Development

Fintech

December 12, 2024

How to Select the Right Tech Partner for Fintech App Modernization

Unlocking your product's true potential can sometimes be quite tricky and can be influenced by a number of factors, such as a lack of a systematic approach, clear goals for specific time periods, and a shortage of the necessary personnel. In this article, we will define the key features of choosing the right technical partner for fintech modernization.

Fintech companies are developing very fast, outdated approaches or programmes can become obstacles to high performance and the overall positive dynamics of the entire business. In such cases, modernisation continues to gain relevance. This is especially true regarding fintech software development, redesign, combining several products into one, or integrating innovative solutions.

How can you keep up with these constant digital changes?

The answer is quite simple. Set up a system to follow, but accept that approaches will change constantly. You must trust a team of experts in certain areas to avoid burnout and deal with other equally essential business processes. In one of our recent studies about the Perfect FinTech Product in 2024, we identified problems in fintech products that can put them at risk. We determined what can and should be done to ensure the product is high quality.

According to one of the Deloitte reports that confirmed our thoughts, there are four key factors that can contribute to the success of any fintech company, and these are quite obvious.

Keys to success in Fintech

Talent is when a product or service is relevant to many people, either in a B2C or B2B scheme. Talent is being able to attract and retain customers with what you can offer them.
Policy and regulation —It is important to navigate legal issues correctly so that the business is clear and transparent in regulatory matters, including intellectual property and data privacy and security.
Demand —This is where a detailed analysis of your target market comes into play. This process can become more complex when it comes to promoting a completely innovative solution and new product. However, you must introduce yourself organically to this market when there is a well-established industry.
Capital —It is important to focus on the company's capabilities or attract investors if necessary, as well as to establish bilateral relations for the future.

ARTKAI's team specialises in providing fintech services. As a result, our clients have significantly improved their metrics and, in cooperation with us, introduced new and particularly relevant products to the modern market. We have collected the top 10 of our projects and presented them in a blog with a detailed overview of our approaches. We focus on delivering transformational solutions adapted to new market trends and the needs of our customers. Therefore, it is evident that we prioritise the quality of the final product and harmonious work throughout the project.

What should you look for when choosing a technical partner?

Industry experience

One of the key points to consider when choosing a fintech software development partner is that it consists of a detailed analysis of the provider of certain services and their experience, especially the experience in the client's niche. Key skills a partner company can provide its client come into play. First, it is an intense experience in SDLC software development cycles. Each point of this cycle is involved in the formation of in-depth knowledge of the specifics of the fintech industry, and it follows that this is not an advantage but a necessity for the right choice, which should include:

Compliance with PCI DSS, GDPR or PSD2 standards will ensure optimisation of transaction-related processes.
Optimisation of functional requirements, which will be provided by domain expertise, considering possible technical limitations, if any, and business goals. As a result, it will improve the SRS and its relevance to fundamental user requirements.
Similarly, the Fintech team you choose to work with should consider key elements such as the ability to implement multi-factor authentication, KYC and AML. It's also essential to understand and analyse the regulatory constraints of each region, which is also crucial from a legal perspective.
It is worth paying attention to automated CI/CD testing practices, which will focus on regression analysis. This will allow you to deploy new features quickly and without compromising system stability.
A quality team with domain support should present its approaches to deployment and support. One of the most commonly used is DevSecOps, which integrates security as a core part of the development and operation process. That is, security issues are taken into account during each stage of development, not at the end, as they were before.
Faster time-to-market— your service provider team will guarantee this approach to this process, which will ensure your competitiveness.

Therefore, when it comes to your needs, we advise you to find out in detail from the outsourcing company what its experience and cases of working with similar products are. Because modernisation processes require a deep understanding and analysis. You need to look for examples of their work with similar products to yours because only in this case is it possible to achieve a high-end result for your product. High diligence will guarantee a reliable team that will understand all aspects of your business and help you decide on the right strategy when you need this expertise. At the same time, experienced team members can develop and modernise innovative solutions to your ideas and existing systems.

Flexibility in processes

Your fintech partner should be flexible in various business processes because the fintech industry constantly evolves, so there is no place for outdated approaches. To do this, it is crucial to understand how quickly they can adapt to your client's needs at the first meetings with the company. Moreover, modernising an application involves such a speed of execution that it sometimes requires setting up an immediate modernisation strategy. Therefore, when looking for a team, you need to pay attention to their potential speed and flexibility in terms of software development and design.

When the selected team has flexibility, it will be an opportunity that will help your business stay ahead of the competition in a dynamic market. Choose a partner who actively uses Agile methods for seamless integration, continuous feedback and iterative development. This will adapt your product to the market's real needs, avoid significant delays, and meet your expectations.

Let's take a closer look at the key points that flexibility in processes should entail

Integration of reliable frameworks, such as Kanban and Scrum. This practice will ensure the continuous delivery of CD and a relatively fast adaptation to project changes.

Speed of operational processes. It involves integrating DevOps, which will increase the level of cooperation between exploitation and development teams. As a result, we will have a stable CI/CD pipeline and high-quality function deployments.

Prioritization dynamics. It is the use of basic Agile approaches that will guarantee quick reallocation of resources, adjustment of the workflow or regulatory changes.

To qualitatively assess a future technical partner for a Fintech application, you need to pay attention to their onboarding processes, which includes how quickly they can form a team for your request. Also, the adaptability of tools for internal project management and collaboration can be Confluence, JIRA, Slack or all together since each.

Technical expertise

Technical analysis and expertise refer to a dedicated team of experienced professionals who can provide engineering due diligence and improve business capabilities through advanced fintech software development. In addition, the evaluation and scalability of operations, workflow models, existing infrastructure and technology stacks are essential.

High-quality technical expertise today is about considering engineering approaches and operational, technological and specific regulatory requirements of FinTech. Your team should have experience working on similar projects and technologies that may be needed. For this, there are relevant platforms such as GoodFirms and Clutch, where you can see the expertise of the selected company, read reviews, view the portfolio or book a short consultation with a technical expert.

Similarly, highly qualified technical expertise should include engineering analysis and in-depth infrastructure audit, conduct an NFR assessment to assess reliability, system security, and scalability, and, in particular, use EDA for processing large amounts of data in real time. However, it is important to focus on the client's request since the importance of a high degree of adaptation to your business depends on this.

Previous customer experience

This parameter should be taken into account at the introductory stages of conversations with the right fintech service provider. This will help you make the final decision before starting cooperation. You can quickly get acquainted with the company's existing portfolio and contact previous clients to analyse their cooperation experience and the general approaches used without violating the NDA. This way, you can see successes or failures, prioritise your needs, reliable financial technology solutions and set specific expectations.

When researching customer experience, it is worth paying attention to important aspects such as the diversity and modernity of the service provider's technology stack. The company has special knowledge of API, cloud development, and microservice architecture. This can manifest in the ability to integrate with your existing ecosystems, which is especially important for financial platforms. The next point is key performance indicators—this information can be obtained from previous customers on general indicators such as time-to-market and regulatory compliance.

Transparency of the workflow and communication

It is widely believed that modernisation's success lies in the work process. Therefore, ensuring that your future service provider is clear about their position and keeps you informed about the optimisation process is vital. The success of this factor lies in the transparency of actions and positions, realistic assessment, and communication between both sides. A shared business vision can ensure that every new step on the technology side is aligned with the fostering innovation goals and establishes a quality model of cooperation between the provider and the client. Therefore, involvement and interest should come from both sides, ensuring that many essential processes and financial technology solutions are understood.

Let's consider the elements that will be key to workflow transparency:

Communication protocols, which can include systematic synchronizations.

Clear reporting so that the client is informed about the status of tasks. An experienced project manager can facilitate clear coordination between both parties.

Work tools for video conferencing, written communication, and task tracking, such as Google Meet, Jira, Trello, Microsoft Teams, and others, are available for organic analysis of important processes.

Alignment of technology and business goals. This can include joint development of a roadmap, building iterative feedback loops, and parties' involvement.

Adaptability

A quality modernisation process should include constant software updates, including full or partial upgrades depending on the demand for libraries, frameworks, databases, and front- and back-end technologies. This is crucial to optimising many operations, including cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence, and more. A fintech software development partner team will be interested in long-term cooperation and adapting new technologies to your existing systems of business.

The adaptability of systems has a substantial impact on operational efficiency. It can respond quickly to market opportunities, with adherence to key parts such as the constant evolution of the technology stack, optimization of cloud solutions, integration of AI and machine learning, and regular technical audits to identify outdated components and provide updated recommendations for scalable upgrades. Partnering with a company that assesses these needs and can operate effectively in a constantly changing environment can quickly achieve your strategic goals.

Security

The possibility of data leakage and cyber threats is a common problem for many companies today. Therefore, the technical team that provides software development services must implement and guarantee reliable security measures to protect against possible breaches.

Among the central systems that need to be secured against potential threats are updating security protocols, such as using the latest encryption standards, access control, which involves the implementation of multi-level authentication, and constant testing to identify weaknesses. The necessary measures for this are implementing end-to-end encryption with the active use of new algorithms, key management with the support of hardware security modules, and multi-factor authentication. This practice will provide a solid foundation for business development and a high-quality approach of your technical partner to your requests.

Cost optimisation

Modernisation of a fintech application should include cost optimisation. Therefore, the right partner will provide sufficiently transparent pricing models and flexibility in cooperation options, considering the project's complexity and overall value.

Depending on the individual request of each business, there are two popular pricing models, one with a fixed price and the other with a time & material model. Fixed price is relevant for projects with apparent requirements, where the deliverables and scope of the project are clearly defined from the start of the engagement.

The time & material model focuses on applications that may change over time due to various factors. This is one of the most relevant options for dynamic projects and Financial institutions. It is worth noting that fintech applications are dynamic projects, so this model is one of the most relevant in terms of modernization.

The Time & Material model is the best choice if you want to get the iterative nature of the additions and dynamism. This model has more advantages, such as adaptability to new requirements when FinTech applications face scope creep. Also, this model guarantees a profound vision of resource allocation and gives an essential orientation to the value of the project, which is very rare for FinTech. Thus, it is a profitable strategy and a tool for developing your business to organically combine innovation, compliance requirements, and the rapid development of the financial and technical sectors. As a result, this type of cooperation with an advanced partner allows you to achieve the desired indicators.

Сonclusions

Modernisation of a fintech application is necessary for any progressive company that wants to be competitive and provide its customers with high-speed service. It follows that the issues of innovation, adaptability, security, and flexibility become among the most critical factors in ensuring a high market position and customer demand. If your company needs to be up-to-date and highly modernised, we recommend choosing an experienced partner who adapts to your needs and the rapid changes in the fintech niche.

The ARTKAI team helps businesses develop and modernise cutting-edge financial technology solutions tailored to their needs and requirements. Our guide has prepared a detailed overview of Fintech product modernisation in 2025, focusing on the main reasons for modernisation existing infrastructure investment issues in this niche, and market trends. Working on these critical areas has given us a strong background when working with clients and a forward-looking vision for our new collaborations.

Our team is ready to help you make the most of your business potential and opportunities with a guarantee of reliability, seamless integration, a customer-centric approach, and flexible processes focusing on the most modern business practices. We can discuss your idea and start modernising your app immediately to help you successfully promote your business. Contact us if you have any questions, and we can discuss the improvement of your digital product in detail.