Beyond automation: rethinking financial processes

For a long time, the corporate IT system stopped at the doorstep of online banking.

Beyond that threshold began a different world: dedicated logins, manual uploads, and duplicated operations.
Internal systems were integrated, but the financial flow was not.

Today, this is no longer the case.

Regulatory developments — from the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) to technical security standards and regulated APIs — have opened secure and structured access to banking data.

However, the real value does not lie in access itself, but in how this evolution can be leveraged to support and improve business processes.

In many of the companies we work with, we often encounter operational difficulties that create slowdowns and discontinuities.

Taking the payment process as an example, the scenario was frequently the same:

• Manual collection of invoices

• Amount verification via email or phone

• Access to online banking

• Manual entry of bank transfers

• Subsequent accounting, again done manually

A fragmented flow, with multiple logins, overlapping responsibilities and an inevitable risk of error.

The challenge was not simply about speeding up tasks or replacing manual work with automation.
At several levels, the real challenge was to truly integrate all processes, overcoming the separation between the ERP system and banking operations.

The common need was to transform disconnected operational activities into a governed, structured and traceable process.

The similar issues we encountered in different contexts made us realize that it was not enough to intervene in the payment upload phase — the entire flow had to be redesigned.

Invoices and due dates are automatically collected from the ERP system.

The data is then integrated into dedicated systems developed by Techseed, triggering a structured authorization workflow:

• Who verifies that the amount is correct?

• Who validates the supplier?

• Who authorizes the final payment?

Once all validations are completed, the systems automatically generate the payment batch, which is uploaded to the bank through secure API integration.

After the payment is executed, the outcome returns to the ERP systems and the cycle closes with automatic accounting.

An isolated automation would have solved little.

An end-to-end process, on the other hand, changes the way people work.

When financial flows are integrated into business processes, the organization of work changes.

With this approach, operations become smoother and more secure: manual entries and duplicated activities disappear, reducing time and errors.

Access to banking systems becomes limited and aligned with roles, authorizations are traceable, and every step is documented, ensuring greater security.

This is not just about automating bank transfers.
The real focus is the design of workflows where ERP systems, authorization processes and banking infrastructures become part of the same process.

In recent years, the European regulatory framework — starting with the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) — has made standard and regulated interfaces for accessing banking data available, along with security requirements such as Strong Customer Authentication (SCA).

This means that integration between corporate systems and banks is no longer a creative “custom” or borderline solution. It can now be designed in a structured, secure and compliant way.

What has been described here is not a single case, but a model applied in different contexts, with different needs and levels of complexity.

Each implementation has its own specificities, but the principle remains the same: not intervening on a single operational step, but redesigning the process as a whole.

The real question is not whether to adopt open banking, but which activities remain manual simply because the financial flow is still external to the corporate system.

As long as the bank remains “outside”, duplications and discontinuities will exist.

When it becomes part of the process, many inefficiencies simply disappear.

This enables activities such as:

• automatic bank statement reconciliation

• bulk payment management through a single payment batch

• native integration between ERP systems and financial flows

• reduction of operational risk through structured authorization workflows

But most importantly, the logic used to design systems changes.

Banking integration becomes a tool to make financial flows an integral part of business operations.

It is not a fintech topic.

It is a process design topic.

When the bank becomes part of the flow, efficiency is no longer a goal to pursue — it becomes a natural consequence.