Cash flow management and forecasting are critical aspects of running a successful business. Without proper cash flow management, businesses can struggle to maintain financial stability and may even face bankruptcy. That’s why many businesses turn to treasury technology vendors to help them manage their finances effectively by leveraging the right tool for them. Choosing the right cash flow and forecasting software vendor is essential for any business looking to optimize their cash flow. However, with so many vendors on the market, it can be overwhelming to determine which one is the best fit for your business. But before that let’s dive into the tips for choosing the best-fit treasury technology for your business.
A successful implementation comes down to choosing the right treasury software and solution provider. Here are four tips for choosing the best-fit treasury technology:
Build the vision by identifying:
Highly manual and error-prone processes.
The amount of time required to execute the tasks.
The technology currently used to perform the tasks.
The functions that can be automated.
Align the strategic vision with the company’s goals and requirements.
Identify the stakeholders involved and ask them for their wish list.
Identify the requirements that can be met.
Understand the requirements on a high level, such as:
Time savings
ROI
Seamless integration with banks, ERPs and TMS
Automated data gathering
Automated cash forecasting
Increased forecast accuracy
Hedging capabilities
Prioritize the requirements based on their importance.
Evaluate the technology options for the prioritized requirements.
Create a reasonable timeline.
Determine if procurement involvement is required to help with the selection or negotiation.
Determine if the IT team’s involvement is required to validate technologies.
Identify the people involved in budget approval.
The end goal for technology evaluation is to select a system that meets the treasury requirements. Here is a 5 step-framework that can help you streamline your vendor selection strategy:
Research on the latest technology options in the market and features provided by vendors by browsing through Google, LinkedIn, or by attending conferences (both online and offline). Reach out to the existing users to understand their experience with the product.
Screen via online technology guides such as AFP, Strategic Treasury, Bob’s Guide, or other treasury technology resources.
Visit vendor websites to gather product collateral and read client stories for better understanding product capabilities.
Understand the genuineness of the solution and the solution provider.
Gather information from vendors on the most recent technology, market trends, and product changes.
A few items should be kept on hand before the demo call, such as:
Analyze your enterprise’s key cash flow and cash forecasting pain points to understand how effectively the cash flow forecasting and cash management software vendor’s solutions enhance the business and generate ROI.
The vendors can be shortlisted after evaluating the demo call, product features, and in-depth research. You should prioritize a vendor that:
Coming to assessing the product, the client should not only focus on the look/feel of the product but prioritize the effectiveness of the product and the value it provides. This can be done by evaluating:
Finally, based on the above criteria, the client must shortlist a few vendors (not more than five vendors) for a detailed demo, RFP, or a workshop for zeroing on the best-fit solution provider.
After narrowing down the vendor’s list to around 4-5, you have to select the most suitable vendor from that list who meets your requirements. The RFP process helps you choose the best-fit cash flow planning software for your enterprise.
A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a business document that:
They are preferred by most corporations globally and are best utilized to objectively compare answers and select the most suitable solution vendor while choosing a business software.
A Request for Proposal (RFP) document’s primary objective is to assist clients in selecting the best-fit vendor to source the required business cash flow software. When a project is anticipated to take months or years, an RFP is crucial in choosing a good technology partner for your cash flow planning software.
When it comes to selecting a vendor for sourcing a cash flow management and cash flow forecasting software for your business, an RFP (Request for Proposal) document is an essential tool. The primary objective of this RFP is to assist you in identifying and selecting the best-fit vendor as per your specific needs.
An RFP is particularly useful for projects that are expected to take a significant amount of time, such as months or years. In these cases, by using an RFP, you can ensure that all potential vendors are evaluated based on the same criteria, providing a level playing field for all candidates. The RFP process also allows for transparency and fairness in the selection process, which is crucial to build trust between you and your technology partner, especially for a project like implementing cash flow management software as well as cash flow forecasting software.
The request for proposal process consists of four sections: documentation, analytics, on-sight demo, and final selection process. Let’s take a look at these in detail.
Documentation is the first step in initiating the RFP process while choosing treasury software solutions, be it cash forecasting software or cash flow management software. Here’s a list of action items for you to consider while sending out the documentation to corporate treasury software solutions vendors:
Analysis of cash management and cash flow forecasting software vendors can be done with the help of a vendor evaluation scorecard. The following are a few things to consider while creating a scorecard for a business cash flow software:
The followings things should be considered after getting back responses from the treasury software solutions vendors:
An on-site or extended demo is helpful to give detailed insight into the treasury department. For a cash flow planning software on-site demo, the following steps need to be ensured:
The final stage for corporate treasury software solutions vendor selection is the contracting and negotiating phase. This stage is where the vendors and the users agree upon the terms to ensure a successful treasury software solutions buy-in.
Over the past decade, the rapid pace of digitalization has introduced a range of sophisticated tools that facilitate treasury operations by exercising more robust governance into cash flows, providing better analysis, and enabling informed decision-making. AI-enabled treasury solutions are now being implemented into treasury processes for the following reasons:
However, implementing a new treasury solution can be challenging and time-consuming. Treasury management system implementation projects can take months or years to complete, and in that timeframe, the resources often get implementation fatigue as timelines get pushed, and costs increase. As a result, the cost-benefit ratio gets lowered when the software doesn’t live up to the expectations. Hence, the team needs to create an implementation plan by:
To stay competitive and achieve growth, you need to make the most of their enterprise’s cash resources while minimizing risk exposure. This is where automation and AI-powered tools can make a significant impact. Leveraging the right next-gen finance platform that continuously learns from your ever-changing finance and accounting transaction data is your first step to Autonomous Finance. It predicts business outcomes through proactive decision-making for improved working capital impact, enhanced customer experience, and accurate cash forecasting.
HighRadius’ best-in-class AI-Powered Autonomous Treasury optimizes your financial decision-making with a unified and streamlined treasury management platform. Autonomous Treasury Software offers pre-built connectors with the major ERPs and banks to reduce the IT effort while setting up the integration. Additionally, as a technology partner, HighRadius provides a dedicated implementation team to do most of the heavy lifting. In general, the solution is designed to be user-friendly and requires minimal IT involvement once it is set up and running. With Autonomous Treasury, you not only reduce risk, improve accuracy, and get a clear picture of your cash flow with unified comprehensive reporting, but also transform the way you manage treasury, especially amid market volatilities.
Automate invoicing, collections, deduction, and credit risk management with our AI-powered AR suite and experience enhanced cash flow and lower DSO & bad debt