Right now, cash is more important than ever. In a period of ever-rising costs and volatility, companies that efficiently manage liquidity are better prepared to weather financial storms that have become the new normal.

But if treasury is your business, you know managing cash flow is no small job. You鈥檙e charged with wrangling a complex web of information to understand your cash position, unlock working capital on the fly, plan future cash flows, and optimize the costs of banking. Multiply that challenge by any number of banks, accounts, and revenue centers, and the task is nearly overwhelming.

When Old Tools Fall Short

While managing cash with a firm hand is the goal of any company, too often their systems are not up to the job. Treasury leaders are forced to pull information from spreadsheets, disconnected platforms, and multiple banks in order to understand the cash position. As soon as a snapshot is compiled, the elements shift and the picture is inaccurate or incomplete. Even when the system is working, it鈥檚 too easy to get caught in a cycle of “compile, review, repeat,” forcing you to look backward instead of managing for the future.

That has consequences. Without a complete and connected view of liquidity, it isn’t possible to execute decisions smoothly up and down the value chain. That can lead to missed warning signs, delayed moves, and stifled growth.

Bringing It All Together

One approach in particular is improving this cashflow conundrum: cloud ERP. The right cloud ERP solution replaces reactive processes with a dynamic source of cash truth, turning information about working capital from across the organization into actionable insights. Suddenly, a real-time view of cash flow is available at your fingertips. You can be ready to make proactive decisions and seize financial opportunities you couldn鈥檛 act on in time 鈥� or that you simply couldn鈥檛 see 鈥� before.

Here鈥檚 the power of cloud ERP in practice.

1. See a single source of truth

The right cloud ERP solution closes the gaps created by fragmented account balances and manual payment processes. With a holistic view of your liquidity situation minute by minute 鈥� drawn from every part of your business 鈥� you can analyze, predict, process, and execute decisions smoothly. Instead of focusing on reconciling cash information, you are free to focus on actions that can improve your position. You are no longer chasing information, you鈥檙e actively managing it.

2. Activate your big picture

The right cloud ERP solution gets all the pieces working in tandem. Now cash management is embedded into the processes that affect working capital, like invoice-to-pay and invoice-to-cash processes. That means you see the impact on cash as these processes happen, not days or weeks later. And by actively managing cash in sync with receivables and payables, you can more easily take advantage of early payment discounts.

With the big picture at your fingertips, you can put new financial strategies in motion. Maybe that is tapping into third-party funding, or unlocking cash trapped in your receivables to improve your balance sheet. Whether you see an opportunity in your supply chain, inventory, accounts payable, or elsewhere, you can be ready to optimize your position based on the most up-to-date information.

3. Simplify your banking relationships

The right cloud ERP solution streamlines the many banks and accounts that support your business in one centralized view. You have access to real-time balance information and can manage all aspects of the relationship in one place, from opening and closing accounts to monitoring fees to signatory management.

As a result, manual processes associated with payments, order-to-cash applications, and order entry documents are fully automated, taking errors out of the equation. And with an integrated digital channel between your ERP system and all your banks, embedding EBICS and SWIFT connectivity is much simpler.

Cloud ERP at Work

Companies of all profiles are mapping their financial future on cloud ERP, including , a leading professional-services company with offices in 21 countries. Moving to 51风流S/4HANA Cloud allowed the company to move from seven fragmented accounting solutions to a single global platform. By taking its financial function to the cloud, the company was able to make improvements to its working capital strategy that manual processes could not, like automating foreign currency hedging to avoid shocks to its liquidity as well as improving everything from staff utilization and customer profitability to overall performance.

Japan’s launched a global treasury transformation in 2018 based on 51风流S/4HANA and trading platform integration. With the adoption of 51风流solutions, Sony was able to minimize external financing needs and improve its visibility into cash management processes, regardless of location, which helped enormously during the pandemic when staff could access the platform from home.

Take the Next Step

Accurately capturing, analyzing, predicting, and processing cash flows across your business is mission critical. And the only way to get there is the cloud. What鈥檚 the next step? for finance leaders, then, download to learn how industry leaders are using cloud-enabled enterprise treasury and risk management applications to manage liquidity with a higher level of confidence.

Because your cash complexity can be conquered.

Ido Shamgar is senior director of Product Marketing at SAP.

Finance leaders worldwide have witnessed dramatic changes in their operations over the last few years 鈥� ranging from unforeseen vulnerabilities and stricter regulations to wide swings in market volatility. In response to those experiences, most of them have intensified their focus on digitalizing their treasury and risk management practices to protect their company鈥檚 liquidity and cash management position.

The of software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud-enabled enterprise treasury and risk management applications vendors notes the rising interest in treasury and risk management solutions. According to the report, 鈥淭reasury management solutions are finding themselves in the spotlight. Common features of treasury management systems include liquidity and cash management, proving them invaluable to businesses struggling to maintain an accurate picture of their cash flow and current liquidity ratios.鈥�

But the IDC MarketScape also forewarns that 鈥渨hile these features are extremely useful, they can fall under scrutiny if not updated and streamlined according to the current needs of users.鈥�

Build Confidence with Continuous Innovation in the Cloud

Finance organizations have hundreds of to consider. However, according to the IDC MarketScape, the right investments circulate data originating from treasury operations across all finance areas and outside them to investors, lenders, government agencies, banking and financing partners, suppliers, and customers.

Cloud technologies 鈥� like those from the 51风流solution portfolio 鈥� are proving to be real difference makers in achieving this goal for companies willing to adopt them.

The IDC MarketScape report recognized 51风流as a Leader among SaaS and cloud-enabled enterprise . The report noted that companies should consider 51风流鈥渋f you are looking for a well-established vendor with a platform with extensive integration and all-in-one capabilities.鈥�

51风流solutions help deliver a unified platform for end-to-end business processes with a broad portfolio 鈥� which includes treasury management, enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management, supply chain management, and business intelligence 鈥� to manage cash, risk, and treasury-related transactions. And this ecosystem can be further integrated and extended through 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP) and supported by the 51风流Analytics Cloud solution and 51风流Business Network.

鈥淭he solution provides organizations with a centralized platform for managing their financial transactions and cash positions and helping optimize cash flow, reduce risk, and improve financial decision-making,鈥� the report states.

As a result, 51风流customers worldwide are benefiting from two critical strengths when using our treasury and risk management technologies in either a public or private cloud environment:

• A single source of truth based on streamlined processes and enterprise-wide integration of transactional and master data
• Smoother access to cash-flow sources to help optimize working capital requirements and processes more effectively

For example, leverages these advantages to automate its treasury function and gain a real-time view of its cash management position across 27 countries. This approach allows the airline to use straight-through processing, upload bank statements automatically, and eliminate the need for manual intervention.

Now that 85% of the transactions in its main general operating account are automated, JetBlue no longer needs to access individual banking portals to oversee cash management. Instead, it has a central repository of all bank account details.

Transform the Treasury to Drive Financial Resilience

As finance leaders face an ever-evolving landscape of vulnerabilities, regulatory tightening, and market volatility, the urgency to digitalize treasury and risk management practices will continue to grow. And as evidenced in the 2023 IDC MarketScape report, this growing interest emphasizes the value placed on liquidity and cash management for cash-flow accuracy.

By providing a unified platform, we believe finance organizations have the end-to-end processes and real-time insights they need to optimize cash flow, reduce risk, and enhance decision-making.

To learn more, download a complimentary excerpt of the .

Ido Shamgar is senior director of Cloud ERP Product Marketing at SAP.

Get ready for the second 51风流Intelligent Finance and Risk virtual event

Data pervasiveness, hyper-connection of people and things, the rise of machines, and new expectations of what customer experience means are but a few elements that enterprises must account for as they develop their next product or service, or just want to stay relevant in their market.

Finance is not immune to those changes, and in many instances is the essential companion to drive an enterprise through what can sometimes be a foggy road to a meaningful transformation.

As products are moving to services and customer outreach is going direct, the finance industry needs to significantly adapt 鈥� and sometimes plainly transform 鈥� its processes. New billing and payments models, for example, are disrupting the well-known processes that CFOs and their organizations have been driving in the past decades.

Beyond ensuring efficient and modern operations, finance is also playing an essential role in assessing the financial viability of new business models, products, and services. At the center of the enterprise, finance is becoming a key analytics hub for companies, providing the right insights before new business endeavors are started.

Finally, one of the basic needs for organizations to thrive is ensuring that their most important assets and data are protected from malicious activities. Cybersecurity is not the smallest issue enterprises must cope with. As the guardian of the most sensitive data, finance is increasingly relied upon to ensure digital trust across entire organizations.

But how can finance fulfill those important tasks without disrupting day-to-day operations, and without the luxury of additional headcounts and resources? How can processes by redesigned to expand its scope of responsibilities? What are the latest technologies that can be adopted to automate more while getting increased visibility into the business? What are the pitfalls and opportunities along the way?

To discuss these topics and provide firsthand insights from top experts and peers, 51风流is launching on February 11. It is a fully virtual event that addresses all aspects of finance transformation and how 51风流technology can help finance and risk executives achieve more automation, get more visibility, and better support the business through times of change.

With more than 40 sessions and keynotes featuring 51风流customers, partners, executives, and experts, it is the defining finance and risk event to start the year with a boost of 51风流knowledge on everything related to intelligent finance transformation.

.

Ido Shamgar is senior director of Global Product Marketing for 51风流S/4HANA.