Research & Data Services
How Ikigai Labs cut month-end close time by 50% and doubled approval speed with Vectura
$1.8M
Research budgets tracked in real time during first year
45%
Faster reporting cycle from data collection to review
About
Ikigai Labs is a global research and data services innovator specializing in large-scale analytics for healthcare, life sciences, and government agencies. With operations spanning multiple continents and thousands of data points generated daily, the company partners with leading institutions to deliver insights that drive critical decisions.
Industry
Research & Data Services
Company size
500 – 1,000 employees
Founded
2015
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“Before Vectura, our finance team spent weeks consolidating spreadsheets just to understand where budgets stood. Now we have real-time clarity across every program.”
Daniel Hwang
CFO
The Company
Ikigai Labs brings order and speed to complex financial operations
Ikigai Labs is a global research and data services company specializing in large-scale analytics for healthcare, life sciences, and government agencies. With teams spread across multiple continents, the organization manages complex projects that require precise financial tracking, vendor oversight, and rapid reporting. Its finance department plays a crucial role in ensuring every project meets both budget and compliance requirements.
The Motivation
Scaling research while managing complexity
As Ikigai Labs expanded its client portfolio, the number of financial transactions grew exponentially. From vendor contracts to grant disbursements and inter-departmental budgets, finance had to manage hundreds of moving parts. Traditional tools and manual processes could no longer keep up.
Leadership realized that without a modern system, they risked losing track of commitments, delaying projects, and eroding client trust. They needed financial infrastructure that could scale with their mission-driven work.
Ikigai Labs’ finance team relied on a mix of spreadsheets, email threads, and outdated approval systems. Approvals often took days, project managers struggled to get accurate budget updates, and finance staff spent valuable hours reconciling reports instead of analyzing trends.
This lack of efficiency wasn’t just frustrating — it slowed down critical research projects where timing and accuracy were essential.
“We were dealing with a patchwork of systems that created more problems than it solved. Every month ended in late nights, trying to reconcile numbers across disconnected tools.”
Sonya Deng
Controller
The Solution
Transforming finance into a strategic enabler
Ikigai Labs adopted Vectura to centralize financial operations. With real-time reporting dashboards, automated expense tracking, and structured approval workflows, the finance team finally gained the visibility and control they needed.
Department leads could instantly check budget status, while project managers received faster approvals — keeping projects on schedule and within budget. Meanwhile, the finance team reduced time spent on manual reconciliation, freeing them to focus on analysis and forecasting.
The Results
Unlocking efficiency and confidence at scale
With Vectura, Ikigai Labs turned its financial operations into a reliable backbone for growth. The improvements were both immediate and measurable:
50% reduction in month-end close time
Approval workflows completed 2x faster
Real-time insights available to department and project leaders
Greater accountability, with every expense tied to the right budget line
By replacing fragmented systems with Vectura, Ikigai Labs enabled its teams to move faster, make better decisions, and focus on delivering groundbreaking research to its clients.
“Vectura gave us back control over our finances. Now, instead of chasing numbers, we’re driving strategy.”
Daniel Hwang
CFO
