How Kyriba’s SaaS Solution helped Europcar to centralize cash management activities

Why Kyriba?

In 2010, Europcar began its search for a supplier with whom it could work to centralise its cash management activities and for a secure cash flow solution. “Before Kyriba, there was no immediacy; it took five days to establish a consolidated liquidity position. Today, everything is available in real time,” says Jean-Claude Poupard, Europcar Group treasury director.

Since the launch of the consultation, Europcar has had a clear view of its objectives, i.e. the centralization of its cash management activities, with cash and liquidity management, and the abandonment of spreadsheets once and for all. The new solution is used by all the Europcar subsidiaries (Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand).

“Our priority was to improve, harmonise and increase security of our processes by providing our teams in all the countries with a centralised cash flow solution.” Europcar has also opted for a software-as-a-service solution (SaaS). “The SaaS solution appealed to us for several reasons: its accessibility, vendor hosting and the pooling offered by the solution.” Kyriba provides all its customers with a unique solution, information in real time and an international environment.

For Europcar, the solution must also meet the needs of users who speak the same language but not in the same tongue: “the multilingual aspect was essential to encourage ownership of the solution by the teams. Each country needed to be able to use the solution in its own language.” The solution was rolled out in France in less than two months. “The Kyriba teams have taken a very educational approach. Our aim was to be able to use the solution ourselves in our own countries in order to be autonomous. What’s more, it was important that we train our colleagues in order to facilitate knowledge sharing, improve local processes and also provide an after-sales service should there be problems.”

Centralization of Treasury 

With Kyriba, cash flow forecasting is instantaneous, bank communication is monitored and payments are automated. “We really hoped to achieve a single cash management facility, linked to our accounting ERP system which is unique to the group. We no longer need to send files by e-mail, nor use local web banking since we handle everything in Kyriba. It’s a benefit in terms of security and flexibility.”

Europcar has prioritised the use of Kyriba’s cash pooling over a banking ZBA: “A banking ZBA is worthwhile if you do not have any Treasury Management System or if it is inadequate. Otherwise, the banking ZBA makes less sense and generates high costs.”

Europcar and Global implementation

“We met with each of our seven subsidiaries early in the project in order to identify their needs and share with them the benefits of the solution offered by Kyriba. Next, we looked at how each subsidiary managed its cash and the accompanying conditions compared to the conditions offered by the central cash facility.” Even though training and education have been important, the change of mind set and method of working have been even more so in order to get commitment.“We set up workshops to present the Kyriba solution to future users so that they will take the tool on board. We took an approach in the spirit of sharing. The human factor should not be underestimated since it is key to the success of this kind of project.”