Global Fintech Brand Introduces Bankfabric Connectivity and Advanced Treasury Solutions

SK Global, a world leader in embedded banking and treasury automation solutions for Microsoft Dynamics, is excited to announce its transformation into SKsoft, along with updated product offerings. This strategic rebranding marks a significant milestone in the company’s journey toward providing enhanced efficiency for the offices of CFO and treasury through automation and cutting-edge software solutions.

Over the years, the company has built a strong legacy in the Microsoft Reseller Channel, offering a range of banking and treasury automation products and services that have catered to the diverse needs of its clients. Today, with the changing landscape of technology and the emergence of next-generation software solutions, the company is evolving its product line to better serve its customers.

Embracing Next-Generation Solutions

The decision to rebrand is driven by SKsoft’s commitment to staying at the forefront of technology. With the introduction of two new improved product lines – SKsoft Banking and Treasury Automation Suite for Microsoft D365 Finance & Supply Chain and SKsoft Banking Automation Suite for Microsoft D365 Business Central – the company is aligning itself with the next generation of Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions. These powerful platforms will enable SKsoft’s clients to achieve new levels of efficiency and innovation through automation.

Expanding Reach

Sksoft’s evolution is more than just a name change; it’s a strategic shift to a role as a global fintech provider. While the company maintains its strong partnerships with Microsoft and its Dynamics reseller partners, it is now poised to directly engage with a broader customer base via its global banking connectivity solution, Bankfabric, which is designed to work with any ERP or TMS. This expansion allows SKsoft to offer its transformative banking and treasury automation solutions to a wider range of businesses and organizations.

Clarity and Differentiation

Another driving force behind the rebrand is to eliminate confusion with entities sharing similar names in the market. SKsoft aims to provide a distinct and unmistakable identity, ensuring that customers and partners can easily recognize and engage with its brand. The company’s web address, sksoft.com, has been its corporate website URL since its inception and this will not change.

Positioned for Growth and Innovation as a Global Fintech

“We are enthusiastically ready to announce the evolution of SK Global Software into SKsoft,” said Scott Caudle, CEO of SKsoft. “This rebranding signifies our dedication to providing clarity of our vision and evolution into a global fintech that embraces the latest advancements in solution automation, including AI and low code API integrations, while building upon our legacy as the top global provider of banking and treasury automation solutions in the Microsoft Dynamics space.”

SKsoft is committed to ensuring a smooth transition for its customers and partners during this exciting transformation. The company remains steadfast in its mission to empower financial services businesses with software solutions that drive success and efficiency through automation.

For more information about SKsoft and its offerings, please contact us. 

Manual bank reconciliation can be tedious and time-consuming. Accountants can spend hours logging into the bank and manually downloading and importing the bank statement files. Simultaneously, they have to ensure they don’t miss any bank statements required for reconciliation. Handling all these tasks without automation requires a lot of upkeep by the accounting team. With the rise of automation, bank reconciliation no longer has to be a hassle. In enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) like Microsoft Dynamics Business Central (BC), your accounting team can automate the bank reconciliation process with a trusted solution provider.  

Using an ERP like Business Central in conjunction with a trusted reconciliation solution provider can significantly save your team time and money spent on the reconciliation process. When integrating automation in your accounting processes, your team can better identify posting errors, match transactions to the ledger, and quickly locate fraud within a day’s work. Automation can empower teams to think smarter not harder through the following capabilities: 
  • Fully automated end-to-end bank reconciliation

When deploying automation using a solution like SK Global’s Bank Statement Integration, a bank statement can be automatically imported directly from the bank. From there, transactions can be automatically pulled and categorized from the imported bank statement and automatically matched and posted. Automated solutions like SK Global’s can identify the errors as you are posting the bank reconciliation journal. Once identified, an accounting team can adeptly address any errors. From there, the bank reconciliation journal will be automatically posted. 
  • Transaction mapping in one place 

Instead of accessing a third-party vendor, Business Central with its robust network of solution vendors lays the foundation for mapping to occur all within the bank reconciliation journal. Accountants no longer have to complete transaction mapping in a third-party solution, which ultimately just creates more problems. Using a third-party solution for transaction mapping would require bringing over all that data back into the ERP, which would lead to data being kept in disparate systems.  
  • Custom data mapping to create missing bank transactions 

Sometimes, the ledger doesn’t include all transactions listed in the bank statement. When this happens, your team needs to have the ability to add in a missing transaction as easily as possible so you can quickly complete the reconciliation process. Finding a solution that completes custom data mapping per your team’s specifications and automatically adds in those missing transactions will save your team time!  
  • Reconciliation based on your team’s preferred frequency 

Your accounting team probably has a preference for when you complete your bank reconciliations. Some solutions don’t give you the flexibility to reconcile when your team wants. That’s why it is important for you to find a solution vendor that builds onto Business Central and gives you the flexibility to reconcile daily, weekly, or monthly.  
  • Minimized chance of lost data using API connectivity  

Since automated, embedded reconciliation solutions pull bank statements directly from the bank using an API, there is a high chance that your team will have access to all the data needed for reconciliation within the ERP. After the reconciliation is posted, your team will have full access to the posted reconciliation. This will make it easier than ever for your auditing team to find completed, accurate proof of reconciliation for their audit.  

Choosing a reconciliation solution that provides all the bells and whistles needed for a truly automated bank reconciliation process is difficult, especially when you have just moved to an ERP like Microsoft Dynamics Business Central. Within Business Central, there are hundreds of ISVs that handle automation of AP and AR processing.  

Now how do you choose a solution that fits your reconciliation needs when your team has so many options? Typically, when accounting teams are looking for a solution in Microsoft Dynamics Business Central, they look for solutions that are: 
  • Easily embedded within Business Central 

Embeddedness is an essential requirement for many because an embedded solution means more time within one centralized environment and prevents the need to move between disparate systems to collect bank statements and transaction information. An embedded solution increases the automation capabilities within Business Central by bringing external banking information directly into Business Central without the user ever having to leave the Business Central environment.  Users see high data synchronization and minimal chance of sensitive bank account information being leaked to third parties. With direct bank integration, bank files are no longer stored on a desktop but are safely stored in the cloud.  
  • Known for their great customer support

When problems arise, you need quick, easy access to a customer support team. That’s why having a great customer support team is an incredibly important requirement for teams looking for an automated reconciliation solution in Business Central. If your team has problems connecting to the bank to get your bank statements, a long wait time for support or lack of response from support can throw off the flow of your accounting team’s processes and create unnecessary obstacles to completing your bank reconciliation.  
  • Securely connect to banks for streamlined access for bank statements 

Bank connectivity is a critical piece for many end users since an automatic connection to the bank can enable faster, secure downloading of a bank statement and its lines without ever having to leave your Business Central environment. Having a hands-off data transmission through API or SFTP connection will minimize the times your team needs to log into your bank account.  

If you’re looking to learn more about bank reconciliation solutions in Business Central, don’t hesitate to talk to our team at SK Global at sales@sksoft.com. Our team can consult with your accounting team on how we can automate your bank reconciliation processes within Business Central.  

In the Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance article by Microsoft, they examine a study conducted by Forrester Consulting on the cost-savings and economic benefits of implementing the Dynamics 365 Finance Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System. The report assesses the potential return on investment (ROI) that companies may discover through implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance.

Businesses can choose to further maximize the ROI they receive from Dynamics 365 Finance through leveraging the additional automation offerings provided by Microsoft Independent Software Vendors (ISV). Microsoft ISVs offer solutions that further enhance the automation offered within Dynamics ERP systems. SK Global is one of the top selling ISVs for banking, finance, and treasury automation in the Microsoft Dynamics space.

Key Results from the Forrester Study

Forrester interviewed four businesses utilizing Dynamics 365 ERP system for the Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Dynamics study. The companies’ experiences and interview results were compiled to create a composite business for the purpose of the study.

The companies interviewed in the Forrester Study faced common challenges such as using old solutions with excessive maintenance costs, extensive customization of solutions, lack of uniform financial processes, dependance on manual procedures and common knowledge, and the absence of real-time visibility. These pain points led the organizations to seek out and purchase Microsoft Dynamics Finance to resolve these challenges.

The Total Economic Impact of Dynamics 365 study exposed the following benefits of implementing D365:

  • Finance and IT staff efficiency improvements
  • Legacy financial savings
  • Real-time visibility and data which improved decision-making agility
  • Improved regulatory compliance
  • Greater system availability
  • Integration with the Microsoft ecosystem
  • Improved work life balance for finance employees

Considering all the results of the study, it was concluded that Dynamics 365 Finance brought a total economic impact of $3.41 million in cost-savings over three years. The total initial investment was $2.8 million and resulted in an ROI of 122 percent.

How SK Global can Maximize these Benefits

Businesses can maximize the benefits of their Microsoft Dynamics Finance ERP , through leveraging additional built-in automation. Through robust banking and treasury functionality, SK Global takes the financial automation provided in D365 Finance a step further. Our solutions are fully embedded into the Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP System, preventing users from having to use disparate systems. Our  software has the same look and feel as the D365 ERP system and are Microsoft certified. Our solutions are the preferred offerings by our partners and Microsoft. ISV solutions like our Banking and Treasury Automation Suite can deliver out-of-the-box functionality that would otherwise require extensive customizations.

Configuration vs. Customization

Our Treasury Automation Suite is designed to handle a variety of business types. By having robust and flexible configuration options, businesses can run their processes the way they want to through configuration versus expensive and time-consuming customization.

Vast Bank Format Library

Our Treasury Automation Suite has an extensive and ever-growing format library for Positive Pay, direct debits, vendor payments, customer reimbursements or bank to bank transfers. This allows our users to be able to send data to their bank in the exact format required by each banking institution, without having to build and maintain customizations of transforms.

Functionality Specific Pain-Points

Through seamless and secure automation our banking, finance, and treasury solutions works to resolve the following key pain-points directly in the F&O ERP system:

  • Banking Integration

Through secure host-to-host connection and direct SFTP and API connectivity with over 140 banks, our BankFabric solution seamlessly transfers payment information to and from the ERP to the bank. This prevents the user from having to download files to their desktop or log onto a banking portal.

  • Bank Reconciliation

Through advanced matching and mapping rules, our bank reconciliation solution resolves the challenge of being able to automate daily or monthly reconciliations.

  • Vendor Payment Automation

Our APEFT solution resolves the pain-point of processing outbound vendor payments. When making payments globally, many times bank/payment methods require custom data fields not found in D365 F&O. To avoid the need to build custom extensions, our product provides data driven forms specifically designed for each payment method. These are all contained and packaged within each format. Validation rules within the solution provide payment method-specific rules to ensure that all the data needed by the bank format is verified before being sent to the bank. With APEFT you can streamline the process of building and uploading your payment files to the bank, sending response files to reject or approve payment lines, remit advice emails, and journal posting based on email or electronic bank response.

  • Check Fraud Prevention

Our Positive Pay solution protects organizations against fraudulent checks. Through seamless automation, Positive Pay sends an outbound file to your bank to protect checks printed out of the ERP.

SK Global is the North American Distributor for SignUp Software’s ExFlow. ExFlow and ExFlow Data Capture resolve the pain point of capturing, validating, and processing AP invoices. When paired with SK Global’s APEFT and Positive Pay solutions, you can achieve a fully automated AP process in your D365 ERP system.

  • Cash Application & Settlement Automation

Our AReSettlement module resolves the challenge of creating payments, settlements, processing lockbox files and other types of customer payment files and applying payments automatically to customer invoices.

  • Direct Debit & Mandate Automation

For companies that can directly debit customer bank accounts, our solution automates the procedure through sending an outbound file to the bank with instructions to directly debit their account.

  • Credit Card Processing

Our touchless PCI-Compliant credit card processing solution processes credit card information without exposing the credit card number to back-office personnel and automatically applies credit card payments to settle invoices.

  • Taking Customer Payments

Our PCI-Compliant ePay Advantage solution is a customer-facing online bill pay portal where they can manage their own wallet and pay their bills through credit card or eCheck payments.

  • Reconciling Credit Card Statements

Our Credit Card Reconciliation solution automates the process of ensuring that each settlement transaction on your credit card statement matches up with a recorded customer payment in the ERP.

  • Centralize and Consolidate Complex Banking Footprints

Our In-House Banking solution centralizes cash and bank balances for all legal entities into one entity, preventing subsidiaries from having to deal with a separate bank.  

  • Reimbursing Customers

Customer reimbursement automation resolves the pain point of having to create a vendor record to reimburse your customer.

  • Transferring funds between banks

Bank-to-Bank Transfer allows you to execute intra-bank or inter-bank transfers from within your ERP system. It streamlines the process significantly and resolves the challenge of having to log onto a bank portal to move your funds around.

  • Supply Chain Financing

For companies using supply chain financing, our module allows you to automate communication with your supply chain finance provider through seamless payment instructions between D365 and the provider.

Key Results SK Global Customers Have Discovered:

Our expertise in developing banking and treasury automation solutions embedded into the Dynamics 365 Finance Operations and Supply Chain ERP system, has led to substantial positive business results for our clients. Here’s some of the key results you can expect when you implement SK Global’s robust banking and treasury functionality:

  • Improvements in risk management procedures enabled through fully compliant processes
  • Centralized financial processes allowing real-time visibility and reducing initial employee training time
  • Substantial increases in efficiency and accuracy through touchless automation
  • Significant cost-savings through more efficient and accurate procedures
  • Efficiency increases allowing finance teams to focus on value-added activities
  • Increased business agility and scalability

SK Global is proud to have robust software that can scale and work globally across any industry regardless of company size. Contact us today at sales@sksoft.com to see how we can enhance your Microsoft Dynamics ERP system.

SK Global Software is excited to announce that we will be sponsoring the Directions Conference as an exhibitor. As one of the top-selling Microsoft Business Applications Partners, SK Global Software is looking forward to attending the event with other Microsoft partners. Our team of banking and treasury experts and even our C-Suite executives will be at the annual Directions North America conference in full force.

As a reputable and award-winning Dynamics solution vendor since 1995, SK Global Software is excited to interact with other developers, implementers, technical experts, sales representatives, and executive owner representatives from across the country and beyond. The conference will be an excellent way to build new relationships, exchange ideas, and discover different ways to maximize the benefits of the Dynamics ERP systems.

Stop by Expo F6 to see the SK Global team!

Visit our booth Expo F6 to meet our team ranging from C-Suite Executives, technical experts, sales directors, and marketing managers. Our team will be ready to network, discuss ideas, or answer any questions. Here’s a list of who you can expect to see at the conference:

  • Scott Caudle, Chief Executive Officer
  • Tim Kahne, Chief Technology Officer, Co-Founder
  • Rick Sandler, Chief Sales Officer, Co-Founder
  • Aynsley Keller, Director of Sales & Operations
  • Kevin Casselman, Software Development Manager
  • Steve Locke, Senior Business Consultant
  • Nathan Strong, Marketing Manager
  • Morgan Peterson, Marketing Associate

Follow us on our LinkedIn and Twitter platforms for updates throughout the conference!

What to Expect from SK Global at Expo F6

Although we have an extensive product line for Dynamics 365 F&O and Dynamics SL, for the Directions Conference, our focus will be on our banking and vendor payment automation solutions for Business Central. New to the market this year, we released our Vendor Payment Automation and Bank Statement Integration modules for Business Central. These solutions are powered by our Banking Integration and Connectivity solution BankFabric.

BankFabric

BankFabric is our banking communications solution that works in conjunction with both our Vendor Payment Automation and Bank Statement Integration solutions to securely transfer payments to your bank. Through SFTP, API, or Web Services connection, BankFabric allows you to achieve seamless communication with the bank to prevent you from ever having to download payment files or log on to a banking portal.

Vendor Payment Automation for Business Central

Our new Vendor Payment Automation module for Business Central enhances standard payment journal processing by allowing you to process multiple types of electronic payments from a single payment journal. With flexible data driven banking entry fields, our solution eliminates the need to customize bank specific format requirements.

Bank Statement Integration for Business Central

Through embedded automation, our bank statement integration module allows you to easily map reconciliation fields for the bank statement data to support an efficient and precise bank reconciliation. Once the initial mapping is complete, you will not need to remap fields for future bank statements. The next time bank transaction data is imported the existing mapping will be utilized and the data will seamlessly appear in your ERP.

Coming soon Settlement Automation!

Ask us about our upcoming roadmap item for Business Central, Settlement Automation!

Visit our booth, Expo F6, to learn more about how our new banking and payment automation modules can achieve a more efficient automation process in Business Central.

Join us for our live presentation at Directions on Secure Bank Integration for Business Central!

ISV 708 – Tuesday April 18, 4:15 PM – 4:45 PM, Poincina A,B & C Secure Bank Integration for Business Central (Powered by BankFabric)

Presenters: Rick Sandler, Chief Sales Officer, Co-Founder & Steve Locke, Senior Business Consultant

Join us for our presentation at Directions on Secure Banking Integration for Business Central. Mark your calendars for Tuesday April 18th from 4:15 PM – 4:45 PM at Poincina A, B, & C. Our banking integration experts Rick Sandler and Steve Locke will be presenting on our new banking integration and payment automation solutions designed for Business Central. Find out how our solutions achieve secure and seamless bank communications to ease reconciliation and protect vendor payments.

As one of the top-selling business application partners in the Microsoft Dynamics F&O and Dynamics SL Channel, we are excited to expand our product line to the market. We would like to introduce two new software solutions specifically for Business Central – Vendor Payment Automation and Bank Statement Integration.

Introducing Vendor Payment Automation Powered by BankFabric

Our Vendor Payment Automation solution allows you to unify and streamline electronic AP payment processing within Business Central. With Vendor Payment Automation from SK Global, you can process multiple types of electronic payments from a single payment journal without leaving your Business Central environment. Additionally in Standard Business Central, the typical process is to email the vendor prior to generating the payment file. Our new technology reverses and simplifies the process by allowing you to first transmit the payment. Once the bank has confirmed that the payment has no issues, you can then confidently send the remittance advice.

Easily Correct Payment Errors

If a payment contains an error, the void payment feature in our Vendor Payment Automation solution saves significant time. This feature prevents you from needing to post the incorrect payment after it’s been processed. With our solution, you can easily void the payment, correct the error, then resend it to the bank.

Eliminate Additional Configuring and Coding Requirements

With our Vendor Payment Automation module, there’s no need to waste time, resources, and money on developing or hard coding data into formats. Powered by our banking integration and connectivity solution, BankFabric, our software’s flexible data-driven bank entry fields, and its ability to work with most payment types, banks, platforms, and formats eliminates the need to develop bank specific formats.

Secure Banking Integration

BankFabric works in unison with our Vendor Payment Automation solution to securely transfer your payments to the bank. Through seamless connectivity, BankFabric automates the process of transferring payments to the bank preventing you from ever having to download files to your desktop. However, if you need to access a payment file, all of them are stored in Azure making them accessible at any time, with proper user privileges. BankFabric fully eliminates the need to login onto a bank’s website to transmit payments.

Regardless of your company size or banking footprint BankFabric will support you. Our software has the capability to transfer payments to any bank and across any number of legal entities. The BankFabric library has support for over 2400 payment methods across hundreds of banks with multiple bank platforms, APIs, and payment types within those banks. If your bank format is not in our library, we will build it free of charge. Our solution supports many different payment types such as outsourced check printing, ACH, Wires, Purchase Card, and Virtual Pay.

SFTP, API, or Web Service Connectivity

With BankFabric your business can choose between three options to automate and secure the process: SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol), APIs, or through Web Services. Companies can choose to deploy one process or can use a mixture of SFTP connectivity and API connectivity. Since SFTP is a popular method that most of the bank’s support, SFTP connection is a favored way for businesses to automate communications. API connectivity is relatively new and will likely be more widespread in the future. APIs use a stream of relevant information to transmit banking data instead of files, making them highly secure. Lastly Web Services are very common in Northern Europe, so this type of connectivity is typically deployed by EU-based customers. Like APIs, it fully automates the banking integration process without using files to transfer data to the bank. For more information on each of these connectivity options check out our recent article.

Introducing Bank Statement Integration Powered by BankFabric

Our other new product offering for Business Central is our Bank Statement Integration module. Bank Statement Integration with SK Global is an embedded user experience within Business Central that enhances and centralizes your reconciliation capabilities. Our new software allows you to connect to your bank via API and feed bank transaction data directly into Business Central for reconciliation. For file based imports, you can easily map reconciliation fields for the bank statement data to support an efficient and more accurate bank reconciliation. Once the initial mapping is complete, you will not have to re-map reconciliation fields for any future bank statements. For future bank statements, the current mapping will be used, and the data will be collected in your ERP effortlessly. Bank Statement Integration makes it simple to reconcile your bank statements whether you do reconciliations daily, weekly, or monthly. It also supports configuration for any bank reconciliation frequency, automation level, matching date tolerance, and format type for each bank account. The files or API based data is seamlessly transferred from your bank through BankFabric.

SK Global Software

With 25+ years of experience in the Dynamics channel, SK Global Software has extensive expertise in creating and implementing solutions that fill the banking, treasury, and financial automation gaps in Microsoft ERP systems. We pride ourselves in having solutions that can scale and work globally across any industry. SK Global is a certified Microsoft business applications partner and all our solutions are approved by Microsoft. Contact us today at sales@sksoft.com to see why businesses that range from small to global enterprise level use SK Global.

As companies are continuing to experience accelerated growth, it is more important than ever that they have the tools to optimize their working capital and their financial processes. That’s why SK Global is excited to share that we have been ranked as one of the top AR automation providers by Emergen Research. This is a huge accomplishment and testament to the amazing team at SK Global. Here’s what you need to know about this incredible news. 

Breaking Down the Numbers

To determine the leading AR automation solution providers, Emergen Research’s research methodology focused on interviewing subject matter experts and industry professionals such as AR managers. Coupled with qualitative analysis, they analyzed secondary sources such as industry reports, annual company reports, databases, and more. Together, their analysis outlined the top 9 industry leaders in AR automation based on the reputation, quality of the solution, and their market share proportion of the overall AR automation market.  

They also provided valuable information on recent market trends and future growth opportunities for adopters of such solutions – offering an invaluable resource for financial tech professionals interested in exploring more about the current developments within this space. For more information on these areas of the report, check out the Emergen Research study here.  

What Makes SK Global Stand Out Among AR Providers

SK Global has succeeded in the AR automation industry, shining amidst prominent competitors such as Blackline, Bottomline Technologies, Kofax, Quadient, Oracle, and more. Being a small company featured alongside these large competitors has clearly shown that SK Global has succeeded in providing design excellence and technology innovation to our customers. Being recognized in this manner means SK Global is at the forefront of AR automation with our Treasury Automation Suite – a sophisticated suite with features like automated direct debit with mandate automation, robotic-process powered matching of customer payments to outstanding invoices, deduction handling, invoice presentment and credit card payment handling. 

What We Can Expect From SK Global in the Future

As SK Global endeavors to continue to be an industry leader, we are looking to add even more advanced functionality to our AR automation solutions. To help accounting teams automate their processes better than ever, we are developing innovative ways to increase invoice-to-payment matching rates and to streamline the customer settlement process. For our Direct Debit functionality, we continue to release new formats regularly so our customers can easily have access to payment files that work for their specific banks. 

The Benefits of AR Automation for Businesses and Consumers Alike 

Automating your Accounts Receivable process will not only increase the efficiency of your AR team but drive down operating costs significantly. For your accounting team, automated AR processing can give your team the tools to better track your cash flow since your team will have a clear view of who is paying on time and who is not. Most importantly, your team can even increase cash flow by completing incoming payments faster with the help of RPA-powered AR automation tools.  

Teams are also no longer bogged down by processing errors since the top AR automation solutions like SK Global’s have robust matching logic and rules for high payment-to-invoice matching. Compliance and security are also automatically embedded in all of SK Global’s solutions. 

 SK Global is a top innovator in AR automation and we are always looking for ways to streamline the AR process for accounting teams. As we have seen in the Emergen Research study, SK Global is a leader in this area and is the chosen solution provider for global accounting teams in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance. If your team is currently looking to automate your accounts receivable process, book a meeting with our team at sales@sksoft.com and discover ways that your company can elevate your AR process. 

If it is a manual process, can files/data be tampered with? With BankFabric, your business can select between three options to automate and secure the process; SFTP, APIs or, through Web Services.  

SFTP

SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) is a proven communications technology. It is supported by most banks, enabling automated communications. With SK Global’s solution you can initiate payments from within either Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain or Business Central to the bank. BankFabric eliminates the need to login to a bank’s website. Our solution ensures validation and secure file transfer to any bank and enables automated import of bank data for auto-reconciliation. BankFabric will allocate bank files correctly within your Dynamics F&SC or BC environment, across any number of legal entities. SFTP functionality is built directly into BankFabric which allows you to enjoy a direct Host2Host communication line with the bank. 

APIs

While not yet supported by all banks, this will likely prove to be the future means of communication to/from banks!  APIs do not rely on files to transmit banking data, but rather just a stream of relevant information. They are highly secure since there is no file that might be left in an unprotected location.  APIs are very easily setup and administration is minor. Once the API has been developed between the ERP and the bank, it’s smooth sailing. 

Web Services

Web services have been used for a number of years. They do not have widespread adoption and generally have only been supported by banks in Northern Europe.  Just as with APIs, Web Services allow for fully automated communications between you and your bank. You will have a tighter integration as Web Services contain both a security certificate exchange, and the exchange of files in the same process. Web Services require more extensive coding to initially develop but are easy to set up and administer.  

Manual Communication 

If you prefer to upload/download bank files manually, this is also supported. You can drop files into BankFabric and still enjoy all the added automation and features within our Banking and Treasury Suite, within Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Supply Chain. 

BankFabric

In a Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Supply Chain production system there is no access to the underlying virtual machine and external data transfer. With this pain-point in mind, we created the BankFabric solution to provide direct bank communications, file encryption and APIs between your Microsoft Dynamics 365 system and your banks. With BankFabric, you can automatically and securely connect directly to any bank in the world to process and match payments, reconcile statements, handle Direct Debits, and more. BankFabric can be configured for automated bank communications across all legal entities within your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain ERP system, to as many banks as you are working with, globally. 

Secure and automate your bank communications and start optimizing essential financial operations activities today! 

Call our experts today and hear how you can empower your Accounting Team! 

SK Global Software

We are the leading Microsoft Dynamics ISV, providing solutions and expertise around Banking, Treasury, and Payment Automation for Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Supply Chain. Our Microsoft Dynamics 365 solutions and services help organizations worldwide save time and money by automating key processes, increasing efficiency, and reducing risks. 

 – Microsoft Dynamics Certified ISV 

 –  Our software serves an extensive customer base world-wide  

– Scalable solutions that automate financial processes in any industry 

 – Our solutions are used in more than 80 countries 

 – Providing global bank communication  

Contact us today to learn why companies, small to global enterprises, choose SK Global Software. Call our experts today and hear how you can empower your Accounting Team! 

 SK Global Software EMEA +45.20.61.45.75 US +1.301.963.7300 Sales@sksoft.com www.sksoft.com 

Before implementing a Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&SC Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, there’s a lot of planning your organization should do to ensure a smooth implementation. An important consideration is whether your business will need to add additional automation.

How to Identify if you Need Further Automation

Determining your Software Requirements

Before deciding whether you will need to add software aside from what’s included in the standard version of Dynamics, it is recommended to first determine your teams’ requirements or expectations from the ERP system. Pinpointing the specific features, functionality, and performance that your stakeholders expect can be a challenging process. The most efficient way to determine your key requirements is through conducting a requirement analysis. To administer a requirement analysis, we recommend following these five steps:

1. Identify your Key Stakeholders

To verify that you receive all the important input needed you must first ensure you distinguish all key decision makers and users.

2. Record Requirements

Once you have determined who the essential stakeholders are, we recommend deciding how you would like to collect the requirements. Whether you decide to hold one-on-one interviews, use focus groups, leverage use cases, or build prototypes you should ensure that each important stakeholder and end user provides feedback. Axia Consulting provides a great guide in their article: Requirement Gathering Techniques.

3. Sort the Requirements Into Categories

To achieve an organized overview of the requirements we recommend categorizing them. Starting with two major categories of functional and non-functional then further organizing the requirements into smaller sub-categories.

4. Evaluating and Reviewing Requirements

For each requirement on the list, we recommend the following:

  • Describing the requirement in detail
  • Ranking each requirement on level of importance
  • Discussing the effect of the change
  • Highlight conflicting issues and resolving them with the stakeholders
  • Consider feasibility
  • Specify test scenarios

5. Stakeholders Give a Final Approval of Requirements

Before moving forward with a finalized list of requirements, it is important that all key decision makers can come to an agreement. It is suggested to have a final meeting to decide on this as a team.

6. Conducting a Gap Analysis

After finalizing your requirements, you should conduct a gap analysis comparing the features included with the ERP with what’s on your requirements list. If there are gaps you must decide how important they are to your business.

Custom Software, Bolt-On, or Built-in (Embedded) Automation

For gaps between the ERP and your automation requirements, you must decide whether you want to resolve them with an embedded solution, bolt-on solution, or paying a developer to build custom automation.

Custom Software

When considering the cost of developing something custom, there are some hidden costs that also need to be factored in. For instance, as Microsoft keeps making changes to the base software, what will be the cost of maintaining customization to keep up with these changes? For packaged solutions, it is the responsibility of the author (ISV) to keep up with those changes. Project delays are also very common. According to KPMG Information Technology, 85% of software development projects go over schedule. Most of the time, you can find the needed functionality within a built-in or bolt-on solution. However, on the rare occasion that you have a very specific automation requirement that is not offered by a software vendor, hiring a developer to build a custom solution would likely be your best option.

Bolt-On Automation

Bolt-on automations are separate systems from the main ERP system. In other words, these bolt-on’s sit outside of the main ERP system and frequently require custom integrations to be created and maintained. These bolt-on solutions have a different user interface, resulting in a different overall look and feel from the ERP.  There are three main downsides to bolt-on solutions. For one, they are difficult to integrate with the ERP at times and may have connectivity issues with the ERP. Second, the software sits outside of the ERP requiring employees to learn two different interfaces. This often leads to additional employee training time. Lastly, they often have duplicated features that are already included in D365, leading to a higher price point with no real benefits.

Built-in or Embedded Automation

Embedded automation is built-in and designed specifically for the ERP. Opting for this type of automation allows for robust data synchronization, reduced employee training time, and centralized finance and accounting procedures. For more information in our recent article Bolt-on vs Embedded, we provide a detailed comparison between these two types of automation.

Robust Financial Automation for D365

Whether you’re in the midst of an implementation, shopping around for the right ERP, or have already implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain, it is important to continually evaluate and weigh your options for adding further financial automation. To extend upon the capabilities included in the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, many companies turn to Microsoft Independent Software Vendors (ISV) to meet their additional automation needs.  . From the top selling electric car manufacturer to the number one tech media company in the world, we have worked with a wide variety of companies in all different industries. With over 30 years of experience building and selling embedded add-ons for Microsoft ERP market, we have assisted Dynamics customers worldwide in further automating their financial processes. Below are some of the most common enhancement needs, we see year after year:

  • Secure Banking Integration
  • Accounts Receivable Cash Application
  • Accounts Payable Invoicing & OCR Scanning
  • Bank Reconciliation
  • Credit Card Reconciliation
  • Credit Card Processing
  • Online Bill Pay
  • Direct Debit
  • Supply Chain Financing
  • In-House Banking

Are you looking to further automate your financial processes within your D365 ERP? Join us on our weekly interactive demos to learn more about our most popular embedded solutions.

When Kayne Capital, the leading alternative to investment management firm, decided to move forward with a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations implementation they turned to SK Global’s Treasury Automation Suite to take their financial automation a step further. Prior to their implementation, Kayne Capital struggled with the following pain-points:

  • Their accounting department would spend excessive time and resources setting up entities – they have over 270+ fund entities and 80+ management companies in play at any given time, and entities were formed and liquidated all the time.
  • Complex processes around allocating income and expenses to various management companies, making ownership structure complicated. Unique equity allocation methodologies among management companies resulted in manual and high-maintenance Excel spreadsheet.
  • Lack of a fully integrated robust ERP system, caused processes like closing, financial controls, audit logs, routing of approvals to be increasingly complex.
  • Due to the absence of a consistent account structure, they did not have the transparency needed to get a complete picture of financial performance without a separate analysis.
  • The reporting system did not provide the ability to analyze real-time data, resulting in manual efforts to produce materials.

Download the full case study to see how SK Global’s Treasury Automation Suite for D365 F&O resolved these pain-points directly in their ERP system.

Complex banking structures can make it incredibly difficult for large multinational companies to control their cash and manage affiliate relationships. For large global companies, in-house banking is an ideal solution to that problem. In-house banking is a way to centralize treasury functions into one entity, which minimizes subsidiaries from having to deal with their own bank.  

As the Association of Finance Professionals notes, the benefits advantages of an in-house bank are immense. Companies that leverage in-house banking have discovered benefits like centralized control of cash, cash visibility, less reliance on external funding, and more. With the use of a shared services arrangement and in-house banking software, a company can have complete control over their bank accounts, handle netting of funds between business units, minimize FX costs, lower wire fees and other bank transaction fees, and track cash and balances all in one centralized place.  

In-house banking has never been easier with the rise of in-house banking technology, which can significantly streamline IHB management. There is a plethora of solutions to choose from. However, it is very important your treasury team knows what to look for when shopping around. 

What to look for in IHB technology

1. ERP integration or embeddedness

To implement in-house banking, your company must choose a tech solution that will execute the functions of the bank. Having an in-house banking solution within the ERP centralizes intercompany payment process where in one place, your company can clear accounts and automate clearing of intra-company and inter-company payments and loans. Most importantly, when you automate these activities all in one place, your team can view data relevant to in-house banking in one place, helping your team highlight problem areas.

2. Robust intercompany settlement capabilities 

Within an in-house banking solution embedded into your ERP, your company can execute intercompany payments and auto-settle them against your in-house bank accounts within one solution. Embedded IHB solutions should be able to easily automate the netting of AP and AR invoices across legal entities, which can significantly reduce the transaction fees involved with actual wire or other payments back and forth between those entities. Robust IHB solutions should be able to generate and process IHB statements to decrease the time they spend on reconciliation. Loans can also be managed internally where some embedded in-house banking solutions allow the subsidiary to send loan payments to the parent within the ERP. 

3. Automated payment optimization  

Through the use of payment factory automation, you can automatically pay on behalf of subsidiaries. When done within an embedded in-house banking solution in the ERP, these payments also trigger auto-generation of journal postings. Payment-on-behalf-of and receivables-on-behalf-of services are also a part of many in-house banking tech solutions where some providers can auto-aggregate payments then route them.  

4. Centralized cash pooling  

For those looking to enhance their company’s liquidity management, an embedded in-house banking solution can create a centralized cash pooling center all within the ERP. To reduce gains or losses associated with actual cash settlements across currencies, embedded in-house banking solutions often offer ways to eliminate extra FX exchanges across currencies. From the ERP, treasurers can have complete visibility over their cash, which can guide them to determine if they need to deposit cash or withdraw funds according to their company’s financial health. 

5. Fraud prevention 

Lastly, the most important component of a good in-house banking solution is its fraud prevention framework. Approval processes are incorporated throughout these solutions so that payments are not executed without the approval from the necessary individuals. Since an embedded in-house banking solution is built within the secure ERP which heavily incorporates security roles and permissions, your in-house banking processes will be insulated from potential fraud. For global companies, payment risks are also minimized since cross-border payments can be made within the ERP instead of going through in-country payment processing.  

How do you choose an IHB technology provider?

After educating yourself on the benefits and functions of an in-house banking tech provider, your team now has the difficult job of choosing a provider. A good IHB technology provider should cut the time it takes to manage your in-house bank, aggregate relevant data such as AP and AR data, and automate routine tasks. If your company already uses an ERP, you should consider solution providers that work inside your ERP so your treasury team can have real-time data synchronization and connectivity. This allows for the most-to-date information on your company’s cash and banking activity. To pick a solution that best works for you, it is highly recommended to work with an external consultant that guides the selection process.  

If your company currently uses Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations and are looking for an in-house banking solution, SK Global Software has a best-in-class in-house banking solution with robust features like intercompany netting for invoices, real-time maintenance of bank balances, automatic bank statement generation, reconciliation of external and intracompany transactions within one system, and more.  

If you are interested in learning more about our solution, contact our sales team at sales@sksoft.com.