Inventing infrastructure, FX automation and cash management get top billing
It’s not surprising that Google would have one of the most automated, technologically savvy treasuries in the world. The company is rich, dynamic and global, and has both the predisposition and resources to adopt the best technology and configure it for its own operations. Google also has a treasurer and vice president, Brent Callinicos, who
was a treasury automation star when he held the same position at Microsoft from 2000 to
2004. In 2007, Callinicos grabbed the opportunity to move to Google and essentially invent a
treasury technology infrastructure for the young upstart blazing trails in Internet search
applications. When it comes to automat-
ing treasury processes, if Google can’t do it,
chances are that nobody can.
To get to the leading edge, Callinicos
relied on his own experience, then hired
consultants to provide “landscape and best
practice analysis,” he reports. Google’s suc-
cess is not simply a matter of buying best-of-
breed systems and then interfacing them, he
insists. “We don’t buy systems for systems’
sake. They have to advance our strategy.”
The foundations of Google’s financial
infrastructure are an Oracle ERP system
and a Quantum treasury workstation. As a
