Streamlining Accounting Workflows & Powering Field Technicians with a People-First IoT App

Ricoh US asked Outliers to tackle two intertwined challenges: modernise an internal supplier-accounting portal that thousands of employees touch daily, and create a greenfield IoT mobile app that arms field-service technicians with real-time device diagnostics. The legacy portal’s cluttered UX slowed invoice approvals and frustrated users, while technicians relied on phone calls and paper manuals to resolve on-site issues—costing time, money, and customer goodwill.

Outliers began by shadowing Ricoh’s accounts-payable teams and riding shotgun with field technicians to capture real-world workflows; those insights fed a service blueprint that guided both builds. We then re-imagined the supplier-accounting portal with role-based dashboards, contextual task cues, and a headless, API-first architecture that decouples the UI from Ricoh’s ERP—making future iterations painless.

In parallel, we designed and engineered a React Native IoT mobile app that streams device telemetry, auto-surfaces fault codes, and walks technicians through guided fixes even when offline. Unified by a shared design system, the portal and app now deliver a consistent, people-centered experience: finance teams clear approvals far faster, technicians resolve issues on the first visit, and customers enjoy smoother service—all without the bottlenecks of the legacy stack.