Developing fintech app for 9 months

Ukraine is a striking example of a country where modern startups are successfully developing. Project development from idea to final implementation is outsourced. Fintech, as one of the most progressive and exciting areas, has been no exception. Nowadays, companies are actively mastering the development of fintech products and expanding their areas of activity.
The ITOMYCH STUDIO team did not stand aside and actively broke into the fintech development in 2015. The team's portfolio includes several large-scale fintech projects for the markets of Great Britain and the Middle East at the moment.

What is fintech? What are the features of developing fintech projects? And what is behind the process of implementation of such applications? These questions will be covered in a sec — go on reading!

What is fintech?

Fintech is such a new direction in business that there is no single definition for it. The term was originally used to describe organizations that create software for working with banking systems. However, the scope of new technologies has expanded and moved beyond the realm of solely the financial sector. Fintech technologies are widely used in the spheres of insurance, investment, trade, and risk management. Fintech can be defined as a new financial industry built on the use of the latest IT data collection and processing technologies. As for the products used, fintech includes the new mobile and web applications as well as business models used in the financial sector.

Types of fintech products

Among the types of fintech products, the following applications can be distinguished:

• Р2Р payment applications — a quick and easy way to pay for purchases with a card in stores or in the application;
• Personal finance applications — for managing your own funds, calculating expenses, keeping personal records and managing finances.
• Investment applications — represent the platform for investment management and are created for individuals related to investment, trading, or for those interested in financial markets.
• Crowdfunding applications — for collective fund-raising and investment in new projects.

ITOMYCH STUDIO experience

ITOMYCH STUDIO team needed only 9 months to develop such a project from scratch. The development and implementation process was very difficult because fintech applications required integration with a large number of partners as well as compliance with the strict regulatory standards.
It may seem unrealistic, but the fact remains that the ITOMYCH STUDIO team managed to succeed in such a short period of time. Today this project is successfully functioning on the UK market, the number of its users exceeded 30,000 during the first year. We, in turn, are continuing to expand the functionality and improve this fintech project.
How did we start? How did we establish the development process? We gradually turn the dream of fintech application into a complete solution in the following steps:

1. Requirements gathering. At this stage, the main goal was to understand what exactly the customer needed and what competitive advantages the fintech product was going to have.
2. Design development. As the customer was a visual type of person, the second step in the application implementation was precisely the design. With the help of wireframes, we could understand what exactly he expected to see in the end. Design is what users communicate with. It should not only be convenient but also attractive to the client. It was essential for our team to create a recognizable application style.
3. Development of architecture and selection of partners. We had an idea of ​​the final scope and went on to process the proposal for the architecture. It included a mobile application, a fintech platform that orchestrated over 30 third-party integrations, a zendesk plug-in, and a back-office panel that met the needs of the treasurer, customer support, and compliance teams.
4. Stage of active development. All parts of the application were developed simultaneously, so at this stage we faced the difficult task of developing ASAP with minimum losses in quality. It is important to acknowledge the important role of our specialists at this stage: architects, backend and mobile developers, DevOps, QA-specialists, Delivery-managers, and product owners.
5. Public release. It is a turning point for any project, as its history is divided into before and after the release. The application started to work with real clients' money. The product team regularly analyzed the user integration, and developers learned about the new age cases or problems needed to be fixed.
6. The further development of the project presupposed the introduction of new features. The roadmap of the project included a team of 50 people and a workload for several years to come. For example, we introduced an investment platform, bonds, international payments, and much more functionality for B2C within the 6-month period following the public release. The company is also planning to develop B2B solutions.

A distinctive feature of this particular project was that when developing the platform, we had to account for the strategic plans of the customer company. Strategically, the project was to be developed as a BaaS solution. This significantly influenced the architecture of the project.

What brought us closer to success? First, the responsibility that we decided to take and the decisions that we made in the process of work. Second, it was the team of experts able to quickly get involved in the project and make every effort to develop it. Each expert in our team had his own area of ​​responsibility and it was not just a label. This was a specific area of ​​activity within the framework of a specific program of action, the implementation of which belonged to the competence of a specific team member. And the main criterion of responsibility was the result.

So, judging from our experience, we know that the implementation of a fintech project on a turn-key basis may take up to 9 months (provided that you are working with an experienced team).

If you are focused on the result, want to become a part of the fintech team, and get a tremendous experience, send your CV. We always welcome those who are committed to results!