Why VKI sought to streamline its online processes
VKI was looking for a partner to help them deliver a series of applications that will better support consumers and companies through the process of legal class action lawsuits.
Its first project was to transform an external claims management system to enable consumers to retrieve money if they had been overcharged, received poor service, or encountered faulty products.
The legacy software that the platform was initially running on created inefficiencies, making legal processes more time-consuming. For example, court rulings often required affected individuals to present proof of overcharges or defective services, yet it was challenging to manually retrieve the evidence needed.
This delayed payouts and increased workloads for legal and administrative teams.
In addition, the legacy systems couldn’t handle the high volumes of case submissions and struggled to integrate with external databases. The complexity of laws, languages, and country-specific regulations added further complications.
To optimize the campaign process, simplify submissions, and ensure quick, accurate resolutions, VKI needed to build a user-friendly, efficient, and scalable solution.
"OutSystems makes digital transformation much easier because we are able to involve the business in the development process early on. With OutSystems, business and IT can share the responsibility of the solutions we build together."
Transforming customer management with AI-powered low-code
VKI’s partner Damudo leveraged the OutSystems low-code platform to deliver a suite of modular, AI-powered apps on OutSystems Developer Cloud (ODC) to streamline its processes. The primary application, the claims management system, was built with the help of Agent Workbench, which enables teams to simplify generative AI integration and create AI agents in just a few steps. The new app improves the claims process by enabling consumers to submit claims online, upload supporting documents, and receive real-time, user-friendly guidance through a web interface.
Another application, a Europe-wide complaints portal, equips administrative and legal teams with dashboards to review and validate submissions. The flexibility of the low-code platform ensures that updates, such as adding new form fields, adjusting validation steps, or expanding language support, can be made quickly.
The complaints application features an AI-driven backend powered by an integration with OpenAI that can analyze incoming data to verify completeness and flag missing documents. This AI component can also perform initial legal assessments, saving VKI’s lawyers significant time.
The complaints portal combined low-code development, AI and generative AI, and cross-system integration to substantially improve the efficiency and accuracy of handling consumer claims.
VKI was also able to harness the innovations to launch five class action lawsuits in the first year, each supported by a self-service portal which simplified the process and made it significantly more efficient.
"In less than a year, we’ve built over 20 applications with OutSystems, many of which are interconnected—not only with each other but also with external systems such as those of the European Union. By leveraging a robust library of reusable components and AI capabilities, we’ve streamlined development, enabling us to focus on innovation and efficiency rather than starting from scratch each time."
Key wins for VKI: AI-driven efficiency, simpler compliance processes
The implementation of these applications built with OutSystems has resulted in four major benefits for VKI:
- Reduced processing times: Processing times for consumer claims dropped dramatically, as users could submit their claims with all required documentation in one go.
- Increased efficiency with AI: AI-driven verification now handles most preliminary checks, significantly lightening the workload for VKI’s legal teams. These teams can now focus on more complex cases, rather than routine admin tasks.
- Improved compliance: Seamless integration with European Union systems improved compliance and enabled smoother case handovers across borders.
- Streamlined app development: Thanks to the modular nature of the low-code applications, new cases from different industries or regions can be easily handled without having to build new systems. And now, with OutSystems Mentor—a digital worker that transforms app generation, delivery, and monitoring—the tech team will be able to tap into AI and generative AI to quickly and seamlessly create new apps.
Overall, OutSystems has helped enhance collaboration between IT and business teams, leading to faster response times, reduced workloads, and happier staff.
The applications the team at VKI built have not only addressed the specific challenges the organization faced, but also laid the foundation for a more responsive and efficient approach to handling consumer rights cases in the future. The team is now working on their next project, an AI solution that focuses on helping consumers make informed buying choices using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).
“We've been excited by the journey we’ve had with OutSystems so far and look forward to more innovation ahead to support our consumers and employees,” Michael Böhm, CIO, Head of IT, Procurement and Infrastructure at VKI, concludes.
"The apps we built with OutSystems are very well received—we’re already seeing remarkable adoption among consumers. As app engagement grows, we’re receiving fewer emails, allowing us to streamline operations and save valuable time for our team to focus on higher-impact initiatives."