Treasury has never been short on responsibility. Cash, risk, liquidity, and trust all sit in the same place, often with very little room for error. Every day, treasurers are expected to safeguard the company’s financial stability while enabling the business to keep moving. For years, that responsibility was carried alongside manual processes, fragmented systems, and a constant pressure to move faster, often without the tools to see the full picture clearly.
For Evi Rizou, Treasury Operations Manager at Tesla, automation did not change what treasury is accountable for. The stakes remain just as high. What it changed was how it feels to carry that responsibility day to day. Instead of spending energy stitching data together or chasing information across systems, treasurers gained the ability to pause, assess, and think. Automation created space in a role that rarely had any. It gave treasurers something rare in a high-pressure function. Breathing room.
Before automation became standard, treasury work was dominated by manual effort. Information had to be pulled from multiple banks, reconciled across different systems, checked repeatedly, and often explained more than once to different stakeholders. Spreadsheets multiplied quickly, each one solving a small problem but adding another layer to manage. Email chains grew longer as questions bounced back and forth, and every update felt urgent, even when it was not.
The pressure did not come from a lack of skill or dedication. Treasury teams were highly capable and deeply committed. The real challenge was time. When so much of the day is spent collecting, validating, and reconciling information, there is very little space left to step back and think about what that information actually means. Insight takes time, and time was always in short supply.
Treasury is expected to move quickly. Payments cannot wait, markets keep moving, and decisions often need to be made in real time. But speed without clarity is exhausting. When data arrives late, incomplete, or inconsistent, treasurers are forced to act while still questioning the reliability of the information in front of them.
That uncertainty creates stress rather than efficiency. Decisions feel heavier because the margin for doubt is wider. In global environments, where multiple regions, banks, and currencies are involved, that stress compounds even further. Complexity increases, time zones overlap, and the margin for error shrinks just as expectations continue to grow.
Evi Rizou operates in a treasury environment that is global by design. Her role spans EMEA, APAC, and LATAM, bringing together regions with different currencies, banking landscapes, and operating rhythms. The pace is fast, the complexity is real, and the expectations are high. Cash must be visible, protected, and available at all times, regardless of where the business is operating or which time zone is currently awake.
In this kind of environment, treasury cannot afford blind spots. A small delay or a missing piece of information in one region can quickly affect another. Visibility is not a nice-to-have, it is essential. It underpins every decision and every conversation treasury has with the wider business.
Managing treasury operations across regions means that decisions often cannot wait for perfect conditions. Markets open and close around the clock. Payments move continuously. Issues tend to surface at the least convenient moments, often outside standard working hours.
In this context, inefficiency becomes more than an inconvenience. It becomes a risk. Delays in information, manual handovers, or fragmented processes increase the chance of mistakes and slow down response times. For Evi, the question was never whether treasury needed automation. That need was clear. The real challenge was how to implement automation in a way that supported human judgment rather than replacing it, and that strengthened decision making instead of distancing people from it.
The real shift began when systems started working together in a meaningful way. Bank connectivity, real-time integrations, and automated workflows replaced manual handoffs that had long slowed treasury teams down. Information no longer lived in isolated places or depended on someone remembering to move it from one system to another.
Instead of spending hours pulling data together from different banks and platforms, treasury could finally see it in one place. Positions were clearer, movements easier to track, and exceptions more visible. Rather than reconciling issues after they had already caused disruption, treasury teams could spot them early and address them calmly.
This connected environment changed the foundation of treasury work. It created continuity where there had previously been fragmentation, and reliability where there had been constant checking and rechecking.
One of the most immediate effects of automation was a reduction in noise. Fewer manual touchpoints led to fewer errors and fewer distractions throughout the day. The constant background task of chasing missing information or validating data began to fade.
The focus of the day shifted. Instead of reacting to gaps and inconsistencies, treasury could concentrate on understanding what was already visible. Conversations became clearer. Decisions felt more grounded. That shift did more than improve efficiency. It reshaped how treasury work felt, replacing constant urgency with a sense of control and clarity.
For Evi, automation did not remove responsibility from the treasury function. The accountability remained just as strong as before. What changed was the amount of unnecessary friction in the day. When systems take care of repetitive and time-consuming tasks, treasurers are no longer forced to spend their energy on activities that add little value.
Less time spent chasing data across systems or following up on missing information means more time to think. That thinking is where treasury adds real value. It creates space to ask better questions and to ask them earlier. What does this mean for liquidity next week or next month. Where could risk begin to build if conditions change. What needs attention now, before it becomes urgent.
Those questions are difficult to ask when every moment is consumed by operational work. Automation makes them possible again.
Spreadsheets still have a role in treasury. They are flexible and familiar, and they can be useful for specific analyses. But they should not be the backbone of day to day operations. When treasury relies on spreadsheets to survive, the work becomes reactive and fragile.
Automation moves treasury away from that survival mode and toward intentional work. Information becomes more reliable, processes become more stable, and confidence grows. That shift is subtle, but it is powerful. It is in that space that breathing room appears, allowing treasurers to carry responsibility with clarity rather than constant pressure.
Visibility is often discussed as a data challenge, but in practice it is a confidence issue. It is not just about having access to information. It is about trusting that information enough to act on it. Real-time cash visibility changes how treasurers experience their role and how they show up in conversations across the business.
When Evi can see cash positions clearly across regions, the uncertainty that often sits in the background begins to fade. Decisions feel grounded because they are based on a shared and reliable view of reality. Explanations become simpler, not because the situation is always easy, but because the facts are clear. Conversations focus less on verifying numbers and more on deciding what to do next.
Visibility also changes how and when issues are escalated. When risks or anomalies are visible early, they can be addressed calmly and proactively. There is time to think, to align, and to respond without urgency. That reduction in second-guessing may sound small, but it has a powerful effect. It builds confidence, not just in the data, but in the decisions that follow.
Treasury decisions are rarely made in perfect conditions. There is almost always some level of uncertainty, whether it comes from market movement, incomplete forecasts, or shifting business priorities. Automation does not remove that uncertainty entirely, but it narrows it in meaningful ways.
With clean and timely data, decisions become faster and more deliberate. Less time is spent questioning whether the numbers are accurate, and more time is spent thinking about what they imply. The conversation moves away from validating inputs and toward choosing the best course of action.
That shift reduces hesitation and builds confidence. Decisions still carry responsibility, but they feel lighter when they are supported by clarity rather than guesswork. That change may be subtle, but it has a powerful impact on how pressure is experienced day to day.
Before automation, treasury days often felt reactive. A steady stream of requests, reconciliations, and exceptions dictated the agenda. Priorities shifted constantly, and long-term thinking was frequently pushed aside by immediate operational needs.
After automation, the rhythm of the day changes. Preparation begins to replace reaction. Treasury teams can look ahead, run scenarios, and anticipate questions before they are asked. Instead of constantly catching up, they start staying ahead.
This shift does not remove complexity or responsibility, but it changes how they are handled. The work becomes calmer and more intentional, even when the external environment remains fast-paced and unpredictable.
Automation does not make decisions. People do. Systems can surface information, highlight patterns, and flag anomalies, but judgment still sits firmly with the treasurer. That human layer is what turns information into meaningful action.
In Evi’s role, experience plays a central part in every decision. It is the ability to sense when something feels off, even if the numbers appear acceptable at first glance. It is understanding how a small, local issue in one region could ripple across a global organization if left unattended. It is knowing when a situation requires immediate escalation and when it can be monitored quietly without creating unnecessary noise.
These choices are shaped by context and intuition, both of which are built over time. Automation supports this decision making by providing clarity and consistency, but it does not replace the need for human judgment. Instead, it strengthens it, allowing treasurers to apply their experience with greater confidence and precision.
With better visibility and far less manual noise, treasury earns a stronger and more credible voice within the organization. Conversations with leadership begin to change. Instead of focusing on explanations and reconciliations, discussions move toward direction, priorities, and future impact. Treasury becomes involved earlier, when decisions are still taking shape rather than after they have already been made.
Automation creates the conditions for that influence. When treasury can show up prepared, confident, and informed, its perspective carries more weight. Data is no longer something that needs to be defended. It becomes a shared foundation for decision making. That shift allows treasury to contribute meaningfully to conversations about growth, investment, and long-term planning.
Over time, this changes how the role is perceived. Treasury moves beyond being seen as a control function focused on risk avoidance. It becomes a strategic partner that helps the business move forward responsibly, balancing ambition with financial reality.
Evi’s experience shows that embracing automation does not mean giving up control. It means redefining what control actually looks like in a modern treasury environment. The responsibility remains the same, but the way it is exercised evolves.
Control today is no longer about touching every process manually or checking every number by hand. It is about designing systems that surface the right information at the right time, in a way that supports good decision making. It is about knowing where to look, what to question, and when to step in, while allowing technology to handle the repetitive work in the background.
Treasurers who understand this shift gain something increasingly rare. They gain space. Space to think, to prepare, and to engage more meaningfully with the business. That space does not reduce responsibility. It strengthens it by allowing treasurers to apply their judgment where it matters most.
Automation did not make treasury easier. It made it more sustainable. It removed some of the constant friction that had built up over years of manual work and fragmented processes, allowing treasury professionals to focus their energy where it matters most.
By increasing visibility and reducing unnecessary operational effort, automation gave treasurers breathing room. That space allows time to think, to prepare, and to make better decisions under pressure. It supports calmer conversations, clearer priorities, and a more deliberate approach to risk and liquidity management.
For Evi Rizou, that breathing room is not a luxury or a nice-to-have. It is essential for operating effectively in a complex, global environment where expectations are high and timing matters. Technology may continue to shape the future of treasury, but it is still people who carry the responsibility forward, using judgment, experience, and confidence to keep the business moving safely ahead.