and threats posed by digital
transformation. Once information
is digitized, a computer can
capture, access, search, exchange,
and integrate different data
elements. Corporate functions
that have digitized a significant
portion of their data will then
use this information to optimize
business and operating workflows.
The final step in a company’s
digital transformation is to reorchestrate the organization’s
digital footprint, internally and
with third parties, to create a
collaborative transactional digital
ecosystem.
In this journey, RPA is a critical
technology because it can liberate
staff from performing routine
and repetitive high-volume, low-complexity treasury tasks. When
robots execute these tasks instead,
the result is more cost-effective
processing. RPA also enhances
accuracy, since robots do the same
things in the same way every time.
For compliance purposes, this leap
forward in precision reduces the
risk of the dire consequences that
would result from an accounting
mistake.
RPA tools perform processing
tasks at breakneck speeds on a
continuous basis, in a working
timetable that human beings
could not match. The robots also
are better at organizing data to
create reports. These various
enhancements in productivity,
accuracy, and compliance
add up to significant treasury
cost savings. Further, because
automation reduces the chance of
human error, RPA tools improve
confidence in the veracity of cash
forecasts.
Both customers and vendors
of treasury technology platforms
benefit. “We’re using RPA to
automate tasks that we had
previously offshored to save costs,
and we are saving more in the
process,” says ION Treasury’s
Kolman. “It makes no sense
anymore for human beings to
reconcile a bank statement or
execute a payment over and
over again, when robots can be
designed to do the same things
more rapidly and easily.”
Another plus is that RPA
presents the opportunity for system
users to effortlessly upgrade the
product. “Every software system
needs to be periodically replaced
with a new version of the same
product, on a three- to five-year
basis in many cases,” Kolman
says. “Robotics gives us the ability
to reduce the typical number of
steps involved in upgrading the
system, making the upgrading
process much faster.”
He explained that the robots
simply perform the repetitive steps
previously performed by humans.
If there were previously 20 steps
involved in upgrading the systems,
there may be 5 steps now because
the robot has already performed
the other 15.
In addition to these
benefits, RPA facilitates easier
communications with other best-of-breed systems within treasury,
such as currency management
tools. Data can be captured and
transferred from one system to
another with ease, permitting
6 TREASURY&RISK NOVEMBER 2018 SPECIAL REPORT treasuryandrisk.com
BRIGHT (cont’d from page 3) “On the one hand, technologies like RPA
and machine learning are re-imagining the
capabilities and purpose of treasury, but on the
other hand, they also necessitate the retooling of
the competencies of the people within treasury.”
—MICHAEL KOLMAN
CO-COO, HEAD OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMEN T, ION TREASURY
