5 best practice treasury management system implementation tips to make the most of system support

Tip 1: Prepare to align workflows and functionality Any treasury management system you acquire is only ever as good as the way you use it. The best functionality will not get you far unless you use it in a way aligned with workflows and processes that work for your company and enable you to meet business goals faster and more efficiently.

The first step to aligning workflows and functionality is reviewing existing processes and adapting them where needed. If you’re aiming for maximum value and ROI, you should be open to completely abandon existing spreadsheets and processes. After all, you didn’t purchase a treasury management system simply to reproduce what you’ve been doing for years. Otherwise, what was the point of seeking a better solution in the first place?

You should be open to changing your processes – and your treasury management system vendor should be in a place to support you with that. Do challenge them to provide you with functionality and to implement the most efficient processes. Ask:

Can information be given to you faster?

Can the number of clicks be reduced?

Can the information be presented better?

Tip 2: Audit your setup to create perfect conditionsSo how do you determine the best process setup that enables your company to reap the maximum benefit of treasury management system functionality? Start with a detailed mapping of existing processes and new features. You can’t know what you need unless you fully understand what you have.

Match what you’ve been doing with the functionality you’ve acquired based on your requirements. This will enable you to identify where adjustments are needed and to pin down the scope of these changes. Bear in mind: your future state might look very different from your current state.

These targeted questions help you determine your scope:

How are you organized – centrally or locally?

Which tasks are you responsible for/who’s responsible for what?

What are your current processes and workflows?

What are your organization’s strategic priorities?

Tip 3: Involve all the right stakeholdersAny siloed approach to company finances is bound to fail. By the very nature of the work, treasurers are networkers. You always work closely with other departments and stakeholders. The work you do and the data you handle impacts the entire company.

Consequently, you can neither act independently when it comes to using nor when it comes to implementing a treasury management system. If you want to make your implementation a lasting success, you need to get everyone on board, all the way to receiving the backing of senior management.

Here’s a list of all the potential stakeholders outside of treasury that you should consider:

Senior Management

CFO

Choosing the right treasury management system is never easy. Any treasurer who’s ever been “treasury management system shopping” knows just how demanding and time-consuming it can be to define requirements, get budgets approved, gather resources, appoint teams, go through RfPs and more. And guess what? All this is really only the first step on your way to efficient and reliable treasury management that guides business decisions.

If you want to make the most of your system, justify all your efforts and achieve maximum return on investment, there’s only one way forward: combining the perfect-fit treasury management system with a maximum-value implementation. Read on to discover what a best-practice implementation looks like and what you can do to support it.

Accounts Receivable

Accounts Payable

GL Accounting

Controllers

FP&A

IT

Tax and legal departments

Third party providers (banks, payroll providers)

Tip 4: Communicate clearly and provide input and trainingThat’s a lot of people to consider. Sound daunting? There’s no denying that change management is hard. Organizations, users, systems – nobody likes change. A strategic communication structure helps you anticipate a variety of obstacles along the way. It also forces you to think about the misgivings various stakeholders might have and how you will address them head-on.

There are three main target groups that are essential to your implementation process. You’ll need to convince them that you’re doing the right thing and that the way you’re doing it is best. Kick-start any project without them, or lose them along the way, and you won’t get very far:

Sponsors: the strategic decision-makers funding the project

Users: while your future users may not have a choice, you don’t want them complaining to the sponsors

Partners: no successful system implementation without the support of internal IT and the vendor themselves

But how do you include these important stakeholders and keep them involved?

You will not succeed unless you have everyone’s buy-in. Communication is key here. Keep everyone engaged at all times, including whenever there’s a change to the project’s scope or timeline. Luckily, there are a few simple rules that may seem obvious but are incredibly effective:

Communicate early

Communicate frequently

Communicate broadly – no one is too junior or too far-removed to receive information

Tip 5: Define and stick to a timelineChanges to the timeline are certainly important. Timing in general is vital to the success of your project. You’ve acquired a treasury management system because you need the system support. But depending on the size of your company, your processes and the complexity of your organization, a treasury management system implementation can range from a straightforward procedure to a complex undertaking.

As a result, you should give considerable thought to your scheduling. You need to be able to call on the right support at the right time from the right people without jeopardizing the thoroughness of your workflow alignment and other essential preparations. Your implementation schedule should:

Define steps and time frame up front

List major tasks and task owners

Highlight and follow up on critical tasks

Apply your communication strategically to ensure tasks are always completed

on time and you can stick to your schedule. Once again, early and frequent communication really helps here.

Team up for successChange is hard. But change is also worth it. If you can prepare and complete your treasury management system implementation following all these tips, you’ll have added incredible value today and laid the foundation for future returns. You will finally have the functionality you need to boost visibility and efficiency and that you worked so hard to define. Even more importantly, the functionalities won’t be at odds with processes and structures.

Ultimately, functionality, project management and implementation go hand in hand. It seems only logical that your treasury function is best served by a treasury management system provider that can deliver on all three accounts. At BELLIN, a Coupa company, we work as a one-stop shop. Partner with us and you will get the technology you require as well as the implementation and project management support you need. You’ve invested a lot of time and resources in your treasury management system shopping so far. Make sure the system you choose is implemented in a way that unlocks its complete potential.

Contact us today for an exclusive scoping workshop to define your requirements.

Call 1-800-251-5358 or email sales@bellin.com.