Study results: Digitalization in Treasury
The study provides valuable insights into digitization trends and current challenges in the treasury sector.
The Covid 19 pandemic as well as the Ukraine conflict are shaking not only the treasury but the entire business world. The popularization of the home office, a volatile business environment, global supply constraints, and increased financial risks have created major challenges for corporate treasury while establishing it as an indispensable business unit.
But how has the Covid 19 pandemic driven digitization within the treasury industry? This is the question we at ConVista Consulting AG have been exploring. In order to gain insight into our clients’ needs and provide them with the best possible support, we launched a study on digitalization and the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic in treasury. Among corporates, we achieved a diverse mix that allows meaningful conclusions with responses from different industries, continents and key treasury positions within the company.
The diversity of respondents paints a realistic picture of treasury
The corporates surveyed can be divided into four groups. 6.3% of corporates belong to the “losers” group and have been heavily impacted by the pandemic, but are planning no or only minor digitization measures. In contrast, the “winners” (40.6%), who were also severely constrained by the pandemic, are planning to develop digitally on an ongoing basis. The conservative group (15.6%) includes those corporates that have experienced minor restrictions and see little need for further digitization. The final group – the “trailblazers” (37.5%) – plan to expand and improve their digitization concepts despite being affected to a minor extent by Covid-19.
Digitization potential in the treasury area
The key finding of the study is that digitization in treasury is a very topical and relevant issue for corporates. 93% of respondents see high or some potential for their treasury system landscape. The focus here is clearly on improving data quality, processing and integration, but companies see a high need for improvement in almost all treasury-related topics.
However, the pandemic has not only had an impact on the digitization of a company, but has often also fundamentally changed the role of the treasurer. The respective treasury departments have taken on a more strategic role and become an important source of information for the management level. Also evident was that companies that had previously been able to rely on a stable digital structure were better able to cushion the constraints imposed by Covid-19.
Outlook for the future of treasury
The study also provides an outlook on future developments and challenges. For example, between two-thirds and 89% of respondents (depending on the degree of digitization of the treasury to date) feel the need to drive digitization further forward.
- Real-time treasury allows real-time connection of data via API and can thus not only improve transparency and response times, but also reduce complexity.
- “Digital workers” based on RPAs can take over repetitive, manual tasks, freeing up treasurers to spend more time on complex, individual tasks.
- Treasury dashboards enable the clear presentation and visualization of current data and information.
In the coming years, increasing digitization will present us and our customers not only with new challenges, but also with new opportunities, which we look forward to.
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Your contact person: Christian Million