Building Futuristic and Robust Corporate Treasuries

CM Grover, MD & CEO of IBSFINtech tells us about offering comprehensive risk management solutions to enterprises.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times:

CM Grover: Thank you for your kind question. We all are doing well, on the professional as well as personal front. We at IBSFINtech have taken all necessary precautions and steps for the safety of our employees and at the same time, we keep in mind that our client’s expectations are fulfilled. The entire IBSFINtech family is together and fighting this adverse situation with full dedication to keep up the company’s growth momentum and ensure customer satisfaction by providing them uninterrupted support.

Tell us about the initial days of IBSFINtech, when was the product launched in the market.

CM Grover: Since its inception, IBSFINtech has been way ahead of time, even with the name, as the flavour of Fintech is today while the company’s name was coined back when it was established.

In 2013, IBSFINtech formally rolled out the product in the market with the Beta launch of our FX Management Module and acquired India’s largest media house, Times of India (Bennett & Coleman Company Ltd – BCCL) as our client. BCCL selected IBSFINtech for implementing a robust Forex management solution, after evaluating other global service providers, as IBSFINtech proved to be the only solution provider which could cater to the requirements of India’s Largest Media Publishing House.

Today, the company has established a leadership position globally (consistently featured as the Top 10 player in the space of Treasury & Trade Finance) covering the entire landscape of Cash & Liquidity, Risk, Treasury and Trade Finance Management space for the corporates.

Can you elaborate on your flagship product and how do you differentiate? How does IBSFINtech innovate?

CM Grover: IBSFINtech’s Treasury, Risk and Trade Finance Management^® solution is a Comprehensive Risk Management Platform for Enterprises worldwide.

A Comprehensive, Integrated and Innovative solution, that enables the CxOs and Treasurers to enhance visibility, improve control, mitigate operational risk, drive automation, optimize business efficiency and ensure business continuity. IBSFINtech’s solution is an “all in one” product, covering multi-asset class, multi-currency, multi-location and multi-company. The platform empowers the corporate to manage Compliance, Financial and Operational Risks in one solution.

With a surge in the wave of automation and digitization, corporates look at IBSFINtech as the only solution provider in this space with a comprehensive product offering that has the capabilities to empower the corporate to manage & mitigate holistic risks faced by the corporate. Moreover, the product is highly scalable and is designed to address the growing requirements of a thriving business. IBSFINtech’s solution is an all-in-one product offering multi-asset class, multi-currency, multi-location and multi-company capabilities.

Here are some of the Key Differentiators why Clients Trust IBSFINtech as their Treasury, Risk & Trade Finance Management^® (TRTFM^®) Partner:

IBSFINtech Platform uniquely differentiates from the alternatives in the below parameters:

1. Comprehensive Solution

The platform covers the entire spectrum of Treasury, Risk & Trade Finance Management through the multiple modules offered in the product portfolio, including,

1. Innovative Treasury® – Currency Module
2. Innovative Treasury® – Investment Module
3. Innovative Treasury® – Commodity Module
4. Innovative Treasury® – Hedge Accounting Module
5. Innovative Treasury® – Option Valuation Module
6. Innovative Trade Finance® 6i – Import-Export & Banking Module
7. Innovative Trade Finance® 6i – Borrowings Module
8. Cash & Liquidity Management Module
9. Document Management System

The comprehensiveness of the solution is the biggest differentiator which sets the platform apart from any other alternatives.

2. Product Developed from Ground-up, In-house Domain (Functional) & Technical Expertise

The entire product portfolio has been designed and developed by IBSFINtech from square one. The genesis of the product lies with the founders who are Ex-Bankers having 100+ years of cumulative experience in Treasury, Banking & IT. In addition to the Founders, the core team is highly experienced, motivated and passionate about this niche space.

3. Integration (Inward & Outward)

The third and very critical differentiator is the integration aspect. As highlighted in earlier responses, IBSFINtech’s framework has proven capabilities of integrating with a corporate’s inward architecture as well as outward interfaces.

This is a critical ask of the IT department to simplify the IT ecosystem of the corporate and to ensure the multiple elements in the ecosystem are not working in isolation. Moreover, it is critical for multiple inward as well as outward systems to communicate & integrate to ensure information symmetry and a single moment of truth to enable true value for the business.

4. Partner in Growth – Scalability & Futuristic Technologies

IBSFINtech becomes the Partner in Growth and does not remain limited to just being a vendor. The enterprises stand to benefit because they can select and implement the overall solution in phases or module-wise as they grow and require subsequent modules.

The corporate need not overwhelm themselves with multiple solutions for multiple functionalities, and every time struggle with implementation or integration into the existing ecosystem.

With IBSFINtech, once the platform is selected for the digital transformation journey, the collaboration continues to support & facilitate the corporate until the same achieve automation across their Treasury, Risk, Trade Finance & any ancillary functions.

Innovation:

Innovation is the underlying theme for ensuring ample growth opportunities for the organization. While we are on an accelerated path towards our vision to be one of the leading solution providers globally in this niche space, we are focused to stay ahead of the curve for our customers and nurture innovations to fuel the growth of the company by launching newer features to enhance our product capabilities.

As a product company, IBSFINtech is continuously investing in research and development in the new technologies, AI, ML, RPA to stay ahead of the curve vis-a-vis the competition. This also ensures the latest technology adoption is available in the platform for the benefit of the corporates. Moreover, we continuously interact with our customers to understand on-the-ground challenges and provide innovative solutions to address those challenges.

How does the coronavirus pandemic affect your business finances?

CM Grover: During the pandemic, the world came to a stand-still, businesses have been impacted globally, across sectors and corporations, so we are not an exception. Overall, the decision making was slowed down as every business was focusing on ensuring business continuity and surviving the pandemic’s after-effects. However, every challenge brings forward an opportunity, and this ignited a wave of digitization and automation across corporations globally. This led to the scaling up of the operations for technology-driven organizations manifolds. McKinsey has also published in a recent study by McKinsey that organizations globally have accelerated their digital adoption plans by 7 years. As we are driving the digital transformation for the niche and most critical function, Treasury, Risk & Trade Finance management of an organization, we have observed a steady increase in our traction and visibility in the market, globally.

Did you have to make difficult choices regarding human resources and what are the lessons learned?

CM Grover: Despite adverse business conditions, we kept afloat, and we did not have to make any difficult choices. Rather we take pride in celebrating the fact that we as an organization ensure our employees are comfortable. We rolled out full remunerations during the entire year, while other organizations globally were doing pay cuts.

We at IBSFINtech are proud of the culture we have cultivated, moreover, this pandemic has further strengthened the bond, sense of belongingness and loyalty within the employees. We are strongly knit as a family, owing to the circumstances led by the pandemic, we as a company have been more empathetic towards the employees and we have tried to nurture a positive environment within the organization. Ultimately, it’s the people who build the organization and we have focused on strengthening our inner strength to build a resilient organization.

How did your customer relationship management evolve? Do you use any specific tools to be efficient?

CM Grover: Our Customer Relationship management has matured with the growth of the organization. We have adopted technology to ensure seamless and flawless customer support, in addition to ensuring the human connection. We use a ticketing tool to keep a record of customer requests and track the resolution to maintain the SLAs. As per our process, there is a dedicated account manager assigned for each customer in addition to a full-time customer support team to resolve any issues or challenges faced by our customers. In fact, many of our customers thoroughly appreciated the 24*7 support extended by our dedicated teams during the pandemic year.

Did you benefit from any government grants, and did that help keep your business afloat?

CM Grover: We are proud to be the growing MSME, a bootstrapped and self-funded MADE-IN-INDIA startup.

Your final thoughts?

CM Grover: We as an organization have grown phenomenally in the last few years, though taking baby steps, all this while we had been focused on our goal to be the leading player in this niche space globally. We are proud of the fact that we have achieved the leadership position in the country and we are on the path to building a globally dominant software product company and making India proud on the global map.

Your website?

http://www.ibsfintech.com