Success Stories

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What we achieved

Setting

the standard for digital tipping
Empowering

employees and engaging customers
Idea

to App in 4 months

To who

Industry Travel, Hospitality and Retail
Products: HCL Volt MX
Region Global/Japan

Overview

Part 1
Challenge

SoftBank’s client lacked an in-house IT team to develop a scalable, intuitive, and critical application designed to enhance customer appreciation and employee motivation.
Part 2
Solution

SoftBank leveraged HCL Volt MX’s low-code platform, enabling rapid development, seamless integration, and real-time collaboration for an agile, scalable digital tipping experience.
Part 3
Results

The app launched in just four months, boosting employee satisfaction, enhancing customer engagement, and expanding beyond the initial scope into nationwide retail and hospitality industries.

The Challenge

Challenge: A Vision Without Technical Resources

Railway transportation is the primary method of travel in Japan. SoftBank’s client is a significant player in Japan’s transportation network, serving as a major passenger railway operator in the eastern part of the country. The company hosts millions of passengers daily, particularly in the Tokyo metropolitan area connecting communities. When a digital tipping service was conceived, the challenge was clear: how to develop a consumer-facing application that’s intuitive, scalable, and seamlessly integrated with existing infrastructure—all without an in-house IT team.

One of the key leaders behind the app recalled, “I don’t have a lot of IT knowledge myself, and I was pretty much a digital beginner.” Another colleague faced a similar challenge, having spent his career as a station attendant and conductor rather than in technology.

With no internal development team and limited technical expertise, the client needed an external partner who could deliver an enterprise-grade solution quickly and efficiently. The stakes were high: an ineffective or slow rollout could mean lost user engagement, a weak market entry, and the failure of an innovation designed to enhance employee motivation and customer satisfaction.

The Solution

SoftBank and HCL Volt MX Deliver Agile, Scalable Development

After evaluating multiple vendors, the client chose SoftBank as its development partner, primarily for its speed, flexibility, and ability to provide a visually intuitive development approach. To build the app effectively, SoftBank leveraged HCL Volt MX, which enabled the team to create a high-functionality consumer application in record time.

Key benefits of HCL Volt MX:

Lightning-fast development: With its visual UI/UX capabilities, SoftBank and their client collaborated in real time, adjusting designs on the spot. Yuki Tsushima from SoftBank noted, “We gave a presentation while looking at the service prototype screen together. We had conversations like, 'Should we move this button higher?' and made corrections to the design on the spot.” This agile approach significantly shortened development cycles.
Seamless system integration: HCL Volt MX easily connected with their client’s system via HCL Volt MX Foundry, ensuring smooth, real-time transactions without disrupting existing operations.
Multi-platform deployment: The app was built as both a mobile web app for general users and a PC web app for administrators, with HCL Volt MX seamlessly handling screen size and aspect ratio differences across devices.
Enterprise-grade security & scalability: With built-in authentication support, including OAuth, HCL Volt MX ensured secure user access while enabling SoftBank to scale the client’s app from an internal initiative to an industry-wide solution for retail and hospitality businesses.

The Results

In just four months (May-September 2023), the app was completely developed and launched, proving the power of rapid, low-code-driven digital transformation. The app went live in October 2023 and officially launched in June 2024, revolutionizing how customers show appreciation for service employees.

Business impact:

Higher employee satisfaction & retention: With the app completed, frontline service workers feel valued, leading to improved job satisfaction and lower turnover rates.
Enhanced customer experience: The ability to instantly send gratitude messages creates a more engaging and rewarding interaction between businesses and customers.
Faster time to market: What traditionally could have taken years was delivered in record time, demonstrating how modern low-code platforms like HCL Volt MX can drive innovation efficiently.

The ability to deliver a live application in under five months highlights the efficiency gains achievable with HCL Volt MX. This accelerated development timeline was facilitated by strong collaboration between SoftBank and their customer, demonstrating the platform’s capacity to rapidly translate concepts into deployable solutions.

About the company

As a specialized systems integrator, SoftBank was instrumental in delivering a June 2024 solution designed to combat high turnover and labor shortages within the retail and hospitality industries. This solution allows customers to convey appreciation for excellent service via smartphone, sending both encouraging messages and loyalty points. The resulting positive feedback loop enhances employee morale, improves service quality, and increases profitability. SoftBank leveraged a low-code/no-code platform to achieve rapid development, scalability, and the critical seamless system integration for the project’s success.