The processes of evaluating, selecting, and implementing treasury software can be daunting and time-consuming. Using best practices in planning the rollout of a treasury management system will help ensure that a company launches the initiative with a clear understanding of its objectives and priorities. Unfortunately, though, even when the plan is well-thought-out, the software selection and subsequent implementation efforts contain a series of challenges.

Employing a proven approach to the selection process is essential to ensuring a successful outcome. The ultimate goal is to identify a vendor that can meet the company's current needs and continue to support it as its needs evolve. The vendor must possess a product with robust functionality, as well as a client-centric service and support model. Each step of the evaluation process should be devised to obtain valuable input that helps in the assessment and differentiation of the competing vendors.

After leading numerous vendor-evaluation initiatives, I have come to realize just how hard it is for most treasury decision-makers to distinguish between vendors and to feel confident in their ultimate choice. This is especially true when the company buying the treasury software is transitioning from a more manual process based on Excel and bank portals, and when the decision-makers have no prior experience utilizing a fully integrated treasury workstation. Our focus here will be on those steps of the selection process that have proven most successful in helping treasury groups truly understand each vendor's offering and how it would fit within their organization.