Treasury services: leading customers toward the Web; banks and other vendors are eagerly pushing Web-enabled services, but experts say a lot of companies seem perfectly content for now with their old dial-up systems.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: Banking

At the Association for Financial Professionals convention in New Orleans this past fall, major banks and software vendors vied for attendee attention with elaborate booths, sharp-looking computer displays and the usual assortment of corporate trinkets. One big focus at the booths: Web-based treasury technology.

While some of these products were new and splashy, it appears that it may take real salesmanship to gain a lot of converts. Research and interviews with industry experts suggest that many companies are satisfied with their existing treasury technology--even if it's delivered by modem--and aren't rushing to sign up for Web-enabled versions.

That may change, but the recent recession and its dampening effect on technology spending appears to have made companies more likely to stand pat--especially if converting to a Web product looks to be a lengthy or expensive event.

"The Web is just replacing the modem--they're bringing their new customers to the Web and converting the old from dial-up to the Web," says Ken Parkinson, a partner at Treasury Information Services in Hopewell, N.J. "But that conversion is a big, messy project. Probably, the smaller and older the customer, the slower they get converted.

"Most companies are comfortable with what they're getting now," Parkinson adds. "Banks are easy to work with on dial-up--companies aren't getting more on the Web, but they are getting it more easily. But in terms of [exciting] customers by giving them more power--I haven't seen it. Most banks are need-fillers rather than need-creators."

A survey done last year by Treasury Strategies Inc., a Chicago-based treasury consulting firm, found that Web enablement of treasury functions is progressing, but relatively slowly. Less than a third of respondents have implemented and used a treasury intranet, even though companies using them find that they facilitate collection of cash flow forecasts in standardized formats. And only 12 percent of respondents plan to implement a treasury intranet.

Among those using treasury management systems, only a third are utilizing Web-based features of these products, the survey found. Yet Treasury Strategies argues that "the Internet offers real benefits to lean treasury organizations, [and] the various Web-based products and features available to a company should be considered thoroughly for maximum treasury effectiveness."

Certainly, corporate customers looking for Web-enabled treasury solutions don't have to look far. Big banks...