Contributions
Product strategy
User research
Product design
Team
1 product designer
1 product manager
1 tech lead
2 front-end engineers
1 QA
Overview
Most expenses made through Pleo are appropriate for work, but finance teams still need confidence that every purchase is properly recorded, and employees need to know when something needs their attention. At the time, reviewing and amending expenses was desktop-only: rigid, inaccessible on the move, and a barrier for companies that needed to distribute oversight across teams.
The goal was to empower admins, finance teams, and employees to manage company spend on the go, while giving companies the flexibility to distribute spend oversight across teams in Pleo.
Approach
The design challenge was giving admins and finance teams more flexibility without compromising the employee experience, keeping it simple and easy to use regardless of where someone was picking it up.
We worked closely with design customers, sales and customer success as we explored how to scale the experience across web and mobile, from app architecture to interaction and motion design patterns.
We looked at two signals: the time it took for an expense to go from purchase to export-ready, and adoption of Pleo's team and review features. Both moved in the right direction.
Outcome
Admins gained greater confidence that company spend was appropriate, the review cycle became faster, and companies could now mirror their own review structure inside Pleo, making it a more attractive option for small to mid-sized companies.
Iterations were well received and feedback was positive overall. That said, we noticed the solutions could have greater impact by focusing next efforts on adoption and evolving review into a more mature solution that responded well to larger company complexities.
What happened next?
The foundations built in 2018 and 2019 remain core to the experience customers have today. As Pleo grew, a dedicated team was formed to go deeper on this part of the product, evolving review into a solution built for larger organisations and more complex needs.
