Investment priorities and business plans of financial executives will be greatly influenced by technical innovation and disruption, according to the 2017 Treasury Management survey conducted by TD Bank.

The top disruptive technologies cited by professionals were process automation (31 percent), distributed ledger/block chain (23 percent), and artificial intelligence/robotics (15 percent). These technologies are expected to make a substantial impact on treasury functions and payments over the next two to three years.

About 340 corporate treasurers and other finance professionals provided insight during the 2017 Association for Financial Professionals Annual Conference in San Diego, Calif. Respondents noted that they are preparing for the changes that will disruptive technologies will bring, and how they will affect the treasury management industry overall.

Respondents reported they are preparing for change by working with fintech providers (31 percent), developing in-house technology to get a leg up on competitors (23 percent), and hiring more tech savvy employees to keep up with trends (15 percent). Twenty-nine percent said they are taking a “wait and see” approach to adapting, while 10 percent were willing to invest in artificial intelligence and robotics, a more experimental technology.

"It is no surprise that technology and automation factor high in near-term investment plans, as financial professionals and treasurers -- like most functions -- are continually challenged with doing more with less," said Chris Giamo, head of Commercial Bank, TD Bank. "The capability of these tools to increase speed, accuracy and efficiency could dramatically streamline work flows."

More then half of the professionals who were surveyed (52 percent) expect faster or real-time processing to experience substantial growth in the innovation of payments in 2018, while 23 percent of finance professionals see the ability to adapt to or process faster and electronic payments as their organization’s a top operational challenge.

"Treasury management is approaching an inflection point and organizations must adjust accordingly. The potential for AI and robotics to disrupt and revolutionize payment processing especially should not be underestimated," said Rick Burke, head of Corporate Products and Services, TD Bank. "Just as the Federal Reserve and other industry bodies will need to develop a standard to clarify what defines real-time payments in the commercial world, finance professionals will need to develop and invest in new technologies to meet the demand for real-time payments."

When it comes to impact on organizational capital spending, challenges caused by continued interest rate changes (30 percent) and the current geographical environment (25 percent) were identified as being especially influential on the allocation of funding. The finance professionals reported acquisitions (22 percent), Information technology (22 percent), and capital expenditures (21 percent) to be areas where their organization expects to pay the most in excess cash.