Sponsored Content presented by SafePoint® by Loomis
From small local businesses to larger regional operations to national corporations, cash management continues to emerge as a top priority across all industries. Both commercial businesses and Treasury Management stand to gain from comprehensive cash management. Here are four ways well-implemented solutions can help increase efficiency, reduce risk, and improve profitability.
Mitigate risk
Manual cash-handling processes, with too many touch points between payment and deposit, put businesses at a disadvantage. According to the 2016 National Retail Security Survey, the U.S. lost $45.2 billion in shrinkage costs in 2015, including loss and both internal and external theft. Not only does it cost businesses money, antiquated cash handling can potentially put employees and customers in physical danger. Similarly, financial institutions are at risk due to large volumes of commercial clients (and large amounts of cash) in-store.
Cash management solutions reduce risks for businesses by cutting the number of touch points in the process, including employee counting, reconciling, and trips to the bank. With an integrated cash-in-transit solution, cash management also ensures there’s less cash on site. This further reduces the risk of theft or harm to employees and customers, a clear benefit for both businesses and Treasury Management.
Increase operational efficiency
Outdated cash handling can also be a huge operational liability for a commercial business. Employee training and manual cash-handling procedures not only require a big time commitment but also expend tremendous labor costs as well. And as with any human element, there will most likely be error, which can have a negative effect on profitability.
A properly implemented cash management solution can reduce or eliminate operational issues like these. Automated processes and tutorials help accelerate training and streamlined cash handling with solutions, such as smart safe technology, reduce the number of touch points and possibility of error. That time and labor can then be reintegrated into the core business.
Cash management offers similar benefits to Treasury Management. As cash management reduces a financial institution’s amount of commercial foot traffic, employee time and resources can be diverted to more lucrative aspects of the business, such as driving other product sales.
Optimize cash
Cash management solutions should ideally provide businesses with more financial transparency. Once deposited, customers have near real-time access to more accurate cash management data and reporting information, which facilitates better decision-making from an enterprise perspective. These insights, coupled with faster access to cash, create more opportunities to potentially grow the business.
Smart safe deposits also provide daily provisional credit to the business’ bank account, which means fewer employee trips to the bank. This also reduces reliance on, or the need for, frequent armored car services. By helping solve commercial clients’ cash management problems, Treasury Management can build long-term, relationships and potentially scale business on a national level, essentially growing as the client grows.
Expand capabilities
For businesses, maintaining profitability just for the time being is seldom the goal. They want solutions that equip them for success for the next several decades. Ideally, a cash management system would meet all the necessary requirements for a business today while also providing flexibility to grow and adapt as society becomes increasingly cashless. While cash is still the most often used form of payment, other methods, including electronic transactions, are gaining momentum. But the right cash management provider can help businesses navigate this terrain and adjust as needs arise.
For Treasury Management, it’s imperative to remain on the frontline of industry knowledge as it pertains to cash management offerings. This gives Treasury Management an opportunity to position itself as a thought leader with clients. By promoting the right cash management solution, Treasury Management can cultivate relationships—both with clients and with cash management providers—as well as potentially expanding the financial institution’s commercial business portfolio.
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