Northern Data delivers a masterclass in mid-market treasury innovation

Best SME/MME Solution

Highly Commended Winner

Northern Data Group

Photo of Marius Swanepoel and Sarah Symmonds, Northern Data Group.

Dominik Scheitz

VP Finance

United Kingdom

Northern Data Group is a hyper-growth mid-market enterprise (MME) in the high-performance computing sector, managing Fortune 500 level complexity: over 50 legal entities, eight operating currencies and 100+ global bank accounts.

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The challenge

Northern Data’s international footprint was managed by a lean finance department of just 30 people, including only one treasurer and five support staff.

Before implementing Embat, the team was paralysed by manual, decentralised processes. 15 accountants required a gruelling 15 days to complete the month-end close. Because financial data took up to three weeks to flow from procurement to financial planning and analysis (FP&A), the finance team constantly lagged behind reality.

The urgent catalyst for change was the realisation that an MME cannot linearly scale its headcount alongside rapid global growth; they needed an enterprise-grade transformation.

The solution

To execute this ambitious structural overhaul and eliminate their operational bottlenecks, Northern Data selected Embat’s cloudnative treasury management system (TMS).

Embat was explicitly chosen for its powerful application programming interface (API)-first architecture, which could seamlessly centralise 100+ global bank accounts and natively integrate with SAP S/4HANA without the multi-year IT deployment typical of legacy systems.

The primary obstacle during implementation was cultural: dismantling the deep communication silos within the 30-person finance team. Because Embat provided a single, real-time, cloud-based platform accessible to procurement, accounting, treasury and FP&A, the system naturally forced immediate cross-departmental collaboration. It successfully shifted the entire team away from isolated spreadsheets and into a unified, highly automated digital workflow, proving that mid-market enterprises can deploy top-tier treasury setups rapidly.

Best practice and innovation

The judges commended Northern Data for an impactful tech integration that combines an in-house bank (IHB) with APIs and bank rationalisation: a masterclass in mid-market treasury innovation.

By leveraging Embat One alongside cutting-edge API connectivity, Northern Data successfully built an automated IHB that centrally clears intercompany liquidity and manages FX risk across 50 entities and eight currencies – an incredibly innovative and rare feat for a lean MME team.

Furthermore, this transformation demonstrates absolute best practice by achieving complete data synchronisation and straight through processing. They didn’t just digitise outdated legacy habits; they fundamentally re-engineered their entire financial data architecture. By replacing batch-processing with real-time APIs, they reduced the time data takes to travel from procurement to FP&A from a sluggish three weeks down to real-time, setting a new gold standard for treasury efficiency.

Key benefits

Cost savings.
Process efficiencies.
Return on investment (ROI).
Risk mitigation.
Number of banking partners/bank accounts reduced.
Exceptional implementation (budget/time).
Future-proof solution.
Improved key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics.
Improved visibility.
Increased automation.
Increased system connectivity.
Manual intervention reduced.
Reduction in errors.

The project spectacularly met its core aim: transforming a lean, overwhelmed finance department into a highly automated, strategic powerhouse capable of supporting hyper-growth. The quantitative benefits achieved are profound and immediate.

Furthermore, automating the API payment factory completely freed up the two FTEs who previously spent their entire days manually processing EBICS files, allowing them to pivot to high-value analytical tasks. From a cash management perspective, the treasury team transitioned from zero visibility to operating with a highly reliable, real-time global liquidity forecast.

Financially, the deployment of the Embat One module centralised internal funding across the group. This drastically reduced external banking fees, optimised working capital and provided total, centralised control over their complex eight-currency FX exposure. Ultimately, the corporate successfully scaled its international operations, mitigated severe operational risks and gained enterprise‑grade financial agility without needing to expand its finance headcount.

Quique Fernandez

Head of Treasury Transformation, Embat

Having previously been part of Northern Data’s implementation, I know first-hand the immense complexity of their global operations. It has been a true privilege to partner with them from the Embat side to drive this incredible transformation. By seamlessly integrating Embat’s API-driven platform with SAP S/4HANA and centralising over 100 bank accounts, Northern Data have successfully eliminated manual bottlenecks and slashed its financial close by 85%. This award is a testament to the vision and dedication of its finance team. We are incredibly proud to empower its transition into a highly automated, strategic treasury powerhouse.

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The Adam Smith Awards are the industry benchmark for best practice and innovation in corporate treasury. The 2026 awards attracted 635 nominations. To find out more please visit treasurytoday.com/adam-smith-awards

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