improving performance through treasury innovation at geox · accounts via a variety of different...

70 GOING GLOBAL, GOING DIGITAL

S ince the end of 2015, leading footwear company Geox, together with partnerbank UniCredit, have collaborated in an ambitious project to rationalise andstreamline cash management processes, bank relationships and connectivity.

Geox has a centralised treasury based at its Italian headquarters. The team comprisesFederica Vello and ten further treasury and finance professionals including four inback office, two in vendor relations, three responsible for sales audit, and one personwho runs the cash desk and manages travel expenses. In this article, Federica Vello,Treasury Manager of Geox S.p.A. describes the background and objectives of theproject together with the progress they have made so far.

Improving Performancethrough TreasuryInnovation at Geoxby Federica Vello, Treasury Manager, Geox S.p.A.

CASE STUDY: CASH MANAGEMENT

TMIUnicredit16 Geox.qxp_Layout 1 28/09/2016 15:30 Page 70


A TREASURER’S GUIDE 71

Treasury challenges andobjectives

As a large, geographically diverse business, theGeox group comprises 40 companies locatedacross 28 countries. As a result, we had builtup a complex banking infrastructure with 65banks and 150 accounts, with around 100,000payments each year. We accessed theseaccounts via a variety of different electronicbanking platforms, which made it difficult toachieve timely and accurate visibility acrossour global cash balances and to standardiseand automate processes. Each of our bankingsystems had different security protocols, andwe had to maintain multiple user profiles and passwords.

Innovation and technology are central to our business, and this applies to treasury just as it doesto our footwear. This was a key factor behind our decision to rationalise and streamline ourbanking relationships, accounts and the processes and technology that we used to manage ourcash management activities. Our aim was to simplify and automate processes at a group level toachieve greater cash visibility and process efficiency. In addition, we aimed to optimise thesecurity and integrity of our processes by minimising manual activities and adopting bestpractices in security in accordance with SWIFT.

Establishing partnerships

A first step was to appoint our cash management banking partners. We needed banks thatcould provide the depth of solutions and services we needed in each country across ourgeographic footprint, whilst also providing consistent commercial conditions and a singlepoint of contact across all countries in which we worked together. Following an extensiveevaluation process, we ultimately appointed UniCredit as our cash management partnerbank for all Geox group companies globally across all 28 countries and 14 currencies.

We selected UniCredit for a variety of reasons. We already had a close relationship with the bankand had been a pilot customer for the bank in countries such as Hong Kong and Romania as

Innovation and technologyare central to our business,and this applies to treasury

just as it doesto our footwear.




well as for a variety of solutions. Throughout our relationship, we have been impressed with thequality of the bank’s service, its international reach and the depth of its solutions andtechnology that would enable us to make significant improvements to our cash managementefficiency.

Implementation in practice

We adopted a phased approach to implementation beginning with a pilot project involving 14companies and four currencies. This included domestic and cross-border payments, payroll andtax payments, bank statement retrieval using MT 940, and both pan-European and domesticcollections such as SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) and RIBA. We began the pilot implementation inDecember 2015 and went live in April 2016. Based on the success of the pilot project, we havesince embarked on the second phase of implementation involving a further 17 countries and 10currencies, with a view to completing the entire project by December 2016.

We have implemented SAP across all Geox subsidiaries to manage financial transactionsconsistently across the group. In addition, we use a well-established treasury management systemprovided by Italian company PITECO. A key additional component to our treasury technologyinfrastructure is SWIFT, which we now use as a single communication tool for bank connectivityworldwide.

Benefits and outcomes

Having completed our pilot project, with the second project phase now in progress, we haveidentified considerable efficiency improvements by implementing more consistent, automatedprocesses. Our decision-making is improved as a result of better visibility over cash and risk, andwe have achieved best-in-class levels of security and data integrity. As we progress with the finalstages of our project in the coming months, these benefits will become even more important,and a vital objective is therefore to complete the project on time.

Once we have completed the migration of our accounts, payments and collections toUniCredit, we will then be able to pursue additional opportunities such as extending thepayment factory concept to payments on behalf of (POBO) in order to further centralise andstreamline payments. We will also be extending our use of SWIFT for high value payments(FIN) and continue to automate processes as part of a wider initiative to become a paperlesscompany.



A TREASURER’S GUIDE 73

Sharing experiencesA project of this scale and complexity thatinvolves so many different countries andstakeholders needs a highly disciplinedapproach. We therefore implemented bestpractices in project managementthroughout in order to keep the project ontrack and ensure that it met our objectives.This involved identifying and planningactivities in detail, and allocating roles andresponsibilities, tracking progress andhighlighting potential issues as early aspossible to resolve them withoutjeopardising the project timeline. Forexample, we have encountered one or two issues in Serbia, but these have not delayed theproject as a whole.

It was also important to recognise that each group company had quite distinct requirementsrelated to the payments infrastructure, payments culture and regulatory environment in that

A project of this scale andcomplexity that involves somany different countriesand stakeholders needs a

highly disciplinedapproach.

“The implementation of the payment factory solution was the result ofa co-operation with the client as we assisted Geox in its aims ofincreasing the sophistication and evolution of its treasury – making itfully able to operate successfully in today’s demanding global treasuryscene.

The centralisation of payments was completely customised accordingto the needs, requirements and internal organisation of the client, incompliance with the standardisation imposed by SEPA. This commongoal has led to an optimal rationalisation with advantages in terms ofcosts and timing of processing.”

Massimiliano Cirelli, Cash Management International Sales Expert Italy, UniCredit




country, so we took time to understand these requirements, and make sure that these wereaccommodated as part of a standardised, centralised process. Inevitably, the project hadorganisational implications, so we needed to be clear in defining roles, responsibility andaccountability to make sure that everyone remained engaged, committed and proud of thefinal result.

Geox is based on an innovative idea that aims to ensure quality and well-being. We believethat the application of ethical principles of solidarity and environmental sustainability areneeded for the long-term development of our company and of the world in which we live.Just as we guarantee the quality of our products, we also take a commitment to ensure thatthey are the result of a fair job, innovative production processes that are sustainable andenvironmentally friendly. Our cash management project to increase process automation,efficiency and security, and deepen our relationship with UniCredit, is an important way inwhich treasury is contributing to our group mission and improving the services we offer togroup companies. n

Federica VelloTreasury Manager, Geox S.p.A.

Federica Vello has spent her career working with Geox, and iscurrently Treasury Manager with financial responsibility for thecompany.

Geox

Geox is a leading brand of lifestyle footwear that uses innovativesolutions and technologies to create stylish products thatguarantee both impermeability and breathability. The group has a proud Italian heritage but hasgrown to become a highly international group with more than 65% of turnover generated from salesin over 110 countries worldwide. In 2015, Geox generated a turnover of EUR 874m, an increase of6.1% since 2014, with a comparable increase in profitability. The company employs over 4,200people worldwide and has over 1,160 Geox stores.


improving performance through treasury innovation at geox · accounts via a variety of different...

Documents