The TMS Toolkit Series

TECHNOLOGY
STACK: DIGITAL
BACKBONE
Provided by

Provided by GTreasury
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ARCHITECTURE
Contents
3 Introduction
4 What Is a Digital Backbone?
6 Why Do We Need a Digital Backbone?
9 Historical Context of Treasury Technology
12 Modern Technology Changes & Impacts
14 The Economic & Strategic Model of the
Digital Backbone
16 In Closing
17 About the Firms
Provided by GTreasury
Powered by Strategic Treasurer
The TMS Toolkit Series
Your organization is past due for a treasury management
system overhaul, but one question remains: are you
prepared to take on a technology remodel that affects
company operations and global commerce every day?
Before tackling this critical business renovation, be sure the
tools you need are at your fingertips.
] Building the Business Case
] Technology Stack: Digital Backbone
] TMS Selection: Leading Practices
] Implementation: Pitfalls to Avoid
Introduction 3

If change is a constant anywhere, it is a constant in the treasury industry. It’s hard to even
talk shop without discussing the changes, the shifts, and the coming horizons.
The Structure of This Ebook:
Change, however, proves twofold. It is not only external, with different waters flowing past
at each new moment, but also internal: the man stepping into the river grows. Similarly, the
expectations and challenges treasury faces are in a constant state of flux, which prompts
internal change, as the treasury industry grows and develops in its ability to face them.
WHAT IS A DIGITAL
A main area of growth for treasury has been in the adoption of new technology, and 01 BACKBONE?
especially in the use of treasury management systems, or TMS. Since more and more
departments are looking to these solutions to help them overcome outward challenges,
we created this eBook series to help treasury professionals understand the complicated
waters of the TMS.
WHY DO WE NEED A
02 DIGITAL BACKBONE?
The first eBook in this series discussed the business case for a TMS and served as a guide
for treasury professionals seeking to communicate with key decision-makers about the
need for a TMS and the benefits to all departments involved.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF
Here, in this eBook, we shift our attention to the crucial place a TMS can occupy in a 03 TREASURY TECHNOLOGY
treasury department, serving as a part or whole of a digital backbone in the technology
stack. This understanding will also prove helpful in addressing the material of the third and
fourth eBooks, which will relate to TMS selection (third eBook) and implementation (fourth
eBook).
MODERN TECHNOLOGY
04 CHANGES & IMPACTS

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the 05 THE ECONOMIC & STRATEGIC
MODEL OF THE DIGITAL BACKBONE
same river, and he’s not the same man.

– Heraclitus

© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.

What Is a Digital Backbone? 4

“Connectivity” became an industry buzzword years ago, but like “change,” it has
both external and internal applications for corporates. Externally, PSD2 and the rise
of open banking are revolutionizing the interactions corporates have with outside The Digital Backbone
sources of financial information. Internally, corporates are recognizing the importance
of the connected enterprise, and many are embracing the concept of open treasury:
interconnected technological components that can follow tasks from start to finish with
fewer manual kick-off points.

The digital backbone is a continuation of these advancements and a means of

accomplishing open treasury. It uses a core system to apply internal connectivity to the APIs
A
API
PIs
level of treasury’s technology stack, organizing and integrating all of a department’s own
digital components around that one highly connected, central component or group of
components.

For our purposes, the “backbone” symbolizes one main thing: In order for treasury’s
varied components to work properly, they must be connected through a core system in an
integrated structure, as the limbs and head are all connected via the backbone.
TMS
T MS

] What components make the digital backbone tick?

This “core system” can vary from treasury to treasury. It may be a TMS, an Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) system, some other kind of treasury tech, or even a combination ERP
ERP
ER
of components working together. To take the analogy one step further, they might each fill
different roles and serve different areas, as, in the backbone, we have cervical, thoracic,
and lumbar sections to our spine.

The digital backbone may also involve extensive use of APIs, an elegantly simple
technology that has already changed the landscape of external connectivity by enabling
open banking. An API, or Application Programming Interface, works to retrieve and
consolidate information from various outside sources into a whole. To give a brief
example, when you use a service such as Uber or Lyft, you are likely to view an app on your
phone that displays a map with the locations of the drivers. These apps use an API to fetch The “ backbone” symbolizes one main thing:
map information, another API to fetch GPS information, and so forth. In order for treasury’s varied components to work
properly, they must be connected through a core
system in an integrated structure, as the limbs
and head are all connected via the backbone.

© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.

What Is a Digital Backbone? 5

The user experience remains seamless. You don’t have to piece together a map from one
source, GPS coordinates from another source, and your pick-up information elsewhere. To
do so, in fact, would be such a hassle that few (if any) customers would bother with it.
Treasury professionals today, however, constantly face such a piecemeal user experience
as they attempt to manually consolidate information and functionality from various
components. APIs, as well as the digital backbone in general, can help.

These components—TMS, ERP, and APIs—will likely make up the majority of the digital
backbone itself. Ultimately, however, the most important element is ensuring that your
technology stack is built with that open, integrated, seamless structure by whatever means
make sense for your organization.

While this eBook series primarily aims to educate treasury about TMS, this particular
installment is covering the broader role of the TMS in the technology stack. Since its
participation in the digital backbone is the most crucial role a TMS can play in treasury, we
will focus on the digital backbone in general for most of this eBook. Understand that while
we may mention the TMS rarely, the importance we place on the digital backbone always
applies to the role the TMS plays.

A TMS running on an architecture that supports open APIs connects to an FX rate provider allowing for a far faster
connection implementation than an FTP file transfer process setup.

OPEN API

TMS: GTreasury Open API FX Rate Provider

FTP

TMS TMS Communications Hub/FTP Job Scheduler FX Rate Provider Communications Hub/FTP Job Scheduler FX Rate Provider

© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.

Why Do We Need a Digital Backbone? 6

The demands on treasury have escalated and continue to escalate rapidly. This is the “water” Five Key Challenges for Treasury
of the river that changes and flows by constantly—the external change. Some demands
spring from negative sources, such as the increased risk of fraud, but many other challenges
represent steps towards greater mastery and quality in the industry at large.

Whatever the source, however, excelling in such a demanding environment can seem
daunting, especially given that staffing resources, while increasing somewhat, are not
keeping pace with the demands on treasury. We need not sugarcoat it: without the right FLEXIBILITY
tools and the proper planning, excelling would prove impossible. This, however, is where
the internal change occurs. The tools and resources available to treasury have risen to the
challenges.

Consider the following areas that challenge treasury to excel beyond the expectations of
prior decades, coupled with the ways in which a digital backbone can help: INSIGHT

] Flexibility
CHALLENGE:
The constant change itself presents
a challenge for treasury. Maintaining
equilibrium and trending toward
excellence in an industry where
standards, technology, and so many
other factors shift like sand can be
overwhelming. In order to maintain a
competitive edge, the modern treasury
must master flexibility. Departments
at large must be able to scale and
adapt their technology, and treasury
professionals individually must be able
to adjust their methods to account for
rapidly changing situations.
DIGITAL BACKBONE:
VISIBILITY
Allowing for flexibility that can
skyrocket as fast as demands do may
well be one of the most crucial roles
a digital backbone plays in treasury. EFFICIENCY
With a properly structured digital
backbone, treasury can replace or
plug in new pieces of technology
as needed, upgrading on the go
without having to start from square
CONTROL
one and restructure at each change.
This flexibility affects every other
area of treasury as well, allowing for
adaptation and unhindered growth.

Example: Accuracy of Payments

TMS: GTreasury [API] Holiday Calendar

Continuous holiday updates Holiday changes in country Holiday calendar updated Payment process
captures new holiday Payment adjusted Payment terms met, no delays.

© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.

Why Do We Need a Digital Backbone? 7

] Insight
CHALLENGE: DIGITAL BACKBONE: Top Corporate Operational Challenges
“Insight” represents a longstanding The digital backbone immediately Top six responses shown
challenge for treasury: synthesis and enables greater insight simply by
analysis of data and the ability to make enabling greater visibility. In addition, Manual processes Risk of payments
connections and to forecast. This is however, the digital backbone can aid Staff fraud/cyber
capabilities security threats
and always has been crucial. However, in handling big data. With more data
and/or size
with other factors (many of which have than ever at their fingertips and fewer
already been mentioned, such as risk, integration problems holding up the
57% Regulatory
33% requirements
exposure, and complexity) growing process, treasury professionals can and changes
43%
at almost alarming rates, gaining much more easily and accurately run
insight becomes more difficult. The analyses and forecasts.
appearance of big data contributes 33% 28%
27%
to the challenge, inflating the tasks of
synthesizing and accurately analyzing
Lack of technology Rising interest
data into monumental undertakings. or investment in rates/economic
the operations uncertainty

Data Source: 2019 Strategic Treasurer Market Research.

] Visibility
CHALLENGE: DIGITAL BACKBONE: Visibility
Corporates today see more complexity With more seamless access to
and more international expansion, information and more integration

TMS: GTREASURY
leading to more risk and exposure. between data sources, visibility gains Business Intelligence
With rising exposure comes the accuracy and immediacy. As with
increased need for immediate, efficiency, visibility is extremely difficult External
Data
complete, accurate visibility of to fully achieve when the user experience API Sources
Core TMS Additional
where those risks and exposures consists of trying to force pieces to Data Data Internal
lie. Simultaneously, the complexity fit together. A digital backbone allows API Data
Sources
that caused the need makes gaining for the much more integrated view so
visibility all the more difficult. sought-after in visibility.
Data pulled into the tables accessible by the TMS or data sent
to a company datalake to leverage internal BI processes.

© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.

Why Do We Need a Digital Backbone? 8

] Efficiency
CHALLENGE: DIGITAL BACKBONE: Exposures & Efficiency
Not only do other departments need Perhaps one of the challenges to which
more information from treasury on a a digital backbone is most obviously Slow APIs Provide: Faster

SITUATIONS
- Faster connections
tighter timeline, but positive changes applicable, efficiency is inevitably increased - More updated
in the business world have also led by the seamless user experience alone. Incomplete information More Complete View
- Fewer handoffs/transfers
to higher efficiency standards. Many With an unstructured technology stack,
treasury departments are raising their the burden of piecing together disparate Error-Prone End-to-End Higher Accuracy
Automation:
own standards of excellence, which components and trying to pull complete - Fewer handoffs
raises the industry standard. In order information from incomplete sources falls - Controls in the system
- Speed for better
to remain competitive, we must aim entirely on the staff, of whom there are decisions
higher. We want to reach Six Sigma, probably too few for such an undertaking.
not just Three or Four. With a digital backbone shouldering the Limits Decisions Reduced Defects Efficiency

RESULTS
burden of consolidation and allowing Errors/Loss Lower Costs Accuracy
treasury professionals to devote their Time Drain Greater Scalability
efforts to more high-level tasks, Six Sigma Lack of Confidence
becomes much more attainable.

CORPORATES: Thinking of the last 12 months, please label

] Control your company's experience with each of the following:
CHALLENGE: DIGITAL BACKBONE:
BEC fraud
Fraud evolves constantly, and A digital backbone reduces point of
the frequency, scale, and varying failure by automating handoffs and Cyber fraud

methods of fraud are all rising at eliminating systems. This reduces Check/cheque forgery
an alarming rate. Technological the points of exposure. Establishing
advancement, while alleviating consistent processes and controls Payment Diversion

many other pain points for treasury,
often creates difficulties both in
preventing fraudulent activity and in
maintaining effective internal control.
When treasury’s processes become
convoluted and scattered amongst
several unconnected components, it
becomes tempting to bypass standard
processes.
reduces exception processing and Check/cheque conversion fraud
improves quality while increasing
System-level fraud
security.
ACH fraud
Example: APIs port content from
Ransomware Some attempt(s), no success
multiple admin systems into the TMS
Yes, we suffered a loss
for payment approval. Users only Card fraud (P-card)
Yes, we suffered a loss. Atleast one
access one payment system. person was terminated or let go
Wire fraud

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Data Source: 2019 Strategic Treasurer Market Research.

© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.
Historical Context of Treasury Technology 9

In learning how to consider and interact with the changes in technology we encounter, it will prove helpful to reflect
on some of the technological highlights that have brought treasury through the past several decades. Each advance
brought new functionality, but in different ways and with different results. Some added unnecessary complexity,
whereas others brought welcome flexibility or simplified overly convoluted processes from previous innovations.

While the dizzying turnover rates of new technology can sometimes make us feel unstable, there is a stability to the
constancy of change itself when we take a bird’s-eye view and consider the steady forward movement we find there.
In addition, observing how each of these advances led into the next and brought incredible opportunities to the
industry can open our eyes to the opportunities before us and to the excitement of the present era.

In the following pages, we’ll consider first the progression of connectivity and then the progression of systems from
manual to cloud.

CONNECTIVITY

Manual Portals H2H/FTP Networks API

At this stage, connectivity had
not truly even emerged as a
separate element. It simply
consisted of the same
process as systems—paper
bank statements and teletype.
With the emergence of digital
technology, bank portals
appeared. Still used
extensively today in smaller
businesses and personal
bank accounts, bank portals
consist simply of a web page
where the client can log in,
pull information via download
or print-off, and see relatively
current cash positions for
that account.
Many variations of
Host-to-Host (H2H)
connections have been used,
including the prevalent File
Transfer Protocol (FTP), and
many are still used today.
H2H connections are direct,
with corporates leasing
dedicated lines to banks to
send and receive information.
Treasury can schedule certain
activities, such as balance
updates or statement
downloads. Still, H2H
connections can be
characterized as clunky. One
might compare them to
having a separate phone for
each person you need to call.
If H2H is having separate
phones, networks are
equivalent to having one
phone for all your calling
needs. Networks such as
SWIFT and EBICS began in
the 1970s with banks seeking
to simplify payments and
information transfers across
borders. Over the following
decades, corporates adopted
their use, and networks
progressed from innovative
to the standard.
Application Programming
Interfaces (APIs), which we
have discussed in more
detail earlier in this guide, are
the next generation of
connectivity. If networks are
having a single phone that
can call various people, APIs
are not needing to pick up
the phone at all. You push a
button from whatever device
you’re already using, and the
API fetches and integrates
the information into what
you’re viewing.

© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.

Historical Context of Treasury Technology
SYSTEMS
Manual Systems
Until the 1970s, treasury
received all of its bank
information either via paper
bank statements or teletype
machines. Teletype machines,
which operated on the same
technology as telegraphs,
involved the bank wiring
information to the machine,
which would print out, line by
line, information in a prompt
and response fashion.
Staff manually organized,
analyzed, and handled all
information on paper
spreadsheets until Lotus 1-2-3
was released for DOS (Disc
Operating System) computers
in 1983. Even then, processes
remained heavily manual.
Installed/Isolated Processes
Processes: As various
industries slowly acclimated
to the revolutionary
functionality of computers,
digital systems emerged to
present new solutions to old
problems. Computer
programs developed, running
on DOS, that allowed treasury
to pull bank data.
These early installed systems
were revolutionary in many
ways, but they were extremely
liable to problems. There
were no processes in place to
handle any issues and
exceptions the software
encountered, so the only
option when the frequent
problem appeared was to
start over, essentially
rebooting the program.
© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.
Large Installed
As digital technology grew,
installed computer systems
added many functionalities
we would expect to see in
modern treasury systems,
such as accounting and
forecasting.
However, these systems
tended to become
problematic over time. Staff
frequently put off upgrades
for various reasons, allowing
patches and updates to
accumulate. By the time
anyone realized that it had
become an issue, the problem
was massive: the system was
years behind, and bringing it
up to speed was tantamount
to a reimplementation.
ASP
Application Service Providers,
or ASPs, took a significant
but insufficient step towards
solving the upgrade problem.
These systems were hosted,
but unlike SaaS, they offered
single instances of the
hosted system.
While ASP attempted to
combine the best of both
worlds by giving treasury the
ability to customize their
system while also having
someone else hosting and
helping maintain it, the
upgrades were still not
enforced, and even with the
updates, the technology
tended to fall behind.
10
SaaS
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
took the ASP model and
elegantly modified it into
what has become the current
standard for treasury. SaaS is
a multi-tenant, cloud-hosted
model. The functionality is
highly scalable, providing
customization, but the
provider implements
upgrades for all users as
soon as they are available,
preventing the issue of
backlogged updates. In
addition, when the developers
create new functionality to
account for advances in the
industry, users are able to
gain access to this without
undergoing a new
implementation.
Key Points:
1] Self-updating asset
(non-obsolete) with vendor-
tested updating vs. self-
obsoleting system.
2] Outsourced, simplified &
resilient connections vs.
do-it-yourself & maintain
-it-yourself connections.
3] Focus of development &
support on one platform vs.
dilution via numerous
versions.
4] End-to-end process focus
vs. system-contained view.
Historical Context of Treasury Technology 11

] Corporate Cloud Conversion

2-Tier Architecture Model
As can be seen, the past fifty years or so have brought treasury
on a wild journey of technological advancement and adaptation. UI - Process Layer
The river and the man stepping in it have both changed rather
drastically.
Database Layer

The past two decades have seen a particularly dramatic and

currently relevant change in the man’s relationship to the water
of cloud technology. In 2000, most treasury professionals viewed The tiered approach to programming
using cloud for business information as insecure and problematic architecture forms a thread that runs
to the point of blatantly irresponsible. Contrast that with today, just throughout this historical context. Early stages
20 years later, cloud technology has grown into the standard for of treasury technology primarily corresponded
treasury systems. Most treasury professionals of today consider to the 2-tiered approach. With thoroughly
SaaS the default and certainly the recommended type of system. intertwined layers—and only two of them—
these solutions proved brittle, essentially
breaking with any attempt at alteration. No
portion of the technology could be replaced
] Interoperable & Open Treasury: or modified without the entire system
The Digital Backbone needing complete reworking. Over time, the
progression brings us to the more modern
The shifting of the landscape and treasury’s need to adapt n-tiered approach, with multiple components
obviously will not stop here. If our overview of treasury or layers of programming that can be replaced
technology’s history has taught us anything, it has taught us the and modified as needed without so drastically
truth of another of Heraclitus’s comments: “The only thing that is affecting the rest.
constant is change.”

We believe that the digital backbone is the next step. In the wake N-Tier Architecture Model
of the corporate cloud conversion, treasury is surrounded by cloud
system after cloud system, tool after externally connected tool. UI - Presentation Layer
Now we need them to be interoperable. We need open treasury,
an externally and internally connected treasury department whose Business Layer
digital navigation no longer resembles a maze with trick locks at
every turn, but instead resembles a single, healthy body, brought Data Access Layer
together in seamless functionality by a digital backbone.
Database Layer

Persistence (Hardware) Layer

© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.

Modern Technology Changes & Impacts 12

The Progression in Technology

Connectivity Monthly Mailed Statements Teletype Machines TTY Emulation With Dial Up Web Portals FTP/SFTP/MDM SWIFT Networks Open APIs

Costly Data Transmission Inexpensive High-Speed Data Transmission

Formats Paper Statements Screen Reports MT940/942, BAI2 MT101, Fedwire EDI Portal Exports: CSV, XLS XML: pain XML: camt

One-Way Two-Way, Confirmation

Processing Power Efficiency Doubling Every 18 Months

Technology Searches, Lookup Queries Reporting Dashboards Massive In-Memory Computing Business Intelligence: Self-Discovery

Tables Databases Relational Databases Datawarehouses Data Lakes Big Data

Data Doubling Every 2 Years (40% growth per year)

Solutions CPM DOS/UNIX Windows Hosted SaaS Digital Backbone/Open Cloud

2-Tier 3-Tier N-Tier

In this diagram, we track the progression of treasury technology along four different lines: connectivity, formats, technology,
and solutions. Each section shows the oldest processes and tools starting at the lefthand side of the track, with consecutive
innovations to the right. Typically several layers coexist for lengthy time periods as the new technology gains followers and
becomes dominant, while the older technology works and remains in a long-tail runoff over years or decades.

CONNECTIVITY
We begin at the left with highly manual and inefficient methods. The SWIFT and network era is
active and certainly does not feel vintage, as emulation with dial up does, but open APIs have
nonetheless begun to grow rapidly and are even influencing networks like SWIFT, continuing the
trajectory of increasingly efficient connectivity.

FORMATS
Treasury formats progressed with just a few stops from pure paper printouts to CSV and the ability
to download data from portals. Currently, new advancements in XML provide users with a far richer
data experience (the data comes along with tags that describe the data) that can continue to expand
or have other data added in without breaking the processing systems on the receiver’s end. This is
supplanting location dependent data from the legacy formats born in an era of ultrahigh-cost data
transmissions.

© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.

Modern Technology Changes & Impacts 13

Note the blue text running along the top and bottom of the formats chart. Above the chart,
we see that the first several formatting processes were costly to transmit, not to mention
much slower and less efficient. The final innovations (so far) come with significantly
reduced length of time and cost for data transmission.

The text below the formats track indicates that the earliest processes focused on
transmitting data in one direction, from financial institution to treasury. Following
innovations developed two-way transmissions and standardized confirmation messaging,
allowing treasury to request and confirm their data transmissions for completeness and
accuracy.

TECHNOLOGY
This portion of the diagram is split into two rows. On the top, we observe the progressions
of treasury’s processes for acquiring and processing data. As noted in the text running
above this top row, processing power efficiency is doubling every 18 months, leading to
rapid growth in this area. Current innovations in business intelligence are making full use
of the incredible computing power of modern technology, with analyses that help staff
leverage massive amounts of data, allowing for rapid insight and predictive analytics while
providing the user with self-discovery capabilities that free them from day-to-day reliance
on database professionals.

The bottom row shows the progression of treasury’s ability to store and access data,
moving from simple matrix structures to increasingly complex structured and unstructured
data sets with massive storage capabilities. As noted in the text running below the bottom
row, increased storage capacity is made absolutely essential by data hyper-growth rates of
40 percent each year.

SOLUTIONS
The most comprehensive of the four categories, Solutions combines the other technologies
and processes available into single digital structures for treasury management. The top
section—CPM, DOS/UNIX, and Windows—shows operating system progression, while the
bottom section begins tracking tier flexibility. See the diagram and accompanying text on
page 11 for more information on the meaning, implications, and history of the different
tiered architecture models.

© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.

The Economic & Strategic Model of the Digital Backbone 14

As discussed in the first eBook in this series, the business case for a TMS is strongly
rooted in the deep value it brings to an organization over time. The total value proposition
for a digital backbone runs along similar lines. When considering investing in a digital
backbone, it is important to understand that doing so is vastly different from the tradition
of spending on obsoleting technology. Economic & Strategic Benefits
of the Digital Backbone
Keeping in mind all that we have discussed regarding rapid technology turnover, constant
changes in the industry, frequent hikes in the expectations placed upon treasury, and
the flux and innovations in treasury technology, it is easy to imagine how quickly most
treasury technology can depreciate if no one takes steps to avoid it. While the adoption of
the SaaS model for individual components has alleviated this pressure greatly, even that
does not eradicate the problem on every level. However, if a department takes the time 01 SCALABLE INNOVATION
to organize all components around a SaaS-based core system, building connectivity at
each junction, the technology stack as a whole can not only avoid obsolescence, but can
actually appreciate.

This is the economic and strategic model of the digital backbone: develop a commitment 02 SEAMLESS FLEXIBILITY
to managing an appreciating asset instead of investing in obsoleting technology.

03 COST EFFICIENCY

Develop a commitment to managing an appreciating asset 04 ENHANCED SUPPORT

instead of investing in obsoleting technology.

© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.

The Economic & Strategic Model of the Digital Backbone 15

KEY ECONOMIC & STRATEGIC BENEFITS:

1. New components and innovations can be plugged into the

backbone, and treasury groups can adapt to changes without having
to stop and rework from the ground up.

2. The flexibility of a seamless user interface supports the

implementation of improved processes without technological
hang-ups.

3. The cost of ownership is actually lower, especially but not exclusively

in the long run.

4. Support will be better for integrated SaaS components than for

installed and disconnected ones.

It is incumbent upon a fintech company providing a treasury management solution to be

a thought-leader in treasury, an expert at treasury, and a master at synthesizing these two
worlds. This allows their customers to leverage this expertise as rapid change occurs to
processes, data, systems, and controls. The digital backbone assumes the right partner,
leveraging a modern technology architecture and innovations as they develop. This
allows organizations to gain all the benefits from emerging technology instead of always
playing catch-up. Ultimately, investing in a digital backbone solves the current need, while
gracefully preparing for future requirements.

© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.

In Closing 16

Treasury’s environment and internal standards are always shifting

and progressing, and those changes won’t stop anytime soon.
As we seek to excel in our industry, we need highly adaptive tools
and technologies that reflect the innovative environment we
encounter. We need to grow a backbone, one that can hold all
the limbs together, harnessing the power of change and resisting
obsolescence to stand the test of time.

] Looking Forward: Craving more treasury

The old way of buying and using treasury technology was like insights?
buying and living in a tent. Investing in a digital backbone is like
building a house. It proves well worth the effort, but it does take Talk to GTreasury.
some work and forethought to choose the right blueprint and
construct a solid structure.
Need more information
Making such a choice and the necessary changes is neither
simple nor easy, and we realize that many treasury professionals on how GTreasury helps
may be fully convinced of the wisdom of a digital backbone but
still daunted by the process of selecting one. After all, selecting a with cash, risk and
house can be a much more difficult process than selecting a tent.
payments?
In the next eBook in this series, we will address the challenge
of selecting the best TMS for your company’s particular needs. Learn more.
The guide will offer a framework and some criteria to consider in
the selection process in the hopes of making that next step less
daunting and of setting treasury professionals up to succeed and
excel as they craft a digital backbone.
For general information, email us at:
Marketing@GTreasury.com

© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.

About the Firms
GTreasury offers a digital TMS platform that connects
treasury’s ecosystem for new and smarter ways of working.
With GTreasury, organizations can implement a single
SaaS solution for end-to-end cash, payments and risk,
creating a single source of truth for treasurers. GTreasury is
headquartered in Chicago, with offices in North America,
EMEA (London) and APAC (Sydney).
 
+1.847.847.3706
GTreasury.com
Marketing@GTreasury.com
© 2020 Strategic Treasurer. All rights reserved.
17
Strategic Treasurer provides consulting, research, and professional
services for treasury management, security, technology, and
compliance. Since 2004, corporate clients, banks, and fintech
providers throughout the world have relied on their deep
awareness of current practices, plans, and perceptions through
their annual surveys and decades of treasury experience.
  
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