Treasury focus in Stockholm
Management must be involved all the way, from beginning to end. That is one of the key success factors in a treasury project.
So stated Senior Consultant Elizabeth Kihlbom of Atos Consulting, at OpusCapita’s breakfast meeting on October 7th in Stockholm. Over fifty treasury professionals gathered at the Clarion Sign Hotel to share their thoughts on how to develop treasury management. In addition to sharing experiences, the idea was to show what makes IT2 Treasury System the most interesting Treasury Management System on the market.
Value for money
Torbjörn Sandblom at Stena Finans knows what a treasury project requires. By 2006, the mid-sized shipping company Stena had burgeoned into a large group. At that point, it was realised that their old manual processes and systems would have to be replaced in order to gain better control over positions and risk. IT2 Treasury System was chosen for three reasons: its user-friendliness, the dedication of the supplier and, most importantly, value for money. Stena Finans also needed someone else to take charge of the related R&D.
It’s all about standardisation
Today, Stena Finans has gained most of the benefits it was seeking: integrations, flexibility, reports and control.
– We still need to work on enhancing the straight-through-process, states Torbjörn Sandblom, but overall we are satisfied.
At the seminar, he walked the audience through the project and gave several examples of the improvements made.
– IT2 has process maps showing Best Practice. They helped us to get our thinking right from the beginning. After all, in these types of projects, standardising processes is what it is all about. So I would advise everyone to think this out beforehand and standardise their way of doing things as extensively as possible.
Is it worth it?
The brainwork and planning carried out prior to beginning the project was another success factor for Elizabeth Kihlbom during the treasury project. Other important factors included the organisation of a steering group and project management, planning the timetable and obtaining sufficient operative resources to handle the work.
– Consultants are good to have onboard, they are normally best used in the role of project managers and user support, she affirmed.
So, is changing a treasury system worth the trouble?
– You should be prepared for a long, highly demanding effort. Nevertheless, if the process is executed well, it results in much higher quality and greater efficiency at your treasury. And it is normally worth the trouble.
And what is the opinion of Torbjorn Sandblom?
– You can trust IT2 and it is fun to work with. If we would have to take the decision again, we would still opt for IT2. Thanks to IT2, all of our processes are now documented and much less personnel-dependent.
OpusCapita helps Fiskars streamline its treasury operations
Would you like to know more about IT2 and treasury management?
Contact: Richard Nordin tel.: +46 70 292 88 82 e-mail: richard.nordin@opuscapita.com
