Treasury Digitization - Market Perspectives

5 Treasury Digitization: Market Perspectives The desire to position treasury as a strategic partner to the business is the driving force behind digitization and new technology adoption within treasury. 67% 56% 54% 50% 39% Transform Treasury’s Role to a Strategic Partner of the Business Address Efficiency and Scalability in Treasury Support Transformative Change and Development in Business Improve Treasury Decision Making Facilitating Governance and Oversight of Treasury Figure 2: Drivers for Exploring New Digital Technologies within Treasury Number of Respondents: 147 Emphasis on Transformative Change Our expectation is that a confluence of the various factors described above will ultimately drive change in corporate treasury. Yet, a higher proportion of survey respondents expect the change to be driven by the “pull” of digitization and new technology adoption within treasury, rather than the “push” of digital disruption impacting the business. For a majority of respondents, the desire to position treasury as a strategic partner to the business is the driving force behind digitization and new technology adoption within treasury (Figure 2) . Treasurers see the potential to proactively deliver value- added insights to support commercial decisions and to work with the business in planning its initiatives. Engagement also offers scope for treasury to be a stronger advocate for working capital efficiency and influence decisions that have implications for working capital. Data is a critical enabler of treasury’s ability to deliver such strategic insights. Consequently, the initial focus of digitization for some may be evolving their data strategy and exploring technologies that can deliver actionable insights through the use of data. For organizations that are growing rapidly, transforming their business model, or facing disruption, treasury is expected to focus its digitization efforts on ensuring the scalability and adaptability of its activities in support of growth and change. The emphasis in such cases may be on automation to support operational efficiency, enabling treasury to do more with fewer resources. Functional Areas in Focus Survey respondents cited cash management (payments and collections), cash flow forecasting, settlement and accounting as well as treasury controls and reconciliation as the treasury and finance functions that are likely to be most impacted by digitization (Figure 3) .