Here's how these three companies revolutionized payments:

• Bronze Award:  Bristol-Myers Squibb implemented a set of new payment methods for corporate travel spending. The combination of virtual card account, travel card, corporate purchasing card, and central travel account has reduced risk and eliminated around 4,000 hours of busy work for staff each year.
• Silver Award: The treasury team at Amway rolled out payment hubs in four corporate shared service centers and rationalized bank relationships globally. Amway does business in 100 countries and territories; payments from all those jurisdictions now flow through the payment hubs, with very few exceptions. Processes involve much less manual effort, and treasury has better visibility into cash flows companywide.
• Gold Award: Microsoft treasury realized that supporting growth in its Brazilian subsidiary meant streamlining cross-border payments. The team worked with an internal engineering group to develop a plug-in to the company's ERP system. The solution automated processes around the documentation Microsoft Brazil must provide its banks before it can make a payment that moves funds out of the country.

All three projects were successful largely because of collaboration, both internal and external, and careful handling of change management concerns. "Treasury speaks in our terms; the business and international finance groups may use different terminology," says Sunnie Ho, a senior treasury manager in Microsoft's Global Cash Management group. "On a conference call, misunderstandings might happen. Meeting in person meant traveling to Brazil, but it was well worth the effort."