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Streamlining Financial Approvals with IoT: A Case Study on Angel Trains
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Process Analytics
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Industries
- Railway & Metro
- Transportation
Applicable Functions
- Procurement
- Product Research & Development
Use Cases
- Public Transportation Management
- Smart Contracts
Services
- System Integration
- Training
The Challenge
Angel Trains, one of Britain’s leading train leasing companies, was facing a significant challenge in managing its financial approvals process. The company, which has invested £5 billion in new trains and refurbishments of existing rolling stock, frequently needed to issue and approve purchase orders and contracts with values exceeding £100,000. This required a rigorous approval process that was both accurate and efficient. However, the company was struggling with a disconnected IT landscape, with over 10 separate custom business systems. This resulted in departmental silos with little or no integration with the company’s core asset management and financial systems. The IT landscape was complex, time-consuming to manage, and costly to adapt when business needs changed. The company needed a solution that could integrate its existing systems and automate the approval workflow.
About The Customer
Angel Trains is one of Britain’s leading train leasing companies. Since its foundation in 1994, the company has invested £5 billion in new trains and refurbishments of existing rolling stock. It leases rolling stock to 18 franchised train service operators and two open access operators in the UK. The company continues to invest heavily in train modernization programs and frequently needs to issue and approve purchase orders and contracts with values exceeding £100,000. This requires a rigorous approval process that is both accurate and efficient.
The Solution
Angel Trains deployed K2 Five, an automation platform, to streamline its financial approvals process. The company first developed a smaller workflow for processing requests for third party user access to SharePoint, which allowed the IT team to build its skills in using the automation platform and significantly simplified and accelerated a key business process. Then, the company turned its attention to the financial approvals workflow and was able to complete the entire development in just 25 working days. K2 Five integrated Angel Trains’ existing systems, creating an automated approval workflow that was easy to adapt to future business changes. The new financial approvals process was rolled out to over 160 employees, enabling contracts and purchase orders to be approved more quickly. The platform also extended to mobile devices, allowing employees to view, action, and approve tasks using their smartphones and tablets when they were away from the office.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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