We know that the world economy works in cycles – expansion, prosperity, contraction and recession. The severity of each contraction and recession varies, and in the same manner, the expansion and prosperity stages can also hit differing heights.

 

The ability of businesses to effectively weather these economic storms depends on how well they manage customers, talent, processes, products, and profitability, among others.

 

The best-run companies are able to use the downturn to their advantage – unlocking even more business value for their ecosystems. For these companies, surviving the crisis is just one part of the story. More importantly, they want to be ready for the upturn – the expansionary phase.

 

Here are the ten key steps leading Asian businesses can employ in gearing up for the economic upturn.

 

Step #1: Manage Cash and Cash Flow
In this challenging economy, there is nothing more important than cash and liquidity management.
 

For optimal cash management, best-run businesses have visibility into their current and future cash requirements and global cash positions. Plus, they have reliable insight that helps them better manage their receivables – and identify problems that can arise during the pay cycle, putting cash flow at risk.

 

These businesses, also, leverage features that support in-house banking, so that they can centralize cash management functions and reduce the complexities of multiple banking relationships fragmented across geographies.

 

Standard Chartered Bank’s innovative connectivity option for companies running SAP is a good case in point. This provides businesses with a single point of entry for all financial transactions. SGX-listed coal mining company, Straits Asia, recently integrated its systems with Standard Chartered’s cash management service.

 

The company now benefits from faster and more effective control of payment initiation, and automated reconciliation of payments and accounts.

 

Graeme Tivey, Chief Financial Officer, Straits Asia Resources Limited said: “Our integration on SAP with Standard Chartered has certainly taken our Group’s financial management system to a whole new level of efficiency and productivity.”

 

 “Driving integration of information across the business units and geographies is ever more critical to superior financial performance and risk management.  Our initiative with SAP is one of the innovative ways we help our clients improve working capital efficiency.  By tightly integrating the physical and financial supply chains with this type of solution, we enable companies to release hidden value, reduce operational risk, and improve efficiency,“ shared Sumit Aggarwal, Transaction Banking Head for Singapore, Standard Chartered Bank.  “Many of our clients also tell us it’s a great way to extract an even higher return from their investment in SAP,” he continued.