Treasury technology is at a crossroads. As the Partner Success Manager at Trovata, when I look at the landscape and meet with prospective clients, I’m seeing what we all have – there are more modern platforms being built for treasury than ever before.
Almost a decade ago, Trovata pioneered API-based, cloud-native treasury technology that tech-forward treasury and finance teams love. In the last few years, a new wave of platforms has emerged, following in our footsteps. They, too, promise innovation and modernization—but not all of these solutions are created equal. Okay, I might be slightly biased, but hear me out!
I’ve created this guide to help you evaluate both ends of the spectrum—established legacy TMS providers and the emerging players that have joined the space in the last few years. Many of these newcomers aim to follow Trovata’s lead in reshaping the future of cloud-native treasury technology. But, how far have they come?
Let’s dive in!
New Treasury Tech Providers
In 2021, several new treasury technology products entered the market. In effect, they are lightweight alternatives to legacy treasury management systems (TMS), claiming to deliver rapid implementations, superior UX/UI design, and dramatically cheaper price points.
While each provider is distinct, I did a deep dive into them (specifically the logos above). I discovered they shared these core characteristics that treasury and finance decision-makers should consider carefully:
Notable Characteristics of Nascent Treasury Tech Providers
| Trovata | Emerging Providers |
| Trusted implementation partner & SWIFT Alliance Cloud Member ✅ | Misleading implementation claims ❌ |
| Pricing transparency ✅ | “Contact us for a quote” pricing ❌ |
| U.S.-based customer success teams ✅ | Small or offshore customer-facing teams ❌ |
| Complete Treasury Workstation Functionality ✅ | Limited functionality/focus on specific workflows ❌ |
| Backed by JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, and other large Banks ✅ | Often working around banking providers❌ |
Dearth of Experience Supporting US Customers
Many newer entrants to the treasury technology market base their operations outside of the United States. This means that, in many cases, newer players won’t have customer success, data integrations, or product personnel to support US-based treasury and finance teams.
Misleading Claims Around Implementation Timelines
New technology players often share unrealistic implementation timelines ranging from 1 day to 6 weeks. Such quick turnarounds are often impossible without relying on low-quality and unreliable connection methodologies that leverage screenscraping rather than direct connectivity technology.
Lack of Major Bank Backing
Without the backing of major banks, new entrants may struggle to maintain reliable data connectivity pipelines with those institutions. By partnering with a vendor with significant institutional support, you can be confident that your organization is working with a trusted and secure partner.
Lack of Feature Completeness
Given the lift required to build comprehensive cash management functionality, many new entrants specialize in a subset of cash-related applications (e.g., accounting-specific workflows). Therefore, treasury and finance teams seeking a robust cash management solution may end up needing to purchase multiple systems.
Legacy Treasury Management Systems
Many of the treasury tech providers that have recently come to market aim to steal market share from the small handful of legacy systems that have existed for decades. While robust in their capabilities, these legacy systems do exhibit client experience deficiencies that have left them vulnerable to disruption:
Notable Characteristics of Legacy Treasury Tech Providers
| Trovata | Legacy Providers |
| 0-3 month implementation period ✅ | 3-12 month implementation period ❌ |
| Cost-effective ✅ | Expensive ❌ |
| No IT required ✅ | IT support required ❌ |
| Cloud-native SaaS application ✅ | Not cloud native ❌ |
| Trovata-managed bank connection ✅ | Self-managed bank connection ❌ |
| Intuitive and customizable UI ✅ | Outdated and difficult-to-configure UI ❌ |
Lengthy Implementation Timelines Requiring Significant IT Resources
Legacy treasury solutions typically take 6-12 months to implement, given the significant IT resources required to set them up. Additionally, significant input is often needed from external consultants to connect them to the client’s bank mix and set up the proper reporting. The cost of these consultants is comparable to hiring a FTE for one year.
Outdated Technology Leading to a Poor User Experience
Legacy treasury systems were often built using outdated technology architecture and later migrated to the Cloud; this leads to gaps in the user experience and challenges in processing large volumes of data.
Unintuitive, Hard-to-Customize UI
Traditional solutions often have difficult-to-change out-of-the-box configurations. This, combined with a steep learning curve, means that treasury teams may struggle to adopt the system.
High Upfront and Maintenance Costs
Legacy treasury systems can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars after factoring in fees for outside consultants; such a high price tag can jeopardize positive ROI for the project.
“We spent a lot of money on a consultant just to connect our banks to the TMS. Then, once we started using the system and discovered all the missing functionalities we needed, we realized this wasn’t going to work.”
Megan McLaughlan, Senior Treasury Analyst, Park Place Technologies (Read the full story)
Trovata – The Standard in Cash Management Technology
As we’ve seen, several new products have emerged in the treasury technology landscape in the past few years. These newer tools aim to differentiate themselves by offering rapid implementation timelines, more modern user interfaces, and attractive price points. However, they often bypass traditional bank connectivity methods due to their inexperience and lack of time to develop the proper connection methods.
Treasury and finance teams should thoroughly investigate the feasibility of new providers’ claims, as they can contradict industry limitations.
With Trovata, treasury and finance practitioners can combine longstanding industry experience with top-of-the-line technology and customer support experience. We pioneered an extensive library of corporate bank APIs (with direct connections to 50+ corporate banks and 2000+ banks). Our team continues to develop more bank connections, integration capabilities, and partnerships daily. With investment from JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Capital One, and NAB, Trovata has quickly gained the reputation of being the standard in cash management.
Want to see it in action? Watch a Trovata demo.
