When it becomes clear that your treasury department would benefit from implementing a treasury management system (TMS), you may not know where to start to build your business case for management. We’ve put together a list of the four things you can do right now to give you valuable information you will need when it comes time to present your case.
1. List the things the treasury department SHOULD be doing but can’t get to
It will probably be easy to make this list of things that you can’t get done because of time, resources or other hindrances. Maybe you don’t have enough time to effectively monitor the amount you are spending on bank fees to determine if you are being overcharged or if you could access a better rate. Perhaps you have been unable to analyze and update your short-term investing plan or provide the most accurate short-term forecasting because the data is in a lot of reports that no one has time to consolidate. Moreover, there is probably a lot you should be doing to streamline payment approvals.
Everything you believe management expects of your treasury department, you’re your team is currently unable to do, should be put on this list.
2. List the things you COULD be doing but are not
This can be an exciting exercise for dedicated treasury professionals. What else could you do, assuming you have a lot more time and greater visibility into your treasury data. Some items might be similar to the things you have in the “should do” list, yet you could take them a step further because technology will enhance the data available to you. Just think of the ways your team could provide additional value to the organization; be it deeper analysis, lowered fees, more accurate forecasting, etc.
3. Assign values to the ‘Should’ and ‘Could’ Lists
The value of the savings, investment earnings or strategic benefit of the missing and potential treasury activities will be unique to each organization. Do your best to provide accurate estimates or real examples of the hard-dollar, soft-dollar and strategic value of each one of the items on your lists.
4. Evaluate the time spent on tasks that could be automated or eliminated
There’s no question that a treasury management system will make your treasury department more efficient. The key is to quantify the time and cost savings that can be realized from the new efficiency.
Will a TMS keep you from increasing the headcount in the treasury department? Will it take the place of many disparate systems that require manual process to consolidate the data? Perhaps you can make the claim that technology will catch some common errors that have cost your organization time and money to rectify. Evaluate and itemize the ways a TMS will streamline your operations to allow your team to better support your company’s growth objectives.
The information you gather in these four steps will be the foundation of your business case. The next phase will be to correlate the benefits of a TMS to your organization’s strategic plan. Our eBook, Building The Business Case, created in conjunction with Strategic Treasurer, details the five key areas consider to build a compelling case for management. Download the eBook today.
Ready to see GTreasury in action?
See for yourself why hundreds of organizations use GTreasury to empower operational efficiency, insightful analysis and strategic decision-making.