Kyriba has just rolled out a new system to enable easier access to its APIs, the critical technology that connects software applications. The company’s first-of-its-kind GenAI-driven platform, App Studio, bundles APIs into a catalogue putting data connection on a shelf where whole finance teams can access them to solve liquidity bottlenecks and offer valuable insights.
Crucially, the new marketplace cuts down on treasurers’ implementation efforts since the technology easily integrates with systems such as other ERPs, data providers and financial services platforms.
Another key facet of the App Studio – which has just completed a successful soft launch – is that it doesn’t require technical expertise, dramatically enhancing the operational agility of finance teams, Thomas Gavaghan, VP of Global Presales at Kyriba tells Treasury Today.
Because all the APIs are visible on the platform, people are no longer dependent on internal tech, developers, or an outside connection to tap into the benefits.
“At its heart, the App Studio lowers the barriers to API adoption, allowing finance teams without coding expertise to create system integrations more efficiently in a secure environment.” APIs have a growing presence in treasury, but their application is not universal, he continues. “Our audience are finance folks, not IT people, and App Studio makes APIs accessible to non-IT people.”
Comprehensive liquidity management
The roll out of the App Studio illustrates how the lines between cash, treasury and liquidity management are increasingly blurred in terms of technology. Successful liquidity management is now firmly in the hands of finance teams who are now in a position to act and make decisions themselves off the back of new liquidity insights without being dependent on different factions of the business or technology processes.
Take FX management for example. New technology has transformed FX management across reconciliation, reporting and middle and back-office accounting whereby finance teams understand and see the exposures and can create hedges themselves. Other functionality extends to investments, enabling teams to execute on trades and clearly see the yield on cash investments, saving time and inefficiencies.
This kind of sweeping liquidity management shows Kyriba’s evolution beyond just cash management to offering a whole liquidity performance solution, believes Gavaghan. “There is much more in our solutions beyond TMS. We offer the ability for finance teams to get a comprehensive view of all their liquidity right now, and then decide how to use it for the best impact on working capital.”
AI in the future
The App Studio is an example of how AI is changing treasury, says Gavaghan who flags that his conversations with treasurers about AI are still typically at a high level. Outside IT, few people understand the intricacies and variability that AI offers.
“The reality is that AI is the future, and we need to address it,” he says. “The conversations we have around AI today are like APIs seven years ago.”
One of the most useful tools emerging from AI sits around extrapolating forecasts based on historical data. Kyriba is currently extracting around 60% more data this year compared to last year. Moreover, today’s data is core, structural data spanning bank statements and historical financial transactions like FX and working capital invoices. Ensuring the data is timely, searchable and in a centralised location, is not an easy task.
“Kyriba is investing in data modelling that will build the next level of technology. This is the complex part of AI; this is the hard part,” he continues. “To be able to take in data in a matter of seconds is not trivial but this infrastructure will give us the ability to grow.”
AI is not only being used to improve forecasting. Another area it is also changing is investment strategy. But this is an area many treasurers remain instinctively cautious of AI’s presence. Common concerns include algorithms acting outside the investment policy, for example.
“The same problem could just as easily occur with a new employee,” he reasons. “People are uncomfortable about this, but we have to start thinking this way because this is where the technology is taking us.”
Gavaghan concludes that Kyriba is particularly focused on improving customers’ user experience and helping finance teams integrate and operate the technology, putting it directly into the hands of the team. He is concerned treasury teams don’t use all the technology they have. One reason is because it is evolving so rapidly, new capabilities roll out all the time. “It is moving so quickly we find we couldn’t do something yesterday, that we can today. We don’t expect our customers to spend the whole day keeping up with tech. That’s our job.”
