Without proper payments digitalisation, companies face inefficiency, lack of transparency and increased fraud risk. Transformation to a robust digital payments environment can solve these issues, and more, and can even triple ROI.

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In a recent webinar, Treasury Today Group spoke with Jörg Wiemer, CEO and co-founder of Treasury Intelligence Solutions (TIS), to find out how treasurers can transform their payment processes.

Payment fraud has always been a hot topic. In the current circumstances, the heat has intensified. Fortunately, so has the opportunity for treasurers to respond, said Jörg Wiemer, CEO and co-founder of TIS in this recent webinar.

“We talk a lot about the benefits of cloud-based platforms for mission-critical processes such as payments. In current times, with treasurers working from home, and payments having to be made outside of the official premises, the remote accessibility aspect has become an even bigger issue than before,” he commented.

Fraud is a threat that comes from many angles. According to the 2019 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey, 36% of fraud threats came from inside the company. False payment requests, recording of false credits and stolen credentials from payment systems are just a few examples of how organisations are under attack from within.

But the external threat is mounting under the pandemic. “We’ve seen that during the COVID-19 crisis, more companies have become victims of business email compromise (BEC) attacks,” said Wiemer. “Add to this rising corporate concerns around cash visibility, and it’s no wonder that now, more than ever, treasurers are having to deliver ever more timely cash position reports.”

Without the right systems, he believes the risks multiply. But solutions such as TIS can bring together all functions and information, using a single payment gateway “so you have proper controls such as multiple approvers, access rights management and pre-defined approval processes all in one place for fraud prevention”.

Asking questions

Looking at account payables, Wiemer said companies must ask themselves the following questions:

1. Do you work with decentralised, proprietary e-banking tools and have too many manual steps involved in your supplier payment processes?
2. Do you struggle with insufficient visibility of your company-wide supplier payments?
3. Have you experienced fraud attempts?
4. Are your payment management processes audit-proof?
5. Are you looking for ways to enhance compliance?

“If your answer to at least three of the above is ‘yes’, you should seriously revisit your current processes as your organisation may be at greater risk of fraud,” he warned. The solution, he added, is readily available.

“The TIS platform connects to any ERP, treasury management or HR system and takes care of bank connectivity. The platform guarantees a frictionless straight through process. With additional modules such as Sanction Screening, TIS also offers a high level of payment security and compliance.”

For Wiemer then, decentralised processes and having to use multiple tokens and logins “belong to the past”. By streamlining the processes and consolidating financial data on one platform, it is, he states, “possible to get visibility and real-time reporting with just one login”.

In anti-fraud terms, the advantage is clear. But how does TIS generate 3x ROI, as Wiemer claimed? He offered the following: by decreasing the level of friction in internal processes; by reducing IT costs; and by saving on bank fees. But these are just a few examples; every TIS customer is different, and will require a different approach, he said, further citing the speed with which fraud risk mitigation is rolled out as having a potential positive impact on ROI.

Act now

It’s apparent that change is happening on many fronts, and all treasurers must respond. Critically, Wiemer predicts a mind shift from working ‘on premise’, to a new ‘remote culture’. “Everyone needs to get used to the new norm and a kind of ‘remote reality,” he said. “In times of disruption, greater attention is paid to cash and cash visibility because liquidity is vital – and cash really is king.”

In finding the ideal solution to these issues, he recommends a ‘best-of-breed’ approach, enabling treasurers to pick and choose specialised products from different areas or vendors to get the exact features needed to achieve their goals. “This open-ecosystem approach, enabled by APIs, is the future – and TIS wants to be a driving force behind it.”

TIS offers a secure, cloud-based platform which acts as a single point of contact for the entire finance function, allowing all payment transactions to be combined in a uniform way across the company. The platform also offers real-time cash visibility, ensuring payment procedures and cash flow are controllable at all times. To find out more visit www.tis.biz and request a demo.

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