecosystem.

Martin Bellin

CEO

BELLIN logo

Open banking and APIs: transforming the future of treasury

| 05-11-2019 | treasuryXL | BELLIN

Open banking is about much more than advanced technology. It has an impact on business models, processes and ways of thinking – and it will definitely have a huge impact on treasury.

The EU’s revised payment services directive (PSD2) has forced European banks to set up standardised interfaces, so-called APIs, to enable third parties’ technological access to bank accounts. This is an attempt to break up the banks’ monopoly and boost competition amongst payment service providers.

When it comes to payments, PSD2 APIs are currently limited to single Euro payments area (SEPA) single payments. Simply put, they are generally ill-suited for corporate payment processing. Nevertheless, open access to customer and transaction data for third parties represents a radical change that threatens traditional banking business models.

While in the past, banks reigned freely over their customers’ financial data – often keeping them in the dark about margins, fees and transaction routes – open banking makes banking fundamentally more democratic and gives companies much more freedom and flexibility.

How does a company want to handle its payment processing? With open banking, it will be of little relevance to corporates exactly how their payments are processed. As long as the payment goes from A to B, the back-end technology being used is up to the service provider. What will be more significant for corporate treasury departments when it comes to payments is how quickly this information becomes available to them.

Open banking’s impact on cash management

Today, treasurers are blind when it comes to intraday cash flow movements. Depending on the bank, they only receive balance information a few times a day at specific times. This has always been as real-time as it gets. Treasurers who would like to know their account balance at any time and in ‘real, real-time’ need to request this information. But how can you know when to best inquire about your account balance when you have no idea when money will be credited?

Some companies make use of automated requests, managed in their treasury management system (TMS). The system sends scheduled requests to the bank, for example every minute, to check if any new information is available. An analogy would be sending round a company postman to empty the letterbox every few minutes without knowing if anyone has actually posted a letter. This leads to enormous amounts of data and clogs up communication channels and systems, without really solving the issue.

A much more intelligent solution would be to not request the information until it is actually available. For that to work, there would need to be some kind of signal that data has come in – just like the signal flag on American letterboxes. New technologies, such as APIs and WebSockets, enable this kind of reversed order. The bank signals that a new balance is available as soon as money is credited to or debited from an account, and treasurers and other finance professionals can then take action. The same is true for payments, where status notifications for a transaction would be available straight away.

The future of APIs

What will the future look like for banking communication? Will APIs relegate existing technologies, such as electronic banking internet communication standard (EBICS) or SWIFT, to the sidelines? APIs’ greatest downfall is their lack of standardisation. Conversely, complete and powerful standardisation across the SEPA area is the biggest asset of these established communication channels.

In the context of PSD2, there have been various European initiatives to achieve standardisation, for example those of the Berlin Group. However, there is no comparable global initiative, and when BELLIN recently analysed the open banking offering of the ten most relevant banking groups, the discrepancies were staggering. What is needed are suitable enhancements of established technologies that could then be combined with new technologies, for example combining the EBICS protocol with API technology.

And this future is not far off. Massive changes that will impact treasurers’ day-to-day work significantly are just around the corner. Large retailers have already implemented instant payment solutions using APIs that not only enable them to transfer money, but also to receive notifications when a payment has come in as soon as it does. This has enabled them to fully connect payment processing, real-time balance information and customer service.

Direct communication of data between companies and banks is likely to have other, far-reaching consequences for treasury, for example when it comes to FX and risk management. Real-time corporate-bank communication definitely brings challenges for cash management. Banks will have to solve how cash pooling is handled in the future whilst also determining the time on which interest calculations are based. However, with new standards for speed, efficiency and data quality, open banking will continue to revolutionise treasury far beyond 2020.

Karsten Kiefer, Product Manager Solution Management, BELLIN

Karsten Kiefer

Product Manager Solution Management

 

8 Driving Factors for a Lean and Agile Treasury

| 28-10-2019 | treasuryXL | BELLIN

Dynamic processes in today’s world need lean and agile organizations. We have compiled 8 driving factors how the treasury department can achieve this goal easily.

1 Agile treasury thanks to simplified global statement collection

For businesses, a daily, group-wide, global financial status can now be a reality. It neither requires tedious manual data entry in Excel nor collecting data from subsidiaries by email.

Corporates can share their very own SWIFT BIC with all the banks they have accounts with worldwide and request to receive their account statements to this address (ideally in an MT940 format). One by one, all their banks are going to adopt this way of communication, and everything else is a question of technological automation.

2 Agile treasury thanks to netting and its effect on FX and cash management

Anyone still processing subsidiary payments as if they were customers or third-party suppliers is missing out on a number of potential benefits. This goes for anything from the reconciliation of invoices, to payments, optimized forward cover and efficient cash management. With the right intercompany netting setup, uncertainty and unknown quantities in relation to the amount, date or contents of a payment quickly become a thing of the past.

3 Agile treasury thanks to integrated IC trade documentation

Almost all group companies make use of intercompany loans – agreed to in writing, by email or by phone. If you’re lucky, the subsidiary in question can still find the agreement or has created an Excel sheet reminding them of their interest payments. If you’re unlucky, the auditor has to go in search of the correct documents, and tax authorities are knocking on your door to establish whether or not everything is compliant with the arm’s length principle. This is exactly the kind of scenario the BELLIN treasury management system can help you prevent: it creates a platform that allows both parties to demonstrate that payment dates, conditions and permissions in connection with IC loans are met and complied with, and that everything is documented properly.

4 Agile treasury thanks to digital matching

Exchanging confirmations for FX and Money Market deals is nothing new: for years, banks have been sending confirmation documents to their customers who had to return a signed copy. Ever since EMIR, this is no longer feasible and no longer makes sense. BELLIN’s treasury management system tm5 offers integrated electronic matching and has automated and digitized deal confirmation – technology that is easily implemented, saves time and identifies any errors in real time, in turn reducing risks.

5 Agile treasury thanks to collaboration and spreading the workload

The principle of Load Balanced Treasury® allows you to organize processes in a way that best meets skills and capacities. Depending on your Treasury Policy, you could for example delegate responsibility for local payments to subsidiaries or share responsibility, based on the permissions defined in the system. You can set the system up so that central treasury is automatically notified whenever they need to intervene – so they have the overview and the control.

The platform-based collaboration simplifies complex tasks, such as liquidity planning, for the whole group. Simply use the chat function to organize intercompany reconciliation and set up regular “information cycles” for funding requirements and the use of funds. This way you can stay on top of cash flows and obtain a quick and efficient overview of liquidity developments and any deviations from the planning scenario – so you are alerted straight away and can always react quickly.

6 Agile treasury thanks to agile reporting

The business world over, reports are considered time-consuming and tedious – but they don’t have to be. With all relevant data already entered and available in the system, you have everything you need to create reports at the touch of a button – tailored to the needs of your businesses. This way, you can keep all stakeholders in the loop directly from your treasury management system without the need for an additional tool.

7 Agile treasury thanks to automated processes

Repetitive user actions and recurring tasks can be done by a technological solution. The automation service schedules and automates recurring treasury tasks, such as market data import, account statement import and export, entering bulk payments or importing deals traded via a trading platform. The system automatically takes over tasks that would normally have to be done by a user. While process automation is not suitable for every task, it is also not necessary to do everything manually, again eating up resources; some tasks can easily be performed by the system.

8 Agile treasury thanks to mobile connectivity and payments authorization

Frequently, your financial challenges no longer play out behind a desk but in transit between business meetings or on your way to and from work. Or you are simply the one in charge of making that final decision based on the data gathered by your trusted team. On top of your agenda: mobile access to clearly presented information, the ability to focus on specific processes, and most importantly the knowledge that all your data and all your processes are secure!

The BELLIN Connect app allows users to access certain tm5 functions to facilitate remote working and to boost security. A straightforward interface presents data clearly, selection and configuration options are streamlined and processes are targeted and accessible.

Blockchain: the 10 Commandments for CIOs

| 25-10-2019 | Carlo de Meijer | treasuryXL

In my last blog about Gartner and Blockchain I mentioned the importance of the role of CIOs. They are supposed to play a leading role in determining if this technology could be of use for their business. Great question is: are CIOs already prepared for that role. In this blog I will sum up ten commandments for them that should be prerequisites for successful implementation of blockchain technology in their company.

1. CIOs should study blockchain, potential benefits, opportunities and use cases for their business

In order to get grip on blockchain and what it could mean for their business, CIOs should investigate what blockchain really is, that means the ins and outs, its characteristics, how it works, how to integrate blockchain into existing legacy systems etc. CIOs should put real thought into how this technology could potentially benefit the business, asking themselves why they need it, and what value it offers over legacy database or other technologies

While in the next few years blockchain will mostly affect how an organization executes its business, longer term  blockchain will eventually change the core of a business. They therefore should start focusing beyond solely on how this technology is being used today. CIOs should look for opportunities to leverage blockchain technology for deeper business changes that can drive real value.  They should focus on areas where blockchain could strengthen the organization’s value proposition. CIOs should figure out which use cases are most appropriate, , and propose projects that could truly differentiate the organization.

2. CIOs need to understand how blockchain will impact key parts of the business

The opportunities for blockchain technology are massive. It can significantly impact many parts of the business. The most important question for CIOs is how these changes might affect the enterprise and how can the organization exploit the technology?

CIOs need to start thinking about what value blockchain can add to their organization and how to tackle the challenges over the next five years. They should plan for incremental evolution of their own blockchain strategies. For that they should carefully look at the stages in which blockchain  technology is situated. The Gartner Blockchain Spectrum distinct four phases: blockchain-enabling; blockchain-inspired; blockchain-complete and blockchain-enhanced. We are now half way i.e. in the blockchain-inspired phase. Technologies in this stage combine some elements of blockchain, but lack two core elements:  decentralization and tokenization (see my blog: Gartner Blockchain Spectrum: a great tool for CIOs March 18, 2019).

3. CIOs should look at the potential gaps, weaknesses and hurdles of blockchain

Blockchain is not there yet. And – next to that – this technology is not a panacea for all companies problems.  CIOs should be aware of that.  One of the main elements of blockchain is decentralization. It removes central authorities from the process and enables a level of trust between two parties who have never done business before. The definition of participant will – as a result – expand beyond individuals and businesses to include things like smart contracts, distributed ledgers, connected things and DAOs.

Blockchain will facilitate the interactions between all of these participants and enable a new society, but cannot solve all trust problems. CIOs therefore should create a map that highlights potential gaps and weaknesses.

CIOs should also be aware of the various hurdles that prevent massive adoption. It will take a number of years before this technology will enter the maturity stage. Considerable work needs to be completed in ‘non-technology-related activities’ such as standards, regulatory frameworks and organization structures for blockchain capabilities to reach the Gartner Hype Cycle Plateau of Productivity. This is the third stage now also including the previous lacking instruments: decentralisation and tokenization. In a recent blog, Gartner listed eight hurdles needed for the technology to deliver its promises, including technically scalable blockchains, advances in smart contract technology, transaction risk assurance, data confidentiality, and an efficient consensus algorithm.

For effective rollouts, CIOs also need to keep in mind that blockchain is not secure in and of itself. Blockchain is a complex technology, and can lack the clarity of oversight and auditability that more traditional systems offer. As a result, compliance and enforcement costs may increase with blockchain implementation, and some regulatory environments (such as GDPR) may require oversight that is difficult to achieve with the technology. This is exacerbated by a lack of common standards or legal frameworks. CIOs should look at methods to manage these blockchain-related risks.

4. CIOs should brief their CEOs on the strategic implications of blockchain

Company boards will have to make strategic decisions on blockchain in a climate of uncertainty. Many boards of directors will therefore call upon CIOs to brief them on blockchain due to current market hype. CIOs should therefore regular update their CEOs on new developments. The difficult task as a CIO is to explain the strategic implications of blockchain without getting stuck in its technical aspects. Board directors do not want a lot of detail. They just want the high-level issues, implications and suggested actions. CIOs should thereby focus on three main areas: a description of blockchain, frictionless markets and the cross-industry business impacts of a programmable economy. The reason for this is that blockchain has the potential to create cross-industry, transparent and frictionless markets, where transactions have almost no costs and restraints. However, be aware that the future business climate, risks and legal status of blockchain remain unclear.

5. CIOs should warn their board not to underestimate the impact of blockchain

CIOs should warn their board not to underestimate the impact of blockchain. Blockchain for most industries remains ‘mired between inflated industry expectations and general disillusionment’ with regard to how it can improve business processes. While most have heard about blockchain, few understand the technology and its implications for business. This bears the danger that they are underestimating the impact of blockchain. Enterprises run the risk of having their business disrupted if they do nothing about blockchain; however, undertaking a blockchain initiative carries risks too. It is important for CIOs to discuss the areas where blockchain will affect the board’s risk calculations.

CIOs should also determine and inform their CEOs whether blockchain could solve business problems and whether they really need this technology. Existing systems may look much more efficient, or could be managed cheaper compared to blockchain solutions.

6. CIOs should think and work towards a new blockchain-based business model

Once decided to implement blockchain in their company, the greatest challenge for CIOs will be thinking about and working towards a new blockchain-based business model. As blockchain is a collaborative issue, main question for CIOs is, how they could come up with a business model in which companies in an industry can agree on common standards and operate together.  This asks for a strategic approach. By focusing on a number of key areas early in their blockchain efforts, CIOs can lay the foundation toward successful execution. These areas include: make the blockchain business case, build an industry ecosystem, determine the rules of engagement, and, navigate regulatory uncertainty.

First of all CIOs should give strategic clarity when presenting their business case. This should ensure that their blockchain initiative has a business purpose around which they and other participants can align. For that it is needed to identify the business value. To get the most out of blockchain, collaboration between (previous) competitors is key. This should result in building an industry ecosystem, aimed to meet industry-wide challenges. For that it is important that CIOs discover the benefits of collaboration.

A third area of attention is to determine the rules of engagement. Every blockchain will require rules and standards, particularly around what various participants will be able to access and how they can engage. CIOs should thereby explore potential blockchain models and chose that one that fits best. Finally, CIOs need to “stay agile” to meet regulatory requirements as they evolve in the years to come. They should understand the shifting regulatory landscape.

7. CIOs should focus on the various challenges when implementing blockchain

Despite the potential opportunities of blockchain technology, organizations still face a number of important challenges when it comes to implementing blockchain. CIOs should focus on these challenges, that should be identified well in advance, in order to get the best out of this technology.

A first challenge – and not the least one – is the possible lack of skills. Because blockchain is still young and not yet a mainstream technology, there are very few professionals with skills in this area. This asks for intensive education, setting up internal and external courses, hiring externals etc.

Another challenge is the non-existence of a  universal standard for blockchain. This limits the usability of blockchain in and between companies. Until you have standards, you really can’t share information in the classical sense. Though one uniform standard is still far away, Gartner predicts that there will be four main standards in about five years’ time. A third challenge is that blockchain must integrate with legacy technologies so that businesses can exchange information in a meaningful way. In some industries, this is a major obstacle. People just don’t understand the technology, or know what it is good for.

8. CIOs should continue to develop proofs of concept internally as well as part of market consortiums

In order to get grip on blockchain and what it can mean for their business, CIOs should continue to develop proofs of concept to test blockchain’s business worthiness. Thereby they should take into account that different industry domains (upstream, midstream, downstream and marketing) and functional areas (such as commodity trading, cash management, supply chains and data integrity) are expected to adopt blockchain on different timelines.

For enterprise success, blockchain needs to be a consortium effort – not something that is used only internally. CIOs should be aware that the transformative nature of blockchain works across multiple levels simultaneously (process, operating model, business strategy and industry structure), and its success will depend on coordinated action across multiple companies. The way to create a multi-company blockchain consortium however is a very difficult one.

9. CIOs should look to combine blockchain technology, Big Data Analytics, IoT and AI

Blockchain should not be looked at in an isolated way. In order to get the most out of blockchain technology, CIOs should investigate integrating this technology with other ones like Big Data Analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Once blockchain has been combined with the Analytics, IoT and AI, blockchain has the potential to change business models forever, impacting both data and monetary flows and avoiding centralization of market power (see my blog: Blockchain and Big Data: a great marriage, January 29, 2019).

10. CIOs should be aware of the changing world in which business exist.

Finally, CIOs should be aware of the changing world in which business exist. Not only because of blockchain, but also triggered by other technologies. The reality is that blockchain and its core elements will radically alter not only the business world itself. The future might eventually lay in a more decentralised programmable economy, that may evolve into digital societies that have a legal standing equivalent to today’s corporates and individuals. These digital societies will set the terms of competition in the future. CIOs should realise that, not  only by developing the technology, but also the ethics and practices to exist in the digital society.

What does this all mean for CIOs?

CIOs are counted on for innovation in their company. Related to blockchain, there however will be a need to  a different approach, away from present blockchain tech-of-the-day approach to a more methodical one to innovation. This asks for a new type of CIO. To deliver, CIOs should realise and recognise that their ability to innovate is nowadays restricted by an organisation that lacks flexibility and agility. CIOs should instead become more flexible and agile and deliver an operating model that is fast, connected, and insights-driven.

 

 

Carlo de Meijer

Economist and researcher