Maximising ROI on Treasury Automation Investments in 2025
The Growing Importance of Treasury Management Automation
Recent years have seen a major shift in the role of corporate treasury departments. Treasurers are no longer just custodians of company funds, responsible for liquidity and risk management, they have evolved to become integral to strategic planning, forecasting, and business growth. Automation is a prerequisite for enabling treasury operations to be more strategic and proactive. It facilitates real-time data access, predictive analytics, and streamlined workflows across multi-subsidiary enterprises.
However, the problem arises when more and more companies look for a different tool for each problem they are trying to solve, ending up with a complex and expensive multi-tool, multi-tech stack.
In this scenario, treasury managers and CFOs must answer some key questions as we head into 2025:
- Which of these tools deliver measurable ROI?
- Are the tools future-proof and scalable to ensure long-term benefits as the organisation grows?
- Finally, how can spending on these tools be justified to stakeholders amidst budget constraints?
Low-Hanging Fruit for ROI in Treasury Automation
When treasury and finance departments look to justify investments in treasury and finance tools, a go-to strategy is identifying the ‘low-hanging fruit.’ These areas are where treasury automation can bring the most immediate and tangible results. Experts recommend focusing on the following:
1. Reconciliation
Reconciliation workflows are still manual in many organisations, whether for payables or receivables, making the process time-consuming and error-prone. This is particularly problematic for multi-entity businesses operating across borders and handling multiple currencies, which complicates cash flows. Automated reconciliation tools integrate with ERP systems for real-time transaction matching and immediate posting, reducing wasted time, lowering operational costs, and eliminating discrepancies.
2. Cash Visibility, Liquidity Management, and Cash Flow Forecasting
To improve cash visibility and agility in decision-making, businesses can turn to treasury automation platforms that integrate with financial institutions and multiple bank accounts via APIs to provide real-time insights into cash positions. These systems eliminate delays caused by manually aggregating financial data from different sources. Better financial transparency ensures funds are deployed effectively to reduce idle cash or avoid costly overdrafts.
3. Compliance and Regulatory Reporting
Automating treasury and cash operations allows businesses to streamline the generation of compliance and audit reports, minimising errors and reducing the risk of penalties. Additionally, in a multi-jurisdiction setup, automation simplifies currency, tax management, treasury reporting and compliance adherence, as tools are designed to adapt to various regulatory environments.
4. Payments
While automation is more common in invoice processing and reconciliation, many companies still rely on batch files and manual data entry to process supplier payments or payroll. Automating these processes with tools that either integrate with other financial systems or offer integrated payment processing alongside payables can remove significant delays and bottlenecks in financial operations. This leads to better vendor relationships, improved payment terms, and enhanced cash flow.
5. Operational Cost Reduction
Automating processes like payments, collections, cash management and forecasting reduces reliance on human intervention and significantly improves cash flow forecasts. This should not be mistaken for job cuts - it allows people to focus on value-added tasks, lowering operational costs and improving efficiency.
Real-World ROI Examples
AMFE Global
AMFE Global, a multinational curator of luxury events, saved 280 hours annually by automating key financial processes such as payables, receivables, and payments. This shift enabled their team to focus on strategic growth with real-time insights into global cash.
Elitavia
Elitavia is a private aviation company with customers and suppliers worldwide. Prior to implementing a treasury management system, they struggled with delayed supplier payments and lengthy compliance processes to gain access to new currencies. With Fyorin’s automated treasury management and financial operations platform they reduced operational costs by 80%.
Shurtape Technologies
Shurtape, a global manufacturer of adhesives, revolutionised their receivables process by automating collections. They reduced late payments by 50%, improved cash flow, optimised working capital and operational efficiency.
