About % Arabica

Helping Asia's Favourite Coffee Brand Operate with Control and Confidence

Summit provides structure, automation, and transparency to what was previously a chaotic, manual process. It saves time for both frontline teams and finance.

Mr Allen Chua
Regional Head Trainer of % Arabica 

% Arabica operates a growing network of high-traffic specialty coffee stores across Malaysia. With a lean finance team overseeing more than 30 employees, scaling operations across multiple locations came with the challenge of managing expenses and invoices without being weighed down by manual admin.

According to Mr Chua, Summit enabled Arabica to replace fragmented workflows with automation and real-time visibility, giving the business tighter control across all stores. 

Before Summit

  • Receipts submitted via WhatsApp and Google Sheets
  • Missing receipts, duplicate claims, and delayed reimbursements
  • Manual invoice forwarding and spreadsheet tracking
  • Inconsistent approvals and limited visibility
  • Explored other tools but lacked automation and mobile usability

Summit's Solutions

  • Mobile-first receipt submissions
  • Smart capture for instant data extraction
  • Automated approval workflows by amount and department
  • Duplicate detection for clean, compliant claims
  • Real-time tracking for all claims and invoices

Onboarding Experience

  • Fully set up within 2 weeks
  • Summit team provided step-by-step guidance
  • Store teams and managers onboarded smoothly

After Summit

  • Expense claim time reduced to under 2 minutes
  • 8–10 hours saved weekly by finance team
  • 90% of expense process automated
  • 80% of invoice workflow streamlined
  • Rapid increase in company expenses

The Challenges

“Receipts were submitted through Google Sheets with no structure. This often led to missing claims, delayed reimbursements, and a lot of back-and-forth.”

% Arabica’s finance operations were held together by spreadsheets, WhatsApp messages, and email threads. Store teams sent expense receipts via Google Sheets or photos, which the finance team then had to chase, verify, and manually log. Vendor invoices came in through email or paper, with inconsistent approvals and frequent delays in payment.

With a lean finance team of just 2–3 people managing over 30 employees across 4 stores, the need for automation became critical as % Arabica grew.

 

The Solutions and Results

1. Mobile-First Submissions with Real-time Visibility

% Arabica’s store teams no longer rely on spreadsheets or WhatsApp to submit expense claims. With Summit’s mobile app, employees can capture and upload receipts on the spot, from any store location.

Summit’s built-in OCR (optical character recognition) technology automatically extracts key information like merchant name, amount, date and category, removing the need for manual data entry. As a result, what used to take 10 to 15 minutes now takes under 2 minutes per claim.

Real-time syncing ensures that once a claim is submitted, finance and managers can view its status instantly from the dashboard. No more back-and-forth chasing or missed receipts.

“Our teams submit via mobile, and managers approve based on thresholds — it’s simple and saves hours every week.”

2. Automated approval flows and duplicate detection

Summit’s configurable approval workflows have allowed % Arabica to replace informal, inconsistent approval steps with a structured and scalable system.

In addition, Summit’s AI engine flags potential duplicate claims as they are submitted, a feature that previously didn’t exist in their manual process.

The result: more accurate approvals, fewer errors, and less effort wasted on manual verification.

“We’ve seen a 90 percent drop in duplicate claims. Reimbursements are now faster and more predictable.” 

3. Centralised Invoice Management

Instead of relying on email threads or paper copies, % Arabica’s vendor invoices are now uploaded directly into Summit by store-level users or finance.

Each invoice is automatically routed to the correct approver based on logic tied to amount or department. All stakeholders can track invoice status, submitted, pending, approved, in real time.
This visibility has reduced delays, improved accountability, and eliminated the need for separate email chains or spreadsheet reconciliation.

Even though final payments are still executed manually via bank, the end-to-end approval and tracking process is now largely automated.

“We now process almost double the volume of claims and invoices with the same finance team.”

4. Smooth Onboarding and Superb Support

% Arabica is fully set up and live within two weeks, even with multiple store locations and a lean finance team. The hands-on onboarding makes it easy to move from manual workflows to a fully digital process in a short time.

Mr Chua shared that the Summit team tailored the platform to % Arabica’s needs, configuring approval flows, setting up departments, and onboarding store staff across locations. The rollout is structured, clear, and supported with step-by-step guidance at every stage.

Store staff begin submitting expense claims immediately through the mobile app, while finance and managers find the dashboard intuitive and quick to adopt.

“Onboarding was smooth. The Summit team tailored everything to our needs and guided us step by step. Store teams were able to start using the app from day one.”

Happy Customer

“Summit has streamlined our expense and invoice management, giving us control, efficiency, and peace of mind across all store operations.”

% Arabica experiences Summit as more than just software. Onboarding is clear and straightforward, with step-by-step guidance that makes adoption easy across all stores.

Store teams use the app confidently from day one, while managers and finance rely on the intuitive dashboard for oversight. Support is fast and proactive, questions receive same-day responses with practical solutions.

This ongoing partnership gives % Arabica confidence that their finance operations are not only automated but backed by a team that understands their needs and acts quickly.