Stories from Engage: How Acquia Customers Are Reimagining Digital Experiences

Not long ago, digital transformation was just a buzzword. Today, it’s a universal imperative. At Engage London 2025, two Acquia customers, Arriva and Trussell, shared powerful stories of how strategic digital investments are driving change, no matter the industry or budget.

Arriva, one of Europe’s largest public transport providers, and Trussell, a leading UK anti-poverty charity, work in very different worlds. Yet both found success through a shared playbook: user-focused design, flexible technology, and empowered teams. Their journeys offer practical lessons for any organization ready to leap from incremental improvements to transformative digital experiences.

Arriva: Delivering Seamless Journeys with Lean Resources

The Challenge

Operating in 11 European countries with over 12,000 buses and hundreds of trains, Arriva serves more than 1.5 billion passenger journeys each year. Yet, their digital team faced a challenge familiar to many: how to deliver exceptional digital experiences amid resource and budget constraints.

The Solution: Arriva Customer Engine (ACE)

Working with their partner Nagarro, Arriva’s answer was the Arriva Customer Engine (ACE), a unified digital platform supporting desktop and mobile experiences for brands such as Chiltern Railways, Grand Central, and Arriva UK Bus. The vision was to deliver a best-in-class digital experience for their customers' end-to-end journey.

Empowering Small Teams with Smart Tools

With Acquia Site Studio, the team accelerated development, minimized dependence on external vendors, and kept costs low, all without sacrificing quality. The process was structured and collaborative: after mapping customer journeys and redesigning UX/UI, they used Site Studio templates and regular client reviews to speed up delivery and maintain standards.

The digital team achieved rapid skill development, easier and quicker deployment, and faster rollout without a replatforming effort. The optimized budget allowed them to focus on enhanced design and improved usability.

The Results

Arriva’s transformation at a glance:

• Streamlined website migrations across multiple brands
• Consistent, reusable, branded components
• Dramatically reduced reliance on external resources
• Modern, user-friendly interfaces for millions of passengers
• A platform ready to extend with new capabilities, such as Acquia Optimize in 2025

The visual transformation was striking. Outdated designs were replaced with sleek, intuitive interfaces, making travel easier for all users.

Watch the Arriva session from Engage 2025 on Acquia TV.

Trussell: Scaling Social Impact with Digital Excellence

The Challenge

Trussell operates a network of 1,400 food banks, providing emergency food and vital support across the UK. Their mission is ambitious: “A future where no one needs a food bank.” Until that’s reality, they serve those in crisis, distributing over 3.1 million emergency food parcels last year, with 1.1 million for children.

As demand soars (up 94% in five years), Trussell needed a digital platform that could scale their humanitarian impact and streamline the journey for those seeking help.

The Solution: Unified, Compassionate Digital Experiences

In partnership with Manifesto, Trussell redefined their digital footprint. The challenge was to deliver clarity and consistency across their national site and 432 local food bank websites, so people in need could find help fast.

Technical highlights:

• Drupal as the central hub for corporate, microsites, and donation apps
• Headless Drupal with GraphQL API for seamless, multi-source user journeys
• Unified editorial dashboard for content management across the network

Designing for People in Crisis

Trussell’s people-first approach focused on removing distractions during the emergency food journey, providing reassuring prompts at key moments, creating stepped experiences to prevent overwhelm, and sharing real client stories so people know they're not alone.

This approach, shaped by direct user feedback and lived experience, ensured the website truly serves those it’s meant to help. In a powerful reminder of the stakes of compassionate digital design, one food bank user tester reflected: "My hopes of getting food are getting slimmer."

The Results

Impact in numbers:

• £13.6 million raised online nationwide in 12 months
• 42% jump in engagement per active user
• 22% increase in conversions to the donation funnel
• Positive feedback from food bank managers and users on emergency food journeys

To amplify best practices, Trussell introduced a “starter kit” website, giving every food bank an out-of-the-box, good-practice digital platform that’s fully customizable. Volunteers can update content easily, while system admins lock down critical pages for brand and information consistency.

"I've had some really positive feedback already from users on the emergency food journey, which makes it all worth it."
— Food Bank Manager

Watch the Trussell session from Engage 2025 on Acquia TV

Building Digital Experiences That Make a Difference

Arriva and Trussell show that digital transformation isn’t reserved for big budgets or tech giants. It's possible, meaningful, and necessary across every sector. Their stories prove that by starting with real user needs, choosing adaptable platforms, and empowering teams, organizations can deliver digital experiences that do more than just work—they inspire, connect, and create real-world impact.

Whether your mission is moving millions through city streets or helping families through times of crisis, the path forward is strikingly similar: put people at the center, invest in flexible technology, and equip your teams to innovate. As these Engage London stories remind us, lasting change comes from the inside out, one digital breakthrough at a time.

Ready to transform your own digital experience? The journey starts today, with your users, your mission, and the right strategy.