Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. selects ZenTreasury

Discover actionable insights into leveraging cutting-edge technologies for treasury management and learn how Qatar based Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. strategically adopted ZenTreasury platform and enhanced their treasury department's efficiency, adaptability, and strategic decision-making capabilities. This case study will showcase how embracing a private cloud infrastructure allows businesses to retain control over their data while enjoying the benefits of scalability, security, and flexibility.  

Background: Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co.   

Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. is a leading business group in Qatar, known for its success and growth since the late 1950s. The company started with simple trading and has grown into a large business that works in many areas, including cars, real estate, engineering, and more. Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. is especially well-known in the car industry, where it is the main dealer for several top car brands.    

However, as the company grew, it faced challenges. The existing operational processes lacked efficiency. The complexity of managing its financial operations and treasury activities became increasingly evident, necessitating a more sophisticated and scalable solution. Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. realized the need of change for better operational processes to support its growth. The company decided to look into solutions that would be able to tackle their problems and enable Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. to stay on top of the market and keep growing in a sustainable way.  

The Challenge: 

In today's fast-paced, digital treasury environment it is necessary to stay up to date. The existing treasury management system of Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. was outdated, not scalable, and lacked advanced features. Moreover, it was using a local network, which limited the scalability of its treasury management operations.  

The treasury department, overseeing financial transactions across 25 companies within the conglomerate, faced significant challenges in managing cash flow, trade finance, and financial reporting. Their existing system, while functional, lacked the scalability, security, and efficiency required for the group's growing needs. Ebrahim Mattar, Head of Corporate IT, noted: 

 "We needed a solution that could evolve with us, providing a consolidated group-level view of liquidity."  

The solution to these challenges was multifaceted, necessitating a system that could not only provide a consolidated view but also streamline and automate the day-to-day tasks and workflows critical to effective treasury management. ZenTreasury brought new hope to the situation. The cloud-based platform, with its advanced task management and workflow automation features, promised to revolutionize the way Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. managed its treasury operations. 

ZenTreasury: A Tailored Solution  

By implementing ZenTreasury, the company aimed to address the challenges directly. The system’s customizable workflows and task management capabilities were specifically designed to enhance operational efficiency, improve collaboration and control, and ensure data security and accessibility. The platform's workflows and task management tools allowed for a seamless, automated process that aligned with the conglomerate's need for a consolidated group-level view of liquidity, ensuring that Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. stayed ahead in the digital treasury environment. This was particularly important for a conglomerate like Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co., which required flexibility and scalability in its treasury management to support its growth and complexity. 

With ZenTreasury, the treasury department could now automate and streamline financial transactions, approvals, and reporting across all 25 companies, significantly reducing manual processes and the potential for errors. The cloud-based nature of the system allowed for remote access, ensuring that treasury operations could be managed from anywhere, breaking free from the limitations of a local network. This not only provided the scalability and security the conglomerate required but also enabled a level of efficiency and control previously unattainable. 

ZenTreasury implemented a cloud-based treasury management system tailored to Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. group’s specific requirements. The platform offered a suite of modules designed for comprehensive treasury management, including cash management, loan management, trade finance operations management and task management, all within a secure Private Cloud environment. By moving to a private cloud infrastructure, the following benefits were achieved: 

• Scalability and Flexibility: The shift from an on-site software system to a cloud-based solution has empowered Saleh Al Hamd Al Mana Co. with remarkable scalability and flexibility. This transition allows the company to effortlessly tailor its own Azure cloud resources in response to current requirements, enabling the seamless autoscaling of server performance and storage size as needed. Importantly, this capability eliminates the necessity for substantial upfront investments in hardware or software, presenting a dynamic and cost-effective solution for adapting to evolving operational demands. 
• Customization and Feature Addition: ZenTreasury's cloud-based platform has allowed for greater customization and the addition of specific features tailored to the company's requirements.  
• Enhanced Data Security and Sovereignty: By hosting their database on their own server and utilizing Microsoft Azure for cloud software, Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. can maintaine high data security and sovereignty standards. 
• Improved Accessibility and Collaboration: Moving to the cloud has enabled employees at Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. to access the software from anywhere, facilitating remote work and collaboration among teams located in different geographies.  
• Integration Capabilities: The ability to integrate with various banking systems and other financial platforms was crucial for Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. and ZenTreasury was able to provide it, since ZenTreasury's cloud infrastructure supports various integrations, streamlining processes like bank reconciliations, payments, and financial reporting. 
• Data Backup and Recovery: As a cloud-based system, ZenTreasury offers robust options for data backup and recovery, reducing the risk of data loss due to hardware failure, natural disasters, or cyber-attacks.  
• Regular Updates and Support: Being a forward-looking cloud provider, ZenTreasury offers regular software updates and support as part of their service, ensuring that the system remains up-to-date with the latest features and security patches. This relieves the company's IT department from having to perform these updates manually. 

Implementation process:  

The transition to ZenTreasury was smooth and involved minimal disruption to ongoing operations. The software developers from ZenTreasury shared: 

 "Our approach was to first understand the requirements of the client thoroughly and then customize our solution to meet those needs.” 

The client’s requirements were highlighting the necessity for a cloud-based, highly customizable treasury management solution. Customization was at the heart of ZenTreasury's implementation strategy. The platform was tailored to include specific functionalities that the client deemed essential, such as equity module, investment property module, and seamless management of transactions through credit cards and checkbooks. This customization process was recurring and highly responsive to the client's feedback, with the ZenTreasury team placing a strong emphasis on listening to the client's needs and adjusting the software accordingly. Regular communication and updates facilitated a dynamic development process, leading to a software solution that was not just a tool, but a tailor-made asset for the client's treasury operations. 

In terms of infrastructure, ZenTreasury demonstrated flexibility and a commitment to data security by accommodating the client's preference for hosting the software and database on their own servers. This move, together with the utilization of Microsoft Azure for cloud services, emphasized the importance of data integrity and security in the client's operational context. The final architecture featured a hybrid approach to data management and security: an application server managed by ZenTreasury on Google Cloud and a database server hosted on Azure. The Private Cloud infrastructure ensured data security and compliance, addressing the company's strict requirements for data sovereignty.  

ZenTreasury's cloud infrastructure and intuitive interface facilitated quick adoption across the treasury team and allowed for flexible access from any location, a critical factor for the client's global treasury operations. The new system generated significant operational efficiencies. For instance, task management and workflow automation streamlined processes, reducing manual interventions, and improving decision-making speed. As highlighted by the client’s treasury team: 

‘’ ZenTreasury helped us to automate the Treasury. Everything is digitized and manual processes are removed with 90% reduction. ‘’   

Testimonials: 

The new users of ZenTreasury system at Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co., appreciated the system's user-friendliness and the ability to attach documents directly, enhancing review and approval processes. Employees further highlighted significant time savings, estimating a reduction of five to ten minutes per transaction. Overall, the implementation of ZenTreasury led to a significant reduction in time spent on treasury operations, improving the conglomerate's productivity and efficiency:  

‘’In the past, we would log into all the banks online and try to look at the balance and write a report and now with one click I can generate a report to understand where my fund is, and how can I pay. That’s probably 90% reduction in time.’’  

- Ebrahim Mattar, Head of Corporate IT - Information Technology Department 

The efficiency gains were further highlighted by the Trade Operations department at Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co.: 

"ZenTreasury has simplified our processes, especially in trade finance and task management. We're saving approximately five to ten minutes per transaction, which is significant considering our volume of transactions."  

- Sajith Lakmadu Vithanage, Treasury Officer - Trade finance operations.

When it comes to decision making, the new features of ZenTreasury made it effective like never before:  

‘’ The decision making is much faster. If we want to understand our cash flow position, or what the balance is available, in our bank, immediately we can find it.’’  

- Ebrahim Mattar, Head of Corporate IT - Information Technology Department. 

Furthermore, the Information Technology Department of the company, emphasized the benefits of consolidation and automation: 

"Combining manual processes and multiple systems into one platform has significantly improved our efficiency and provided a single source of truth." 

- Ebrahim Mattar, Head of Corporate IT - Information Technology Department. 

Conclusion:  

The strategic partnership between Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. and ZenTreasury demonstrates the transformative potential of technology in treasury management. ZenTreasury enabled Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co with its advanced financial management tools, offering the support the company needed. ZenTreasury’s solutions were designed to tackle the company’s specific challenges and help it to operate more efficiently and make better business decisions.  

For Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co., the move to ZenTreasury's cloud-based treasury management system has provided significant benefits across scalability, security, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness. The insights presented in this case study can serve as valuable considerations for other companies considering a similar transition to a private cloud infrastructure for their treasury operations.