It’s not rocket science
Having been involved with Treasury Management Systems since the early days I have seen the whole TMS product area evolve. Initially the systems were modified cut down bank trading systems, wholly unsuited to the purpose or indeed the ethos of what a good treasurer should really want.
Over the years the features have matured and solidified driven by practicalities, corporate governance, and regulatory frameworks so that the TMS requirements of enterprise treasuries are now (for the most part) readily definable and indeed almost commoditised.
Yet a mystique has grown up with the maturity of the products on offer, almost all of the vendors subscribe to the myth that you need three things;
A Long and detailed selection process
Complex and expensive implementation process
Time consuming and costly IT projects
It really doesn’t have to be this way, as we move further into the third decade of the twenty first century. Software has evolved. To implement, or re-implement is no longer rocket science, not that it ever was (except in terms of cost).
Don’t live in a silo
You hear many phases spouted such as ‘We are a SAP company’, ‘We are committed to Microsoft’, “We only use Google”, and so on. It is unlikely that these phrases would originate from anyone under the age of 30! It is a culture that results in enterprises being locked into a closed supplier silo, never able to look outside of the current environment.
Today’s generation have grown up in the ‘App’ world. If you find an App that works and helps you then you use it in your own personal or company tech ecosystem. If you find a better App or one you prefer you simply change to that. Change is good. Many of us use ‘Slack’ for communication but it was developed as an internal product for a gaming App company. Good Apps come from surprising sources.
Play nicely
It’s a phrase we use with our children, and it applies equally in the new ‘App’ world. Modern apps want to play nicely with others, it expands everyones horizons and collaboration is good.
Treasurers can escape the constraints of the silo by embracing any of the new apps that are designed to ‘play nicely’ with others. If your TMS is poor at forecasting or cash positioning but good at transaction control or accounting then use another app to form a tech ecosystem to improve the system.
You’ll find as you adopt new apps into your tech ecosystem you avoid one of the main roadblocks to change, risk. If you are not replacing an expensive TMS in one ‘big bang’ but embracing change through osmosis you de-risk the whole process and keep yourself relevant and future proof your treasury.
So choose modern apps that operate in the cloud and importantly play nicely with others.
Break the cycle, you’ll be surprised what you find.
