Finance Monthly. 53 Business & Economy 3 macro conditions intersect with company specifics on a 24-7 basis. Corporate boards are asking more direct questions about the business’ cash positions, risk exposures, and organizational readiness to adapt in the face of significant disruption. Clear, actionable answers to those questions require clear, actionable information. Sub-optimal interest rate hedge programs are a direct outcome of disjointed approaches to cash management and forecasting. Traditional hedging programs have focused too much on “easing” the CFO and other stakeholders into a changing rate environment. But what if the C-suite wants to act with urgency? That’s no longer sufficient in terms of how you manage risk in a volatile rate and FX environment. If you’re still running the same generic program put in place a year (or more) ago, it’s time to revisit it. Invest in automation and digitalization. Underpinning all of this is a lack of digitalization and automation in the corporate treasury realm. Teams are relying on manual, legacy processes because that’s what has always been done, not because that is the best path forward. True strategic alignment with the C-suite and board requires the visibility and nimbleness that comes with increasing automation and optimizing processes for the digital age. This is both a technology and culture endeavor of “the way we’ve always done things” can’t be treated as sacrosanct. As Catherine Portman, VP, Treasurer at global cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks told me recently: “Automation has been critical to modernizing our treasury operations, and the improvements are stark. We’ve spent the last 1824 months increasing our use and integration between our global Treasury systems, our banking partners, and ERP system. Instead of manual banking logs, downloading documents, and tracking balances across a myriad of spreadsheets, we’ve fully automated our process. This not only reduces manual work but ensures a more timely, less error-prone operation that can accommodate increased volume as the Company’s activity grows. These efforts align with our CFO’s vision to simplify, build systems to scale, and enable efficient global processes across the organization.” The bottom line depends on accurate, real-time data. Boards demand it, C-suite leaders demand it—and corporate treasurers should, too. It’s the only viable way (especially given that treasury teams are being asked to more than ever with the same “If you’re still running the same generic program put in place a year (or more) ago, it’s time to revisit it.” headcount) to ensure stability and strength. By adopting automation and adapting processes for the age of disruption, treasury teams won’t just survive – they’ll thrive and help their businesses do the same. Renaat Ver Eecke is the CEO at GTreasury, a treasury and risk management platform provider.
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