The Arch Company Closes Deals 30x Faster with OutSystems AI Agents

Challenge

Modernizing a Historic Portfolio for the Digital Age

The Arch Company is the UK’s largest landlord to small businesses and has a portfolio of over 5,300 properties, most of which are railway arches in which businesses operate. The company faced a significant challenge: modernizing its operations to meet the digital expectations of its small business customers.

Despite their unique and historic portfolio, internal processes were heavily reliant on spreadsheets. Their strategic goals, including significant investment across the estate, demanded a flexible and scalable digital foundation. The company needed a platform that could provide full control over business-critical applications, integrate diverse data sources, and accelerate innovation beyond the limitations of off-the-shelf software.

Solution

Building Bridges with a Strategic Platform Powered by OutSystems

The Arch Company strategically chose OutSystems to build its core operational platform rather than customizing a COTS solution or ERP. This decision was driven by the need for flexibility, rapid development, and maintainability. In just 18 months, a small team of six developers and two project managers developed “Keystone”, a centralized customer and asset management platform and CRM.

Keystone now orchestrates data and workflows across the entire business, including leasing, finance, compliance, and customer support. Critical features include AML/KYC checks, payments, and contract management, replacing previously disconnected processes. The platform operates alongside the MRI property management software, Bamboo for HR, and Azure, integrating seamlessly with Databricks, GoCardless, and Microsoft Exchange, Outlook and Sharepoint, among others.

Beyond Keystone, The Arch Company has extended its use of OutSystems to build sophisticated AI agent capabilities. Using Agent Workbench, the team implemented a content classification agent that intelligently routes customer service enquiries, eliminating the need for manual, specialized classification. This agent-driven approach ensures faster, more accurate responses to customer enquiries.

Results

Faster Operations and Future-Proofing with AI

The implementation of the OutSystems-powered Keystone platform has delivered significant results for The Arch Company. They have seen a 90% time reduction in critical business processes, while saving 50-75% in development costs. A standout achievement is the reduction in deal closure time, from approximately three months to just three days, by streamlining the entire leasing process within Keystone. This has dramatically improved customer responsiveness and satisfaction.

By building its agentic capabilities with Agent Workbench, the team has a robust framework with guardrails and logging for their agents, ensuring consistent performance and continuous improvement. The Arch Company views OutSystems as its strategic operational platform, designed to adapt seamlessly to market shifts, regulatory changes, and future innovations, including more complex AI use cases.