Can you describe your job and your responsibilities as a treasurer?

I’m a treasurer, which is a specific and technical role. A company needs to reach a certain size to justify creating this position.

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I created this role when I joined Spendesk at the beginning of 2023. Before, the responsibilities were split among different members of the finance team, primarily the accountant who gathered financial data and the CFO's right-hand person for analysis and reporting.

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I have both recurring tasks and project-based tasks.

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• Recurring tasks:
  • Managing payments (around 2 to 3 times a month) by ensuring there is enough cash in our bank accounts to cover our day-to-day expenses (salaries and supplier payments).
  • Analyzing banking transactions and categorizing them to better understand our cash flow: how we are spending, what the key trends and changes are.
• Project-based missions:
  • Implementing an ERP to centralize operations in real time and support Spendesk’s growth.
  • Implementing a Treasury Management System (TMS), like Payflows, to streamline cash management and payments.

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This requires a lot of interaction:

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• Externally, with banks for cash management: sending SEPA or SWIFT payments (choosing the most appropriate service), negotiating their pricing, and selecting the right payment formats and account statements.‍
• Internally, within Spendesk, to gather short- and medium-term spending information to create the most accurate cash flow forecasts possible.

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Why did you choose to implement a treasury tool when you joined Spendesk?

When I arrived in 2023, Spendesk didn’t have a treasury tool at all, and there were many manual operations.

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We have bank accounts in various French and European entities, and other accounts called "wallets" on different platforms (including Spendesk, as we naturally use our own solution!).

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Every time I wanted to conduct an analysis or create a forecast, I had to (i) log into the specific platform, (ii) retrieve the data, (iii) reformat it, as each platform organizes its data differently, and finally (iv) aggregate everything into a spreadsheet before I could even begin my analysis.

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Now, thanks to our treasury management tool Payflows, I have all the financial data in one place, in real-time.

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Now, thanks to our treasury management tool Payflows, I have all the financial data in one place, in real time, no need to log into each account one by one anymore, so I can analyze much faster.

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The same goes for making payments—it used to require logging into each platform, which was very time-consuming. Now, I can process all payments through Payflows in just a few clicks, in an easy and secure way, while adding the right people for sensitive validations.

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Why did you choose Payflows over other solutions?

Payflows centralizes all treasury operations in one tool.

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The use of Payflows is very valuable in terms of time savings and ultimately real-time visibility on our cash positions.

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Before, due to time constraints, we could only establish our cash positions twice a month because it took around 3 to 4 days. With Payflows, it’s now possible to do it daily. The use of Payflows is very valuable in terms of time savings and ultimately real-time visibility on our cash positions.

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Setting up Payflows was very simple. We connected the tool to our accounts via bank connectivity contracts (EBICS TS, SFTP). We then conducted secure connectivity tests and moved to production.

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With Payflows, you can "have fun" as a treasurer because what interests us is the analysis:

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• Creating rules to categorize flows in a personalized way
• Visualizing cash positions easily with just a few clicks
• Managing the relationship with banks to choose the best investment options
• Making all payments from one platform (instead of 20 like before).Making all payments from a single platform (and not 20 as before)

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The tool is very easy to use, visually modern, and the team is always available when needed.

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The tool is very easy to use, visually modern, and the team is always available if product support is needed. I also had the chance to be one of the first clients and users, so I feel like I’m helping to build the roadmap with Payflows.

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You’ve used other TMS tools in your previous experiences, how is Payflows different?

Many other TMS tools work very well—they are fairly standard tools for cash management and are familiar to treasurers. Regardless of the company they are implemented in, the modules are pretty similar (cash management, bank connectivity, payments), so a treasurer can quickly get used to them.

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The user experience of the Payflows interface, is modern and easy to use.

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Several factors led me to choose Payflows, particularly (1) the high-quality customer support, which provides precise and fast responses, and (2) product innovation, as well as the user experience of the Payflows interface, which is modern and easy to use.

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At Payflows, I’m one of the first clients and users, so I have the opportunity to help build the roadmap with the product team. They are very attentive and strive to offer the best tool in terms of connectivity, security, and user experience, as well as visualization.

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