Modern Treasury Unlocks Data Exploration

In the fast-paced world of modern finance, managing large volumes of money efficiently is key. Modern Treasury offers APIs for payments, reconciliation, and ledger management, revolutionizing how companies move, track, and reconcile money in real-time. Our unified API simplifies sending money from point A to point B across multiple supportive banks. No more complex direct integrations with individual banks—just one API to handle it all.

A Lean Data Team Goes to Work

With a small but dedicated data team, Modern Treasury wanted to maximize impact across the business while operating efficiently. Guided by the principles of impact, enabling self-exploration, and future-proofing analytics infrastructure, our data team set out to optimize our data stack. Using Aurora Postgres and Snowflake, alongside tools like dbt for transformation, Modern Treasury built a robust analytics infrastructure. Yet, a missing piece became evident—we needed a flexible work space for deep analytical dives. We found Hex, a versatile tool offering a workbench solution for complex analyses. 

Unlocking Engineering Potential

We then recognized an overlap between data and engineering teams when it comes to data exploration. Engineers also have to run basic analytical queries. They sometimes need to measure performance of features that they launch. They need to investigate what caused an incident, or they might need to find information in order to remediate incidents. We realized that these use cases are quite similar to what a data team might experience. Just like the data team, any engineer's screen would have 10 to 20 Looker SQL runner tabs open. And as I talked to the engineers, I heard challenges that sounded familiar: they're posting a lot of screenshots, they're not able to build a repository of results of analyses, and that it's hard to share and communicate the results of their investigations. They, too, were frustrated by the limitations and hamstrung by the investigative capabilities of a purely worksheet-based SQL writing solution. 

So Modern Treasury extended Hex's usage to engineers. The result? A surge in productivity, creative use cases, and newfound institutional knowledge sharing. We addressed concerns about governance and logic drift head-on through meticulous data governance efforts. By integrating Hex with dbt projects and fostering internal collaboration, we mitigated risks while empowering teams to explore data autonomously. 

Looking Ahead

As Modern Treasury continues its journey, we remain committed to driving innovation and efficiency across the organization. The commitment to empowering teams and leveraging technology will only grow, and having the right tooling across teams is crucial. With Hex we leverage the power of collaboration, innovation, and adaptability across any kind of data exploration. As we continue to evolve, one investment remains paramount—empowering teams to drive transformative change.