Photo of Kuai Yee Loh, HP Inc., Harpreet Singh, HSBC, Siew Cheng Lim, Henry Guang Zu Chee and Pravina Selvasingham, HP Inc.
Siew Cheng Lim
APAC Treasury Regional Manager
HP Inc. is an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, that develops personal computers (PCs), printers and related supplies, as well as 3D printing services.
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The challenge
Economic uncertainty, stubborn inflation and elevated costs of capital had made it extremely important for HP to focus on liquidity management, cash forecasting and working capital management. Cash has become a more valuable resource, making centralised visibility and control on enterprise cash essential to ensure its optimal utilisation.
HP’s regional treasury team in Asia uses an existing treasury management system (TMS) that supports several cash forecasting methodologies, such as company-wide short- and long-term forecasts. However, for entity-level cash positioning and forecasting, the treasury team still relied on manual processes. As the TMS could not integrate all necessary parameters to automate the generation of a cash flow forecast, the treasury team had to consolidate transaction flows across all bank accounts in the region with Excel spreadsheets.
Forecasting had to be done meticulously for each entity in each market, which typically took up three to four hours of the cash managers’ time and effort per legal entity. Given HP’s extensive presence in Asia Pacific, this amounted to hundreds of man hours dedicated to cash positioning, cash flow analysis and forecasting, with lesser time and resources for other higher value-added tasks.
The solution
HP’s treasury team constantly sought ideas to automate their cash flow analysis and forecasting processes across the region. They explored HSBC’s Cash Flow Forecasting (CFF) tool and dedicated many months working with the bank to enhance the tool for a pilot country. Once the first prototype was successfully implemented, this was extended to five other markets as of August 2024, with plans for further expansion.
As an integrated module within the bank’s proprietary platform, the CFF tool requires minimal additional IT maintenance.
The CFF module provides HP with a suite of powerful analytics on an intuitive user interface. This allows treasury to access key cash metrics at the group, market or account level, with the flexibility to drill down into more detailed information as needed. The module features automated visualisations in the form of interactive charts with capabilities to display actual versus forecasted cash positions, enhancing visibility into current and for future cash position decisions.
HP also collaborated with the bank to comprehensively customise CFF reporting to achieve the forecast objectives in line with HP’s business needs, while significantly reducing the time and errors associated with manual compilations.
Best practice and innovation
HP’s solution demonstrates best practices through use of automation and data – deployed to help HP in cash planning, forecasting cash cycles and eliminating any analytics delays.
As the solution is an integrated module on the banking platform, it enables HP to achieve full automation of cash flow view directly from source without the need for complex IT maintenance or financial resources for implementation across markets.
The improved reporting serves as a central point for cash flow analysis, data-driven decision-making and strategic planning.
The solution supports third-party accounts linked to HP’s banking platform, offering a crucial step towards achieving full bank-agnostic automation of cash positions across entities in the region. This capability is further enhanced by the bank’s extensive footprint in the region which aligns with HP’s global operational objectives by providing real-time insights and predictive analytics to optimise cash flow, manage risks and improve financial performance.
Key benefits
Cost savings.
Headcount savings.
Process efficiencies.
Improved key performance indicator (KPI) metrics.
Return on investment (ROI).
Increased automation.
Risk mitigated.
Improved visibility.
Errors reduced.
Manual intervention reduced.
Increased system connectivity.
Future-proof solution.
Exceptional implementation (budget/time).
“By leveraging automation and data through an integrated solution from our bank, we have transitioned from fully manual to fully automated cash forecasting processes in multiple currencies, entities and markets,” explains Siew Cheng Lim, APAC Treasury Regional Manager.
Winnie Yap
Country Head of Global Payments Solutions, Singapore, HSBC
HP’s adoption of HSBC’s Cash Flow Forecasting solution exemplifies a transformative leap towards building a real-time treasury. From immediate visibility of cash positions to improvements in forecasting accuracy, it empowers treasurers to make data-driven decisions that further reinforces the strategic nature of today’s treasury functions.
The seamless integration with third-party accounts gives the solution an additional edge, as it allows HP to optimise cash management, navigate economic uncertainties with agility and support business growth. Their openness to piloting new technologies demonstrates their pursuit for excellence and underpins their position as an innovator in corporate treasury.
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The Adam Smith Awards Asia are the industry benchmark for best practice and innovation in corporate treasury. The 2024 awards attracted 406 nominations. To find out more please visit treasurytoday.com/adam-smith-awards-asia
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