The Merits of a Platform Utilization Study

When Kyriba presented the option of a platform utilization study to the treasury team of Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), they seized the opportunity. Their treasury team wanted to understand how HCSC was using their treasury management system (TMS), as well as the processes built around it, since the system implementation.

A panel discussion at KyribaLive 2023 explores what a platform utilization study looks like and how it helped HCSC maximize their TMS system capabilities. Speakers Peter Simpson, Senior Consultant, Nitor Partners, Alex Williamson, Vice President Sales, Kyriba, and David Derenek, Senior Director Treasury Operations, HCSC, reveal how the study helped HCSC identify underutilized functionalities and benefit from the latest Kyriba features.

Why a Platform Utilization Study

In general, a platform utilization study provides the opportunity to make sure you are getting the most out of your Kyriba system. Simpson, who performed a platform utilization study with HCSC, defines such a study as “a simple but comprehensive analysis of your Kyriba system. What are you currently doing in there? What could be improved upon?” The goal of the study is to identify the gaps between where you currently are and the best practices Kyriba has to offer from working with its global client base.

Simpson describes the three most common reasons why clients need a platform utilization study. First, module maintenance is required because there might be a lack of knowledge on the treasury team, due to turnover or not fully understanding complex, multi-step processes. Module maintenance may also be necessary to address any connectivity issues that may be preventing important data from entering or being reported in the system. Second, to ensure users are benefiting from the system’s full functionality, a study examines where a system is being underutilized. And the third reason for a study is process improvement in order to take existing processes to the “next level.”

Moving on to study diagnostics and methodology, Simpson explains how Kyriba’s modular-based structure makes it straightforward to conduct a methodical analysis of the functionality within each module. Using a scorecard to rank how each functionality is being used in comparison with Kyriba best practice, Nitor Consultants identified which areas of HCSC’s system were working properly, being underutilized, or not being used at all.

Simpson emphasizes that training is a big part of utilization study implementation because “we’re not just fixing your system. We want to make sure that you have the understanding to carry on the processes into the future.” Additionally, Simpson reassures that “these types of implementations are more relaxed than an initial implementation. There’s not all the urgency to do all of these different things, so there’s adaptability to accommodate wherever you might be with your current processes without negatively impacting what you are doing on a day-to-day basis.”

HCSC Uses the Study for Continual Progression

Before overviewing HCSC’s experience with the platform utilization study, Derenek provides some background on HCSC’s treasury digital transformation, designed to centralize treasury activities with the specific objectives of enhancing global cash visibility, improving controls, and increasing global team productivity. The first phase of that transformation culminated with the implementation of Kyriba in 2016, resulting in a more effective and productive treasury organization overall.

Following HCSC’s philosophy of continual progression, Derenek made recommendations to further automate, digitize, and process-improve all of the treasury functions for strategic improvements and best practices–and that’s where the platform utilization study comes in.

In 2021, after five years of using Kyriba, Derenek and his Kyriba account representative saw an opportunity to ensure HCSC was taking advantage of all of Kyriba’s features. Although the Kyriba implementation was a success, he felt HCSC was not keeping up with new features they could use to solve pain points and further automate their processes. As a large organization with a lot of moving parts, Derenek remarks, “We had turnover of staff. We weren’t keeping up with the latest developments in Kyriba. And not only that, our business was changing as well. So it was the perfect time to look at how we were utilizing Kyriba.”

According to Derenek, the purpose of the study was to “review and assess the treasury teams’s effective use of treasury systems and identify how best practices were actually being employed to optimize performance against peers and industry benchmarks.” Derenek further explains, “This comprehensive total TMS system review was performed five years after the actual implementation of the TMS. Everything under the hood was examined with the goal of improving the productivity of our team, the user experience, and improving job satisfaction.”

Over only two and a half days, the platform utilization study was conducted on-site with the HCSC treasury team. The treasury team answered questions to determine how they were using the tools, what they were using them for, and their processes. Kyriba evaluated each capability within every module and assessed its current usage.

As a result of the study, HCSC added new functionalities and paused or eliminated features that were “highly underutilized,” thus reducing costs as they optimized their system. Additionally, they were able to align their system usage to strategic priorities while also improving the user experience.

Derenek recommends undergoing a platform utilization study every few years. At HCSC, he plans to run studies on a regular basis and aims to “segregate several modules and then keep it on a rotating basis to make sure that we’re keeping up-to-date.”

Unlock the Full Potential of the Kyriba Platform

Characterizing the platform utilization study as a “launching point to a lot of our successes,” Derenek emphasizes the study was “very worthwhile,” providing confidence in a “great partner” and a “great tool.” He also highlights that the study “increased the ability of the enterprise teams to work on strategic initiatives.”

As HCSC’s platform utilization study demonstrates, this type of study offers organizations the chance to unlock the full potential of their Kyriba systems. By identifying areas for improvement, streamlining processes, and adding new features, organizations can enhance their treasury operations, reduce errors, increase efficiency, and make data-driven decisions. Embracing the opportunity of a platform utilization study can lead to a more effective and productive treasury organization overall.