BCR Publishing
We are the leading provider of news, market intelligence, events and training for the global receivables finance industry.
Working with industry leading organisations, experts, governments and universities, BCR Publications delivers expertise in factoring, receivables and supply chain finance to a global audience.
BCR has long been a beacon of innovation and excellence in the realm of receivables finance, playing an instrumental role in shaping the industry’s international landscape. Through its comprehensive conferences, insightful publications, and thought leadership, BCR has facilitated crucial dialogues and connections among industry professionals, driving forward the development of receivables finance globally.
Follow BCR Publishing
Free passes
For corporate treasurer roles/functions!
Guide to Treasury Technlogy by ACT & AFP
| 1-5-2017| treasuryXL | ACT | AFP |
ACT
and AFP have published a Guide to Treasury Technology sponsored by Bloomberg, which might be interesting for you.
Managing treasury tasks has become more complex due to globalization of markets and increasing uncertainty in business since the first AFP edition appeared in 2011. Since then treasurers faced multiple challenges to exercise control of treasury activities, especially group activities.
Managing treasury has become more complex during the years in the face of global change and increasingly uncertain markets. Treasury practitioners face magnified challenges, as they try to gain more visibility and exercise more control over group activities. Treasury technology developed quickly to help them to operate more efficiently and answer compliance requests with ever more stringent regulation. Automate processes was one of the biggest challenges. Technology can help treasury play a more strategic role, automate routines and be compliant with regulatory environment.
Joint AFP/ACT publication, sponsored by Bloomberg
This guide is the first joint AFP/ACT publication and aims to help practitioners to identify a cost-efficient solution.
The first chapter starts with a detailed introduction of the development of treasury technology, expectations towards this technology and how the evolution of the Corporate Treasurer took place. This chapter illustrates how the technology available to treasurers has developed over the last 15 years. A brief explanation of how dedicated treasury technology was first developed is followed by details of how a series of factors have moulded the treasury technology market into the one we see today. Three points are highlighted: that the treasury technology market has matured, tremendous improvements in the quality of connectivity and what the changes brought with them for Corporate Treasurers.
Why review technology?
In Chapter 2 the drivers for reviewing the technology and a case study are presented.
With the rapid changes in available technology, the increased opportunity for treasury centralization and the need for treasurers to be able to demonstrate control over activities, treasurers were reviewing how best to deploy technology in order to help them perform their various roles effectively. Given the different environments in which companies operate, the potential benefits from the deployment of a new technology solution can vary significantly. This chapter outlines some of the key drivers that are encouraging treasury practitioners to review their use of technology.
Purpose of technology
Chapter 3 deals with the purpose of technology and identifies the core roles of the treasury department. Also how treasury structure can affect the use of technology. When assessing a deployment of technology, treasurers need to determine their requirements of the technology. This chapter includes a series of questions to help treasurers clarify their existing operations and also identify how structures and processes might change with the adoption of new technology. A case study shows how a company uses a certain technology to improve process quality.
Technology solutions
Chapter 4 presents treasury technology solutions.
A wide range of technology solutions is available to support treasurers. Treasury management systems are able to support the majority of the work of most treasury departments. However, it is also possible to develop a technology solution that supports treasury departments, including those with complex operations, without adopting a treasury management system. This can be achieved by developing in-house solutions or by using tools offered by banks and other vendors. A range of potential solutions available to support treasurers is presented in this chapter.
Evaluation and building a business case
Chapter 5 is about the evaluation process and how building a business case can help to evaluate which technology fits best. How to build a business case and then how to develop a requirements definition is explained in detail. The requirements definition is a critical part of the process: it helps to set the scope for the project and is the core document in the selection process. The process of developing the requirements definition also helps to build support for, and awareness of, the project throughout the rest of the organization.
Selection, implementation and maintaining the solution
Chapter 6, 7 deal with the selection and implementation process, while chapter 9 tells you more about maintaining the solution over time.
Trends
Chapter 10, the final chapter describes some of the current trends in treasury technology and lines out how they might impact treasurers over the coming years. Some of the key areas of development in technology and also some of the market changes which might require a technological response are presented.
In the appendix of the guide you will find information on how to develop a request for proposal (RFP) , a checking list for this RFP and a very detailed country reports list.
Source: © Association for Financial Professionals, ACT (Administration) Limited and WWCP Limited (except articles by Bloomberg LP), 2016, ISBN 978 1 899518 47 0 book 978 1 899518 48 7 CD ROM, for the articles Bloomberg LP, 2016 | TMI
Our conclusion
A very detailed, valuable guide for all who want to learn more about treasury technology, want to find out more on how to select the best technology solution that meets the specific requirements of their company and what to focus on during the purchase and implementation process. You can find the guide on tmi, after registering for free.
Review Dutch Fintech Awards: I’ll be back next year!
| 28-4-2017 | Pieter de Kiewit |
Dutch Fintech Awards
The event was not about parallel sessions or handing out brochures between presentations. One large, very representative room at the headquarter of Rabobank, a moderator who used interactive technology (on my smartphone!), a number of categories where three contenders pitched, an expert giving his opinion and a jury. At the end of the day the winners got awards and one of them won the event over all.
Pitches with various approaches
In comparison to previous versions of the event, I liked that there were no parallel sessions. There was plenty of time to network, people did not feel the need to skip presentations. One could notice that the pitches had various approaches: some of them were purely focused on the product or solutions as if to land extra clients. Others pitched as if to land extra funding. That made the task for jurors harder. Perhaps by coincidence, the less professional pitches were in the same categories.
The overall winner: BUX
The categories catered various target groups. Private persons could learn about financial planning tools & innovative on-line banking, SMEs about expenses management & crowd funding and large corporates about internet fraud & credit rating. I will not go into details about specific company pitches, you can read about them on www.fintech.nl. The only company I want to mention is the winner: Bux. The pitch had flair, a clear target group, a structured & smart approach and success was described in numbers. Both the proposition as well as the business case (funding!) were presented and questions were being answered with confidence.
I left later than planned, inspired, made new connections and met old friends. I will be back next year.
Pieter de Kiewit
Owner Treasurer Search
More articles of this author:
Fintech recruitment considerations
Singing from the same hymn sheet
| 26-4-2017 | Hubert Rappold | Sponsored content |
A typical treasury department runs a number of systems: a treasury management system for day-to-day operations, a trading platform, a market information system, electronic banking software and so on. So why on earth would you really need a separate treasury information platform (TIP)? After all, the data already exists in a multitude of other systems. Well, that is certainly true but also part of the challenge. If there is no single place where all the data can come together to create your reports at the press of a button, you will most likely be forced into a mediocre data warehouse solution also used by other departments or into a ‘handmade’ spreadsheet-based solution with all its drawbacks.
On top of that, even in an ideal world, when all your data is in a single system, there are circumstances where it is almost certain that you will need to integrate additional data. Just think about acquisitions. lt usually takes years before the systems are harmonised. So what do you do in the meantime?
Requirements of a TIP
A TIP needs to fulfil a range of requirements in order to satisfy the needs of treasury departments.
What happens if these requirements are not fulfilled is quite easy to imagine. Your reporting will be cumbersome, error-prone and data quality will be poor. Ultimately, the reporting project will fail and a new generation of interns will develop yet another Excel-based monstrosity doomed to failure.
Let’s look at these requirements in greater detail:
Outline of system architecture
Below, I have outlined how such a system could fit into your existing system environment and what the interactions are between these components.
The TIP acts as the information hub between the various systems. lt receives and passes on data to and from other systems. Based on this data, all the reports are created without any need for manual consolidation.
Benefits of a TIP
Selecting a TIP
Usually, a TIP is selected because there is one burning issue that needs to be solved, for example, a group-wide overview of bank accounts or cash flow forecasting. If you select a TIP for any of these functionalities, always ask yourself what could be the next burning issue. These are usually identified by analysing the existing spreadsheet-based solutions. Any of these is a good candidate to be replaced by the TIP.
With this list in mind, look at the existing providers and make sure that they cover all your needs and not only the one that currently causes most of the pain. Also make sure that the system provider has treasury experience. Just think about cash flow forecasting. Most system vendors will tell you that planning is part of their system. However, a closer look will show you that basic functionality is missing; for example, the connection to the financial status as the starting point of the forecast or the display of credit facilities according to their maturity structure. Basic things, if you are treasurer, but a different world for the average system provider.
Also make sure that the system has an intuitive user interface, especially where large amounts of data are captured, for example, for the cash flow forecast. lt should be as easy as a spreadsheetbased solution in order to gain the acceptance needed. Interfaces should exist to all relevant standards and systems. Last and definitely not least, a large customer base that happily acts as references is a must. If this does not exist, the chances are high that the system provider will develop the system at your expense.
Look at your current treasury reporting. If you encounter lots of spreadsheet-based solutions, if you see files transferred via e-mail, if a lot of manual work is needed to create reports and if you find yourself tracking down differences between different reports time and again, you should consider a treasury reporting solution like TIP.
For more information please refer to TIPCO Treasury & Technology
[button url=”https://www.treasuryxl.com/community/experts/hubert-rappold/” text=”View expert profile” size=”small” type=”primary” icon=”” external=”1″]
[separator type=”” size=”” icon=””]