Yuriy Voloshynskyy is a Delivery Director at N-iX with 9 years of the IT domain expertise, 4 from which he has helped N-iX form strategic partnerships with fintech companies.
How do you, as a Delivery Director, help fintechs streamline their product development?
First of all, I focus on the strategic development of a client’s account and its continuous support. I am to understand specific customer business needs and offer the most suitable solution that is based on experience, domain knowledge, and the best industry practices. My ultimate goal is to understand which strategic direction a client wants to take; what improvements and changes the product may need in the short-term and long-term perspectives; what it requires now, and what it may require later on, and provide these suggestions and recommendations in time, to meet the market demands and the client’s business goals.
Also, I am responsible for the overall delivery process. First of all, that’s about setting up and supervising the working processes. Second, that’s about understanding what specialists a client needs for a project, finding them, and ensuring there is always the right person working in the right place. Third, I’m responsible for people management and ensuring there is a balance between engineering excellence and product mindset in the team.
What types of fintechs does N-iX typically partner with?
We cooperate with both big startups and mature companies. And we’ve developed diverse financial software development products, such as banking apps, b2b, c2c payment applications, peer-to-peer lending platforms, investment platforms, blockchain platforms, and trading platforms (both commodity trading and currency trading).
We’ve partnered with such companies as Lebara, Currencycloud, Globacap, and others.
For example, a leading British peer-to-peer lending platform has teamed up with us to enhance their software architecture and build a Decision-Making engine for loans processing from the ground up.
We helped Currencycloud, a cross-border payment solution, maintain, refactor and scale their B2B Payments as a Service (PaaS) platform. For Globacap, a blockchain-based solution, we provided tech consulting.
How long does on average your company’s partnership with a fintech company last?
Well, we’ve been cooperating with Сurrencycloud for 5 years.
Mobile Trading Partners - 4 years, Globacap - a year. And we are in ongoing cooperation with all of them. What’s more, the teams are growing and new services are added. For example, the Currencycloud team has doubled since the start of cooperation. Globacap started with 3 N-iX specialists on board, and now the number has tripled.
Are there any crucial aspects for fintechs when choosing a software development partner?
Well, there are certain overriding aspects. First of all, it’s the fintech domain expertise that matters most. Fintech solutions call for experience in high-load systems, distributed development, integration with different payment systems, information security systems and regulations, KYC, the blockchain, and others. So finance software companies need a strategic partner that has both available resources and ample expertise in such technological aspects. Also, fintechs are looking for a reliable and trusted vendor, especially if they want to reinforce their solution with expertise that is thin on the ground and not just augment their team with software engineers.
How does N-iX ensure information security as it is paramount to fintechs?
We comply with major international information security regulations and standards. They include GDPR, PCI-DSS, ISO/IEC 27001. ISO/IEC 27001 defines how to organize information security and lets us assess risks and put into practice all the necessary controls to preserve confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information assets.
We are a PCI Service Provider Level 2 and therefore can provide IT Support and software development services to companies which accept card payments and store, process and transmit cardholder data. Also, our software developers follow the best security practices, for example regarding API design and a distributed architecture. And they detect the application security risks after each commitment of a build according to the list of OWASP 10 vulnerabilities. We also have a strong info security team at N-iX which develops policies and best practices, ensures security awareness across the whole company. We know that security is critical for any tech business, and especially, for fintechs, so we take it very seriously and invest a lot in it.
What are the key tasks fintechs want to outsource?
In fact, it depends on their strategic needs. For example, startups mostly contact us to get the expertise they are lacking. And therefore we can provide guidance to them at the initiation phase. We typically assign a senior tech expert who helps a client to launch a product and avoid deadly mistakes that can kill their startup. And if we are talking about a well-established company, they are usually looking to extend their in-house team and scale up without overspending.
Сould you describe the initiation phase? What do you do to understand the client’s needs and formulate the requirements?
We are involving our experienced domain specialists to understand what exactly a client needs, what stage they are on now, draw a product roadmap with a client, define the key milestones and estimates. And based on these requirements we build a team for the project. Each specific case calls for a special approach.
There are clients that come just with an idea. For example, Globacap had an architect and designer on their side and we started development from scratch. So we are cooperating with them as solution consultants.
Whereas, when a British lending platform contacted us, they were a well-established company. They needed to augment their resources and speed up development.
Do N-iX specialists take part in strategic decision-making while cooperating with fintechs?
Yes, they do. For example, tech leads of our Currencycloud teams attend strategic sessions with a client twice a year where they discuss pivotal issues regarding plans for the development of the product, and the client takes our suggestions on board.
In Globacap, an N-iX tech lead and the CTO of Globacap shape the strategic development of the product together.
What model of cooperation do fintechs prefer?
All the projects I’m working on are based on the dedicated development team model as it’s the most efficient one for fintech projects. And that is so for a variety of reasons:
First of all, a dedicated team is working only on your project and is committed to it. While working on the project, the team develops a solid knowledge base to rely on later on in further product development, knows client’s strategic business goals and the key line of the product development, and helps the client to go along this line.
Fintech companies are looking for a reliable partner that will provide them with capabilities and people to continuously develop and scale up their product. Building a successful fintech solution is a long process, and you need to have a strategic partner for such long-standing cooperation. At first, you launch an MVP, then you add features that the market demands, and so on.
Also, the client both has more control over the project and can delegate more responsibilities and strategic tasks to us. Fintechs come not just for extending their team to develop a software product, but rather to reinforce their capabilities with the expertise they need and additional specialists.
How do you measure the client’s satisfaction?
With each client, we have frequent meet-ups to check if we are on the same page. I ask questions, listen, and heed feedback. This way, I can see what’s going on, and what needs to be improved. Also, we do CSAT surveying to gauge our clients’ satisfaction with what we’ve done.
Why do fintechs choose N-iX as their strategic partner?
First of all, that’s because of the domain expertise, a comprehensive portfolio, and available experienced experts in the company who can consult a client.
Second - brand awareness as N-iX is a well-known player in the IT market.
And last but not least - we approach each client with understanding. We're not trying to pitch something they don’t need. We do care and take the effort to get to the crux of the matter, figure out what the client needs following their first call, and deliver the product that both meets their expectations and ultimately brings business value.
