How Streamlined Bank Connectivity Enhances Business Performance for the Office of the CFO

In today’s fast-paced and uncertain business environment, the role of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is increasingly complex. A panel session at KyribaLive 2023 discussed how BlackLine and Kyriba, in partnership with RSM, build automated workflows through streamlined bank connectivity for joint clients and support them to enhance business performance. The discussion highlighted the importance of leveraging technology to address the evolving demands across the office of the CFO.

Resilience as a Common Theme

The overarching theme of resilience resonates strongly with prospective clients and customers, emphasizing the need for mitigation strategies that align with the CFO’s vision and enable quick pivoting in response to the ever-changing market dynamics.

Several key areas were identified as critical for organizations to focus on enhancing resilience across the business lines.

Evolving Business Models and Regulatory Changes

As companies grow and adapt to changing market conditions, evolving business models bring forth new challenges. Treasury professionals need to stay informed about regulatory changes and effectively incorporate them into their strategies.

Employee Considerations and Technological Advancements

The workforce landscape is undergoing transformations, with labor shortages and high turnover rates affecting organizations. To attract and retain talent, companies need to leverage technology to enhance efficiency, reduce manual tasks and provide employees with more impactful and meaningful work.

Collaboration for Streamlined Operations

Treasury teams play a strategic role within the finance department. Collaboration and streamlined communication with other groups ensure efficient operations and enable treasury departments to become trusted advisors. Accurate and timely cash reporting, forecasting and visibility into working capital components are crucial factors for successful treasury operations.

Digital Transformation and Connectivity

Digital transformation is essential for addressing the evolving demands on treasury teams. It involves moving beyond implementing isolated tools and creating an interconnected architecture that enables seamless connectivity between different technologies. This integrated approach allows for a centralized source of truth and informed decision-making.

Creating Agility with an Agnostic Connectivity Platform

As we dive deeper into the importance of streamlined bank connectivity and how leveraging bank data can drive informed decision-making, one important aspect will be ensuring seamless integration between systems. Additionally, leveraging the data generated within these systems shows that treasury professionals can unlock valuable insights and maximize their knowledge to drive business decisions.

Let’s now explore the benefits of connectivity, including liquidity optimization, working capital management and the advantages of an agnostic connectivity platform.

Connectivity plays a crucial role in facilitating effective communication between different systems, particularly in the context of treasury management. By establishing robust connectivity between various financial systems and banking partners, treasury professionals can unlock the potential of the vast amount of data residing within these systems, such as Kyriba.

With seamless connectivity, different systems can “talk” to each other, enabling efficient and secure data transfer between treasury management systems and banking platforms. This connectivity empowers treasury teams to leverage the wealth of data available within these systems to their advantage.

Effective technology integration can also go beyond bank connectivity and encompasses the seamless integration of various systems and technologies within an organization’s treasury management framework. By integrating different technologies and systems, such as treasury management systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and financial analytics platforms, treasury professionals can harness the full potential of their technological infrastructure. This integration enables the exchange of data and insights across different systems, leading to improved efficiency, accuracy and decision-making.

In the current market environment characterized by increased volatility and potential interest rate rises, optimizing working capital has become even more crucial for businesses. Unlocking trapped or idle cash can significantly benefit organizations by providing valuable insights into their financial resources.

Winning with ‘Connected Partnerships’

The session emphasized the importance of collaboration between BlackLine, RSM and Kyriba in automating accounting and finance processes through “connected partnerships’.

For example, Kyriba offers a central hub that integrates with various systems including BlackLine’s cloud-based accounting software solutions. By leveraging BlackLine’s system capabilities, organizations can achieve significant reductions in manual activity, unapplied cash and Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). By integrating these data sources with Kyriba’s treasury management system, customers can gain greater cash visibility and reporting capabilities from the banks all the way to the general ledger.

A connected partnership between the two systems also enables our joint clients to use the analytics dashboards to their full potential. For example BlackLine offers Financial Close Dashboards to facilitate collaboration by centralizing communication, enabling teams to add comments, share supporting documentation and monitor changes in accounts. With streamlined processes and faster access to accurate data, organizations can reduce the time required for financial close by an average of 70%.

Key Takeaways

Streamlining bank connectivity to leverage bank data is paramount for the office of the CFO, including treasury, accounting and other extended finance teams. By integrating systems and embracing automation, organizations can unlock valuable insights and drive informed decision-making.

Effective utilization of bank data enhances liquidity optimization, working capital management, financial close processes and cash application. As treasury teams embrace the power of automation, they cement their role as stewards of the organization’s balance sheet, ensuring financial stability and propelling the organization towards success in a dynamic market environment.