Cashbook, BACSTEL-IP and Campbell's - A 10 year relationship

What's for dinner? Chances are Campbell’s soup could be on your menu most days of the week. Campbell’s are a household name and their products provide easy homemade meals in minutes. They got started way back in 1869 when Joseph Campbell, a New Jersey fruit merchant and Abraham Anderson, a tinsmith got together and started a globally successful company.

What does this have to do with financial automation? In 1995 Campbell’s purchased Cashbook to automate their financial processes in BPCS. They implemented Cashbook to reconcile their bank statements and eventually moved to BACS payments for their vendors removing the costs of printing and posting cheques. In 2005, 10 years after initially installing Cashbook Campbell’s have upgraded to V4.01 Cashbook, implemented Bacstel-IP SAI’s Java-based Bacstel-IP solution and implemented SAI’s electronic email remittance solution to reduce unnecessary paper printing and posting from their organization.

Kevin Ayres, Campbell’s AP Manager explains “Campbell’s are continually looking to do things more efficiently. In some companies, finance often gets overlooked by IT because other areas of an organization need overhauling. We are delighted to have gone live with SAI’s Java-based Bacstel-IP and look forward to working with SAI in the years ahead.”
Greg Coulter, Managing Director of SAI New Technologies commented “it’s fantastic to have a customer for 10 years and still be able to provide new and relevant financial solutions. With our focus on new technologies for finance we will work to keep Campbell’s for another 10 years.”

The Campbell Soup Company founded its UK business in 1933, marketing its well-known range of condensed soups. In 1959 a new plant was opened in King’s Lynn, Norfolk to produce condensed soups for the UK. In the past ten years, the company has grown rapidly through acquiring some of Britain’s favourite food brands. These include Fray Bentos in 1993, Homepride in 1995 and Batchelors and Oxo purchased from Unilever in 2001, which resulted in the business doubling in size. Today, the UK business is the largest in Europe with a turnover in excess of £250 million. The company now employs over 1,000 people in its King’s Lynn, Worksop and Ashford factories, its head office in Cambridge and Research and Development centre of excellence at Worksop.