It’s no surprise, then, that 80% of treasurers at companies surveyed by SAP said that cash management and forecasting has taken on an even more important role in light of the complexity of modern business.

Fortunately, as the business landscape has evolved, so too has treasury technology. Treasury management systems (TMS) provide a solution to meet the market need for complex treasury management, and, over the last decade, have become a near necessity for all kinds of businesses.

But what are treasury management systems? Why do we need them? And what, if any, are the alternatives? TFG has prepared this guide to answer these questions for you and provide you with all there is to know about TMS solutions.

There are many advantages to utilising treasury technology in your business. Here are three key benefits:

It can help to save time:
TMS automates and digitises processes which would have historically needed to be completed manually. In the past, it would have been necessary to manually input transaction and revenue data, taking up time which could have been devoted to other important business tasks. These processes can now be completed automatically and quickly via a TMS. Treasury management systems can also dramatically reduce the time spent on variance analysis and advanced cash flow forecasting.

It can reduce human error:
Automating treasury management eliminates the need for spreadsheets and manual processes. This, in turn, eliminates the risk that staff will incorrectly input data which could cause inaccuracies and documentation errors.

It can help with compliance:
From a compliance perspective, manual processes are inherently risky. The aforementioned risk of human error could cause compliance infringements. There’s also the risk that data could be deliberately entered incorrectly with fraudulent intent. Moving away from manual input to straight-through processing solutions can eliminate this risk.

There are two types of basic TMS solutions: local systems and cloud-hosted systems.

Local systems are those which are installed on your business’ own local servers. This enables you to have the maximum amount of control over the features and security protocols as the system will be exclusively used by your company. The flip side of this is that you’ll also be responsible for managing the system in-house, which means you’ll need to have a skilled IT team or pay for top-end third-party support.

The alternative to this is to use a cloud-hosted system. These are cheaper and quicker to set up but afford you less control than local systems.

You can find a list of some of the most popular treasury software solutions here.

Whilst TMS solutions seem to be becoming the standard for effective treasury management, they’ve not yet been adopted by all businesses. Many businesses still struggle to justify the cost or feel that they’re too difficult to implement.

In fact, only 44% of treasury departments currently use TMS solutions. The main two alternatives are:

• ERP systems

ERP systems are more general tools that offer a broad view of the entire product chain processes. They typically include treasury functions but don’t focus on these in the way that TMS solutions do.

• Excel

Excel is a spreadsheet tool for number crunching. It can perform calculations based on set rules and requires data to be input manually. It’s often used alongside TMS solutions but some businesses still rely solely on Excel.

References:

https://www.bellin.com/treasury-matters/erp-vs-tms-vs-excel

https://www.comparethecloud.net/articles/what-is-a-treasury-management-system/

https://www.theglobaltreasurer.com/2018/02/01/the-evolution-of-treasury-management-systems/

https://www.capterra.com/treasury-software/

https://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2018/Jun/7/top-treasury-management-software-and-solutions/