Building a Secured Tech Stack
In today’s hyper competitive and fast evolving digital landscape, the technology stack you choose can make or break your business, especially in Fintech. Whether you are a startup or a scaling enterprise, your tech exposure grows as your business matures. From selecting the right tech stack and ensuring rock solid security, to understanding the cutting-edge architecture behind Fintech giants like INDIFI in India, this guide dives deep into building resilient software eco-systems. With case studies, security protocols and deployment strategies, we will explore how to create future proof, secure and maintainable Fintech solutions.
Table of Content
- Technology Absolute Necessity
- Technology exposure based on business size and stage
- Parameters for selecting a tech stack
- Technology Stack of INDIFI
- Security aspects of a Fintech software
- Backup/Data Protection solutions
- Deployment of software
- Maintenance of the software
- Case studies of Fintech in India
Technology Absolute Necessity
Technology can be a boon or bane. This was a topic for discussions or
debates until a few years ago, but that discussion is long gone.
Nowadays, technology touches everyone’s life knowingly or
unknowingly and the same goes for businesses. If any business
needs to survive forget about improving or expanding, it must use technology in one way or another. Especially after the pandemic, it has become more critical to have technology built into business processes. Hence, businesses are not dependent on people and technology becomes the company’s backbone. In recent times, we have seen many start-ups, which are highly technology driven, be it Cred, PhonePe, Practo, Zomato or Ola. Even small scale vendors are using Facebook/ WhatsApp / Udaan/ Meesho like platforms for their businesses, are proving to be very successful. This shows us the power of technology. Every business or new start-up must
think through technology. While they are in their initial phase of
whiteboarding, technology involvement can be decided depending upon the business idea and time to the market. It can be minimal, some ready-made solutions that can be bought from s/w solution vendors or something that has to be built within the organization. Here, this chapter will give some high-level ideas on how the technologies can be decided and what one should consider while implementing the technology in-house or taking help from outside.
Technology Exposure Based on
Business Size and Stage
As a start-up, there is quite a good chance that your small firm may not have a CTO or dedicated full-time IT specialist unless you are purely a technology company. However, with so many business operations shifting to digital platforms or the “cloud” most small business owners should initially choose, evaluate and purchase readily available
software for the company, although it is not always as easy as it seems. Your company’s operations and financial performance will ultimately influenced by the software you select and how it interfaces
or aligns with other systems. Most business owners, especially in the
lending or banking space, are not very tech-savvy and they generally do not have to be either. But making the most significant choice for your business does help to have a basic understanding of how most software platforms operate. A well-integrated “tech stack” can help you save money while also saving time. Ask yourself some crucial questions regarding need, client choice, scalability, security and so on. as you develop your company’s technology stack.
Prior to beginning any software development project for your
Fintech, selecting the appropriate technology stack is an essential
exercise for any founder. The projects could range in size, design and complexity. Most of the technology platforms also involve third party integrations for each platform; web, mobile (Android and iOS) and even desktop applications are possible. While some projects call for a customer engaging, user-friendly interface, others may be designed to be quick and straightforward to use for the customers as well as for the internal team. You must carefully analyze your project requirements before any code is developed. There are several programming languages, technologies, frameworks and tools
available and picking the incorrect stack could negatively impact the
project or the business in terms of cost, time, insufficient scalability,
security, performance and lousy UI, to name a few. A group of technologies used to create software projects is known
as a tech stack. It is a collection of tools, frameworks, libraries, third party software and programming languages used by developers.
There are two types of software that make up an application:
- Client side
- Server side
These are commonly referred to as the front end and back end. These
features are used to build each layer of an application, forming a
stack. The front end is the app’s user interface also called UI, which lets users communicate with it. Its main goal is to make usage convenient and enjoyable. The back end ensures all functionalities are working correctly and respond to user queries. It comprises operating systems, databases, APIs, server side frameworks and programming languages. The back end also includes hosting,
deployments and business logic. Middleware connects the front and back end as a covert translation layer; it is not a development tool.
Middleware integrates two or more frameworks, programs or parts to make communication easier. It includes tools that support App or Web development and distribution, such as app servers, web servers, content management systems and other related tools.
Today, developers can combine various technologies, frameworks and tools to create reliable, simple-to-scale online apps. The tech stack may change depending on the project’s size, complexity, and other elements. The founders must check the tech stacks for large and most popular platforms and new-age small Fintech firms as the technology keeps evolving quickly. Some technologies are frequently used in conjunction, even though no two projects are identical. You can employ tried and true tech stack models to save time and money. One of the most widely used tech stacks is MEAN, MongoDB, Express, AngularJS and Node.js, abbreviated as M-E-A-N.
- MongoDB (NoSQL database).
- A backend web framework is Express.js.
- A front-end framework is Angular.js.
- A cross-platform, open-source server is NodeJS.
Some examples of popular tech stacks are listed.
This figure explains the stepwise process of requests through web applications.
It is possible to create sophisticated mobile and responsive web applications using the MEAN stack. Although JavaScript is frequently used for front-end development, other frameworks like Angular, React.JS and Vue.JS have become more popular. Although Java and .Net are frequently used as examples for back-end development, a
wide range of alternative programming languages and frameworks are also available, including PHP, C++, Ruby on Rails, Python and others. Different development stacks are required for various projects. While new, cutting-edge technologies might not have the necessary functionality or support, time proven technologies might not be the best option for all tasks hence, new experiments may be needed to build the desired technology platform.
Use of technology
The most widely used technologies for various project categories can
be.
- For Developing web applications
JavaScript is frequently used as a scripting language to add interaction to online pages. Various JavaScript libraries, including jQuery, Bootstrap, and Slick are integrated into frameworks like Angular,
Vue.js and React.js to enhance user interface capabilities. HTML is used to create and place content, position and arrange every element on a page. While CSS is used to format structured material, HTML is used to structure content. This primarily refers to fonts, colors, layout components, background material and so on. - For creating mobile applications
Mobile technologies can be classified as cross platform, hybrid or native. The foundation of native app development is using native
programming languages such as Swift and Objective-C for iOS and Java and Kotlin for Android. The foundation of hybrid development uses tools like HTML5, JavaScript, Ionic, Cordova, PhoneGap and Xamarin. React Native, Xamarin and Flutter are used most
frequently for cross platform development. Today, a native mobile app development strategy is preferred due to its increased control and simpler hardware access. In any case, the technology selected should improve application speed while enabling the development team to manage the product’s codebase and iterate more quickly.
Parameters For Selecting a Tech Stack
When selecting a tech stack for your Fintech start-up, there are quite a few important aspects to consider in order to develop a faster, more efficient and cost effective stack that should be scalable as well.
- Latest technologies
A Fintech should select technology that enhances current business policies, procedures and workflow. While there may be time tested old technology available, sometimes the new technology adoption can be expensive in terms of cost, time and the risk of failure. You must decide which ones to invest in because of this factor as generally, the founders are very passionate and ambitious. Asking
yourself whether the technology stack and platform would improve your business today in terms of cost and efficiency will help you decide if you are looking at the proper technology stack.
Your company’s internal needs, and customer expectations, should always be your guide when investing in technology for your firm. When introducing new technology in the workplace, many businesses fail to consider their demands. For instance, it would be more feasible to provide your sales executives tablets if you are in the loan selling company or a lending business where they need to go to the field. These
are more appropriate for booking and tracking sales or presentations because they are lightweight. The technology you purchase should be utilized by your staff efficiently and should increase productivity.
Seeking out technology that other business players utilize in a similar segment is important to consider. It’s never simple to switch to a new technology that is not being used and tested by other players in the
industry. One way to get information is to ask around in your industry. When looking around for new technologies, visit forums or exhibits, meet people and write to them to take opinions. The technology your rivals and other participants in your sector use will help your business.
For instance, adopting cloud computing technologies for your company would be wise if most businesses in your industry do so.
You must be able to justify the cost of the tech stack being built
financially. You can look for ideal corporate solutions which top-rated Fintech firms are using. However, there is little purpose in
purchasing such heavy and expensive software systems if your
budget is insufficient or if the promised benefits of the technology do not outweigh their expenses for your business. Make sure your investments in tech platforms and innovations will benefit your company. The most costly and incredible techs might not necessarily be what your company needs. To avoid wasting money, conduct a cost-benefit analysis with the CFO or accounts person of the firm.
Personal requirements of the people, whether customers or vendors or internal team members, should be considered first. The technology you chose must be appropriate for the issue you are trying to resolve. Large scale projects needing detailed, difficult or complex business
logic must operate consistently as must platform-independent code.
User’s needs should be considered when developing mobile apps.
Consider who will use your app and how to give them a fantastic
user experience. In the MSME lending segment, the micro business owners may not be very familiar with the technology used. In contrast, in the Personal Loan segment, applicants are primarily
working class employees better equipped to use technology gadgets. Before enhancing performance with your own infrastructure, if you want to join the market from a technology point of view, you can start with a ready-made environment in which deploying your code and applications is faster, less expensive and less time consuming. Investing a lot of time and money is unreasonable when you have a small user base. Still, after you pass the necessary size or benchmark, you might consider a high-performance tech platform to be built in-house or get it developed by a reputed vendor.
Project’s Purpose and size
Smaller projects can often be completed quickly, without complex frameworks and technology. You might need to rapidly create a minimum viable product, show it to the customer, and solicit insightful feedback. To accomplish that, you could use open source software and basic tools. The M-E-A-N stack explained earlier is very helpful for a start-up.
There is a higher level of technology participation for mid-size projects. Depending on the requirements, they could require a mix of various
programming languages and frameworks. Such initiatives call for more sophisticated technologies that supply more complex features and algorithms. As more functionalities, integrations security and
sophistication are required, a wide range of programming languages
and frameworks are used in the development of social networks like Facebook online markets like Amazon and ERP systems Payment gateway firms like Paytm Lending Fintech like INDIFI and Udaan
and so on. In this case, the technology stack must be of a high level. The Crypto exchanges or platforms are built on distributed ledgers using extremely complicated tech platforms.
Market timing
When you need to start your project quickly and feasibly, a Minimal Viable Product is a fantastic choice. To reduce the time required to enter the market, you could start with ready-made
solutions that many software companies offer. For instance, the Ruby on Rails framework, provides access to several fundamental libraries and can help you save time. Through third-party connectors, you
may expand the functionality of your App without starting from
scratch and wasting time looking for developers. Additionally, a well documented technology workflow can make designing particular
functionalities for a fintech company much more effortless. It would be a good idea to get the demo of multiple service providers in your segment before you start building your own platform.
Scalability of business
Don’t forget that the tech stack you use needs to have the ability to
scale effectively if you anticipate rapid growth in your business. Every tech stack built may not have enough potential to scale sufficiently with the pace of business. You can expand your app horizontally by adding more physical machines or processing units to your server or vertically by adding new features to the same platform. For example,
most payment gateway fintech firms have added lending as a feature by offering credit facilities to the merchants by tying up with banks and financial institutions on the back end. Similarly, broking services provider companies like Zerodha have started offering mutual fund investment and gold investment products on their platform. Business related technology is developing and changing very quickly. When it comes to company software and equipment advancements, one or two years feel like an eternity. Having said that, the best
you can expect a piece of technology that will function for the foreseeable future but not indefinitely. You want a business solution to improve operational efficiency in the next three to five years. Along with costs, implementing new technology can also cause productivity hiccups. Therefore, change in the tech platform cannot be done very frequently.
Security systems and cyber security
Most start-ups, especially financial services-related start-ups, banks,
and so on are prone to cyber attacks as the hackers keep a close track of financial institutions that are new to technology use. It is essential to guarantee that the website, emails and mobile app are created with the finest security and threat mitigation methods available in the market, especially when dealing with financial services and building a Fintech firm in the payments, Banking services or Lending sector.
You might need security checks on both the client and server sides
to eliminate typical security vulnerabilities and cyber-attacks. Before beginning the development, you should carefully analyze your choice of technology because not all are equally secure. Nowadays, as most people have started using AWS, it protects the server-level risks. Your new technology should also have strict system security, enhancing company processes and fulfilling your organization’s needs. The correct technology should not be the weakest point when it comes to attacks from hackers and other entities who might try to steal your data, as wireless connections have become the standard among businesses nowadays. Choose technology that has been approved and tested by certified people and experts.
To sum up, we can say that different web and mobile applications demand various development tools depending on the size and stage of the business. There is no standardized, efficient, cost-effective and most efficient technological stack in the market which can fit all businesses. You must first consider your project’s requirements while selecting a technology stack. Time tested technologies cannot always
be sufficient because you need to be realistic and consider each
technology’s advantages and disadvantages. It would be good to have a team or advisors who have domain knowledge and experience in developing a tech stack related to your business and can assist in
determining the project’s requirements and make recommendations for the best tools to use to create a scalable and highly functional website and mobile app Android and iOS that will outperform the competition and help you scale up in your sector.
Tech stack examples
Let us look at the tech stack used by more prominent and successful companies, including some Indian Fintech firms.
Netflix
Nearly every country in the world receives content from Netflix each month, totaling over 6 billion hours. It takes a lot of engineering work to create a system that can deliver high-quality video to that
number of users.
Shopify
Presently, Shopify’s tech stack includes about 100 programs and tools. The most used applications are Frenzy - Buy Sneakers and more, shop delivery and order tracker, Shopify or e-commerce business, logo maker design and create, Scratch photos, Hatchful logo maker and Shopify ping. Additionally, over 4,000 apps have direct integration options with the e-commerce platform. Additional tools that are part of the architecture of Shopify technology include a logo creator, a QR code generator, a business card maker, a template for a gift voucher, a privacy statement generator, a template for a shipping label and a converter for profit margins. This platform is used to drive sales by businesses of all sizes and at its busiest, Shopify can handle approximately 80,000 requests per second. Shopify’s robust tech stack is a key contributor to its success.
Paytm
Paytm uses internet technology like JavaScript, a lightweight, object-oriented, go-platform scripting language. Client facet programming language, Markup language, Character encoding, Zendesk and so on.
Udaan
Udaan is India’s largest business-to-business e-commerce platform. It was established in 2016 to change the way trade is done in India by investing in technology. Lifestyle, electronics, home and kitchen, essentials, fruits and vegetables, FMCG, medicine, toys and miscellaneous items are just a few categories in which it operates.
Technology Stack of INDIFI
Lending institution
Key Technologies used by Indifi.
The use of tech platforms by the internal team is equally important.
While discussing the tech stack or platform, the focus remains on the product and user interface used by the customer and customer experience. However, it is equally essential that the internal team members, and staff whether in the front office, sales, marketing,
research, back office and so on, must be trained to use the tech
platform. They should also know the qualities of the platform along with competitive advantage.
There is always a cost associated with staff training for any platform, whether in terms of training expenses or employee time. Although some software may be relatively simple to use and easy to navigate, many more platforms demand in-depth expertise or specialized abilities of the users. If you buy a ready-made solution, ask for a free trial for a few days. If this approach is not feasible, a live, one-on-one demo with the entire team who will use the tech platform before signing up with any platform will help the staff become familiar with all the features. Additionally, this is the ideal time to determine whether any functions are missing and how effectively the system will integrate with other devices you already have in the company
that the team already uses. Asking the team to change the entire
platform is always a difficult task.
It is good that the team is encouraged to participate in webinars, online courses, seminars, training programs or workshops that show them how to make the most of the platform’s features after it is integrated into the business. When people and technology operate together as a single unit, it will ultimately maximize efficiency and
productivity in the business.
Security of a Fintech software
In this section, we will discuss various aspects of fintech software.
Terminology
Security is probably one of the most critical aspects of technology and something which has to be built-in into the technology stack and the day-to-day operations. At the same time, the security solutions must always be up-to-date to protect the business from unending attacks in the form of malware/virus/ransomware and so on. It is a vast topic, and we will cover some high-level areas that should be considered while building/maintaining a technology stack. Before we get into the types of security, let’s understand some of the common terminologies.
- Malware — It is some malicious software to steal data and/or block access to the data/computers. Some examples include ransomware, Trojan viruses, spyware, worm and so on.
- Virus — A kind of ‘malicious’ executable code hidden in some other program that can modify/send/delete data once executed. It can gather data from the device and send it outside the organization without user knowledge.
- Ransomware — As the name suggests, it is a kind of attack where a hacker has access to your business computer systems and has encrypted the data to deny you access. The fastest and easiest way to
get the access back happens wherein the business generally needs to pay a ransom payment. Ransomware is a form of a virus. - Phishing — Type of attack where cybercriminals try to steal sensitive information like passwords/credit card info and so on or install malware on your computer by pretending to be someone you trust, like your bank/colleague/friend and so on. Primarily email is used
for such attacks.
Security System
Now with some common terminology covered, we can look at security considerations. Some of these come under IT security, and some under application security. All these systems collectively prevent security threats that otherwise can have a huge impact on your business.
- Firewall — Network security device to monitor and control
incoming and outgoing network traffic based on the set of
security rules defined by the organization. By doing this,
it protects against attacks by preventing the network from
unwanted traffic. Some major players are Cisco, Netgear,
Fortinet, SonicWall and so on. - Network security — It is used to protect your network from
unauthorized access. It ensures the integrity, reliability and
usability of internal/confidential data and the systems are always available within the organization. Some of the big names providing solutions in network security are Cisco, Broadcom and so on. - Endpoint security — To protect the ‘endpoint’ aka device like
computer/mobile and so on. Most antivirus and hardened
OS images are installed as a part of the solution. The provision
of automatically pushing the OS/other installed s/w security
updates regularly to keep the endpoints up to date should
be made. Then there are other solutions like blocking some
of the hardware components like USB/Camera, which can
further increase the security of the devices. Major players
in this segment are Broadcom, Trellix, CrowdStrike, QuickHeal and so on. - Mobile device security — With more smartphones being
used in business communication/data access, it poses new challenges regarding device security. Here, network security should consider this its security umbrella. Some solutions that should be considered antivirus software, VPN access, email/data security, two-factor authentication and so on. - OS security patches — Keeping system production as well as
staging OS up to date should be considered as one of the
critical, regular maintenance for payment of activities the
business has to plan. This, therefore, helps in fixing known vulnerabilities in the operating system. Appropriate Unified
Endpoint Management tools can be used to make this activity hassle-free and with proper reporting to know the possible vulnerable systems to take appropriate actions. Some tools are Software Center, ManageEngine, SanerNow and
so on. - Patching of 3rd party software — Other than OS, patching
the s/w being used for regular day-to-day work and in the
product software built for the business is equally important.
When we say, use in the product software we are talking
about the component open source/paid used in developing
software like apache, log4j, java, and so on as these open
source software continues to release new versions/patches to fix security vulnerabilities. - Security compliance — It is to monitor and understand whether networks and systems comply with various national and international regulatory requirements, including security standards. Depending on the organization’s size, ensuring security compliance across the board could be lengthy and complex. Still, it is very important to be in the game and to comply with data security and privacy. Various regulatory requirements depend upon the sector and the business’s countries.
Some of the most common/important compliance requirements are:
- GDPR — It is called General Data Protection Regulation
and came into force recently for all the companies handling the personal data of people across the European Union, irrespective of whether they
are physically present in the EU. It talks about the standards a business needs to follow/comply with, to protect citizens’ personal data from any data breach. The main principles of regulation are transparency,
Data minimization, Integrity and confidentiality, storage limitation, accuracy and purpose limitation. - SOX — requires any financial
records to be kept for seven years. It is a USA regulation
and is to be complied with, by all company boards and
accounting firms. This helps backtrace older records
during audits and cases where financial fraud is investigated. - PCI-DSS — It stands for Payment Card Industry
Data Security Standard regulation and is applied to
handling credit/debit card information during any
online transaction. It is to protect cards and transactions
from any fraud. - FIPS — It is called Federal Information Process
Standards and lays out the list of standards related
to data security and computer systems that an organization must follow while developing FIPS compliant software. The standard primarily deals with
secure design, roles/authentication and cryptographic modules. All US government companies require any software to be FIPS compliant before considering them for their environment. The most common standard is
140-3. - OWASP — It stands for Open Web Application Security
Project. It is an open-source community that aims to work on improving software security. Every year OWASP releases a list of Top10 vulnerabilities found
across web applications. The report is compiled by
a team of security experts around the globe after
analyzing the data of many organizations. This list is
highly valuable for any web application and should
be used as a base reference while doing Pen Testing.
Learn More: https://owasp.org/www-project-top-ten/
- Web Security Testing — This is the process of testing, analyzing and reporting the security posture of a web application. Many different techniques are used for such testing to identify the vulnerabilities that can impact the security/integrity of the application/data. Some most common techniques are.
- Brute force attack testing
- Password quality rules
- Session cookies
- User authorization processes
- SQL injection
Penetration/Pen Testing — It performs simulated attacks on
software/hardware to evaluate its security. It can also be considered ethical hacking, using the same tools/techniques and so on and used by attackers to find the security vulnerabilities in the given system. Such testing is kept
confidential, and only a few within the organization have access to tools to perform such testing. Mostly it is done in a restricted network to avoid product/network vulnerabilities causing multifold impacts across the organization. Often, such testing is done by a 3rd party company with expertise
in this security testing area. Here the goal is to assess the security posture of the software and accordingly decide what needs to be fixed right away before deploying the software in production and what can be fixed in future releases with mitigation plans in place.
- Database Security - It refers to protecting the database from
unauthorized access and various cyber threats. Database security includes all aspects and components of databases. - Data stored in the database
- Database server
- Database management system
- Other database workflow applications
Importance of security
Security is vital for any organization for a variety of reasons.
- Ensuring business continuity — Many enterprises cannot
operate until the breach is resolved. - Minimizing financial damage — Once a breach occurs, an organization must sustain high economic costs to communicate the breach to all its customers, manage the
crisis, repair or update the affected systems and hardware,
pay for investigative activities and so on. - Loss of intellectual property — If a database is accessed,
there’s a chance that a company’s trade secrets, proprietary procedures and other forms of intellectual property are stolen or exposed. In some instances, this means the complete loss of any competitive edge maintained by that organization. - Brand reputation damage — Once a breach is notified to the
customer base, partners and customers may lose faith in
the organization’s ability to protect their data. The brand’s
reputation will suffer and many might decide not to buy that
organization’s products or services anymore. - Penalties and fines — Organizations must be compliant with a large number of regulations, such as those in the General Data Protection Regulation, Payment
Card Industry Data Security Standard, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and more. If a data breach occurs because the organization failed to comply with these regulations, fines and penalties can be very severe, in some cases even exceeding several million dollars per violation.
Backup/ data protection solutions
Data protection is another vital aspect to consider in the software
development process. Data is the new gold it must be protected like a precious commodity. We all have heard many stories of companies
not taking care of their data, losing their business and going through painful lawsuits. We also listen to stories of ransomware attacks
happening all around the globe hence, we need to consider a data
protection solution that protects our data from any unforeseen
failures or human error and how the solution can protect us from
ransomware attacks. Another crucial factor to consider when
choosing a data protection solution is the volume of activities, the amount of data that will produce and safeguard and the criticality of the data in terms of RPO and RTO.
- RPO — Recovery Point Objective is where the organization
can get the data from the backup copy in case of any disaster/data loss and so on. It would mean frequent backups if the requirement is to have it as close to the current state as
possible. - RTO — Recovery Time Objective is the maximum time an
organization sets as a goal for the restore to complete to
resume normal operations in case of disaster/data loss.
Suppose the requirement is to complete the restoration in
less time; the software having unique features like snapshot
based backup/restore, instant recovery and so on needs to be
considered as a backup solution.
Then there are other aspects like applications, file systems, physical versus virtual systems, in the cloud, Legacy systems, Deduplication capabilities and so on. - Deduplication — Process of identifying the duplicate blocks of data and thus storing only one copy of data along with
the references. It helps in reducing the storage requirement significantly for a backup the higher the Dedupe ratio, the less the storage requirement. Again, there are various techniques backup software employs to find the duplicate blocks to reduce the storage and backup time.
Deployment of Software
Launching an application on a server or device is called software
deployment. A software update or application may be delivered
multiple times throughout the development process to test its proper operation and look for bugs. It may be released to a test server, a testing machine, or into the live environment. Software deployment is making an application functional on a target device, such as a test server, a production environment, a user’s PC, or a mobile device. Most IT companies and software developers now use a combination of human and automated processes to deliver software updates, patches and new applications. Software deployment procedures include release, installation, testing, deployment and performance monitoring of software. Software deployment is one of the most crucial steps in the development process. Applications, modules, updates and fixes are distributed to users by developers using a deployment process. The techniques developers use to create, test,
and releasing new code will impact how quickly and well a product adapts to user preferences or requirements changes.
Although many development teams still opt to host applications using on-premises IT infrastructure, cloud service providers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure provide IT Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products that enable developers to deploy applications into live environments without the additional financial and administrative burden of maintaining their storage and
virtualization servers.
Steps in the Deployment of Software
Every company must create its software deployment procedure or
workflow the workflow shall depend on whether the framework is from an already established service provider or prepared by
customizing the company’s individual needs. There are three stages preparation, testing and actual deployment for proper software deployment.
Preparation
Developers must gather all deployed code and any additional libraries, configuration data or resources required for the application to run during the preparation phase. These components can be bundled
up as a single software release or in multiple phases depending on
the size and complexity of the software. Developers should also
ensure the host server is configured correctly and operating without issues. They should consider all the possible scenarios and prepare themselves well.
Testing
An update should be delivered to a test server, also called a staging
server or UAT environment, where it can go through a pre-configured set of automated tests before being uploaded to the live environment
or production server. Before releasing the update to the production environment, developers should evaluate the results and fix any faults or errors found during preparation or testing. Generally, the tech vendor or developers also ask the end users to test the software before deployment.
Deployment
An update can be pushed to the live environment when it has
undergone thorough testing on the staging server, and bugs are
fixed. Before changes can be implemented, developers may execute scripts to update pertinent databases. To guarantee optimum user experience for users interacting with the new update or features, the last stage is to look for faults or errors or bugs that manifest on the live server during or after deployment based on own observations or feedback from the users.
Maintenance of Software
Any software deployment is not the end of building a Fintech
organization. The act of updating, modifying, and upgrading a
software system to keep it at par with the latest technology and user needs is known as software maintenance. After a product has been released or deployed, software maintenance is carried out for various purposes, such as enhancing the program, fixing problems or bugs, improving performance, adding new features, and more.
Software upkeep is an inherent component of the Software
Development Life Cycle in the Fintech industry, as customer
needs or regulatory requirements drive continuous changes. Software developers must continuously look for ways to rectify and enhance their work to remain competitive and relevant. Proper software maintenance approaches and strategies are essential to maintain any
software working for a long time to satisfy users and customers and to meet growing compliance requirements. Any software system or product must be flexible to change and highly scalable without incurring much time and cost.
Various forms of Software Maintenance
Each type of software maintenance is carried out for a separate set
of objectives. A particular Fintech software product would require
multiple maintenance procedures throughout its existence. These
can be classified as under.
Corrective software maintenance
The regular form of maintenance is corrective software maintenance. It effectively means that when something goes wrong with a software product, such as flaws, errors, bugs, patch updates, changes at any other service provider, and so on corrective software maintenance is
necessary. Generally, these things need to be fixed immediately since they could significantly affect how the software functions and the
organization’s work may stop if not addressed.
Preventive software maintenance
The goal of preventive software maintenance is to plan so that
your programme can continue functioning as intended for as long as feasible. This includes implementing any necessary upgrades, modifications and other adjustments. Preventive software
maintenance may address minor flaws that may not seem important but could grow into more serious difficulties later. These latent faults must be found and fixed to prevent them from becoming practical. This is being one step ahead of Corrective Maintenance so that users do not face any issues and there is no interruption in business.
Perfective software maintenance
New problems, requirements and suggestions develop when the
software is made available to the Company users while testing the
features. Perfective software maintenance seeks to modify software by deleting unnecessary or ineffective aspects and adding new features as needed. Software remains relevant via this process as the market and user needs evolve. The Perfective software maintenance process is used in this situation.
Adaptive software maintenance
Adaptive software maintenance takes into account the evolving
technology, increasing demand for new features, and the rules,
regulations and compliances that apply to your software systems,
and entity. For example, RBI mandates certain audits of the software systems in the entities regulated by it. These consist of hardware upgrades, cloud storage, operating system modifications, and so on. The Fintech software needs to adapt this maintenance procedure when these modifications are made to function effectively and meet new requirements.
The Software Maintenance Process
These steps are present in most models of software maintenance processes.
- Identification and tracing — The process of identifying the
software component that has to be changed or maintained.
Depending on the circumstance and individual defect, this
may be user-generated or detected by the developers or
service providers themselves. - Analysis — The process of studying the proposed adjustment or changes, which includes figuring out any potential repercussions or impact on the server and so on. The cost-benefit analysis is often part of this process to determine whether the change will be profitable in the long term.
- Design — This process considers the specifications to design the new modifications that may be needed. The design needs to be user-friendly and should match the existing design.
- Implementation — The procedure programmers go through to implement the new modules, as discussed earlier in this section under Deployment of Software.
- System testing — The software and system must be tested
before being launched. This refers to the module or a feature by itself, the system as a whole and the system and the modules combined. - Users test the modifications, changes or updates for
acceptance. They may identify any problems and suggest
modifications in the software that will be more important to
make the implementation successful. - Delivery — New software or the upgrade is installed on the
live server for usage of the users. Another crucial factor to
consider when choosing a data protection solution is the
volume of activities, the amount of data that will produce,
safeguard and the criticality of the data in terms of RPO and
RTO.
Software Maintenance Techniques and Strategies
To handle software maintenance thoroughly and efficiently, every
software organization should have a precise plan. One key strategy
in creating software is detailed, well-explained documentation.
Upgrading can be difficult if the software documentation is outdated or poorly written. Information regarding the workings of the code, prospective fixes and so on, and should be included in the documentation.
A software maintenance strategy should also include the role of a
Quality Analyst. To ensure that the software is produced correctly and to provide insight into making modifications when necessary, QA can be implemented far earlier in the process, preferably during the design stage, to avoid any issues later.
Case studies of fintech in India
With the help of these case study of LenDenClub, we have tried to explain their journey of building an effective Tech Stack.
Tech platform for Fintech lending institution — LenDenClub
LenDenClub is a trade name of Mumbai-based, RBI-registered
P2P NBFC ‘Innofin Solutions Pvt Ltd.’ By making credit scores more accessible and investments more lucrative and using modern
technology, LenDenClub is revolutionizing the Indian financial services in the retail lending sector. The most reputable peer-to-peer lending platform in India, LenDenClub connects salaried or self-employed borrowers seeking a personal loan with lenders or investors seeking high returns within the regulatory framework.
Challenges with Fintech for Building Tech Stack
The key challenge was comprehending the lending process to make it simpler for borrowers and lenders on a digital platform. The users should be able to invest or lend quickly by displaying the KYC documents like PAN or Aadhar, Investment history, Portfolio details
and Payment page with the maximum amount of information possible for the users. The task was to make the platform efficient, scalable and compliant with maximum use of technology and minimize human intervention.
Technology Solution
The service provider company, Tech Stalwarts, divided and
categorized all the processes an investor had to do in the beginning. They made an effort to design with a minimal appearance and feel and then digitalize the lengthy forms and legal documents by focusing on the information that was most important in the field of.
- Portfolio Management for both lenders and borrowers.
- Online Video KYC Know Your Customer as per RBI norms.
- Bulk investment facility.
The application wireframe was created by making the application more straightforward and user-friendly. They chose a color scheme comparable to the brand logo to retain the brand familiarity and the inventive mood of the app’s overall visual style.
The color Palette was kept as per brand color and font style.
The technology stack is based on react and python.
Success Story
LenDenClub, a platform for peer-to-peer lending, secured $10 million in a Series A investment.
The investment round was co-led by a group of investors that
included Hardik Pandya, an Indian cricketer, Tuscan Ventures,
Ohm Stock Brokers, Artha Venture Fund, Kunal Shah, the founder
of CRED, Alok Bansal, the co-founder of Policybazaar, Ramakant Sharma, the co-founder of Livspace, and Krishna Bhupal, the co-founder of Promaxo and a board member of GVK Power and Infra. The company claims to have registered loan disbursements totaling more than 2,000 crores and currently has over 25 lakh borrowers and 10 lakh investors.
Explore More: https://techstalwarts.com/casestudies/lenden/
