" The team at Softjourn showed experience in the financial domain and we are really happy with our collaboration that will expand to many other projects in the future."
Case Study: A Simple & Customizable Prepaid Card Platform is a Big Win for an Expense Management Client
ABOUT THE CLIENT:
SERVICES USED:
SERVICES USED:
The Challenge
Our client was interested in partnering with Softjourn due to our experience developing prepaid card functionalities and platforms, and because our solutions architects have specialized payments industry knowledge.
The Solution
Softjourn expanded the client’s in-house team with eight of our own experienced developers for this project. The main goal was to build a system for issuing and creating cards for new users and their employees. Another important aspect of the project was to create a way for users to set different rules and limits to manage their company’s financial infrastructure.
The Benefits
The client gained the following advantages by using prepaid cards for corporate expenses:
- Increased efficiency
- More efficient spending for all employees
- More insights on user spending
- Ability to adjust the budgets accordingly
- Easy Onboarding
The Need
Our client is a big name in the expense management industry. They aspired to offer their clients a chance to save time and money through corporate expense optimization and automation, all on one easy-to-use platform.
This client was interested in partnering with Softjourn due to our experience developing prepaid card functionalities and platforms, and because our solutions architects have specialized payments industry knowledge. Plus, after many successful projects working together, the client knew that Softjourn’s team would be more than capable of providing insightful suggestions and smart solutions for this project.
Corporate prepaid cards are a simple way to limit overspending while providing convenience to employees. The market for prepaid is expected to continue growing to an expected $2.7 trillion by 2025.
Prepaid cards offer the utility of a credit or debit card without the commitment of having to set up an account with a financial institution, which makes them ideal for corporate travel and business expenses. However, for prepaid cards to function well for businesses, there must be a system in place to ensure their efficiency and prevent fraudulent behavior.
The overarching goal of the client was to build a system where their users would be able to transfer spending data from every prepaid card into the existing software. Specifically, they wanted to provide their users with a platform that would combine bookkeeping, easy card management, and an expedient expense reviewal process.
Our client also wanted to make sure the system and features would be simplified, so their users wouldn’t have to spend too much time learning about it. That way, there wouldn’t be a need for finance teams to waste time onboarding and checking every expense, and instead, they can spend their valuable time focusing on their business goals.
Our team would primarily concentrate on developing the client's prepaid card system and building payment gateways to support the normal function of their product. The client requested that Softjourn’s team also have a special focus on:
- Creating a system where their users can customize the way they use prepaid cards, from both the admin and user side
- Developing an easy and simple way for users to create new prepaid cards in bulk
The Solution
Softjourn expanded the client’s in-house team with eight of our own experienced developers for this project.
Their main goal was to build the system for issuing and creating cards for new users and their employees. Another important aspect of the project was to create a way for users to set different rules and limits to manage their company’s financial infrastructure.
The technologies we used on this project included Django for the backend and Vue.js on the front end. The team also used JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and a Django template.
Becoming Platform Agnostic
The concept of becoming platform agnostic is something our client has always been interested in, as they wanted their platform to perform equally well regardless of the processor. Our team created integrations for Stripe, Comdata, and Marqueta. These layers enable the development of new functionalities and make it easier to switch processors or add new ones in the future.
Our team ensured that the client’s platform was platform agnostic by:
- Using the same codebase for the development of each part
- Creating an admin application for easy access and customization
- Conducting regular audits and finding more ways to improve the system
Rules and Card Customization Platform Development
Prepaid cards are a flexible and scalable solution for incentivizing the workforce with bonuses and reward programs, as well as for use in corporate business and travel spending.
The client had already launched a next-generation platform with physical and virtual prepaid cards tailored to their user’s needs with automation for fast reimbursements. Now, they wanted to improve their offerings by allowing for more rules regarding where and under which circumstances a certain prepaid card can be used.
Their goal was to allow users of their platform to easily set credit limits and manage a variety of rules and policies around issuing new cards to their employees. By creating a way for virtual or physical prepaid cards that can be issued in bulk, our client wanted to offer the highest level of convenience and accessibility for users.
Prepaid cards allow each user’s employees to make purchases while giving administrators control over their spending. This is made possible by all expenses and transaction details being properly marked and saved in the system. In addition, administrators can use this system to change daily expenditure limits, configure billing statements, and adjust transactional limits according to their company’s policies.
The prepaid cards can be used for purchases under or equal to the card balance, and they come with dynamic controls that help set business rules and enforce policies around corporate spending. Using dynamic controls, company admins can optimize cash flow, restrict the number of transactions, and mitigate potential fraud.
After the project was done, our client was able to:
- Offer customized user experience
- Create new cards in bulk
- Allow for more user customization
- Automate expense management using rules
- Configure and customize billing statements
The Benefits
By enabling a high level of management functionality, the application now has multiple modules to optimize corporate expenses and finance.
The client gained the following advantages by using prepaid cards for corporate expenses:
- Increased efficiency
Our client can now provide their users with an efficient process through which their virtual or physical cards are immediately available whenever they need them.
- More efficient spending for all employees
Employees can now get immediately reimbursed for any expense associated with travel and business. Administrators will be able to automate the approval process and see pending transactions as well as receive compliance alerts to quickly be notified of fraud.
- More insights on user spending
With prepaid cards, employers can use our client's app to ensure their employees follow the rules and regulations and analyze exactly how the prepaid card is spent. This allows business administrators to check expenses more efficiently, spot potential problems, and gain spending insights.
- Ability to adjust the budgets accordingly
Our client offers multiple ways for users to monitor their employees’ card expenses on their platform. The companies that are using the software can set budgets and various limitations to ensure that company resources are used correctly.
- Easy Onboarding
One of the key benefits of our client’s prepaid card platform is its simplicity and ease of use. Both users and employees are able to quickly get up to speed on all of the features.
Besides the many advantages associated with an effective prepaid card platform, the client also benefitted by making the switch to platform-agnostic software. Now, the client and its users also gain:
- Easy access for all users regardless of their device or location
- Compatibility with different devices
- Simplified integrations
Conclusion
This project resulted in vast improvements to the client’s platform. The user experience of the platform will now exceed the high expectations of the client’s customers, as it allows users to better manage corporate expenses and prepaid card issuance.
Thanks to rule-setting features, users can easily set up their system to reduce the time spent on daily operations. Plus, the process of issuing prepaid cards in bulk helps the client’s customers more efficiently manage employee spending.
Our client was impressed with how much faster, efficient, and accessible Softjourn’s team made their platform for their users. We are confident that their users will be pleased with all of the new functionalities and automation as well.
If you are a fintech company looking for innovative tech solutions, please contact Softjourn to see how we can transform your ideas into incredible features that attract and keep customers.