Defining the Line Between Treasury Management Operations and Support

As Treasury Management (TM) departments grow, one of the biggest challenges is defining the boundary between Operations and Support. Both functions are essential, but without clear separation, confusion can set in. Requests get lost, responsibilities overlap, and customer satisfaction suffers.

Establishing clear roles creates efficiency, accountability, and a better customer experience.

Understanding the Difference

Operations focuses on process management and execution. This team handles the internal work that keeps TM services functioning smoothly and securely.

Typical TM Operations duties include:

• Service setup and maintenance in core and online banking systems
• System security administration and dual-control management
• File processing, exception handling, and reconciliations
• Compliance monitoring and regulatory documentation

In short, Operations ensures that TM services work properly and align with internal and regulatory requirements.

Support, on the other hand, focuses on customer interaction and issue resolution. Support is the first point of contact when business customers need help.

Typical TM Support duties include:

• Handling customer calls and emails
• Troubleshooting access, file, or payment issues
• Coordinating with Operations for complex technical fixes
• Tracking service tickets and monitoring turnaround times

Support keeps customers informed, confident, and connected to the bank.

Why the Distinction Matters

Without defined boundaries, customers may receive inconsistent service or delayed responses. For example, if both Operations and Support handle customer issues directly, no one owns the communication loop. Customers might get updates from multiple people or none at all.

By clearly defining roles:

• Operations can focus on accuracy, security, and process integrity.
• Support can focus on customer experience and timely communication.

This structure mirrors the IT service model, where front-line support manages cases while backend teams handle resolution.

Building a Collaborative Workflow

The most successful TM departments treat Operations and Support as partners, not silos. A few best practices:

• Deploy a ticketing system or shared log to track issues from start to finish.
• Set service level expectations (SLAs) for both internal response and customer communication (but never contractually agree to them, use them as guidelines).
• Hold joint meetings to review recurring issues and process improvements.
• Empower Support to resolve common problems without escalation whenever possible.

When both teams know who owns what and communicate regularly, customer satisfaction improves dramatically.

Action Steps

• Document roles and responsibilities for Operations and Support.
• Develop an internal “handoff” process for issue escalation.
• Review recurring service tickets to identify training or system gaps.

Defining the line between Treasury Management Operations and Support is more than an internal housekeeping task, it’s the foundation of world-class service delivery.

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