Thierry Lodomez (Key Business): versatility provider
Thierry Lodomez, Sales & Marketing Manager, presents Key Business, a publisher of financial management software covering a wide variety of treasury activities, ranging from cash management solutions to payment factories and posting functions.
Who are you? Having acquired Key Business, what is E-Finances’ strategy within the Luxembourg market?
Key Business, a publisher of financial management software, was founded in 1988, more than 30 years ago. Today, it is a well-known European player which is recognised for its expertise and its ability to meet its clients’ needs. The decision by E-Finances, which is also a publisher of financial management software, to acquire Key Business has helped to transform the company into a European leader with more than 620 clients who use innovative, secure and malleable solutions. Our aim is to enhance our position as a specialist and European leader within the Luxembourg market. Because of the importance of finance in Luxembourg, the country’s market is key. It’s a leading financial centre and we can offer relevant cash management solutions to Luxembourg companies and groups.
"All development is done by our own teams in Europe so that we are literally as close as possible to our clients, which enables us to customise our solutions to meet their requests."
What solutions do you offer your clients?
Key Business offers an integrated solution which is unique within the financial management market; it provides a range of functionalities, in line with the expectations of national and international companies in Luxembourg. We offer a cash management solution which meets treasurers’ needs and expectations in terms of actual and forecast cash management in an international environment. Users can integrate budgetary aspects, financing and reporting. Many companies have used our solution to manage their in-house bank and intercompany cash flow and to generate adequate reporting. Our solution monitors and manages corporate financing and provides simulations, comparisons and analysis for all kinds of borrowing. This function generates amortisation schedules and offers complete reporting while managing IAS/IFRS standards. In addition, we also offer a payment factory which will connect directly with the Swift network through SWIFT Alliance Lite 2 or the existing and in-house office service. This tool is ideal for cash centres which want to centralise and to secure their payments with our anti-fraud solution. To optimise the work of accounting teams, we also offer a posting function for the automatic posting of bank statements and the letters of related customer/vendor accounts. This function helps with security and saves time, as it’s interfaced with ERP tools on the market. In addition to this integrated solution, we can help companies when it comes to debt recovery. Our tool makes it possible to automate a series of tasks and to structure the information to speed up the debt recovery process. The objective is to reduce DSO and litigation.
What added value do E-Finances and Key Business provide the Luxembourg market?
Firstly, I would say that we guarantee the security of all our software. This security stems from our experience. We were the first publisher to integrate biometric recognition in our solutions in 2007. We pay real attention to our clients, working closely with them to respond to their needs. For example, we regularly invite our clients to participate in workshops to help us to develop our software.
All development is done by our own teams in Europe (Brussels and Nantes) so that we are literally as close as possible to our clients, which enables us to customise our solutions to meet their requests. Lastly, E-Finances and Key Business are two people-centric companies; their shares are held by the companies’ managers and employees. This makes us different and stronger than large international groups. Our strategy is clear and focused on the long term, rather than on the changing world of investment funds. We focus solely on the European market, of which Luxembourg is the preferred financial centre.