Treasurers Building Bridges In The Cloud

INSIDE SIBOS 2015

The Cloud and its impact on financial management was a key focus area in the Corporate Forum at this year’s Sibos conference in Singapore.

In one session on Wednesday afternoon, titled “Efficiency as a Service (EaaS) – The SWIFT Community Cloud,” panelists discussed how Cloud-based systems, services and infrastructure had brought elasticity to business processes through rapid implementation, cost efficiency and scalability.

For corporates, implementing treasury and financial management solutions that are based in the Cloud is indeed improving efficiency and visibility into those processes.

And one of the chief ways it does so is by more easily allowing those processes to be integrated. Bringing together treasury and risk management are a prime example.

In a recent research report, consultancy Aberdeen Group found that top-performing companies globally were not only integrating treasury and risk management systems, but also that they were doing this in the Cloud.

Respondents to the Aberdeen survey cited lower costs (63%), satisfying collaboration needs for multiple locations (60%) and standardization onto a single system for multiple entities (53%) as the most compelling drivers for using Cloud-based systems.

By integrating risk and treasury oversight in the Cloud, it provides real-time, centralized visibility into financial metrics, according to the survey's author Kier Walker, a senior research associate at Aberdeen.

Due to their cost-favorable payment structures and encouragement of cross-departmental collaboration, integrated Cloud-based solutions allow for greater agility in responding to changes in data by residing on a single repository, said Walker.

Organizations with a Cloud solution are 56% more likely to have the ability to identify and quantify risk exposure and 33% more likely to have real-time visibility and control into cash balances, according to Aberdeen's research.

“These capabilities, combined, enable an holistic approach to treasury and risk, which is exponentially improved with a Cloud solution,” states Walker.

Improved cash and liquidity management, better forecasting and reduced risk are just a few of the ways that such integrated systems can improve a company’s treasury operations.