solution reduces complexity of cash management for the Group’s 400 subsidiaries in 94 countries serving 120 million customers using multiple currencies
France Telecom-Orange is using Finance Connect Service Bureau from Orange Business, a value-added cash management service that uses Orange’s SWIFT Service Bureau, to reduce the total cost of networking and infrastructure ownership while providing a simplified, resilient and fully managed solution. The Service Bureau manages all operations and access of companies and banks to SWIFTNet via a secured platform allowing them to focus on their core business.
As one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators, France Telecom-Orange needed to address its cash management in relation to internationality, complexity and magnitude considering that its 400 subsidiaries are located in 94 countries and serve 120 million customers.
Finance Connect is tailored to customers’ needs which can vary from small-scale centralization and outsourcing projects around their treasury management systems to supporting full-scale integration. In today’s economic climate, this service meets the market demand for managed services and Software as a Service and is an example of how Orange Business is making strides in this area.
Raffi Basmadjian, head of Cash Management and Cash Management IT, France Telecom-Orange, states: “We need to know how much we are going to pay or to be paid, in what currency, on what bank account, on what date (in value date). This becomes complex when the number of flows, banks and bank accounts, currencies, countries and subsidiaries is so large. Finance Connect supplies a global environment in which Orange Business handles that complexity for France Telecom Orange allowing us to benefit from a cost effective, universal e-banking solution.”
Finance Connect offers key business benefits, including:
- improve security / reliability: ability to control payment initiations and increased security, thanks to network reliability.
- operations hosting with application centralization of virtually any existing or planned mission-critical live or disaster recovery application in-house or at an Orange hosting center.
- global visibility of cash: the ability to receive end-of-day or intra-day reporting directly from all the customer’s banks increases funds visibility and investment ability (optimization of cash pooling, reduction of overdraft and borrowing costs, optimization of uninvested cash…)
- lower cost of financial transactions: single channel versus potential multitude of different channels. The standards enable increased straight-through-processing (STP) allowing staff productivity gains or re-allocation;
- compliance: for corporates under stringent regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, using one single interface significantly reduces the administration work required to document – and keep up-to-date – banking communication processes.
Orange Business is the only globally operating network partner that is registered by SWIFT as a Service Bureau. Orange Business has partnered with SWIFT for 15 years and currently connects directly more than 1,250 actors in the SWIFT community.
Elie Lasker, head of Corporate Market, SWIFT, said: “Gaining the trust of France Telecom Orange with Finance Connect proves that the partnership between Orange Business, the only network partner approved also as a SWIFT Service Bureau, and SWIFT, the predominant global financial network, is successful by providing unique business benefits such as mitigation of cash management complexity, global visibility, standardization, cost savings and improved security.”
As Daniel Delestre, head of Global Sales, Marketing & External Communications of Orange Business, said: “Orange Business is uniquely positioned to provide a global cash management solution like Finance Connect. We have a very high level of networking expertise coupled with vast experience in managed services in addition to being a neutral service provider as opposed to any bank. We continually look for ways to enable our customers to succeed in today’s challenging environment and are the only provider meeting this complete profile for global cash management with Finance Connect.”
About Orange Business
Orange Business, the France Telecom Orange branch dedicated to B2B services, is a leading global integrator of communications solutions for multinational corporations. With the world’s largest, seamless network for voice and data, Orange Business reaches 220 countries and territories with local support in 166. Offering a comprehensive package of communication services covering cloud computing, enterprise mobility, M2M, security, unified communications, videoconferencing, and broadband, Orange Business delivers a best-in-class customer experience across a global landscape. Thousands of enterprise customers and 1.4 million users rely on an Orange Business international platform for communicating and conducting business. Orange Business is a four-time winner of Best Global Operator at the World Communication Awards. Learn more at www.orange-business.com
About Orange
Orange is the key brand of France Telecom, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators. With almost 131 million customers, the Orange brand covers Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the Group operates. At the end of 2009, France Telecom had sales of 44.8 billion euros (22.1 billion euros for the first half of 2010). At June 30, 2010, the Group had a total customer base of 182 million customers in 32 countries. These include 123.1 million mobile customers and 13.2 million broadband Internet (ADSL) customers worldwide. Orange is the number three mobile operator and the number three provider of broadband Internet services in Europe and, under the brand Orange Business, is one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.
With its industrial project, "conquests 2015", Orange is simultaneously addressing its employees, customers and shareholders, as well as the society in which the company operates, through a concrete set of action plans. These commitments are expressed through a new vision of human resources for employees; through the deployment of a network infrastructure upon which the Group will build its future growth; through the Group’s ambition to offer a superior customer experience thanks in particular to improved quality of service; and through the acceleration of international development.
France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange.
For more information (on the Internet and on your mobile): www.orange.com, www.orange-business.com, www.orange-innovation.tv
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Personal Communications Services Limited, Orange France or France Telecom.
About SWIFT
SWIFT is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect more than 9,500 banking organisations, securities institutions and corporate customers in 209 countries. SWIFT enables its users to exchange automated, standardised financial information securely and reliably, thereby lowering costs, reducing operational risk and eliminating operational inefficiencies. SWIFT also brings the financial community together to work collaboratively to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest. www.swift.com