The Big Three: Treasury technology trends for 2015
The role of the treasurer is changing faster than ever before – and the technology that they use will have to keep up. Here are our three major predictions for treasury technology in 2015.
The role of the treasurer is changing faster than ever before – and the technology that they use will have to keep up. Here are our three major predictions for treasury technology in 2015.
The role of the treasurer is changing faster than ever before – and the technology that they use will have to keep up. Here are our three major predictions for treasury technology in 2015.
1. Ease of use
Treasury systems may have lagged behind consumer-targeted interfaces when it comes to intuitive design, but user experience is fast becoming a major buzzword in the sector. As treasury teams continue to shrink, simplified, accessible technology will increasingly become non-negotiable as a way of stripping out operational inefficiencies and complex processes, as well as speeding up training.
2. Better metadata
Increasingly, corporate treasurers need to be able to deconstruct their payment flows, accessing payment data from every step of the value chain – from initial supplier to end customer. Stricter compliance rules mean that they can no longer turn a blind eye to what happens at other stages in the transaction chain, while greater demands on the treasurer’s role encourages a more analytic approach to available data.
This will be reflected, in part, by new features added to the systems that treasurers use in the day-to-day. These will now need be able to track the whole payment transaction lifestyle, identifying trigger points as necessary. Areas such as reporting, reconciliation, trade finance and forex services have all moved into the treasury remit – and the software available to them will have to adapt accordingly.
3. Strategic insights
Treasurers no longer work in isolation: more and more, they play a pivotal role in defining corporate strategy. A joined-up approach to business requires a joined-up technological foundation, and treasury management systems will have to respond to this demand by creating systems that, firstly, converge all major functions covered by treasury, automate many of these processes, and create opportunities for deep analysis. The key will be to help treasurers to quickly spot overlapping trends, pain points, and opportunities for streamlining, by bringing all of the relevant data together in one place.