Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using · PDF fileINTRODUCTION Coupled with ... a closer eye on their cash flow and financial trends. ... Integrating Bank Cash Management

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Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel®

Sponsored by: J.P. Morgan

Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014


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TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 3

CORPORATE TREASURER CHALLENGES AND NEEDS....................................................................................... 4

ANALYSIS OF J.P. MORGAN ACCESS® INSIGHTSM

............................................................................................ 7

HOW IT WORKS ......................................................................................................................................... 7

HOW IT ADDRESSES CORPORATE NEEDS .................................................................................................. 9

EASE OF USE ...................................................................................................................................... 10

AUTOMATION ................................................................................................................................... 10

ENHANCED FUNCTIONALITY ............................................................................................................. 10

CONTROL ........................................................................................................................................... 11

CONVENIENCE ................................................................................................................................... 12

SECURITY ........................................................................................................................................... 12

ROADMAP AND NEXT STEPS ................................................................................................................... 12

CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................................ 14

ABOUT AITE GROUP...................................................................................................................................... 15

AUTHOR INFORMATION ......................................................................................................................... 15

CONTACT ................................................................................................................................................. 15

LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: INSUFFICIENT REPORTING FOR CORPORATIONS ........................................................................... 4

FIGURE 2: AVAILABILITY OF INTERACTIVE REPORTING .................................................................................. 5

FIGURE 3: INDUSTRY RELIANCE ON EXCEL ..................................................................................................... 6

FIGURE 4: EXCEL'S EASE OF USE ..................................................................................................................... 6

FIGURE 5: SPREADSHEET SCREEN SHOT ......................................................................................................... 9

FIGURE 6: SCREEN SHOT OF SAMPLE J.P. MORGAN ACCESS INSIGHT TO-DO LIST ...................................... 11



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INTRODUCTION

Coupled with expanding and more strategic job responsibilities, today's stagnant economic

environment is placing pressure on corporate treasurers to operate more efficiently and gain

greater access to actionable information. While the challenges of limited visibility across

accounts, little control over data refreshes and work flows, and creating reliable forecasts are

not new, their magnitude has intensified with new market requirements for faster and more

informed decisions. Treasury workstations are an effective tool for managing and forecasting

cash for some, but they are not a reality for many midsize businesses that do not have the IT

budgets to purchase and maintain them. The result is corporate treasurers relying, at least to

some degree, on Microsoft Excel® spreadsheets. Some banks are responding by looking to offer

more robust cash management capabilities or more feature-rich cash position reports. Banks like

J.P. Morgan are pursuing similar initiatives while also trying a new approach. In addition to

enhancing their reporting capabilities, J.P. Morgan has embraced the benefits of Microsoft Excel

by developing a way for corporate treasurers who prefer to use spreadsheets to be able to

continue doing so in an environment with a far lower risk of errors and inefficiencies associated

with manual entry.

This white paper analyzes the current challenges corporate treasurers face in monitoring their

cash positions and analyzing trends. It highlights the high industry dependence on Microsoft

Excel spreadsheets and some of the inherent benefits and pitfalls that creates. Finally, it

evaluates the J.P. Morgan ACCESS® InsightSM tool and points out the ways in which it helps banks'

corporate cash management customers overcome current struggles.



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CORPORATE TREASURER CHALLENGES AND NEEDS

As technology advances, time accelerates and new expectations for faster, more accurate

decisions by cash managers arise. This expectation comes on the coattails of a more challenging

economic environment that forces treasurers to make better, more informed decisions and keep

a closer eye on their cash flow and financial trends. Unfortunately, most banks are falling short

when it comes to providing the necessary reports required for cash managers to effectively

perform their duties in this more demanding environment.

Aite Group estimates that at least 60% of large and midsize U.S. banks believe their reporting

capabilities do not meet customer needs. Available reports often lack consolidated information

and are static, with limited opportunities for bank customers to customize them. Further, a July

to August 2013 Aite Group survey of 185 corporate treasurers at mostly midsize and large

businesses found that only 19% of corporate treasurers describe their bank's reports as "highly

customizable, easy to use, and provide their organization with what that they are looking for."

Far more, at 59%, find themselves having no choice but to create some of their own reports,

while 22% very rarely use the reports offered by their bank at all (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Insufficient Reporting for Corporations

Source: Aite Group survey of 185 corporate treasurers, July to August 2013

Additionally, 69% of corporations believe that having more interactive reports that allow greater

customization, drill-down capabilities, and the ability to manually enter information will be "very

important" to "extremely important" to improving their overall online cash management

experience (Figure 2). Gone are the days of static reports with siloed data. Today, corporations

want to manipulate consolidated data and receive it in a format that is more useful and

actionable.



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Figure 2: Availability of Interactive Reporting

Source: Aite Group survey of 185 corporate treasurers, July to August 2013

Most bank cash management solutions can't deliver. Their inflexibilities have contributed to

corporate treasurers' reliance on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Aite Group estimates at least

90% of corporate treasurers around the globe use Microsoft Excel to some degree to manage

their cash, primarily for its ease of use (Error! Reference source not found. and Figure 4). These

spreadsheets continue to be a big part of the everyday activities of corporate treasurers,

especially for consolidating data from multiple sources, tracking and forecasting cash flows,

analyzing trends, and creating reports. Microsoft Excel offers a low-cost and easy-to-use option

for corporate treasurers to manage, track, and forecast their finances and offers the flexibility

and customizability that bank reports lack. Unfortunately, it also requires double or manual

entry, which is inefficient and prone to errors that can lead to inaccurate cash positioning and

forecasting. In fact, a 2013 survey of more than 250 members of the Association of Corporate

Treasurers (ACT)1 found that companies using spreadsheets for treasury reporting spend an

average of 36 hours per month on manual and operational tasks. As corporate treasurers are

forced to do more with fewer resources, many are focused on identifying ways to incorporate

greater efficiency and automation into their processes and work flows. It is clear that current

methods are not meeting this criteria.

1. This survey was conducted by Kyriba.



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Figure 3: Industry Reliance on Excel

Source: Aite Group estimate

Figure 4: Excel's Ease of Use

Source: Aite Group survey of 107 corporate executives using Excel for treasury management, July2012



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ANALYSIS OF J.P. MORGAN ACCESS® INSIGHT S M

J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight offers an option to the large number of corporate treasurers who

depend on Microsoft Excel but struggle with some of its drawbacks. By creating a Microsoft Excel

add-in that allows secure connectivity with the J.P. Morgan ACCESS portal, the bank offers tight

integration between ACCESS balances, transactions, and payments and the user's (previously or

newly created) spreadsheets. As such, corporate treasurers get automatically populated reports

in the format of their choice, as opposed to one decided upon by their bank.

J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight was officially launched in late 2012. The number of users is growing

significantly as the product is available to any customer using J.P Morgan ACCESS® Information

Reporting. This tool is targeted toward the large number of corporate treasurers somewhere in-

between the treasury workstation users and those with just a couple of accounts who wouldn't

benefit much from automation.

The bank developed J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight for several reasons:

The realization that many of its customers were not only working with Microsoft

Excel but also populating their cash positions manually; this is common practice for

many in the industry

To leverage and improve upon a software package clients are using and comfortable

with, rather than create a new one

To enable the quicker and more efficient visibility and decision-making customers

require, including access to multibank data, while also eliminating the possible

errors associated with manual entry

To provide higher levels of self-service; users not only install, create, and set up

existing worksheets themselves but also can extract and refresh data on their own

schedule and frequency, rather than on the bank's

To provide a cost-effective solution that can be used by midsize to smaller

companies

HOW IT WORKS

J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight is easy to use and install. Customers install the Microsoft Excel add-in

themselves. Once the add-in is installed, users can immediately make use of this powerful

feature either from the J.P. Morgan ACCESS® home page or directly from Microsoft Excel.

Users have two options when working with J.P Morgan ACCESS Insight:

For those that don’t already have a spreadsheet, they can follow a simple wizard to

get started. Two templates are currently available: a cash position worksheet and a

balance worksheet. The wizard offers multiple customization capabilities with

different layouts and styles.



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Most users, however, will likely use Insight to extract and autopopulate data into

their previously created custom spreadsheets. Given the variance that exists from

one company's spreadsheet to another, this places J.P. Morgan at an advantage over

the "one size fits all" approach most peer banks limit their customers to.

For those users using their own spreadsheets, J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight allows the user to

specify what information to pull from their reports and where it should appear within the Excel

spreadsheet. For example, data extract definitions are assigned to each cell, including account

selection, when the data should be pulled (i.e., prior day or current day), and the type of

information to pull.

Once the user completes the layout of his or her cash position in Excel, using the spreadsheet

each day simply requires login to the J.P. Morgan ACCESS® system from Excel and a quick

"refresh" to update the information on the cash position spreadsheet. Users, and not the bank,

have full control over when the data is refreshed and cells are populated. This prevents data

from being updated while a user is working on a spreadsheet (thus disrupting work) and

eliminates the need for users to call the bank for updated information.

Key benefits of this approach include:

Users can continue working with a spreadsheet layout and format they are already

accustomed to

Eliminates manual entry of data (which includes a multiple-step process for some

clients), thereby significantly reducing errors

Provides "on demand" balance information without the need to manually update

data throughout the day

Figure 5 shows a screenshot of a spreadsheet automatically created using the J.P. Morgan

ACCESS Insight Wizard. Once created, it can be easily customized.



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Figure 5: Spreadsheet Screen Shot

Source: J.P. Morgan

HOW IT ADDRESSES CORPORATE NEEDS

In today's competitive market, financial institutions are pressured to identify ways to

differentiate themselves and better serve their customers. Some are doing so by offering new

products and services to address common industry challenges. This section analyzes the ability

of J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight to address six key criteria corporate treasurers consider when

determining the value of a new bank product or service. They are:

Ease of use

Automation

Enhanced functionality, including transaction initiation and automated forecasting

Control

Convenience

Security



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E A S E O F U S E

Solution usability has a strong impact on customer satisfaction with online tools. In fact, most

corporate treasurers would prefer to figure new capabilities out themselves rather than sit

through training or request support. J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight delivers on the necessary level

of usability and scores high marks for its ability to leverage and enhance a software product that

corporate treasurers are already familiar and comfortable with. The Insight wizard enables easy

creation of spreadsheets using templates and provides a faster way of letting the bank know

which data is to be pulled into the spreadsheet and where. Defaults and balance and transaction

extractions have already been built for some of the more frequently pulled information to save

time in setup. While setting up a spreadsheet for data extraction can be a time-consuming task

up front, once it has been created, the level of control and automation it provides more than

makes up for the effort.

A U T O M A T I O N

J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight offers tight integration between the bank's online portal and the

corporate treasurer's Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Once spreadsheets have been created and

data-extraction definitions have been assigned to cells, automation and data refreshes are

generated through the click of a button. This integration eliminates past practices of manual data

entry, which was prone to errors as well as inefficient and time-consuming. Based on recent

research, Aite Group estimates that tighter integration between their bank's system and their

system for managing cash flows is extremely attractive for more than 65% of corporate

treasurers.

E N H A N C E D F U N C T I O N A L I T Y

J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight arms users with capabilities beyond what can be performed with a

basic Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. For example, once the spreadsheet is set up, users also have

drill-down capabilities not otherwise available from within their spreadsheets. This enables the

user to mouse over a cell and get additional information on the underlying data behind a data

point. Additionally, since Microsoft Excel is authenticated using portal credentials, any

entitlement capabilities set up through the online channel carry over to the spreadsheet.

As a result, users are able to set up payments and other transactions from within Microsoft

Excel, thereby eliminating the extra step of having to log into the portal and initiate the

transaction. The tool therefore offers tighter integration not only for data extractions but also for

transaction initiation.

J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight also offers tools for better and more automated forecasting and

tracking of cash. Historical information can be saved for trend analysis, and additional

information not provided by the bank can be manually entered to help more accurately project a

more complete cash position. In addition to this manual entry, users also have the ability to

enter a target balance for each day with the excess or deficit automatically calculated between

the actual and targeted to enable more accurate future estimates.



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C O N T R O L

As previously described, users have the ability, with the click of a button and at their own

discretion, to pull the most current balance and transaction summary data, including multibank

information, from the J.P. Morgan ACCESS® Portal into the spreadsheet, thus placing greater

control in their hands. Further, users can also set up and generate reminders when

predetermined thresholds are met based on calculated spreadsheet results. For example, a

reminder can be created to set up an account transfer of funds when an account reaches a

certain balance. This saves the user time by eliminating the need to look through all balances

upon each refresh and adds functionality not previously available within Microsoft Excel. Each

reminder is added to a system-generated to-do list for the user. While an account transfer will

not automatically be made upon reaching a designated account balance (building on the prior

example), the user can view his or her to-do list and initiate that transfer from within Microsoft

Excel. A "create from template" button appears on the screen for easy transaction initiation.

Permitted functionality is available based on entitlements set up through the bank's online

portal. Payments set up in Microsoft Excel will show as payments pending approval in the online

portal.

The to-do list also serves as a log of transactions made. Therefore, once a user takes action on a

to-do list item, its status will appear on the list as either completed or pending. Figure 6 shows a

screen shot of a sample to-do list.

Figure 6: Screen Shot of Sample J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight To-Do List

Source: J.P. Morgan



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C O N V E N I E N C E

J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight eliminates the need to leave the portal to work with data in a

spreadsheet, enabling the user to launch Microsoft Excel from within the J.P. Morgan ACCESS®

portal. This allows for the convenience of being able to perform all financial activities from a

single location. Users can have an active portal and active J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight session

running simultaneously as long as a browser is open for the portal. As stated previously, all work

flows and entitlements set up in the online portal flow into Microsoft Excel.

S E C U R I T Y

J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight is supported by the ACCESS® multilevel security protocol, which

includes two-factor authentication based on a password and an RSA token, along with the

additional security provided by user entitlements. Specifically:

Authentication is required to get any updated data. If a spreadsheet is emailed, the

recipient would need to have logon credentials and have the same account

entitlements that are included as part of the worksheet setup.

Users cannot see any more information or act on items other than what they are

entitled to.

Users are logged out after 15 minutes of inactivity.

Data is not saved unless the user actively saves his or her worksheet.

Work flow is maintained (if user initiates payment, it still needs to be approved and

released).

Insight offers additional security by having all spreadsheets stored on the user's network or

computer, as opposed to being stored or hosted by the bank. One of the concerns some

corporations have about managing their cash positions on their bank's site is the that their banks

will know too much about them. This is not an issue with J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight, because

the bank cannot view the spreadsheets. This tool truly is for the convenience and assistance to

the customer.

ROADMAP AND NEXT STEPS

While users are already enjoying the significant benefits of integration and enhanced Microsoft

Excel capabilities, the bank has more planned to continue to enable clients to work the way they

want. Among the enhancements users can expect over the coming months are:

The ability to submit multiple payment initiations at the same time; today, payments

initiated within Microsoft Excel can only be submitted one at a time

Richer search capabilities, such as including Insight data into portal searches



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Further down the road, users can expect integration with other systems. Today, the information

to be pulled into Microsoft Excel is just cash and payments, but future integration will include

credit, foreign exchange, liquidity information, etc., for a more complete and holistic picture of

the user's financial position. Additionally, while graphics can be created to visually view trend

information, users create them. If there is demand, the bank may look into offering widgets for

suggested charts and graphics.



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CONCLUSION

Financial institutions are at risk of disintermediation as their customers increasingly look at them

solely as a place from which to hold deposits and download account information. In fact, based

on an August 2013 Aite Group survey more than 60% of corporate treasurers believe their banks

don't understand their needs. Old technology and inflexible bank reports and tools have led to

this misperception. Additionally, most banks are unwilling or unable to evolve their strategies

and meet the new demands of the marketplace. A tool such as J.P. Morgan ACCESS Insight

enables banks not only to demonstrate an understanding of a key pain point their customers

face but also to offer a solution. Those that adopt it will enjoy more efficient, customized, and

accurate reporting. More banks need to take a similar approach.



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ABOUT AITE GROUP

Aite Group is an independent research and advisory firm focused on business, technology, and

regulatory issues and their impact on the financial services industry. With expertise in banking,

payments, securities & investments, and insurance, Aite Group’s analysts deliver comprehensive,

actionable advice to key market participants in financial services. Headquartered in Boston with

a presence in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, London, and Milan, Aite Group works with its

clients as a partner, advisor, and catalyst, challenging their basic assumptions and ensuring they

remain at the forefront of industry trends.

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Christine Barry

+1.617.398.5040

[email protected]

CONTACT

For more information on research and consulting services, please contact:

Aite Group Sales +1.617.338.6050

[email protected]

For all press and conference inquiries, please contact:

Aite Group PR

+44.(0)207.092.8137

[email protected]

For all other inquiries, please contact:

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]




Documents

Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using · PDF fileINTRODUCTION Coupled with ... a closer eye on their cash flow and financial trends. ... Integrating Bank Cash Management