“Cadbury Schweppes needs a modern, standards-based IT architecture to enable agile, heterogeneous technology solutions that the business requires, on-time and at the right price.” 

Robert Peterson, Senior VP - Global IT Solutions, Cadbury Schweppes plc

The Situation

Cadbury Schweppes, based in the UK, is the world’s largest confectionery company and has a strong regional presence in beverages in North America and Australia. By the late-1990s, Cadbury Schweppes was maintaining 25 different SAP systems. Maintenance was expensive and integration was difficult. Around 2000, the company established a program to move to three regional SAP systems worldwide and standardize processes around those systems. However, the rollout of this solution proved to be difficult and risky. By the summer of 2004, the company needed an alternative that would be more flexible and involve less risk.

The Solution

Cadbury Schweppes selected Capgemini to help it deploy an approach based on the latter’s Integrated Architecture Framework (IAF) and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). As part of the program, the company defined and created its own Component Based Architecture (CBA), which it considers to be synonymous with SOA. Solutions can be designed and developed as components or services. New systems can be deployed in a much more gradual way than they were before. Cadbury Schweppes is committed to maximizing its use of packaged application solutions from vendors like SAP and Oracle/Siebel deployed as components. This new approach to solution delivery was adopted by Cadbury Schweppes through its own architecture office, which was set up with the help of Capgemini.

The Result

By taking an SOA approach, Cadbury Schweppes reduced the degree of risk generally associated with large rollouts and established greater flexibility and the ability to adapt more easily and quickly to change. The system also makes it possible for Cadbury Schweppes to track the number of services developed and the reusability of the services. In addition, the establishment of the architecture office enables the company to develop its own SOA capabilities as an ongoing process rather than as a one-time project.