Digitisation of Treasury | Part 3

Digitisation: Is it the Treasury Utopia it’s made out to be?

Read Part 1 & Part 2.

Will technology deliver the dream for treasurers?

Not to sound like a gloomy Gus, but like all technological innovations that have promised an idealistic future, there are sure to be complications along the way.

Today, the treasury environment is at crossroads of enormous technological change, however the future looks both exciting and murky.

While technology such as AccessPay’s Cash Management solution holds all sorts of promises for solving the treasury problems of tomorrow, when these technologies are fully realised, what will the treasury environment look like?

Will we get many Google Glasses, before we get another iPhone?

Complications of digitisation

Whatever the industry, technological change is something that brings complications with it. Technology that answers a problem and relieves treasury pain points will no doubt be adopted. Why wouldn’t you make your job easier?

But as treasury tech becomes more widely adopted, will we see more security and efficiency problems? Will system interoperability muddy the water? These are just some of the complications that arise when technology makes inroads into business process re-engineering.

Proliferation of Service Providers

Historically the treasury clash has been between choosing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) treasury management module, or choosing a TMS outright.

However, with the arrival of intuitive FinTech treasury software alternatives such as Automated Cash Analytics Tools and Application Service Providers (ASPs) offering clients access to TMS style software-as-a-service, as well as payments systems and other financial services applications that go alongside, treasurers are being offered even greater choice.

With treasurers trying to derive optimum value by choosing a combination of these solutions, getting the mixture correct is key to the success of the treasury department. After all, the purpose of treasury technology is to make treasury operations more secure and efficient, freeing up the treasurer’s time to focus on making strategic decisions.

If you get the combination correct, systems will talk to each other and you’ll achieve harmony across the treasury function. However, if you get it wrong, the consequences could leave you with more inefficiencies, and further conflicts

Security and data

Underpinning the technological advancements powering the digitisation of treasury functions, is the ubiquitous craving for, availability of, and usefulness of BIG DATA – As Oprah would say, “You get Data! You get Data! Everyone gets Data!!!”

For treasury departments, with an increasing number of software options, comes the challenge of managing multiple data points, numerous logins and even third-party access to data. It’s a challenge that is multiplied when the requirement is real-time, global and there’s more than one legal entity involved.

Where will you host the data? Remember, there are international data privacy legislations applicable in key jurisdictions governing where data is gathered, processed and stored. As a result, getting it wrong could lead you into a lot of trouble with the law.

How will you control access to data? Who will take responsibility if there’s a breach? Whichever way you decide to digitise your treasury departmental functions, one thing is for certain; security and data is going to be on top of the agenda – and getting it right is going to be key.

A look to the future

Focus on digitisation of treasury directly correlates with the ever-expanding role of the corporate treasurer. By looking at the roles and responsibility of a treasury and how technology plays a significant role, it’s clear to see they go hand in hand.

In order to meet the demands of this new role, technology will have to develop too – and that’s exactly what we’re doing with Cash Management.

The road ahead…