Challenges

At IJOOZ, prioritizing technology has been key to building the leading vending solutions on the market. But behind the scenes, things weren’t running so smoothly. Despite the advanced technology in their machines, some of IJOOZ’s internal teams were stuck with old-fashioned, manual ways of working.

Take the customer service team, for instance. Every time they needed to manage vendor-related tasks, they would pull up Microsoft Word to fill out or update forms. This approach might have worked when the company was smaller, but as the number of vendors and the volume of daily work grew, things started piling up. The process was time-consuming, mistakes slipped in, and keeping all the records accurate and up to date became overwhelming.

The procurement team was running into their own problems. Since there was no real-time way to track spending, costs would often only show up months later, leading to delays and confusion. There wasn’t even a clear approval process for purchases—sometimes orders were made before anyone checked if they fit the budget. This made it hard to control costs and keep financial records in order.IJOOZ knew they couldn’t keep growing with these bottlenecks. They needed technology to bring their internal operations up to the same level as their products.

Solutions

Automating vendor management with precision

With Lark Base—a no-code data management platform—the team set up a central online hub where all vendor information is stored. Anyone can organize, search, and update records, regardless of their technical background. This not only means less time hunting through scattered documents, but also ensures that every change is tracked. Team members can also access and update vendor details anytime, anywhere—whether they’re at their desk, visiting a site, or on the move—so they can be just as productive on-the-go or at the office. And with the DocuGenius extension, forms are generated in seconds using the latest vendor data, ensuring they are always consistent, up-to-date, and free from manual entry errors. By centralizing information, tracking every update, and standardizing forms, IJOOZ not only saved precious time but also built a system that scales seamlessly as their vendor network continues to grow.

Standardized forms can now be automatically generated in seconds with DocuGenius

Lark Base serves as a flexible and centralized platform for managing structured data. It's easy to customize and collaborate in real time.

- Kennis Lau

Bringing order to procurement with digital oversight

IJOOZ tackled procurement issues by customizing an approval workflow according to their specific needs. The solution requires pre-approval for all orders, ensuring alignment with budgets before purchases move forward. After procurement, invoices and documents are uploaded directly to the platform, enabling real-time comparison of approved versus actual costs. All records—from approvals to financial documentation—are stored centrally, simplifying audits and fostering accountability. This digital overhaul eliminated budget surprises, improved financial reporting, and empowered management to enforce fiscal discipline.

All approvals for orange procurement go through a central system

Lark Approval has also become an essential part of our daily operations. It simplifies the process of submitting, tracking, and approving requests across different departments.

- Kennis Lau

Results with Lark

• Higher efficiency: The CS and procurement teams slashed time spent on data management through automation, redirecting efforts to strategic tasks like relationship-building and process optimization.

• Error-free data: Manual data-entry errors dropped sharply as centralized records for data and approvals ensured consistent, up-to-date documentation.

• Seamless collaboration: A unified database enabled real-time updates and instant access to records, accelerating decision-making and improving cross-departmental alignment.

• Real-time cost control: The custom approval workflow eliminated overspending by enforcing pre-approvals and providing instant visibility into procurement spending.

• Transparent governance: All purchase documents and cost comparisons are now stored in one platform, streamlining audits and strengthening financial accountability.