Logistics Firm: Travel Cost Optimization
Purple Block partnered with a global logistics player to address disproportionately rising employee travel expenses by creating an integrated data ecosystem that combines multiple data sources for comprehensive analysis and cost optimization.
Global Logistics Player
Logistics
Client Partner
Global Logistics Player providing end-to-end integrated logistics solutions
The Challenge
Purple Block partnered with the client to address a disproportionately steady rise in employee travel expenses. As an operations heavy firm, employees were expected to travel to different locations in the country. As part of such travel, expenses like flights, hotels, cabs, and various reimbursements were borne by the client. Because employee travel data flowed in from different sources—such as flights, hotels, cab partners, and individual reimbursements—it was challenging for the client to consolidate all this information into a single, unified dataset to do meaningful analyses. The diversity in data formats and reporting structures meant it was time-consuming to analyze trends, detect anomalies, and take informed actions to optimize costs.
Our Solution
Automated Data Pipelines
- Leveraged a combination of data ingestion frameworks and workflow orchestrators to pull structured and semi-structured data from multiple third-party systems (e.g., hotel partners, cab operators, flight bookings).
- Employed data transformation techniques to unify records into a consistent format, making it easier to analyse the data.
Centralized Data Warehouse
- Built on a modern cloud-based architecture that aggregated cleaned and standardized datasets.
- Established a single source of truth database for travel-related expenses, allowing the client to quickly run queries for departmental cost analysis or individual policy checks.
Advanced Analytics & Dashboards
- Implemented user-friendly visualisations in the form of dashboards and reporting tools for real-time insights.
- Enabled detailed drill-downs to identify potential irregularities or unusual spending trends across departments, levels, or time periods.
- Incorporated automated alerts for spend thresholds, streamlining monitoring and early intervention.
The Impact
| Key Metric | Approx. Improvement |
|---|---|
| Travel Cost Optimization | ~25% reduction in recurring expenses |
| Manual Data Reconciliation Effort | ~35% decrease in time spent |
| Outlier Detection & Cost Recovery | ~60% faster identification of anomalies |
| Cross-Department Transparency | Improved visibility leading to actionable insights |
By streamlining the flow of information and enhancing analytics, the client gained deeper visibility into their travel expenditures. This not only curtailed unnecessary spending but also laid the groundwork for more robust data-centric strategies. As a result of these successes, the client engaged Purple Block for further data projects and ongoing solution maintenance.
"The analytics dashboard transformed our approach to travel expenses. We not only gained visibility into our spending but also discovered specific, actionable ways to optimize costs without disrupting operations."
Finance Team
Global Logistics Player
In a nutshell
We built an automated system that pulls travel expense data from multiple sources—cab vendors, flight and hotel partners, and reimbursement logs—and combines it into one clean, centralized database. On top of that, we created dashboards that help the client see where money is being spent, identify unusual patterns, and make smarter decisions to control costs. What was earlier a scattered, manual process is now fully automated, transparent, and easy to analyze.
