5 essential questions to let Kyriba manage TRILLIONS of dollars every day

22-03-2021 | treasuryXL | Kyriba | Joe Marcin

Someone recently asked Joe Marcin, “What does Kyriba really do?” he thought about it for a moment and although Kyriba solves some really complex problems for their customers, it really comes down to a pretty simple answer.

At Kyriba, they help some of the world’s most well-known companies, government entities, and financial institutions answer these 5 essential questions:

  1. How much money do I have?
  2. Where is it?
  3. How much money will I have in the future?
  4. How do I optimize the way I move my money across financial institutions, legal entities, and international borders to lower risk and minimize costs?
  5. How do I turn my money into a growth asset by investing it in ways that yield higher returns while not increasing risk or lowing my access to liquidity whenever I need it?

Enterprise Liquidity Management is transforming the office of the CFO from a cost center to a profit center for customers all over the world. That is why the Kyriba customers trust them to manage TRILLIONS of dollars for them every day.

See some of the success stories here: https://lnkd.in/gp7sZMW

 

Contact Kyriba directly for more information.

How to anticipate Liquidity risks to secure the Cash Flow

15-03-2021 | treasuryXL | Kyriba |

For the past 10 years we have lived with an overabundance of liquidity. In most people’s minds, abundant liquidity means constant availability. But the subprime crisis, the European debt crisis and now the COVID pandemic have shown the opposite to be true.

In a world of extreme volatility, liquidity flows can be interrupted overnight. And for financial managers therein lies the paradox. Despite its overabundance, it has never been more crucial to secure, diversify, monitor and optimise liquidity.

Prepare for the unthinkable.

In this environment, liquidity is obviously strategic, but above all it must be seen as a volatile and fragile resource, especially vulnerable to market disruptions whose occurrence and scope are unforeseeable by definition as well as by their very nature. The health crisis showed us that nothing is safe from a complete, abrupt halt, not even cash flow from operations, across every sector.

CFOs must now prepare their companies for the unthinkable! They will need to spend more and more time and energy to activate every possible source of liquidity by monitoring prices, availability, term, currencies and security packages for each of these sources. They will do this with a constant focus on optimisation, and above all must be ready to make snap decisions about sources that have run dry. It’s a massive undertaking. In a world of extreme volatility, Active Liquidity Management will make tomorrow’s leaders stand out from the crowd.

 

Contact Kyriba directly for more information.

[Developer Webinar] Instrument Pricing Analytics for Bond Pricing and LIBOR alternatives

10-03-2021 | treasuryXL | Refinitiv |

Webinar on March 30 at 10 am BTS

LIBOR is widely embedded in operating models and a transition to alternative rates will affect how many contracts are priced and risk managed.

Join this webinar where Refinitiv will showcase and demonstrate examples in Python. Register by entering your details by clicking the banner above.

Refinitiv will be using Instrument Pricing Analytics API to price:

  • Fixed Rate Bonds
  • Floating rate notes on new Risk-Free Rates

From a Quantitative perspective exploring: 

  • Impact of LIBOR transition on Bond Pricing & generating yield curves

 

Rent a Treasurer, Plans & Success

| 03-03-2020 | treasuryXL | Pieter de Kiewit

You might remember our previous blogs about the Rent a Treasurer. In this joint effort with Treasurer Search, we make high calibre treasury expertise available for organisations with treasury exposure without a specialist on board. Treasurer Search is in constant communication with the treasury labour market and knows who has what expertise and is available. treasuryXL has a wider network that includes CFOs of mid-sized companies and a very strong communication machine. Combining both enables the Rent a Treasurer service.

What we notice in our market research is that treasury is not well known by these CFOs, so they do not put it on their priority list. But CFOs do understand quickly the upside when speaking with and learning from a treasurer. Often not wanting extra headcount is mentioned as a reason not to act upon treasury opportunities. And many specialized treasury consultants are a better match with multi-billion corporates and costly. So mid-sized companies often rely on bankers and auditors. But many bankers focus too much on revenue and the knowledge of auditors is often not deep enough.

Currently we work with a core team of eight bringing the Rent a Treasurer concept to the next level. Six team members cover various subsets of treasury tasks and complement each other. Kendra represents treasuryXL and I work on behalf of Treasurer Search. We are the support. Our goal is to organise more meetings with CFOs and help them successfully save costs, mitigate risk and create opportunities through appropriate treasury solutions. We tell interesting stories, on a regular basis, to decision makers who might be interested and we will increasingly do so.

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that one of the team members,  Niki van Zanten, currently works as a Rent a Treasurer on two different assignments where FX risk has the most prominent focus. With the first client, he has been able to save substantially on cost already in his first week. Niki is the perfect example of an expert who learnt in the Champions League, with Cisco & Philips, and applies his knowledge helping mid-sized companies.

If you want to know more about Rent a Treasurer or introduce us to your business network, please let me know. I am convinced many more can benefit from good treasury. We will keep you updated.

 

 

Pieter de Kiewit

Owner at Treasurer Search

 

 

 

Kyriba Webinar: How Connectivity-as-a-Service Can Help In ERP Migration

25-02-2021 | treasuryXL | Kyriba |

4th March • 2pm GMT • 3pm CET

In this webinar Kyriba and Deloitte will discuss some of the challenges and time constraints faced in bank connectivity and outline how Kyriba’s Connectivity-As-A-Service can accelerate global banking connectivity projects by more than 80%.

The agenda will follow:

  • The Connectivity-as-a-Service challenges
  • The Kyriba Connectivity Network
  • A case study on implementation with Deloitte

REGISTER NOW to understand more of the issues related to cost-control, deployment, security and bank connectivity when embarking on large-scale ERP cloud migration projects.

Date:

March 4, 2pm GMT/ 3pm CET

Contact:

From Practice: Transferable Letters of Credit…. something to try? (Dutch Item)

| 23-02-2021 | Ger van Rosmalen | treasuryXL

In een eerder gepubliceerd artikel heb ik hier al eens aandacht aan besteed. Steeds vaker word ik gevraagd om bedrijven te begeleiden bij transacties op basis van een Transferable Letter of Credit, soms met een onverwachte uitkomst.

Zo ook een bedrijf  dat op het punt stond een groot contract af te sluiten van enkele miljoenen euro’s. Het bedrijf kan een mooie deal doen met Corona gerelateerde producten en kan dat vanuit de huidige financiële situatie niet zelf financieren. Men wilde gebruik maken van een Transferable Letter of Credit. Aan mij het verzoek voor het opzetten van de transactie. Uiteraard wil ik hen graag helpen. Tijdens een plezierige kennismaking met een aantal enthousiaste directieleden licht ik mijn werkwijze toe. Want voordat een interessant betalingsinstrument als een Transferable Letter of Credit kan worden ingezet, vind ik het van groot belang dat de ondernemer weloverwogen keuzes kan maken op basis van eigen opgedane kennis. Die was hier (nog) niet aanwezig. Ik neem de ondernemer daarom eerst graag mee langs alle mogelijkheden en valkuilen. Daarna is de ondernemer beter in staat om juiste keuzes te maken, wat zorgt voor meer comfort en minder risico’s.

Na dit kennismakingsgesprek ga ik aan de slag met de inhoud van het contract en de toestemming van de ondernemer om zelf direct met zijn bankier contact op te mogen nemen om de transactie te bespreken. Hij informeert zijn bank dat hij TradelinQ Solutions heeft ingeschakeld hem te begeleiden.

Na bestudering van het contract stel ik vast dat de producten voor dit bedrijf geen branchevreemde producten zijn. Deze zijn namelijk passend binnen de huidige activiteiten van dit bedrijf. Daarnaast wordt er in het contract gesproken over de leveringsconditie DDP en dient er een inspectie plaats te vinden. Voor ik met de bank ga praten stem ik eerst e.e.a. af met andere experts. TradelinQ Solutions werkt samen met een groep van specialisten op het gebied van o.a. Incoterms, Douane, Compliance, (Krediet) verzekeringen, Inspecties, Factoring, Credit Management, Culturele verschillen, Cash Management en Treasury.

De leverancier van de producten geeft aan voor inspectie zorg te dragen maar onze klant wil dat graag zelf regelen en ons samenwerkend inspectiebureau kan de kwaliteit en kwantiteit van deze producten bij de oorsprong (producent) controleren. De leveringsconditie DDP wil zeggen dat de leverancier de goederen ingeklaard maar niet uitgeladen voor de deur van onze klant moet afleveren. Ook hier heb ik wel wat vragen over, zo ook wat de klant zelf al heeft gedaan om meer te achterhalen over de leverancier. Daarna stem ik e.e.a. af met de Compliance experts.

Ik heb inmiddels een behoorlijke vragenlijst die ik ga voorleggen aan de ondernemer. Voorafgaand heb ik contact gehad met de bank van de klant om af te stemmen hoe de bank tegen deze transactie aankijkt. De bank heeft duidelijke richtlijnen en is terughoudend als het aankomt op het gebruik van Transferable Letters of Credit. Heeft een klant geen kennis en ervaring dan is de bank extra terughoudend omdat er naast een mogelijk financieel risico ook reputationele risico’s en risico’s vanuit Compliance/AML (Anti Money Laundering) aanwezig zijn. Op voorwaarde dat Tradelinq Solutions dit bedrijf begeleidt met de hiervoor toegelichte  “training on the job” geeft de bank groen licht, want ook de producten zijn passend en de winstmarge is verklaarbaar. Wel geldt een voorbehoud van nog uit te voeren Compliance checks door de bank. Onder andere welke partijen zijn hierbij betrokken? Ik spreek af alle informatie aan te leveren, en ga eerst op zoek naar de antwoorden op mijn aanvullende vragen bij de ondernemer.

De ondernemer heeft wel informatie over de leverancier maar die is (te) summier. Ik heb hier al vaker aangegeven dat je als ondernemer niet meer wegkomt met slechts wat Google checks en financiële informatie. De informatie die ik heb gevonden roept vragen op die we bespreken. De leverancier blijkt een klein bedrijf in Europa te zijn terwijl de goederen uit het Verre Oosten komen. Deze leverancier wil volgens het contract een Transferable Letter of Credit  en overdragen naar de uiteindelijke producent in het Verre Oosten. Ik weet uit ervaring dat dit geen haalbare optie is in combinatie met DDP als leveringsconditie. Bovendien staat in het contract dat mijn klant invoerrechten, BTW en eventuele andere kosten moet betalen en dat rijmt niet eens met DDP. Weet de leverancier wel waarover hij spreekt? Deze ondernemer loopt nu vast want hij verwacht zelf Transferable Letters of Credit van zijn afnemer(s) die hij wil overdragen naar de leverancier. De leverancier wil het L/C overdragen naar de uiteindelijke producent. Maar daar gaat het mis! Een Transferable Letter of Credit kan maar een keer worden overdragen en hier blijken er dus 2 “tussenpartijen” te zijn. Voor een Transferable Letter of Credit is er dat een teveel! Dat levert nieuwe uitdagingen op want het contract blijkt al te zijn getekend. Daarnaast blijkt een afgesproken inspectie van de goederen na aankomst in Nederland van weinig waarde te zijn. De betaling heeft dan nl. al onder het L/C plaatsgevonden. Door nog een aantal andere bevindingen komt de ondernemer uiteindelijk zelf tot de conclusie dat hij onder het contract uit wil nu hij meer kennis en begrip van de materie heeft en blijkt er gelukkig nog een escape te zijn.

Jammer dat ik niet toekwam aan een concept Transferable Letter of Credit,  maar er waren in dit geval teveel risico’s financieel en reputationeel voor de ondernemer. Ik werd bedankt voor dit leerzame traject. Het heeft hen de ogen geopend en zelf laten inzien dat ze hier zeker door het extern inschakelen van kennis zijn behoed voor een mogelijk financieel fiasco.

Enkele aandachtspunten:

  1. Teken een contract pas nadat je de mogelijkheden met je bank hebt besproken.
  2. Heb je niet alle kennis in huis? Schakel experts in die je begeleiden om zelf de juiste keuzes te kunnen maken.
  3. Zijn de goederen passend binnen de activiteiten van het bedrijf?
  4. Welke mogelijkheden zijn er nog meer om ALLE beschikbare informatie over specifieke afnemers en leveranciers te verzamelen?

 

TradelinQ Solutions begeleidt bedrijven als geen ander met focus op de transactie en oog voor de risico’s. Informatie of even sparren?  bel 06-13377921 of mail naar [email protected]

 

 

Ger van Rosmalen

Trade Finance Specialist

 

 

The Case for a Global Payment Hub

02-02-2021 | treasuryXL | Kyriba |

Global corporate payments technology is changing at a rapid pace. So rapidly, in fact, that internal IT-managed platforms are not able to keep up and the challenges that ensue are left for the IT team to sort out.

These challenges include:

  • Insufficient Controls
    It is up to IT to protect assets from digitized fraud capabilities that are able to penetrate the standard four-eye principal and, in order to do so, IT will need to enhance controls.
  • Custom Banking Formats
    Each bank has its own specific requirements that, even within the same bank, may differ depending on payment type and bank branch location. The number of custom formats needed can make it difficult for IT to meet all global banking format customization requirements.
  • Infrastructure Costs
    The cost of building and maintaining payment connectivity infrastructure, especially given the customization requirements, can easily exceed what a company anticipated.
  • Delayed Project
    Established bank connections will need to be rebuilt as ERPs migrate to the cloud, which can greatly delay the project. And, rebuilding the connection is often made more difficult as employees leave and retire, taking with them the tribal knowledge of how the original architecture was deployed.

Let’s evaluate some of these in the context of the return on investment (ROI) your organisation would achieve by deploying a connectivity as a service global payment hub.

Enhancing Controls

The most common vulnerabilities to fraud include technical, process and simple human mistakes – and, worst case scenario, internal collusion. All of these become significantly more vulnerable when corporations rely on internally built systems and processes that depend on human control workflows with multiple checkpoints.

Today’s fraudsters are more sophisticated, able to easily penetrate corporate infrastructure and pass internal human dependent control workflows. They utilize social networks to penetrate organisations with phishing schemes that include email, as well as deep fake voice simulation software via phone that can sound exactly like your CFO or CEO requesting payment execution.

The best payment hub solution will aid the human dependent controls with machine learning technology, bringing to their attention anomalies that they must further investigate.  The solution must be able to keep up with technical assets at the fraudster’s disposal – for example, based on history alerts related to banking change and volume as well as OFAC exception.  Payment hubs with machine learning capabilities have demonstrated the ability to reduce corporate fraud exposure by at least 70%.

Payment Connectivity Complexities  

Global banking format customization requirements are extremely complex with very limited, if any, corporate tribal knowledge related to the technical architecture and deployment. Each bank has their own specific requirements. In many cases, there may even be differences of formats within the same bank depending on branch locations. The cost of building and maintaining payment connectivity infrastructure given the customization requirements can be in the millions of dollars.

Payment hubs eliminate this cost in several ways:

  • IT no longer has to manage bank connectivity with outsourced development and maintenance of bank payment formats to the hub solution. Developing this internally can take up to 9 months for each bank at a cost of up to $150K+ per bank, not including any ERP consultant fees.  A payment hub solution will be able to deploy connectivity within weeks and provide 24/7/365 maintenance and support at a fraction of the cost.
  • Multiple systems that previously sent payments to banks can be consolidated down to one. IT will only have to manage one format which is to the payment hub.
  • Treasury can optimise banking services and remove duplication caused by the multitude of systems (including treasury and ERPs) that connected to the banks. This will standardise and enhance controls and auditability of internal workflows.

ERP Cloud Transformation

If you are considering an ERP cloud transformation or are in the process of the transition, all of the bank connectivity that is established in the current environment will have to be re-built.  Given the considerations highlighted earlier tied to the complexities, re-building all of the connections internally will be costly and risk go-live.

Connectivity as a service with the right payment hub will de-risk and accelerate cloud transformation projects. In fact, payment hub solutions provide a more than 80% improvement in time-to-value related to payment go live. This return on investment is inclusive of internal man-hour efforts, external consultant fee elimination, as well as the speed of bank on boarding timelines from up to 9 months to only a few weeks.

In conclusion, payment hubs enhance controls and keep up with the ever-changing fraud environment, eliminate any risk tied to business continuity due to internal infrastructure or tribal knowledge, and finally enable a successful ERP cloud transformation deployment eliminating any risk to internal timelines or objectives.

 

Webinar – Letters of Credit

| 16-02-2021 | Evofenedex

In this Webinar held by Evofenedex, we will learn more about Letter of Credits. The Webinar is in Dutch. Be sure to subscribe!

Een Letter of Credit (L/C) is een veelgebruikte betalingsvorm bij internationale handel. Een L/C wordt bijvoorbeeld regelmatig ingezet bij het zakendoen met het Midden- en Verre Oosten. Als je voor het eerst met een L/C wordt geconfronteerd, is het verstandig een zekere basiskennis te hebben. Na het volgen van dit webinar heb je kennis gemaakt met de L/C en weet je wat daarbij komt kijken.

  • Locatie: Online
  • Datum: 16 Februari 2021
  • Tijdstip: 10:00 – 10:45

WEBINAR – BASISKENNIS LETTERS OF CREDIT BIJ IMPORT EN EXPORT

  • Voor wie? Iedereen die niet of beperkt met L/C’s heeft gewerkt en hier meer over wil weten, zowel vanuit een import- als exportrol.
  • Doel: Deelnemers de basiskennis geven om succesvol met een L/C te kunnen werken. Na het volgen van dit webinar weet je wat een L/C is, welke partijen erbij betrokken zijn en ben je op de hoogte van de tips en tricks bij het gebruik ervan.

Programma

Onderwerp: basiskennis Letters of Credit
Tijd: 10.00-10.45 uur
Spreker: Hans Noordzij, trade finance specialist en docent bij evofenedex
Moderator: Wiemela Mangroo, projectleider bij evofenedex

In dit webinar komen de volgende onderwerpen aan de orde:

  • wat is een L/C en welke partijen zijn betrokken
  • voor- en nadelen van het werken met een L/C
  • documenten bij een L/C
  • aandachtspunten, tips en tricks bij het gebruik van een L/C

MELD AAN

 

How can businesses protect their bottom line against the currency markets?

28-01-2021 | treasuryXL | XE |

Does your company have an exposure to foreign currencies? Wybe Schutte explains in below interview how business can tackle the complexity of FX.

AN INTRODUCTION TO

Wybe Schutte is head of Business Development Europe at XE.com. Wybe’s career has always centered around international business development and managing relationships. Within XE.com both play an important part as globally we XE is the trusted partner of many business in helping them manage & mitigate the risk that is associated with dealing with multiple currencies, be this through simple rate regulation or looking at high level currency risk management & hedging solutions.

We asked him 10 questions. Let’s go!

 

INTERVIEW

1. Can you tell something about XE and its mission?

At Xe, we live currencies. Most people know Xe from the currency converter, however we also provide international money transfer services for business for over 25 years.  Xe’s Business Solutions supports company’s that have an exposure to foreign currency, supporting them to safeguard profit margins and improve cashflow through quantifying the FX risk they face and implementing strategies to mitigate it. So that our clients can focus on their core business and do not have to worry about their FX.

2.What kind of FX risk types exists and how does XE deal with it?

We look within each business to see where the currency risks are, and whether these can be offset. For example, any sales made in Euros could be offset against Euro costs. If there is still an exposure this is where products such as Forward Contracts can be considered in order to provide protection against the risk. Currency risk can be divided into three types: Transactional Risk, when a business deals in a country that differs to their base currency; Transnational Risk, when a business has an asset or liability overseas on their balance sheet, and Economic Risk where a movement in the exchange rate can give a business a competitive advantage when competing for a particular market.

3. How can you measure the different types of FX risk?

FX Risk can either have a negative or positive impact on a business’ bottom line. If you look back over the last 10 years you can understand what the potential impact could be in the most extreme, least extreme and average scenarios over your given timeline.

This can be done by looking at the high & low points of the market and a business’ FX exposure. This step helps companies to understand what the impact of the net exposure can have on the bottom line.

4. What are the most common critical FX problems that businesses have?

Businesses that have a transactional exposure to the currency markets can differentiate between committed and forecasted exposures. A committed exposure is when the price for a good or service in a foreign currency is known and contracted. Therefore, any movement in exchange rate has a direct impact on their profit or cost unless hedged. A forecasted exposure is when a business looks to the period beyond the committed period to see what their requirements may be. Confidence levels into forecasted periods can vary largely and it is normally the case that the further out a business forecasts, the lower the confidence levels.

5. How can businesses protect their bottom line against the currency markets?

There are a number of key stages that a business can look to follow in order to mitigate FX volatility. Firstly, Identify the type of risk, quantify the risk elements, and then look to build a strategy and agree the implementation process. These stages will allow you to decide the products that are most suitable, so you can then move to market timing and execution. Lastly, you should look to review, revise and adjust your approach on a regular basis. It is important to remember that it is not about market speculation but about mitigating your risk.

6. What is, in your perception, the biggest benefit of a working Foreign Exchange strategy?

Given the ever-uncertain world in which we currently live in, finance departments and treasury centres could be looking to build a strategy to deal with currency fluctuations, which over time could have a considerable impact on your company’s bottom line. A structured approach to foreign exchange risk can enable your business to make strategic planning decisions, rather than attempting to respond to day-to-day developments in the market.

7. Do you experience differences in FX before COVID19 and the time we live in now? What are the differences?

There has been significant movements in the currency markets during the Covid19 period and there are still many factors that influence the daily rates. During these uncertain times our clients are looking for certainty and stability. And although price is always important, other key factors like security and credibility became more important. Naturally each of our clients has been impacted very differently and we have worked with them to provide the solutions and flexibility they needed. We have welcomed many new clients from new geographies? as they were growing, and we supported existing clients that were growing or adapting their business models to suit the changing market.

8. The market is always changing, how does XE stay top of mind of the latest developments in the currency world?

We work closely with our clients to continuously understand their needs and adjust accordingly. Our expert Dealers keep a close eye out on the market. Understanding the movements, resistance levels, and key economic & political updates that can influence the market so that our clients do not have to worry about that. Xe also works closely with our sister companies and parent company Euronet Worldwide.

9. How does the future of FX look like in your perspective?

The near future could be set to weather extraordinary levels of balance sheet expansion and recession, potentially leading to a longer stimulative/expansionary monetary policy which could in turn depress currency rates of the countries that bear them. Near to medium term impacts of this could include a lack of major economic expansion as capital returns are often negative when factoring inflation. This may mean that we see a re-composition of FX strength toward commodity-based currencies (CAD/AUD/NZD) and alternative safe havens (CHF). However, we could see this shift in the longer term as public debt, in particular, becomes more tenable and attractive at such low interest rates and could invite broader investment for countries and to a degree private industry.

We have witnessed ample FX market volatility from an increased reliance on a more narrow data core. Inflation and interest rates and also public debt and balance sheet expansion narratives are having the most impact on rate movements. With this in mind; where much of the corrective forces required are formed around policies related to these key issues, it appears that volatility could behere to stay for at least the coming 6-12 months and beyond.

10. What has been your best experience ever in the world of currencies?

Supporting a scale-up with their complex FX requirements and enable them to grow their business in a short period of time by eliminating the FX risk and provide significant costs savings along the way.

 

About XE

At XE, they live currencies. XE provides a comprehensive range of currency services and products, including their Currency Converter, Market Analysis, Currency Data API and quick, easy, secure Money Transfers for individuals and businesses. They leverage technology to deliver these services through their website, mobile apps and over the phone.

Last year, XE helped nearly 300 million people access information about the currencies that matter to them and over 350,000 people used XE to send money overseas. Thousands of businesses relied on XE for information about the currency markets, advice on managing their foreign exchange risk or trusted XE with their business-critical international payments.

International Payments & FX Risk management for business

XE Business Solutions can help safeguard your profit margins and improve cashflow through quantifying the FX risk you face and implementing unique strategies to mitigate it. We provide a comprehensive range of currency services and products to help you access competitive rates with greater control.

At XE, they share the belief that behind every currency exchange, query or transaction is a person or business trying to accomplish something important, so XE works together to develop new and better currency services that put their customers first.

XE is proud to be part of Euronet Worldwide (Nasdaq: EEFT), a global leader in processing secure electronic financial transactions. XE is part of the Money Transfer Division of Euronet and is the unification of HiFX and XE.com.

Visit XE.com

Read XE blogs

Making a Successful Transformation to SAP S/4HANA

19-01-2021 | treasuryXL | Kyriba |

SAP S/4HANA is SAP’s next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for large businesses. Many organizations that are currently using the SAP business suite are looking to upgrade to the new solution, often as part of a wider digital transformation.

As a digital core, S/4HANA is the link between the key business functions within an organization, including finance, marketing, manufacturing, procurement and sales. As well as connecting to the SAP ecosystem, it can connect to other cloud-based systems. It harnesses intelligent technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and the internet of things to automate operations, and it connects data, devices and people in real-time.

S/4HANA enables digital transformation in several ways. It reduces an organization’s overall costs, drives business innovation, supports transformation projects and frees up the IT budget for investment in emerging technologies. Yet, while there is a strong business case in favor of S/4HANA, companies often struggle to identify which functionality they need from the platform, and when and how they should migrate.

Why Migrate Now?

Digital transformation is accelerating all the time and S/4HANA is “mission-critical” for digital transformation, explained Promantus’ director and head of Europe, Vikash Roy Chowdhury, during a recent webinar hosted by SAPinsider and sponsored by Kyriba. He added that as S/4HANA optimizes an organization’s digital transformation strategy, “it provides identity, visibility and innovation”.

There are many reasons why organizations should begin their migration to S/4HANA now:

  1. To take advantage of the digital economy and be quicker at getting new products and solutions to market.
     As digital transformation continues to gather pace, business processes will be further automated and new data flows will emerge, enabling organizations to gain better insights, improve their decision-making and foster business innovation.
  2. To avoid falling behind in the digital transformation journey.
    SAP will continue to provide standard support for its on-premise ERP system, ERP Central Component (ECC), until 2027. On the face of it, this commitment may seem a reason for organizations not to migrate to S/4HANA, but there are risks associated with continuing with a platform that has been earmarked for retirement. One risk is that organizations will get a poor return on investment in terms of their technological spend. Another is that they are overtaken by rivals that use S/4HANA’s state-of-the-art functionality to run their businesses more efficiently.
  3. To save money.
    The cost of implementing S/4HANA, and migrating to the platform, is likely to increase substantially over the next few years, as more and more businesses compete to secure resources that can support them with transformation.

The Challenges of an ERP Transformation

Migration to S/4HANA can present some significant challenges to businesses. Typically, the biggest challenge is resolving data issues. Other challenges include a lack of qualified resources, integration of legacy systems, accommodation of custom coding, and understanding the impact of S/4HANA on processes, especially where functionality has changed.

And treasuries have specific requirements in relation to an S/4HANA migration. They want bank connectivity and the integration of their global banks inside the S/4HANA infrastructure. They also want to see accelerated time-to-value (the rate at which the business benefits from the migration) so that they can free up resources from routine work to focus on more strategic activities, such as helping their organization to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic.

Unfortunately, bank connectivity can be one of the most difficult aspects of migration to S/4HANA, or any other ERP for that matter. It can take months – or even years – to achieve. “A lot of times… what keeps these ERP projects from going live is still waiting for the banks,” says Steven Otwell, director of payments at Kyriba.

For this reason, Kyriba is strategically collaborating with Promantus to support migration to S/4HANA from a treasury perspective.

Support for Treasuries

Fortunately, automation can ease the migration process. Promantus has developed a comprehensive S/4HANA transformation tool called ProAcc, which quickly and seamlessly automates all the migration phases, including assessment, pre-conversion, post-conversion and validation.

ProAcc provides a detailed assessment report that includes tailored recommendations for optimization and alternative scenarios, based on the current state. It also offers a single-view dashboard that gives full visibility around the migration process, from discovery to go-live. Furthermore, it acts as a single repository for the sequence of automated activities that take place, including prediction, monitoring, data snapshots, data integrity, configuration checks, and reconciliation.

The speed of migration will depend on an organization’s business and technological requirements, current SAP environment, and data quality and quantity, among other considerations.

Organizations that use ProAcc to support their S/4HANA migration benefit from:

  • Swift, secure and cost-effective implementation
  • Minimal interruptions to critical business processes
  • A tailor-made approach
  • Sequentially automated processes
  • Comprehensive support

“At Promantus and Kyriba, our entire focus is to bring the highest value to corporations in the shortest possible time, and at the lowest cost,” said Johnny Daugaard, vice president of client engagement at Promantus.

Kyriba’s service-based solution includes:

  • Connectivity as a Service.
    Bolt-on bank connectivity for SAP enables organizations to connect with thousands of banks and achieve time savings in excess of 80%. Kyriba has more than 550 active, configured and tested bank solutions for plug and play ERP connectivity. It also monitors bank connection 24/7 on behalf of its clients, with connection managed in different ways including FTP, host-to-host, regional protocols and SWIFT. Kyriba is the largest SWIFT for Corporates service bureau globally, managing more than 20% of SWIFT’s corporate business. As Kyriba’s service is fully outsourced, organizations do not need to employ internal resources to support bank connectivity, which reduces their overheads.
  • Customized Payment Fraud Management.
    This solution uses detection rules, coupled with machine learning, to detect anomalies in an organization’s flow of data from its SAP system to its banks. These anomalies could be possible payment frauds.
  • Payment Format Library.
    Kyriba’s library contains over 45,000 pre-developed and bank-tested payment format scenarios, which are shared across all Kyriba clients. This saves organizations from having to develop their own payment formats for their S/4HANA platform, which can be complicated, expensive and time-consuming – especially when an organization works with a large number of banks. Kyriba simply takes a single payment file from the organization’s ERP and interprets it. It then transforms the file, based on the approved format requirements of the individual banks.
  • Global bank monitoring.
    All incoming and outcoming bank files are monitored, relieving the IT team of the burden of having to work out whether files have been processed. Effectively, an organization’s banking support is fully outsourced to Kyriba.

Conclusion 

Today, organizations are having to react with agility to the challenges posed by Covid-19. Digital transformation is key both to their present survival and their future success – and for many large organizations, this transformation will be underpinned by migration to S/4HANA. Treasury and IT should be closely involved with this migration and carefully consider solutions that enable them to meet their objectives without consuming valuable resources.