How to Select Technologies in FinTech

 If you want to create a FinTech app, you need to think about a few important things. First of all – what do you want to achieve? Second – what non-functional requirements do you care about. Finally, what technologies to cherry pick from the vast array of options. Not all of them will perform well and deliver the exact result you want to get. So, how to choose without regrets?

Let’s talk about business

The most important thing when approaching a software development process is establishing justification for rolling out the carpet for everything else. Why do you need this app? What business goals do you want to achieve? How can the product blend into the market and find its niche or change the name of the game?

From this set of questions comes everything else. When you know the background, it’s easier to do anything else. And believe me, when you’re in the middle of the project and something isn’t clear and the team wonders how to proceed… Let’s just say you’d wish to take the time and cover the basics.

Let’s talk about requirements

Non-functional requirements are also important. They guide the team through some of the most important aspects of making a digital product:

• scalability

• testability

• security 

• performance

Each of them is uniquely important but together they form an ABC of performing application. All of this is true especially for FinTech, where compliance is important and can make or break an app. Plus, if the product is unstable, no one is going to trust it with the money. So, it’s a good practice to think about non-functional requirements from the beginning and assign priorities.

Let’s get real, real fast

Now, this part is really important. When we talk about technologies, we need to take care of the technology stack, developers’ skills, time and money. You know how this goes, right?

Cheap and fast is not good.

Fast and good is not cheap.

Good and cheap is nonexistent.

When thinking about the optimal approach of choosing a technology set, we have to consider all these factors. Unfortunately, the middle ground when something is good, fast and cheap possibly exists only in an alternative Marvel universe. If the idea of a multiverse is real, then we would definitely want to visit. And stay.

All jokes aside, if you want to make it happen, consider these:

• 3rd party out-of-the-box solutions

• serverless architecture

• rapid development tools

• technology with good documentation and big community

• cooperation with the right development team

Let’s break it down. Ready-to-use solutions, as well as tools, speed up your development process. Serverless architecture makes it more reliable and cheaper. If something goes wrong, a helpful community will address the issue and provide additional support. 

And there’s the last part. If you want to truly optimize your activity and product, reach out to a digital transformation services company. There are many vendors out there but only some can steer you in the right direction. Provide feedback to requirements, advise on the architecture and functionalities, assist in growth.

And since we’re speaking about that…

Let’s go with the flow – cloud-native applications 

There are many buzzwords in today’s software development. The real growth can come from at least some of them, but it’s the implementation that counts. Basically, you need to consider the optimal technology stack for your FinTech application.

What is a tech stack? It’s a set of technologies, frameworks and tools. It can be broken down into different tools for frontend, backend and infrastructure. Each one needs a specific approach and toolset to best utilize the company’s approach to creating digital products and also the client’s needs. What is important on each frontline?

The technology stack is not only shaped by specific requirements or goals. You have to take into account the popularity and maturity of selected technologies or solutions. You don’t want to choose technologies for which it will be hard to find engineers keen to use them. You also want to avoid solutions without a vibrant community of supporters and developers.

If you think about the technology stack, start with a cloud. Why? Cloud computing proved itself to be a much more affordable solution. It offers stability, flexibility and advanced security measures. Serverless approach (which eliminates costly and complicated infrastructure from the equation) is often seen on a market. Serverless eliminates the necessity of managing the infrastructure, grants agility and costs are present only if you actually use something.

Cloud-native applications by nature:

• give you faster market release (true for a minimum viable product – MVP and full products as well)

• allow more efficient disaster recovery

• guarantee high reliability and availability

• are more cost-efficient

• are highly scalable

• deliver easier management options

• avoid vendor lock-in (if you use Kubernetes, Docker or containers)

• are based on microservices which provide many major benefits from the get-go

• are event-driven (which means faster development reaction to any potential challenges)

Infrastructure as a code gives us enhanced control over what is set up in a cloud and eliminates manual processes that are prone to human error. We can often benefit from blue-green deployments which, with just a click away, turn a release application model into a production model. With user traffic, data and version of the app intact and identical. Magic, that doesn’t require a wand, cat, or a hat. We don’t have to manually set up and control everything, which translates into a cost-effective process for you as our client. Less time spent on mundane actions, more time in a sprint for real development, higher cost-effective rate. 

If you want your application to allow smooth post-launch development, consider development with Amazon Web Services. It’s a proven way of getting things cheaper and faster. Not to mention security, which is extremely important to all FinTechs out there.

Let’s do this!

According to Statista, the largest FinTech market segment is digital payments. It’s the most proliferated and therefore saturated segment on the market. That’s why it’s crucial to figure out the best development approach. Not only just for payments but for all FinTech sectors.

If you want to build or scale the product, the best way to do it is to choose the right technology. For foundations or for legacy recode.