How thePower achieved global scalability, accelerated month-end close and centralised payment management with Embat

A conversation with:
Ignacio Marcos Pérez
CFO at thePower
thePower Education operates in over 60 countries and faced significant treasury management challenges due to experiencing rapid global expansion. To address these issues, they partnered with Embat to centralise and automate financial management, streamline month-end close, and improve payment and bank reconciliation efficiency
Headquarters
Madrid
Sector
Education
Employees
201-500
ERP
Sage 200
Before Embat
  • Dispersed Treasury Management: Fragmented and outdated visibility of cash positions
  • Manual Month-End Close: Slow, error-prone processes
  • Decentralised Payments: Complex payment methods and manual reconciliations
  • High Manual Task Dependency: Increased workload and error likelihood
With Embat
  • Automated, Centralised Treasury: Real-time global cash flow visibility, integrating multiple bank accounts and consolidating transactions across currencies
  • Optimised Month-End Close: Automated bank reconciliation and customised rules for repetitive tasks, significantly reducing close time and improving accuracy
  • Centralised, Automated Payments: Precise, timely payments with minimal errors, streamlined approvals, and execution
  • Accurate, Fast Bank Reconciliation: Quick and precise transaction reconciliation, enhancing financial process efficiency

The customer

thePower was born with the mission to revolutionise education based on four fundamental pillars: affordable pricing, flexible training delivered by professionals with real-world experience and educational programmes that are up-to-date with the latest trends and market needs. 

The company started as a business school with a single programme, ThePowerMBA. Over time, it has expanded both its educational offerings and its geographic presence. Today, thePower operates in more than 60 countries, has more than 120,000 students and collaborates with more than 600 companies around the world.

As thePower expanded rapidly and globally, numerous challenges in treasury and financial management arose. The company faced difficulties integrating multiple banking systems, managing multi-currency transactions and streamlining the bookkeeping process. In addition, centralising and automating payments to suppliers and partners in different countries was becoming increasingly complex. 

To address these challenges and improve operational efficiency, thePower's finance team, led by CFO Ignacio Marcos Pérez, decided to partner with Embat as an end-to-end treasury management solution.

“We manage a wide range of B2C, B2B, and B2G transactions with customers in 60 countries, working with more than 600 companies. With Embat, we have been able to bring the month-end close forward by more than 4 days and we have centralised payments, reducing the time per transaction from 10 minutes to a matter of seconds”.

The challenge

1. Business scalability

thePower's global expansion to more than 60 countries required efficient financial operations management in multiple regions, integration of local banking systems and management of multi-currency transactions.

2. Optimising month-end close 

thePower's month - end close process was slow and error-prone due to reliance on manual procedures. There was a need to automate account reconciliation and consolidate financial data from various sources to improve accuracy and reduce closing times.

3. Centralising payments

Managing payments to suppliers and partners in different countries presented complexities due to the diversity of payment methods and the need to reconcile transactions. A solution was needed to centralise and automate the approval and execution of payments.

The solution

Real-time treasury management

Embat enabled thePower to centralise the management of its cash flows in real time. The platform facilitated integration with multiple bank accounts and the consolidation of multi-currency transactions, providing a global and up-to-date view of the treasury. It also allows for accurate and timely cash forecasting.

Optimised accounting close and automated rules 

With Embat, thePower was able to automate bank reconciliation and establish customised rules for repetitive financial tasks. This significantly reduced the accounting close time and minimised the need for manual intervention. The platform enabled accurate and timely consolidation of financial data, facilitating accurate reporting and improving the operational efficiency of the finance team.

Centralisation and automation of payments

Embat provided thePower with a solution for centralised payment management, allowing for the automation of transaction approval and execution on a global level. This reduced time spent on manual tasks and minimised errors, ensuring accurate and timely payments to suppliers and partners.

Accurate and fast bank reconciliation

Embat's automated bank reconciliation solution helped thePower reduce the risk of errors and ensure that all transactions were recorded correctly. This functionality enabled fast and accurate reconciliation of all bank accounts, improving the accuracy and efficiency of the financial process.

The impact

Business scalability‍

thePower successfully managed its global expansion to 60 countries without the need to significantly increase the size of its finance team. Automation and centralisation of processes reduced the operational burden and enabled sustainable and efficient growth.

Streamlined accounting close times‍

Reduced monthly accounting closure time by more than four days. The automation of manual tasks and the ability to generate accurate forecasts have improved the efficiency and accuracy of the finance team.

Efficiency and security in payment management‍

The centralisation and automation of payments has drastically decreased the time spent on these tasks from 10 minutes to seconds per transaction. This has allowed thePower to make payments in a more agile and secure way, avoiding errors and improving the relationship with suppliers and collaborators.

Find out more about Embat

Press kit

Find everything you need to tell our story.

Learn more

Embat’s Blog

Insights to manage your company's treasury effectively.

Learn more

Ready to flow?

Contact an expert