2008 marks the 30th anniversary of International Business Systems (IBS) developing and delivering world-class business systems.
IBS was formed in Sweden in 1978 and has since grown to become one of the industry’s leading vendors of supply chain management software, with subsidiaries in 22 countries and over 5,000 customers around the world.
As one of the oldest IBS customers, Sandviken Energi has witnessed and shared in three decades of progress.
Sandviken Energi produces and transports electricity, district heating and drinking water to homes and businesses.
Its businesses also include road maintenance, hydroelectric power and even broadband distribution.
With its varied offerings, the Sandviken, Sweden-based company has relied on financial solutions from IBS and its predecessor, Ekonomisk Företagsledning (EF), for more than 30 years to help run its business efficiently.
Managing director Krister Söderberg says the reason the company has stayed with IBS boils down to having a great relationship with good communication.
“IBS cares about the services it offers,” Söderberg explains, “and it’s apparent that they try hard to stay on top.”
While IBS celebrates its 30-year anniversary this year, Sandviken Energi has been in business for more than 90 years.
After it lost its monopoly in electricity distribution with the onset of industry deregulation in 1996, it was more important than ever to have a good financial system to handle the dynamic new environment.
Choosing IBS financial management software, Sandviken Energi was able to successfully use automated high-volume processing, accounting and reconciliation, closing and reporting.
The company also takes advantage of the solution’s capabilities for invoicing, billing, tax and fee handling, complete credit, cash, budget asset and banking management.
Anita Jonsson, who started at Sandviken Energi in 1969 as a business accounting assistant, remembers simpler days.
“We had a debit system whereby everything was written, received and sent in manually,” she recalls.
“Our first financial system was called e-base 80, which we bought in the early 1970s from IBS [then EF].”
“Since then we have had multiple upgrades, and together with our IBM hardware server we are very satisfied.”
“IBS has great customer service and we trust them to do the job. Otherwise, we wouldn’t still be with them,” Jonnson says.
Anna Wikström has been business manager at Sandviken Energi for 15 years.
She is especially happy that IBS consultants are conveniently stationed in nearby Gävle and that they are specialists in the energy sector.
“It makes such a big difference when consultants understand our branch,” Wikström says.
She is glad that she gets plenty of help from IBS financial solutions, especially now when doing the year-end accounting.
Krister Söderberg says he would recommend IBS solutions to other companies and hopes to continue the good relationship the two companies have had for more than 30 years.