Disrupting Labor Union Markets Via Trade Digitalization

Like most digital technologies and solutions, the ‘ACE for Trade Unions’ app came into fruition because someone working directly within a pilot trade union office thought that there could be a more efficient way to do things using more modern tools.

To be in a place of power in union-employer negotiations, trade unions need to capitalize on the real-world data they have in their hands. To apply this effectively, unions need to shift away from their heavily manual input processes and lean more on trade digitalization that includes digital technologies with logic-driven processes, automation, and possibly the use of artificial intelligence (AI)

Before the ACE for Unions web app was introduced, there were data pots overlooked and a lengthy process in place for submitting claims. The average amount of time spent in the initial processing of a labor union case ran up to 45 minutes, with one particular process taking up to 90 minutes to complete – even with the use of systems like emails, office suites, and computers in general.

The 5S Technologies team led by their founder David Willard visited the pilot union offices to see first-hand what tools were being utilised and what pain points can be solved. After their hands-on review, 5S Technologies began to scope a tool based on forward-thinking digital technologies that can be both powerful and intuitive and can be used by the pilot trade union and its members to address automating manual processes, adding logic-driven capabilities based on straight-forward legal frameworks, and making data insights accessible to all.

Faced with a tight deadline, an under-staffed trade union partner, and low in-house developer resources, David and 5S Technologies chose to outsource the mobile app component of their trade digitalization solution.

5S Technologies needed a partner who did not need hand holding and could deliver the insights and solutions needed to bring the mobile app to life. Mooncascade made sure that their team’s set-up was able to match – and in places exceed – all of 5S Technologies’ expectations.

Mooncascade’s highly skilled team for the ACE for Trade Unions mobile app development project consisted of a project manager, a UX/UI developer, a QA specialist, and 1-2 developers; with 1 additional developer assigned to help the 5S Technologies development team on the web application.