Thought Leadership

The IDC White Paper commissioned by Kyriba validates the emergence of a new practice area in Enterprise IT that includes risk management, payments, real-time connectivity, treasury management and working capital optimization. Download this report...

The IDC White Paper commissioned by Kyriba validates the emergence of a new practice area in Enterprise IT that includes risk management, payments, real-time connectivity, treasury management and working capital optimization. Download this report to understand more about the emerging trends and critical areas of practice that define how leading companies can outperform in operational efficiency, technology adoption, and process maturity. Enterprise Liquidity Management: 51% of leaders can produce a consolidated view of cash and liquidity in under one hour compared to 8% of the less equipped companies; Risk Reduction: 79% of leaders have implemented very effective payment fraud prevention and 69% of them effectively hedge to protect their liquidity; Real-Time Decisions: 93% of leaders leverage real-time insights, while 85% of them have integrated data from partners and third-party members into their enterprise platforms. Situation Overview For CFOs, treasurers, and corporate boards, the COVID-19 pandemic represented a moment of clarity. Seemingly overnight, CFOs were faced with a crisis bigger in many ways than the 2008 financial crisis. In the space of days, treasurers had to shift from managing long-term strategic initiatives of the business to ensuring immediate access to cash to fund basic business operations. Corporate finance leaders long burdened by dwindling IT budgets and limited head count were forced to lean heavily on their treasury and cash management tools. Unfortunately, some treasurers were hampered greatly by their legacy software packages, thwarted by a lack of agility and visibility with their legacy software. Yet, as with all major events, CFOs are often the powerful catalyst for change. The role of the CFO was already changing, but now, because of the past year, the CFO’s environment has changed as well. Corporate finance leaders long burdened by dwindling IT budgets and limited head count were forced to lean heavily on their treasury and cash management tools. Key Pain Points for Today’s Liquidity Management Teams To better understand these changes, IDC conducted a survey of more than 800 corporate finance leaders and practitioners in August 20211 to explore the emerging importance corporate finance leaders are assigning to liquidity management, both during times of crisis and to leverage opportunities for growth. The results of the survey were compelling in many aspects including findings that strongly indicate urgency for CFOs, treasurers, and other financial leaders to design and deploy strategic initiatives to manage liquidity holistically. Effective and efficient liquidity management is among the top priorities for survey respondents2. Here are a few reasons driving increased urgency for liquidity management for treasurers and other financial leaders: Ineffective communication of key treasury/financial metrics to key stakeholders through the company. Many financial leaders struggle to gather the data needed to effectively surface the key metrics to the executive teams and board members. A major part of this issue is the relative lack of real-time access to liquidity data. The survey shows that less than 30% of treasurers can leverage treasury insights in real time. Managing points of revenue leakage including fraud and payment optimization. Given the current environment of uncertainty, financial leaders are doubling their focus on areas of revenue leakage including bank fees/changes and fraud management issues. Only 42% of leaders would characterize their ability to protect their cash/liquidity against fraud as very effective. Given the average company will experience 5–10 fraud incidents per year, the impact on liquidity/cash is immense. Fraud is not the only source of revenue leakage, according to the survey; the reduction of transaction costs and fees paid to third-party payment providers was among the top 5 priorities for treasurers seeking to improve their ability to move cash and liquidity. Managing constant regulatory changes. The regulatory landscape is in constant flux for treasury operations including VAT changes, open banking implementation, and upcoming LIBOR changes. The CFO must have the tools to cope with these regulatory shifts. It seems that CFOs understand the urgency around this as the survey shows that increasing the budget for treasury technology and tools is the number 1 priority over the next two to three years. Liquidity Management Emerges as a Practice Area The events of 2020 have forced CFOs to prioritize business resiliency and continuity by optimizing liquidity management. This will mean a greater focus on working capital management3 including sourcing external funding and providing financing for critical suppliers efficiently. Given the current economic uncertainty, cash and liquidity management have been top of mind for financial leaders. The pressure to maintain liquidity is tremendous as companies of all sizes fight to retain market position and, in some cases, simply stay alive. As a result, businesses have found themselves needing to reforecast their liquidity and cash flow more frequently (weekly or even daily). However, this is a difficult proposition for any company considering the following survey data points, according to the IDC survey of more than 800 corporate finance leaders: Enterprise liquidity management is a “practice area” for 15% of the organizations. Survey leaders are well underway to operationalizing the building blocks of enterprisewide liquidity management (see Figure 1). Only one in eight companies has extensive visibility into the company’s current cash positions (i.e., real-time view of more than 90% of cash). Less than 5% of organizations can reliably forecast cash beyond three months, with most companies being able to only reliably forecast their company’s cash position out to four weeks. Further, less than 20% of organizations can forecast their company’s liquidity beyond one month. Only half (51%) of the businesses were able to build a consolidated view of their cash and liquidity within the same day of the request. In addition to being able to forecast and reforecast quickly and efficiently, financial leaders found that they desperately needed the ability to simulate future what-if scenarios and to create plans based on those what-if scenarios4. The benefit of this capability is that business leaders can remain in lockstep around core business objectives even as the business environment changes rapidly. Unfortunately, many financial leaders don’t have the tools to support scenario planning for liquidity, and as such, they must cope with limited visibility for decision making. The most prominent area of impact is in decision making for treasurers and their executive teams. CFOs with limited visibility are slower to make decisions regarding money movement, internal funding of projects, or M&A activity. Furthermore, a lack of visibility can even impact the bottom line as companies may choose to be less aggressive in moving money into/out of the exchange markets and may opt for expensive external funding sources unnecessarily. Managing Liquidity Enterprisewide Requires Unification More and more, organizations are coming to the realization that liquidity management is not only a critical aspect of functioning in this “new normal” but also a team sport. Organizations must have a unified approach to all data, processes, and human capital related to liquidity management5. Here are the key characteristics of an enterprisewide unified liquidity management process: Centralized liquidity / cash data The centralization of liquidity data streamlines financial operation, allowing for better control for financial leaders. Centralization provides financial leaders with the opportunity to standardize cash management across all legal entities, reduce the number of bank accounts in use, and provide a more holistic view of bank or FX exposures. Deep liquidity analytics Having access to deep analytics provides users with the ability to better predict future liquidity. More importantly, it allows them the chance to find patterns or overlooked items that have business significance (e.g., identifying cash as a revenue-generating asset and monitoring bank fees and deposit rates). Partnering environment Financial line-of-business professionals are often left on an island. This is often the case for finance directors, controllers, and heads of accounting. In fact, only 20% of survey respondents have their CEO as their champion who initiates unified liquidity management initiatives. The key to executive participation goes beyond simply getting the CEO involved in liquidity management decisions. The key here is to develop a partnering environment for all operational decision makers and stakeholders. This can be exceedingly difficult without the proper tools to support partnering and collaboration across business leaders. Dedicated tools to quickly expose key liquidity metrics to all stakeholders within the business are essential. Seamless integration Data must flow between all the relevant cash functions, including treasury, accounts payable, accounts receivable, FP&A, order management, and procurement6. In addition, the data must flow outside of the finance teams as well including investors and lenders, certain government agencies, credit rating organizations, and evens to certain customers and suppliers7. Only then will financial leaders be able to gain a holistic view of the organization’s current cash/liquidity position. Real-time massive data Finance leaders need real-time information to optimize decision making, but often they must wait till the end of day/period/quarter to get an accurate and holistic view of the current state of enterprise liquidity. Today’s liquidity managers need real-time data to build accurate forecasts and market simulations8. Real time is also essential in effective communication of the business cash position between stakeholders. Follow the Leader The process of managing treasury at the corporate level is complex and ever changing. In these cases, it is not unusual for CFOs and their treasury managers to reach out to gather advice from trusted sources. Leader companies, as defined by the survey, are more likely to reach out to their fintech partners and their accounting/audit partners for guidance than their laggard counterparts9. This is an example of how leader companies create a road map for other companies to follow. Here are a few other areas where leaders are blazing a trail for other companies: Involvement of the top management: A unified liquidity management strategy, when done properly, incorporates feedback from all departments. In short, a unified liquidity management strategy demands a unified approach from top finance leaders and even from the broader business leaders. For example, sales and supply chain have a massive impact on liquidity. As such, the leadership in these areas must also move in a coordinated fashion regarding liquidity management for the business. Visibility for financial leaders and decision makers: Leaders are significantly more aware of their real-time cash availability. Over 79% of leaders were able to get >75% visibility of past liquidity compared with <20% of laggards. Over 75% of all firms can predict their cash up to four weeks reliably; however, beyond four weeks is a struggle for all firms. The logistics of cash and liquidity: All (100%) leaders are very efficient at using pooling and sweeping to manage cash and liquidity; almost no laggards are. Leaders are focused on increasing the adoption of new and existing payment systems. Keeping cash and liquidity protected: Close to 100% of leaders are effective at using business continuity and contingency planning, payment fraud protection, and hedging compared with 35–55% of laggards. Leaders are focused on greater digitalization of end-to-end payment authorization. Setting financial operation up to grow cash and liquidity: Nearly all (99%) leaders have adopted business intelligence techniques to make better decisions regarding liquidity compared with 25% of laggards. Close to 100% of leaders are effective at using business continuity and contingency planning, payment fraud protection, and hedging compared with 35–55% of laggards. Benefits of Enterprise Liquidity Management Liquidity and cash management will be important to adapt to the rapidly changing business environment going forward. Importantly, liquidity management is essential amid any rapidly changing business environment, whether it is a global crisis, supply chain disruption, shifts in a competitive environment, or rapid internal growth as seen with many technology companies. Here are the key benefits of a cohesive and unified enterprise liquidity management strategy: Improved visibility: During the height of the pandemic, business decisions needed to be made within a matter of hours. Unfortunately, in the survey, IDC found that about 50% of organizations need more than one full day to build a consolidated view of their cash and liquidity. Decisions like layoffs and supplier payments had to be made quickly, and in nearly half the cases, according to the survey data, decisions were made without a consolidated current view of cash and liquidity. Companies can’t see upcoming shortfalls or dips in cash flow, which limits their ability to invest in long-term business initiatives like digital transformation, expand into a new geographic market, migrate to a new technology platform, or broaden product and service offerings. Better risk management: Today’s financial leaders are swimming in data and are finding FX, with all its moving parts, to be particularly difficult. Speed is another area of concern for treasurers that desire the ability to move money around the clock and in real time into and out of currency markets. However, with increased speed comes the need for more powerful real-time risk management capabilities. To highlight this, liquidity risk and fraud risk, collectively, were the most important strategic commitments, for financial leaders, to pursue over the next two to three years. More effective compliance: The tax and regulatory environment is constantly changing directly and significantly impacting treasury management processes. Today’s liquidity management professionals must be proactive to understand how these will impact treasury and other financial operations today and how they may impact these operations in the future. Greater process efficiency: The role of the average liquidity management professional is rapidly changing. While cash management and cash forecasting continue to be strategic priorities, liquidity managers and CFOs must also now focus on supply chain finance, insurance, and commodities. Even amid a period of expanding roles and responsibilities, many liquidity managers find themselves working with the same number of resources. The need to do “more with less” among financial professionals represents an opportunity for financial management technology vendors. According to the IDC survey, currently, 77% of financial leaders felt they lack either skills, head count, or budget to modernize their financial operation. Greater flexibility in financing: Businesses with an enterprise liquidity operation are better able to take advantage of a wider spectrum of asset-backed debt solutions including invoice financing, lines of credit, and demand loans. The visibility and control provided by unified coordinated liquidity management allow financial leaders greater working capital options. Further, this financing flexibility also provides a boost in business resilience, which is essential in times of uncertainty. As a result, establishing a receivables financing program was the top priority to improve cash and liquidity enterprisewide. The visibility and control provided by unified coordinated liquidity management allow financial leaders greater working capital options. APIs Unify the Practice of Holistic Liquidity Management The benefits listed previously and the road map laid out in the Follow the Leader section are all predicated on the smooth and rapid flow of data between various stakeholders and their corresponding applications. Specifically, unified liquidity management demands that the data from back-office applications be made available for processing and analysis. In many ways, topics such as cash management, liquidity forecasting, and treasury management efficiency all stem from robust data management practices and tools. The importance of data management has put the spotlight on application programming interfaces (APIs) and the promise they hold when deployed properly. The survey reveals that nearly 88% of respondents consider the adoption of APIs as important or very important. Liquidity management applications exist within a spiderweb of adjacent back-office applications and external data sources. Also, the liquidity/cash management process is a collection point for data from other multiple back-office systems/processes. Working capital management is an example of a process where data must be gathered from multiple systems/processes (e.g., ERP, procurement, accounts payable, reconciliation, and inventory). This interdependency places heightened importance on the smooth flow of data between these systems. This is where application programming interfaces become essential for liquidity management teams. The value of APIs can potentially extend beyond the four walls of the organization. APIs can be leveraged to incorporate external data sources to sharpen financial agility in areas such as FX, banking payments data, credit decisioning data, and even geopolitical factors that may impact the global flow of goods. Yet, according to the survey, just three of five companies are using APIs to integrate and optimize their internal system infrastructure (e.g., ERP, TMS). Further, a similar percentage uses APIs to extract/analyze internal data for reporting/management (e.g., dashboards). Leaders are always looking to adopt technology to support efficiency and agility in treasury operations. It is one of the essential differences between leaders and their laggard counterparts. For leaders, APIs are a core element of liquidity management operation. For example, 92% of leaders consider the adoption of APIs important or very important compared with 58% of laggards. APIs from a Global Perspective Major technology and economic hubs in Europe are significantly lagging behind the global average in terms of API adoption, according to the survey data. This represents hesitancy among major European Union (EU) players to adopt APIs (see Figure 2). Data residency and data privacy initiatives within Europe have tempered the demand slightly for cloud-native financial applications. However, this is changing rapidly as initiatives like the EU-funded project Open Clouds for Research Environments (OCRE) continue to grow and aid in accelerating cloud adoption in Europe. APIs Are Only the Beginning APIs, while important, are only the beginning. They are simply pipes that allow data to flow between systems, but it is not until this flow of data is harnessed that the real power of APIs emerges. APIs can potentially form the foundation of a platform where liquidity analysis and insights are harvested and shared with key stakeholders in real time. As such, the API layer must be paired with an additional layer of software that allows for data to be analyzed and structured into actionable insights. In a sense, APIs move financial data to a larger financial operating system where financial leaders get the business-critical information they need to make liquidity management decisions in real time. Future Outlook Liquidity Management Has Changed Permanently in the Past 24 Months CFOs and treasury managers suddenly find themselves facing a new reality where liquidity management is more strategic and more critical to the business than ever before. As a result, there will be permanent changes to the finance department going forward, including: The velocity of liquidity flow data will increase. Over 50 countries have adopted some form of real-time payment schemes in the past few years, with more to come. This has dramatically increased the speed at which treasury payments can move. This increases the need for improved security and enhanced reporting tools to manage enriched data sets from real-time payment platforms. Liquidity management becomes more essential. The pandemic will force treasurers to prioritize business resiliency and continuity by optimizing liquidity management. This will mean a greater focus on working capital management including sourcing external funding and providing financing for critical suppliers efficiently. The role of the CFO continues to expand. The role of today’s CFO is rapidly changing and expanding. While cash management and cash forecasting continue to be strategic priorities, CFOs are also increasing their focus on supply chain finance, insurance, and commodities. However, many financial leaders find themselves working with the same number of resources. Today’s financial management professionals require more advanced and innovative technology to keep up with the challenge. There will be a greater focus on advanced technology. To keep pace with rapidly changing market dynamics, treasurers will require their tools to be powered/enabled by cutting-edge technologies such as machine learning (ML), big data and analytics, microservices, and enhanced application programming interfaces. Digital banking / payments will be a focus area. Payment management was critically important during the pandemic and will remain so in the post-pandemic treasury world. As a result, digital banking platforms and bank connectivity will be a strong focus area for treasurers going forward. Finance departments long burdened by dwindling IT budgets and limited head count were forced to lean heavily on their treasury and cash management tools during the recent uncertainty. Unfortunately, some finance departments were hampered greatly by their legacy technology. But the survey data reveals that this is set to change (see Figure 3). Here are a few key future technology trends that will shape enterprise liquidity management going forward: Artificial intelligence (AI) is highlighted. Financial leaders for product-centric companies often must move quickly to secure supply chain obligations and financing. Many turned to advanced technologies such as machine learning and advanced analytics to help lower the data analysis/management burden and allow for more accurate decisions regarding financial management at speed. Cloud is leading the way. The most obvious takeaway is that organizations are planning on spending more on SaaS versus traditional (on-premises, single-tenant, and managed hosted) software. IDC research shows that organizations are already seeing a shift toward the public cloud for treasury, FP&A, and accounting software, but the survey results also suggest that this trend is accelerating considering recent disruptions. Aim to bridge the gap between finance and IT: For finance leaders, the top hurdle to digital transformation is the friction between often restrictive IT/security policies and the desire of the finance department to move quickly and be more agile. In IDC’s December 2020 Worldwide C-Suite (CXO) Survey, the most common hurdle for finance leaders to effective digital transformation agenda was the IT and security leaders slowing them down. The data reveals that financial leaders feel hampered by an inability to gather and disseminate that business-critical information to the necessary stakeholders at speed. As a result, financial leaders need more tools and features geared toward agility so that they can more quickly respond to rapid market shifts. Rapid payment technologies / initiatives see growth: For liquidity management professionals, time is of the essence when it comes to making payments. As a result, there has been growing momentum around faster payment programs. Recently, several payment initiatives were introduced/expanded, including SWIFT gpi, SEPA instant payment, and same-day ACH. Enterprisewide Liquidity Key Aspect of New Normal In the past, much of the financial leader’s role was to manage rear-facing details like closing the period, reconciling GL transactions, invoice matching, or cash application. While these will always be important, the uncertainty of 2020 put more of a focus on forward-looking activities like forecast, budgeting, and planning. With the pace of change in overdrive post-2020, financial leaders are investing a large amount of time trying to anticipate and plan for the next major change in business dynamics. A larger amount of the CFO’s time must be devoted to trying to develop a financial strategy to anticipate future shifts in market dynamics. For example, prior to the event of 2020, many CFOs and financial leaders would update their cash flow and liquidity plans quarterly or on a halfyearly basis. However, the financial and regulatory landscape is shifting so quickly, due to the shock of the pandemic, that many CFOs and their teams are now updating their cash flow and liquidity plans weekly or even, in some cases, daily. This new normal requires/demands a more unified approach to financial operations to cope with the new hyperspeed pace of economic change. It is more important than ever that financial data flow freely and quickly between key departments and key financial applications. Businesses on the leading edge have heard the call and are already making the necessary changes to thrive within this new normal. In fact, the survey shows that 15% of survey leaders are already operationalizing the enterprisewide management of liquidity as a practice area cross-functionally. Prior to the event of 2020, many CFOs and financial leaders would update their cash flow and liquidity plans quarterly or on a half-yearly basis. Emerging Need of a Chief Liquidity Officer As stated previously, the importance of liquidity has increased dramatically, and the need for an enterprise liquidity management approach has grown in importance as well. When taken together, they reveal the growing need for a dedicated chief liquidity officer. This position will act as a central point of authority and accountability for a unified liquidity management approach. This position would develop, manage, and optimize a holistic liquidity management strategy to ensure alignment with overall business objectives — especially as those objectives change/evolve/shift over time. However, a business looking to add this position must also invest in the tools, skills, and resources to manage liquidity at an enterprise level including forecasting/simulation, data visualization, and dashboarding tools as well as an API-driven platform that leverages automation and artificial intelligence to quickly gather and disseminate business-critical financial data. As the demand for business resiliency and proactive liquidity management continues to grow, so too will the demand for a dedicated chief liquidity officer. As the demand for business resiliency and proactive liquidity management continues to grow, so too will the demand for a dedicated chief liquidity officer. Challenges / Opportunities Ecosystems that must be curated: Liquidity management operations require data flows from many internal and external data sources. These data sources must be constantly curated to make sure that the financial leadership has access to the latest information and cutting-edge technology advancements. Curating ecosystems around the liquidity management solution takes effort and resources from a department that is often lacking in resources. Getting buy-in: Data shows that many line-of-business financial managers (e.g., controllers, accounting managers, and treasurers) don’t have support for liquidity management operation transformation. While this was the case for line-of-business financial managers prior to the pandemic, according to the survey data, this phenomenon is still a reality for many line-of-business financial managers. Data security risks: While APIs have tremendous promise for data integration, they also have the potential to expose sensitive data when not managed properly. API keys, for example, must be handled with great care or risk giving unlimited read/write access to financial information. Conclusion The CFO’s role has evolved into a strategic business partner for the rest of the organization, and the capability that’s required to deliver actionable intelligence downstream to the decision makers at the edge of the business or the lines-of-business leaders is evolving as well. For context, IDC believes the total available market for an enterprise liquidity management software (e.g., treasury, B2B payments, corporate payments, supply chain, and receivables financing) approached $30 billion in 2020. This is a massive opportunity for vendors to step in and help the CFO as their role changes. To access data is just the beginning of the journey to enterprise liquidity management. The ever-evolving remit of the office of the CFO is to be the lightning rod for data within the business and users of that data to power coordinated, data-driven financial business decisions throughout all facets of the organization. This demands a system that is built to aggregate, analyze, and disseminate data. This need is driving the emergence of centralized intelligent financial data platforms built upon APIs and strong data management principles. This new liquidity management platform may also necessitate the emergence of a chief liquidity officer to sit at its helm. In any case, the world of liquidity management is changing rapidly, and a unified enterprisewide liquidity management approach is no longer a luxury — it is a must for today’s business environment. References n = 440 European organizations, $100mil+ revenue. Enterprise Liquidity Management Is a Focus Area for Senior Execs Among Leader Organizations: CFO, CEO, Board of Directors. In 23% of the most advanced corporates, Liquidity Management is a focus area for CEOs, whereas it mainly remains a in the hands of the treasurers for the laggards (23%) Leaders Are Focused More on Integrating Working Capital Data, While Laggards Target Transitioning to Real-time Visibility And Improving Quality of Data Common Priority. They are more focused on integrating working capital data (43% against 27% of the less equipped companies). 80% of Leaders have adopted business intelligence techniques to make better decisions regarding liquidity. Survey Readout slide 40–48% of Leaders Encounter Greater Disconnected Priorities Between Finance and IT Departments. Most Leaders (75%) have transparent and well-connected corporate finance and treasury teams compared to ~30% of Laggards. This is visibly reflected in the adoption rates across APIs for different purposes: • To integrate and optimize their internal system infrastructure – 80% Leaders vs 10% Laggards. • To leverage internal data for reporting – 90% Leaders vs 15% Laggards • To send data to partners and others – 80% Leaders vs 27% Laggards • To receive data from partners and third-party members – 85% Leaders vs 10% Laggards >90% of Corporate finance and treasury teams of Leaders can effectively leverage real-time insights compared to only 33% of Laggards. 39% of Leaders Have a Wider Set of Fintech Partners to Support Enterprise Liquidity Management Initiatives Compared to just 7% of Laggards. Source: IDC Enterprise Liquidity Management Study, sponsored by Kyriba, August 2021. Want to learn more about Enterprise Liquidity Management?  You are welcome to join Kyriba's upcoming monthly live demo sessions to see the Kyriba ELM platform in action. An on-demand demo session is available here.

Join 2021 AFP Pinnacle Award Winner HCSC to discuss how and why they transformed to become a data-driven treasury operation to support an overall business transformation.

Join 2021 AFP Pinnacle Award Winner HCSC to discuss how and why they transformed to become a data-driven treasury operation to support an overall business transformation.

Modern fraud threats are innovative and constantly evolving. To confront these threats, organizations that want to survive need to deploy the most up‑to-date detection and prevention solutions.

Modern fraud threats are innovative and constantly evolving. To confront these threats, organizations that want to survive need to deploy the most up‑to-date detection and prevention solutions. In this eBook, we will explore the most common fraud threats to businesses today and detail the leading, AI-based tools that CFOs and CIOs can use to stop attacks before they happen. At Kyriba, we understand the threats that cybercriminals pose to your company’s money. Here, we’ll explore the ways that we protect our customers, and impart that knowledge to you. Tools like artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) and application programming interfaces (APIs) are game changers in the fight against fraud. We understand and use these technologies, and it’s time that you did as well. The Changing Face of Fraud Fraud threats have grown exponentially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic as the remote working environment has left companies struggling to ensure that employees are following strict security protocols. According to a 2022 KPMG survey of over 600 executives, the shift to remote work has increased the risk of fraud, and most companies experienced fraud incidents last year. FRAUD OUTLOOK Source: 2022 KPMG Fraud Outlook The losses that stem from fraud are significant. Respondents reported an average profit loss of 1% from fraud and compliance violations in 2021. And the larger the company, the more criminals will target it. A Need for Corporate Investment and Attention With the pandemic continuing for the foreseeable future and challenging organizations’ ability to operate and staff effectively to counter the ever-increasing fraud threat, it is surprising that over half of the companies surveyed say there will be no changes in their budgets to invest in anti-fraud measures. And with less than half of organizations today having a program in place to prevent, detect and respond to fraud, it is evident more focus on greater investments in their protections is called for. CFOs, treasurers and CIOs clearly require a more complete set of defenses in the form of new, leading, automated AI-based fraud detection. Pervasive and Emerging Fraud Threats Business email compromise (BEC) scams continue to plague treasury and finance departments. BEC scams typically begin with an urgent email sent to an employee that appears to come from a senior level official, requesting a money transfer. In actuality, a fraudster has copied a legitimate email address, usually after infiltrating a company’s email system via phishing. A variation of this scam consists of emailed invoices that appear to come from a routine supplier that have new instructions on where to send payment. According to the FBI’s Cyber Division, there was a 5% increase in BEC adjusted losses from 2019 to 2020, with over $1.7 billion losses reported in 2019 and over $1.8 billion losses reported in 2020. Check and wire fraud remains a significant problem for treasury and finance departments, as these are the payment methods most susceptible to fraud. AFP research found that 66% and 39% of financial professionals reported fraud activity via these two payment types in 2020. However, check fraud has been in decline in recent years as fewer organizations are using checks for B2B payments. Deepfake voice fraud is a relatively new method of attack but one that has proven highly effective. This brand of fraud consists of criminals making calls using deepfake voice technology, software that can successfully copy a person’s voice via a small audio sample. COMMON VULNERABILITIES FOR ORGANIZATIONS Deepfake voice fraud caught international attention last year when it was revealed that fraudsters used it to complete a $35 million bank heist. Ransomware attacks, though not technically fraud, are nevertheless prominent threats to companies’ systems and bank accounts and have surged in recent years. In a ransomware attack, a company’s internal system is compromised (usually through phishing) and taken over. Users are instructed to either pay a ransom or permanently lose access to their systems. Ransomware as a service (RaaS) is the latest innovation of this threat; it consists of developers selling or leasing ransomware exploits to customers who then unleash them upon unfortunate victims. Tools to Protect Against Fraud To combat the threats of today, your fraud prevention solutions should include these capabilities: Automated payment processes to standardize controls Real-time screening of all payments data to identify suspicious transactions User-defined payments screening rules Resolution workflow to investigate suspicious payments An option to avoid alerting payments users who violated a payments rule Monitoring of the status and priority of alerts in a KPI dashboard Modern payments fraud detection software like Kyriba’s Payment Fraud Detection module offer these solutions and more. Real-Time Screening, Alerts and Notifications The rise of same-day and real-time payment systems has increased the need for real-time responses to fraud attempts. Modern fraud detection software uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to screen payments against historical payment data, pinpointing any anomalies. By providing more complete data, these solutions enable data-driven decision-making. For example, Kyriba’s Payment Fraud Detection solution determines the normality of each payment—whether automated or manual—flagging any with a low normality rank. The solution provides insights into the variables that determine payment normality, allowing users to see why one or more was deemed anomalous. And perhaps most advantageous for the user is that processes aren’t slowed down in any way, even with greater visibility into payment data. Payments could be flagged as anomalous for a variety of reasons, including: A high number of payments for the same third party Payments with unusually high amounts Payments to blacklisted countries according to company policy Suspicious changes to payments imported from an ERP Payments to a bank account used by several third parties Duplicate payments After testing multiple machine learning models, Kyriba’s data scientists selected two solutions to identify irregularities in payments. Isolation Forest An isolation forest model is an unsupervised algorithm that works on the principle of isolation anomalies; anomalous instances in a dataset tend to be easier to separate from the rest of the sample. In the following example, we can see that anomalies require fewer random partitions to be isolated, compared to normal points: Generative Adversarial Network One problem many machine learning models run into when trying to identify fraud is the lack of data around fraud. Most organizations haven’t experienced significant payments fraud and thus lack the depth of examples to share. Others who may have been the victims of fraud may be reluctant or unable to share the specifics. So, training AI models can be challenging because the algorithms can only learn from good payments and, at best, a handful of bad ones. Generative adversarial networks (GANs) can solve this problem. A GAN is a deep learning model that pits two separate neural networks against each other. One network (the generator) mixes real data and synthetic data together and attempts to outwit the opposing network (the discriminator). Kyriba creates a “fraudster” network (the generator), hiding synthetic fraudulent among legitimate transactions based on a client’s payment history. Then, a “police” network (the discriminator) sifts through the data, separating the illicit transactions from the good ones. By training the fraud detection model on these competing networks, Kyriba can better identify fraudulent transactions when viewing real data. Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) Model Dashboards Dashboards can be set up to display all suspicious payments and prioritize their resolution, based on factors such as detection rules, risk exposure, incident counts and a fraud detection scorecard. Dashboards provide authorized users with complete transparency into all payment screening and can resolve outstanding actions efficiently. Fraud Prevention Workflows Modern payments fraud modules also support fully automated, end-to-end workflows for the resolution of outstanding suspicious payments. Users can also determine how each detected payment should be managed, enforcing the separation of duties between the initiator, approver and reviewer of a detected payment. Reviewers can also be determined by payment rule and specific scenario (e.g., the treasury manager reviews payments less than $1 million, while payments over $1 million go to the treasurer), and non-treasury personnel can be assigned to review certain detected payments. Reporting and Audit Trails Leading technology solutions can ensure that detected payments are permanently tracked in the system for daily, monthly or annual reporting. History is maintained indefinitely and all details of the suspicious transaction—including the audit trail of detected and resolved actions—are retained for internal and external audit reporting. Payment Hubs With a payment hub, organizations have all their fraud protection capabilities in one place. Payment hubs consolidate payment streams from ERPs, finance, treasury, legal, capital markets and decentralized teams, transforming disaggregated processes into a single source of record for all outgoing payments. A payment hub also transforms payment data into bank-specific file formats and connects directly with global banks via multiple protocols, including host-to-host, SWIFT and regional networks. Payments from ERPs or other systems can bring an entire enterprise-wide payments landscape under the consistent and risk-focused fraud prevention framework. With API-driven connections and integration tied into an approval and fraud prevention workflow, controls and fraud are enhanced and easily governed. Payment Hub Fraud Protection Fraud Mitigation Matrix Treasury and finance professionals have many fraud prevention tools at their disposal. The following list of solutions provides an overview of some the capabilities that today’s tools deliver for mitigating fraud risk. Fraud Mitigation Matrix Solution Key Protections Capabilities Fraud Detection Scenarios Pre-Defined Detection Rules Flags unorthodox payments for further review Easy to customize and come up with your own rules Real-Time Screening AI/Machine Learning Dashboard Screens payments against historical payment data Displays all suspicious payments and prioritizes their resolution Fraud Prevention Workflow Fully Automated Workflow Enables users to resolve outstanding suspicious payments Allows users to determine how detected payments should be managed Enforces separation of duties around a detected payment Designates reviewer(s) by payment rule and specific scenario Provides the ability to assign non-treasury personnel to review payments Features an option to hide alerts from initiators/approvers of a payment Allows scenario-based stopping of payments until resolved Enable to bypass for low-value payments Sets up tiered approvals Reporting & Audit Trails Complete KPI reporting Detected payments are permanently tracked in the system History is maintained indefinitely APIs: The Future of Fraud Detection Real-time payments, which are gradually becoming more prevalent, bring unprecedented visibility and transparency to both the payer and the payee. However, there is also no stopping the transfer of funds once a real-time transaction is executed. Therefore, fraud needs to be prevented in the approval process before a payment request reaches the bank. Building APIs into the payment platform allows users to fully automate bank account validation and payment policy screening, identifying exceptions in real-time. APIs can instantly match payments against third-party data; for example, they can be used for sanctions list screening or verifying the ownership of the bank account to whom your company is paying. By using APIs for third-party system integration with your payment platform, your organization can ensure real-time access to any needed database for account or compliance validation. Exceptional payments can be immediately quarantined for further review, while unexceptional payments process normally. Learnings and Takeaways CFOs and treasurers require a more complete set of payments controls to mitigate modern fraud threats, including artificial intelligence/machine learning and APIs. Organizations have three common areas that make them vulnerable to fraud: technical systems, processes and human error. Modern threats include business email compromise scams, check fraud, wire fraud, deepfake voice fraud, and ransomware. Technologies that can be used to combat fraud include pre‑defined fraud detection rules; real-time screening, alerts and notifications; fraud prevention workflows; reporting and audit trails; and payment hubs. As the threats continue to evolve, treasury and finance teams need to heighten their awareness. Interested in learning how to build out incident response programs to maximize protection end-to-end? Check out this on-demand webinar. Cybersecurity and fraud experts from Corelight and Kyriba outline fraud defense strategies.

Applying Principles of Quality and Efficiency from the Manufacturing World to Treasury and Finance to Achieve More Efficient FX Risk Management One of the principal tenets of Lean is a focus on customer value....

Applying Principles of Quality and Efficiency from the Manufacturing World to Treasury and Finance to Achieve More Efficient FX Risk Management One of the principal tenets of Lean is a focus on customer value. Activities that do not have a direct bearing on the value of the product or end result are targeted for elimination. Our customers, using our platform and Lean principles work to transition their foreign currency related systems and processes to create greater automation and efficiency.

Are you a treasury professional working in or planning to expand into the Asia-Pacific region? With 12 chapters on topics such as liquidity management, short-term borrowing and financial risk management, this handbook gives guidance...

Are you a treasury professional working in or planning to expand into the Asia-Pacific region? With 12 chapters on topics such as liquidity management, short-term borrowing and financial risk management, this handbook gives guidance on the core tasks of a regional treasury center and explores the topics and emerging trends that shape the Asia-Pacific region.

Robotics Process Automation (RPA), Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are no longer buzzwords and concepts. As technology advances and the applicability of various scenarios grow, treasury and the larger finance organization find...

Robotics Process Automation (RPA), Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are no longer buzzwords and concepts. As technology advances and the applicability of various scenarios grow, treasury and the larger finance organization find themselves in a new position: how to take advantage of tools and technology driving greater efficiency while, at the same time, focusing on core, valued activities.

Based on ratings collected in IDC’s 2020 SaaSPath Survey (IDC #US46933620), Kyriba placed in the highest-scoring group of vendors serving the SaaS Treasury Management (TM) application market and has been awarded IDC’s 2020 SaaS...

Based on ratings collected in IDC’s 2020 SaaSPath Survey (IDC #US46933620), Kyriba placed in the highest-scoring group of vendors serving the SaaS Treasury Management (TM) application market and has been awarded IDC’s 2020 SaaS TM Customer Satisfaction Award.

ERP cloud migration is a costly and time-consuming undertaking, particularly where IT is concerned – and for many corporations, the bank integration exercise can be among the most daunting aspects of the project.

ERP cloud migration is a costly and time-consuming undertaking, particularly where IT is concerned – and for many corporations, the bank integration exercise can be among the most daunting aspects of the project.

If you are bringing on a treasury and risk management solution or evaluating ways to eliminate payments fraud, or add security and compliance to your finance solutions, you'll want to download this report. IDC,...

If you are bringing on a treasury and risk management solution or evaluating ways to eliminate payments fraud, or add security and compliance to your finance solutions, you'll want to download this report. IDC, the premier global provider of market intelligence, issued its 2019-2020 TRMS vendor assessment, naming Kyriba as a Leader for the second consecutive market report.

INTRODUCTION Corporate treasurers are aware that the personal computing systems used for handling administrative and repetitive tasks are quickly becoming unfit to deal with frequent market changes and to manage complex data transactions between...

INTRODUCTION Corporate treasurers are aware that the personal computing systems used for handling administrative and repetitive tasks are quickly becoming unfit to deal with frequent market changes and to manage complex data transactions between multiple parties and institutions. Therefore, corporate treasurers (especially in small and midsize enterprises [SMEs]) are replacing their basic personal accounting system with a more robust TMS and are in the process of learning how to select the right solution. It is not so infrequent that corporate treasury officers are put in front of myriad alternative solutions that only confound their selection process, as treasurers remain entangled in product demos and features-and-functions “fireworks” that make the short-listing decision harder. Aite Group is fully aware of this and proposes an evaluation approach that factors in all the key elements for a successful selection and, more important, an ongoing positive business relationship with the chosen vendor. This Aite Matrix evaluation report explores some of the key trends within the TMS market and discusses the ways in which technology is evolving to address new market needs and challenges. This report compares and contrasts the leading vendors’ offerings and strategies, and it highlights their primary strengths and challenges. In particular, it assesses each vendor’s readiness to offer product functionalities that Aite Group expects will become mainstream in the next two years. Finally, to help corporate executives make more informed decisions as they select new technology partners, this report recognizes specific vendors for their strengths in critical areas. METHODOLOGY Leveraging the Aite Matrix, a proprietary Aite Group vendor assessment framework, this report evaluates the overall competitive position of each vendor, focusing on vendor stability, client strength, product features, and client services. The following criteria were applied to develop a list of vendors for participation: International presence Functional coverage for corporate treasuries, assessing the vendors’ capabilities to offer a portfolio beyond the “basic” functionalities of a TMS: cash and liquidity management, payments initiation, bank account management, and cash forecasting Focus on companies with annual revenue over US$500 million Participating vendors were required to complete a detailed product RFI composed of both qualitative and quantitative questions, conduct a minimum 60-minute product demo, and provide active client references. THE PLAYERS This section presents comparative data and profiles for the individual vendors that participated in the Aite Matrix evaluation. This is by no means an exhaustive list of vendors, and firms looking to undergo a vendor selection process should conduct initial due diligence prior to assembling a list of vendors appropriate for their own unique needs. Table A presents basic vendor information for the participating solutions. THE MARKET The following market trends are shaping the present and future of the TMS market (Table B). KEY STATISTICS This section provides information and analysis on key market statistics as well as projected IT spending related to the vendor market. ANNUAL REVENUE ESTIMATES ANALYSIS The market presence of TMS vendors is evenly distributed among various revenue tranches (Figure 1). The consolidation of the largest players has opened space for lower-tier vendors that have improved their international presence and enlarged the scope of their product portfolio. PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS Although TMS vendors still find some resistance to change by corporate treasurers who prefer to remain loyal to their proprietary electronic spreadsheet tables, the demand for robust treasury software applications is strong. TMS vendors that are capable of corresponding to purchasing requirements (i.e., features and service) of their corporate prospects enjoy healthy returns (Figure 2). GROWTH RATE ANALYSIS The positive results of vendor profitability are reflected in the breakdown of the assessed vendors’ growth (Figure 3). A consistent majority (63%) experienced a double-digit growth over 15%. Only a relative minority (12%) had limited—yet still positive—business success. The results were lower than expected in only one case. CLIENT BREAKDOWN BY TYPE An analysis of the distribution of number of clients among TMS vendors (Figure 4) suggests a form of correlation with the vendors’ business profitability (Figure 2); the more clients served (a client is a registered company—multiple installations at same registered company count as one), the higher the profitability. As soon as the client base diminishes, the profitability drops significantly, only to increase again when there are fewer than 100 clients. The explanation may reside in the fact that profitable clients are large or very large corporations with budgets that recognize the value of the software and services combination and are ready to pay for it. With such a group of clients, TMS vendors are ready to expand their sales campaigns and are confident of two important elements: They have a good set of client references to leverage, and the profitable returns can subsidize the costs for extended sales programs that conclude with an increase in the market share and new client acquisitions. As soon as the resources to invest diminish, however, the client base is reduced, and this may create a vicious circle. Only by focusing on a limited—yet more controllable—pool of clients, the TMS vendors can generate efficiencies and offer standardized solutions that allow them to see their returns increase again. AITE MATRIX EVALUATION This section will break down the individual Aite Matrix components, drawing out the vendors that are strong in each area and how they are differentiated in the market. THE AITE MATRIX COMPONENTS ANALYSIS Figure 5 overviews how each vendor scored in the various areas of importance. Each vendor is rated, in part, based on its own data provided when responding to the RFI distributed by Aite Group as well as on product demos and follow-up discussions as part of the Aite Matrix process. Ratings are also driven by the reference customers of the examined vendors to support a multidimensional rating. VENDOR STABILITY Kyriba leverages its long-lasting presence in the market and global geographical presence. It also has a robust workforce with significant treasury management experience. CLIENT STRENGTH All vendors serve clients in multiple geographies and in a diversity of industry segments. Kyriba, in particular, received high scores from client reference checks for vendor reputation. CLIENT SERVICE Kyriba stands out from the competition. This must not induce in error believing that the other vendors are not careful to their clients. They all offer global and localized support as a standard service with no additional fees. They also measure their performance by contractualizing service-level agreements. The elements that differentiate Kyriba are relative to client reference feedback for service and support, as well as the low implementation costs relative to its pure Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering. PRODUCT FEATURES All analyzed vendors deliver fundamental treasury management features of cash and liquidity management, cash forecasting, risk management, payments, investments, funds trading, and debt and equity deal management. The analysis for this report has gone deeper in assessing the vendors’ capabilities to deliver product features closer to the needs of the evolving role of the corporate treasurer: artificial intelligence (AI)-based application that suggests course of action based on the standards being followed in the country of reference, alerts from supply chain events that impact treasury operations (e.g., large purchase order will require funding, delivery delay to client requires cash inflows rescheduling, peak in production requires liquidity to pay extra working hours and temporary staff), and direct integration with major supply chain finance (SCF) platforms via APIs. The above are the specific features that Kyriba displays alongside an already robust TMS applications portfolio. THE AITE MATRIX RECOGNITION To recap, the final results of the Aite Matrix recognition are driven by three major factors: Vendor-provided information based on Aite Group’s detailed Aite Matrix RFI document Participating vendors’ client reference feedback and/or feedback sourced independently by Aite Group Analysis based on market knowledge and product demos provided by participating vendors Figure 6 represents the final Aite Matrix evaluation. BEST-IN-CLASS VENDOR: KYRIBA Kyriba emerges as the clear winner among the examined contenders. Aite group appreciates the vendor’s extended product footprint to cover a large portion of a treasurers’ daily routine operations—namely, supply chain, trade finance, and bank account operations management from the corporate ERP or TMS. Kyriba excelled in the following: Vendor strength: Kyriba has a clear vision of corporate treasury’s needs and expectations. Its out-of-the-box thinking led the vendor to anticipate the benefits of integrating a supply chain finance engine as part of its core product’s stack. Its attention to leveraging APIs to create ERP and bank plug-ins is a further testament of this continuous attention. Product performance: Of particular relevance are cash forecasting tools, bank connectivity interfaces, and ease of use and implementation due to its native SaaS construct. BEST IN CLASS: KYRIBA Kyriba began operations in France in 2000 as a spin-off from Sage XRT (now part of Aritmos). The headquarters was relocated to the U.S. in 2004. Private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital became a majority shareholder in April 2019 and added a US$160 million growth investment to help Kyriba continue its product innovation and growth strategy. Kyriba delivers an in-house-developed pure SaaS finance software platform with integrated bank connectivity. Through its fully virtualized, multitenant treasury cloud, Kyriba offers a suite of solutions for corporate treasury and finance: treasury, payments, risk management, and working capital. The SaaS nature of the solution allows the firm to keep implementation time typically between six and nine months. Smaller, less complex projects can be rolled out in weeks. Kyriba is a SWIFT-certified application for cash management and an authorized reseller of SWIFT Alliance Lite2 for business applications. Kyriba’s SWIFT Service Bureau offers clients their own SWIFT BIC, fully managed by Kyriba, alongside an outsourced MT Concentrator model that allows organizations to utilize a SWIFT BIC specifically provisioned for Kyriba clients, instead of becoming a SWIFT member. The bank or corporate subsidiary data is consolidated, normalized, and integrated into a portal that provides liquidity dashboards, cash flow forecasting, daily cash positioning, and zero-balance account structure, as well as intercompany loan balance and transaction data, FX capture, tracking, and revaluation. After the injection of fresh funds from Bridgepoint Capital, Kyriba is focused on product development and continued customer support while expanding its partnership ecosystem. While the full list of implementation partners cannot be disclosed, the vendor employs an extensive partner program spread across regions, ranging from large partners such as Accenture to smaller domestic treasury-specific associates. Kyriba’s SaaS cloud-based solutions automate an “on-demand” collection of data from multiple banks and company subsidiaries, leveraging connectivity channels for both treasury and ERP that reach over 100 international banks with a prebuilt inventory of bank formats. Kyriba supports over 125 payment formats with over 45,000 different payment scenarios (e.g., by type, geography, bank). Relevant attention and investment are dedicated to APIs. The API integration builds upon Kyriba’s leading connectivity options, considering that recently published figures tell that the vendor processes more than 83 million bank transactions, 30 million payments, and 530 million ERP transactions on behalf of its clients each month through its global connectivity hub. Kyriba’s main target is to be recognized as the treasury management and payments hub solution provider that offers real-time payments to its bank partners’ corporate customers. In February 2019, Kyriba announced an API-based integration with Citi.1 Later in May, it announced a real-time payments feature using JP Morgan’s API that will enable joint Kyriba and JP Morgan clients to send real-time corporate payments in the U.S. through The Clearing House’s RTP network.2 Commenting on how the competitive environment will evolve over the next two years, Kyriba representatives believe that there is a possibility for further consolidation, as some competitors are challenged financially. It is unlikely that more competition will emerge, as recent entrants have struggled. As new technologies such as RPA and AI become mainstay requirements for treasury, the vendor expects a divergence between platforms that can evolve their technology and those that cannot. Another variable is the broadening of treasury responsibilities into areas such as risk management and procure to pay. Competitors that cannot extend their functionality to meet these additional requirements will find themselves uncompetitive. Kyriba is predicting growth across all sizes of organizations, including smaller midmarket businesses, with the Americas and the Asia-Pacific representing the highest growth markets. AITE GROUP’S TAKE Kyriba’s strong tradition of long-term partnerships and its one platform that blends typical treasury and risk management functionalities, with additional features for payments and working capital optimization, create unique selling points that set a benchmark in the TMS market. Reference clients told Aite Group that the deciding factors to select Kyriba were the vendor’s company viability, its history of long-term well-established partnerships, the richness of treasury functionalities, and Kyriba’s value engineering support during the final evaluation process that provided the corporate decision-makers with the right elements to build the business case. An element that still creates a barrier to further adoption by prospective clients is the price of the TMS that may discourage companies with smaller treasury budgets than those traditionally served by Kyriba. Other business challenges are represented by the continuous demand from corporate treasurers to have immediate TMS solutions to manage unexpected FX volatility, adapt to innovative cash optimization techniques (e.g., dynamic discounting, real-time invoice discounting), and apply data intelligence algorithms to unstructured data sources (e.g., website transactions, social media data flows). Aite Group finds that Kyriba is well poised to exert and maintain competitive leadership by further investing monetary and intellectual resources to leverage the top technology trends that impact its corporate clients’ business: APIs, open banking, data visualization, real-time data analysis, RPA, and AI. BASIC FIRM AND PRODUCT INFORMATION Headquarters: San Diego, California Founded: 2000 Number of employees: 700 Key financial information: Annual revenue US$110 million (estimated 2018) Key products and services: Kyriba (with modules that can be sold separately: Treasury, Payments, Risk Management, and Working Capital) Target customer base: Large and midsize corporations Number of clients: 2,000 Average client tenure: 10 years Global footprint: Global Implementation options: Pure SaaS Pricing structure: Based on module use, complexity, and number of users KEY FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITY BASED ON PRODUCT DEMO AI-based application that pops up relevant KPIs based on business event triggers (e.g., bank change of price conditions, change in insurance premium) Cost accounting structure for treasury managed costs (e.g., staff, bank accounts, commissions) Alerts from supply chain events that impact treasury operations Alerts relative to political events in countries in which the client company does business—these alerts pop up any time the treasury office is executing operations related to that country What-if scenario planning triggered by financial event Integrate directly with major SCF platforms (e.g., Premium technology, Taulia, C2FO) via APIs TOP THREE STRATEGIC PRODUCT INITIATIVES OVER LAST THREE YEARS Real-time fraud detection for treasury and supplier payments End-to-end risk management from exposure identification and analysis to hedge accounting and compliance Data warehousing, business intelligence, and data visualization TOP THREE STRATEGIC PRODUCT INITIATIVES IN THE NEXT 12 TO 18 MONTHS Standardize API development across the entire banking and ERP community Further introduction of AI and machine learning throughout the platform Working capital management and analysis CLIENT FEEDBACK Interviewed clients appreciate Kyriba's commitment to security and risk prevention. By improving efficiency and automation with the TMS, clients recognize they have made substantial time and resource savings. TMS-enabled cash pools and in-house banks have enabled corporate treasury departments to reduce bank charges, lower borrowing costs, and achieve tax efficiencies. Clients like Kyriba’s SaaS architecture, as it gives them access to a mission-critical platform from any location, without any hardware investment and without the headache of upgrades. Alongside the cloud-based structure, corporate users enjoy more basic, yet important for the daily routine, gained efficiencies of their cash operations. The TMS provides the tools to forecast cash more accurately and effectively, especially when accompanied by efficient implementation and support teams. Totally cloud-based software may be seen by customers in different ways. Large multinational treasury departments prefer a standardized set of modules that do not require (nor are designed for) customization. Smaller firm clients may expect the possibility to change the software features to adapt to their preferences. Over time, though, these users appreciate the opportunity to use software modules continuously adapted and upgraded based on the input of thousands of users that run the same software. The requests to change and adapt the software to every specific requirement significantly diminish, although some form of parametrization (i.e., configuration) is expected for functionalities that have natively high levels of personalization, such as FX exposure management, business intelligence, data visualization, and connectivity APIs. Table C displays the vendor’s strengths and challenges. CONCLUSION Buyers: Evaluate the overall competitive position of each TMS vendor by focusing on multiple selection criteria: vendor stability, client strength, product features, and client services. Don’t ask for continual customizations; rather, rely on the vendor’s acquired experience of working with numerous corporate clients and leverage the offered solutions that bear the fruits of industry best practices and techniques. Look for TMS vendors that don’t require a total transformation of your treasury operations but that allow for a smooth transition that blends your current information systems with the newly introduced treasury software. ABOUT AITE GROUP Aite Group is a global research and advisory firm delivering comprehensive, actionable advice on business, technology, and regulatory issues and their impact on the financial services industry. With expertise in banking, payments, insurance, wealth management, and the capital markets, we guide financial institutions, technology providers, and consulting firms worldwide. We partner with our clients, revealing their blind spots and delivering insights to make their businesses smarter and stronger. Visit us on the web and connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn. AUTHOR INFORMATION Enrico Camerinelli +39.039.21.00.137 ecamer[email protected] CONTACT For more information on research and consulting services, please contact: Aite Group Sales +1.617.338.6050 [email protected] For all press and conference inquiries, please contact: Aite Group PR +1.617.398.5048 [email protected] For all other inquiries, please contact: [email protected] 1. “Kyriba Unveils API Integration With Citi,” Finextra, February 26, 2019, accessed July 18, 2019, https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/77412/kyriba-unveils-api-integration-with-citi.2. David Heun, “JPMorgan, Kyriba Turn to Open Development for Real-Time Corporate Payments,” Kyriba, May 23, 2019, accessed July 24, 2019, https://www.kyriba.com/company/media-coverage/jpmorgan-kyriba-turn-open-development-real-time-corporate-payments.

The ever-shifting regulatory landscape and growing geopolitical uncertainty have forced companies to look inward more than ever to fund business growth. The treasurer must take the lead in finding and mobilizing internal sources of...

The ever-shifting regulatory landscape and growing geopolitical uncertainty have forced companies to look inward more than ever to fund business growth. The treasurer must take the lead in finding and mobilizing internal sources of funding. However, treasurers, especially those in multinational companies, often run into the problem of “trapped” liquidity.

This new e-book is designed to provide a quick, graphical overview into how payment hubs can help increase efficiency, reduce costs and enhance fraud prevention.

This new e-book is designed to provide a quick, graphical overview into how payment hubs can help increase efficiency, reduce costs and enhance fraud prevention.

Who are the biggest players in treasury and risk management, and how are cloud-based solutions driving transformation? IDC, one of the largest technology analyst firms in the world, tackles these questions and more in...

Who are the biggest players in treasury and risk management, and how are cloud-based solutions driving transformation? IDC, one of the largest technology analyst firms in the world, tackles these questions and more in its new MarketScape report: “Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Treasury and Risk Management Applications 2017–2018 Vendor Assessment.”

For CFOs charged with safe-guarding corporate coffers, there is no silver bullet that can stop payments fraud in its tracks. Managing and minimizing the problem is a holistic, pro-active effort that combines best practices...

For CFOs charged with safe-guarding corporate coffers, there is no silver bullet that can stop payments fraud in its tracks. Managing and minimizing the problem is a holistic, pro-active effort that combines best practices with real-time detection and monitoring technology.