© 2014 JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this report by any means is strictly prohibited.
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel®
Sponsored by: J.P. Morgan
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014
© 2014 JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this report by any means is strictly prohibited.
2
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
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014
© 2014 JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this report by any means is strictly prohibited.
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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.
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014
© 2014 JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this report by any means is strictly prohibited.
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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.
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014
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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.
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014
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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
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014
© 2014 JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this report by any means is strictly prohibited.
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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.
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014
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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.
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014
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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
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014
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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.
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014
© 2014 JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this report by any means is strictly prohibited.
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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
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014
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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
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014
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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.
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014
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14
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.
Integrating Bank Cash Management Offerings Using Microsoft Excel® February 2014
© 2014 JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this report by any means is strictly prohibited.
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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
CONTACT
For more information on research and consulting services, please contact:
Aite Group Sales +1.617.338.6050
For all press and conference inquiries, please contact:
Aite Group PR
+44.(0)207.092.8137
For all other inquiries, please contact: