Construction group SIG builds resilience in cash management refurb
Published: Sep 2024
Best Cash Flow Forecasting Solution
Highly Commended Winner
SIG Plc
Photo of Dan Hitchen, SIG Plc and Amit Bhalerao, HSBC.
Dan Hitchen
Group Treasury Manager
Founded in 1957, SIG is a leading pan-European supplier of specialist insulation and sustainable building products and solutions, differentiated through specialist knowledge, product mix and end markets, with over 440 branches across six geographies.
in partnership with
The challenge
The treasury team at building products supplier SIG Plc were labouring under the weight of paperwork and manual processes. Witness time-consuming and inefficient tasks like downloading bank statements to spreadsheets and daily reconciliation of cash flows across 220+ bank accounts.
The manual collection and consolidation of data from cash flow worksheets across numerous jurisdictions involved multiple entries and validations. And any errors or misreporting could impact the group’s access to the liquidity, the lifeblood of the company’s daily operations and needed to support strategic initiatives in a challenging business environment. The company was navigating the impact of the pandemic and inflationary spike in energy and raw materials in response to the war in Ukraine.
SIG Plc embarked on a transformative journey to digitise its operational processes as part of a seven-pillar return-to-growth strategy. Treasury wanted a digital forecasting tool that was both user friendly, scalable and easy to implement without creating a significant workload for the internal legal, IT team and operating companies.
The solution
SIG Plc’s global bank, HSBC, was already providing the firm with traditional cash and liquidity management, cards, FX and trade finance services. It was a natural step to ask the bank to support treasury to integrate a contemporary cash flow forecasting (CFF) solution.
A simplified onboarding process meant SIG was up and running with HSBC’s CFF platform within 72 hours, pre-loaded with 12 months historical banking data. The technology also has an in-built integrator which allows automated reporting of HSBC accounts from day one. The project was completed within budget and the solution was rolled out globally within two months.
The platform allows the integration and automation of disparate and localised cash flow forecasting processes into one globally connected cash management solution, giving near real-time visibility to senior management. Using the advanced data-analytics within the platform, the team can continually refine the forecasting model to enhance its accuracy. With easy access to data and improved confidence on the forecast numbers, SIG’s treasury team can make data-driven decisions that have a profound and strategic impact for the company in an uncertain environment.
“It certainly reflects the hard work across the business over the last few years. It is nice for the teams to have some external recognition of the hard work they have put in. As they continue to update processes, find efficiencies and ensure that the group is leveraging our banking relationships as much as possible, hopefully there will be more awards in the not so distant future.”
Best practice and innovation
The solution has an in-built data integrator for bank transaction and FX rates and pre-loaded 12 months historical banking data to support forecasting. These innovative product features have not only significantly reduced implementation efforts but replaced reliance on excel with a more efficient and robust solution.
HBSC ran workshops and ongoing analysis to check SIG’s requirements to ensure that the final outcome remained aligned with SIG’s business needs. The solution was deployed within budget and implemented across over ten business units in just two months, demonstrating efficiency and rapid scalability.
“The construction industry has faced unprecedented disruption due to the pandemic and recent global turmoil, resulting in volatility in raw material and energy markets. To overcome challenges, SIG Plc embarked on a journey of treasury transformation to achieve optimal operational productivity – one of seven key pillars of their return-to-growth strategy.
This award recognises the clear vision executed by the treasury team to transform their operations through digitalisation as well as foster a data-driven decision-making culture within the organisation. We are delighted to partner with SIG Plc, supporting their treasury transformation journey with cutting-edge digital solutions. Congratulations to the SIG Plc team from all of us at HSBC.”
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The Adam Smith Awards are the industry benchmark for best practice and innovation in corporate treasury. The 2024 awards attracted 389 nominations. To find out more please visit treasurytoday.com/adam-smith-awards
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