AMJ Campbell, Canada’s largest mover, is also a first-mover with blockchain technology to streamline and secure their accounting processes, having successfully transitioned from paper cheques to a paperless digital payables process using blockchain.
“Blockchain is a disruptive technology and we are embracing it to replace outdated paper processes,” said Bruce Bowser, chief executive officer of AMJ Campbell. “Sparcblock is improving how we transact with our vendors, to ultimately better serve our customers.”
Paper cheques are still prevalent in many business-to-business (B2B) transactions, yet cheques are expensive to issue, and more susceptible to fraud than any other payment method. Seventy-four per cent of companies reported that they were targeted by cheque fraud according to a 2018 survey by the Association of Financial Professionals.
The new digital process, enabled by Toronto technology firm Sparcblock, is a fully integrated solution providing review and approval capability using a web portal or mobile device, with quick payment via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).
AMJ Campbell’s chief financial officer, Jennette Empaynado, stated “With the Sparcblock solution we spend less time in data entry, filing, and paper handling, while maintaining a secure approval process that provides the ability to do detailed review without the paper. We are saving at least 50% in time spent processing payments.”
Every transaction is digitally signed to provide heightened security and a full audit trail. It is also automatically synchronized to the accounting system and an enterprise grade blockchain built on Hyperledger Fabric to ensure there are no inconsistencies or confusion.
“Sparcblock’s mission is to change business for the better by streamlining B2B transactions” says Wally Vogel, co-founder and director of Sparcblock. “As consumers, we process digital payments, but by contrast B2B transactions are still to a large extent paper-based which is costly and time-consuming. Our technology is changing that, and innovators like AMJ Campbell are leading the way.”