As corporate treasury teams continuously face pressure to do more with less, technology has become key to success. Systems that optimize treasury processes may be designed to automate specific treasury tasks, to provide deeper or faster visibility into important data, or to improve communication among stakeholders (internal, external, or both). These use cases all demonstrate how technology has the potential to improve a company's decision-making around cash flows and risk management—if the treasury group understands the potential and optimizes the organization's use of the tools at their disposal.

That is exactly what this year's Alexander Hamilton Award winners in the category Technology Excellence did. The winning companies faced very different challenges in their treasury technology environments. What they have in common is that they tackled their unique challenges head-on, introducing technology solutions that streamlined treasury operations and improved visibility into organizational cash flows.

"Before, we were stuck in our ways," says Irvin Lee, national manager of treasury data and automation for Toyota Financial Services. "When we started redesigning our processes, we took on a new way of thinking. It boils down to looking at everything with a fresh set of eyes, seeing how processes can be rearranged and what technologies can make that possible."

• Silver Award:  The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) needed better visibility into its cash position so that investment decisions could be based on near–real-time data. The organization worked with a treasury management system vendor to develop an artificial intelligence (AI)–driven investment reporting system that helps future-proof its treasury needs.
• Gold Award:  When Covid-19 hit, Toyota Financial Services discovered that processes which were highly efficient and effective in an in-person work environment required a revamp for the new work-from-home reality. The treasury function led a companywide effort to digitize and automate manual processes. Among other improvements, they developed application programming interface (API)–based bank connectivity, built an in-house solution to automate daily collateral servicing processes, and deployed a treasury data platform to support self-service analytics and reporting.

Congratulations to Toyota Financial Services and SANDAG for their outstanding initiatives! And thank you to the judges of our 2022 awards program: Jean-Francois Heitz, former deputy CFO and treasurer of Microsoft; Erik Smolders, former treasurer of Ingram Micro and a vice president in Deloitte's Global Treasury Advisory Services practice; Craig Jeffery, managing partner of Strategic Treasurer; and Marie Hollein, former president and CEO of Financial Executives International.