Stitching Global Mobility into Growth: Acorn Solutions Delivers a Mobile-First Expense Ecosystem for a Global Apparel Giant
About the Client
Acorn Solutions partnered with a multinational apparel technology firm, a leader in providing end-to-end, concept-to-delivery solutions to top global fashion brands. With a vast international presence and a workforce spread across multiple continents, the company needed a unified platform to manage its corporate travel and employee expense workflows efficiently.
The Challenge
The client’s continued global operations were constrained by a legacy infrastructure that created several critical pain points:
- Inefficiency & Manual Workflows: Travel and expense management was a manual, email-driven process, leading to significant delays, data entry errors, and a high administrative burden on employees and management.
- Lack of Centralized Control: There was no single, secure system to track travel requests, approvals, and financial data. This lack of transparency and centralized control hindered productivity and oversight for HR and finance teams.
- Scalability & Growth Hurdles: The existing processes were not designed to scale with the company’s rapid global expansion, making it difficult to accommodate the growing volume of travel and expenses for a dispersed workforce.
- User Experience Deficiencies: Employees lacked a user-friendly, mobile-first tool to handle bookings and expense claims on the go, which was a critical need for their agile workforce.
Solution: Challenge → Solution → Result Mapping
Challenge | Solution | Result |
Manual, time-consuming workflows. | Engineered a unified, digital platform with automated booking and approval workflows. | Enabled 80% faster travel coordination and significantly reduced administrative overhead. |
Lack of visibility and control for management. | Built a centralized admin dashboard with real-time reporting and role-based access controls. | Provided comprehensive governance and transparency over all corporate travel and expense data. |
Unreliable third-party data integrations. | Developed a resilient integration layer with intelligent failover and monitoring for real-time APIs. | Ensured 99.9% uptime for booking data, providing a reliable user experience. |
Security vulnerabilities with legacy systems. | Designed a secure, enterprise-grade architecture with advanced data protection and access controls. | Enhanced security posture, safeguarding sensitive financial and travel information. |
Key Features Implemented
- Integrated Mobile & Web Portal: A seamless user experience across mobile devices and the web for both employees and administrators.
- Automated Approval Workflows: Digitized travel and expense approval chains to eliminate manual intervention.
- Real-time API Integrations: Reliable connections to flight, hotel, and location services for up-to-the-minute data.
- Centralized Admin Dashboard: A single pane of glass for management to monitor, approve, and report on all travel activities.
Technology & Architecture
- Mobile App: Flutter (iOS & Android)
- Web App: ReactJS
- Backend: Node.js
- Database: MongoDB
- Integrations: Third-party APIs for travel services.
Measurable Results / ROI
- Accelerated Approval Cycle: A 2x faster turnaround on travel approvals, enabling employees to book and travel with greater agility.
- Streamlined Expense Management: A 60% reduction in the time required to process and reimburse employee expenses.
- Enhanced Employee Productivity: An 80% decrease in manual, email-based coordination, allowing employees to focus on core tasks.
- Scalability for Global Growth: The new platform is built to support a workforce of over 1000 employees and can easily scale with future expansion.
Why Acorn Solutions?
- Cross-Platform Expertise: Our proficiency in modern frameworks like Flutter and ReactJS allowed us to deliver a unified, high-quality experience for all users, regardless of device.
- Agile, Collaborative Approach: We worked in close partnership with the client’s teams, delivering a minimum viable product (MVP) rapidly and scaling the platform in a phased, strategic manner.
- Enterprise-Grade Security: We prioritized security from the ground up, ensuring the platform could meet the stringent data protection and compliance standards required by a global enterprise.
- Integration Prowess: Our ability to build a robust and resilient integration layer was key to the project’s success, guaranteeing reliable real-time data for critical booking workflows.
