Balancing Digital Aspirations While Addressing Risk Management Fundamentals: Observations From Citi Treasury Diagnostics

50 INTRODUCTION There is broad client interest in “all things digital” in treasury and finance, including automation, emerging technologies, and data-led insights. However, as this study has shown, we should not lose sight that many clients still need to progress fundamentals in Treasury and their broader Finance organization. At many companies, shoring up fundamentals remains the core focus for Treasury — advancing the centralization journey, becoming more effective at managing cash and risk (the crisis exposed those less prepared... again), and extracting operational and financial efficiency. • Moving from people-dependent processes and dispersed accountability to centralized remit, process-based function, and core automation deployed. Companies that are advancing the data and digitalization journey tend to be those that have already meaningfully progressed on fundamentals, as that helps provide opportunity, internal credibility, and funding. • Building data and talent core, further digitalizing processes, transitioning to utilizing data insights to augment decision-making. We find that those seeking to better understand their future digital destination for Treasury and the transition journey require a shift in focus from measuring the past to deduce/infer what is most likely to happen in the future . • Prediction of future outcomes enabling provision of business insights to support growth and creation of value.