Treasurers want Treasury Management Systems (TMS) that offer value-added information for smart decision-making, says Aite Group in a new ‘TMS for Corporations: A Market Update’ report published today. TMS vendors must satisfy the needs of more sophisticated treasurers who are now looking beyond the reliability and availability of data and search to improve the management of corporate cash and liquidity.

TMS solutions have traditionally provided automated functionalities to handle transactional processes (e.g. bank statements, payments, cash balances). The next phase of TMS must move beyond transactions-based applications and provide treasurers with the necessary support to navigate the turbulent waters that are in the wake of the financial crisis.

Therefore, the future TMS will be a cloud-based platform that extends the reach of the corporate Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), allowing corporate treasurers to access industry-leading capabilities across liquidity management and account services, as well as providing advanced predictive analytics for scenario planning. TMSs will become the decision support systems for corporate treasurers, allowing them to select the applications most relevant to the specific needs of their organizations and to group and present them in a way that best suits their work patterns.

While advanced technology is not indispensable for cash management and forecasting, TMS technology is needed to remove operational risk as well as for better control and confidence in the risk management process.

“Treasury system support is increasingly becoming an essential requirement for companies with less than US$1 billion in revenue. TMS vendors must adapt to this new market with richer, more integrated, Software as a Service (SaaS)-based solutions that are delivered through a network of regional partners or direct sales teams,” says Enrico Camerinelli, senior analyst in wholesale banking at Aite Group.

aitegroup.com