Industry: FinTech
Market: Serbia and region (pending global expansion)
Project Duration: 6 months
Project Overview: Creating a platform for financial report analysis, digitization and automatization of physical documentation
Challenges Overview: Transforming the idea into a detailed project specification, managing dynamic data to ensure accurate report formatting, and enhancing security measures to meet stringent industry standards
Products and Features:
Technologies:
The process of digitization (vs. digitalization) is the process of transforming from analog to digital form. Also known as digital enablement, digitization takes an analog process and turns it into a digital form without any different-in-kind changes to the process itself. It also involves the conversion of physical information and documentation (of any kind) into digital form.
Over the last several years, particularly after the landscape-altering events that took place in 2020, the digitization trend has been transforming virtually every global industry, prompting companies of all shapes and sizes to embrace this shift.
The rapid advancement in modern technologies - with AI, ML, AR, and VR leading the way - has brought forth the urgent need for quick, easy, and around-the-clock accessibility of information. This is especially true for companies that provide products and services online, urging them to update their strategies and course-correct their approaches to a new set of challenges. The only way for companies to stay competitive in their dynamic and ever-evolving markets is to adapt to major disruptions and adjust their corporate roadmaps accordingly so their customers and clients won’t turn to direct competitors.
Luckily, and thanks to the very type of tech causing said disruption, this transformation is easily doable. The best part is that it opens doors to a plethora of new and exciting possibilities that may - if executed the right way and handled properly - bring a whole new wave of big-picture improvements that can optimize costs and increase ROIs.
For those managing a lot of paperwork, moving paper records into online data management solutions has shown to be very advantageous. Gartner reports that 91% of global companies have started some kind of digital transformation, while 87% of senior company leaders say that digitization is their primary priority.
It enables fast and easy arranging, extraction, and processing of data, which saves space and time, minimizing manual work and errors, and maintains transparency while improving protection against fraud and security breaches.
This transformation has become essential for businesses all around the world. For instance, all limited liability businesses established in the EU are required to prepare financial statements to monitor the health of their business and provide a true and fair image of their financial performance and position. In 2021, the United Kingdom implemented a new regulation known as ESEF, or the European Single Electronic Format, requiring all enterprises to file yearly financial reports and make their data digitally accessible.
Also, in the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission - SEC, mandates electronic filing through the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval System - EDGAR, for various financial reports and analyses.
All these rigorous adaptations to digitization, especially in accounting and administration, prompted one of our long-term clients to reach our FinTech software development channels and our team to help them build a platform for financial report analysis, digitization and automatization of physical documentation from scratch.
After 20 years of progress in consulting methodologies and the enhancement and innovation of services in accounting, financial reporting, and business analysis, our client has started a project aimed at automating and optimizing the financial analysis reporting process. The ultimate result would be a platform tailored for experts in the financial sector across all industries. It is intended to assist companies inside the VAT system required to preserve records, primarily targeting accountants overseeing client accounts and those evaluating the client's financial statements.
After launching the first version of the platform and receiving initial feedback from professionals who have used its features in their operations, the intention is to enter the European market and adapt the platform's capabilities to the varying VAT system protocols of different countries.
The Inviggo team was dedicated to the entire software development cycle of the platform - from gathering the necessary project documentation, selecting optimal technologies and development platforms, to assembling a team of adequate size and professional skills, executing the project, and its subsequent maintenance.
Selecting and triaging potential solutions to identify which one fits the client's needs the most, and developing such specifications that can be readily divided into development sub-tasks.
Reports can have as many data tables, text boxes, and graphs as they want. All of those can reference any row or column in the imported financial files. The main challenge of this step is building the report's framework so that it can show all the data in the correct format without knowing all the specifics upfront.
The FinTech industry imposes strict security rules and standards. This is due to high levels of data sensitivity, which means that - if this data is misused, it could severely damage the company's reputation and lead to identity theft. As a result, FinTech companies - as well as other businesses that deal with sensitive information - want to keep their customers' trust by "tightening up" their security measures and minimizing any risk of security breaches and unauthorized access. This proactive approach is essential in any industry where trust and security are of vital concern.
As with any other industry-specific project, FinTech solutions demand domain expertise as well.
Domain-driven design (DDD) plays an essential role when a team wants to establish a stable and scalable foundation for their future software development. It involves setting up an environment where a shared language is used between domain experts and client representatives, structuring code around clear domain models, and ensuring that software solutions are tailored precisely to client needs.
After analyzing project requirements and gathering a development team, we opted for the most suitable technologies based on our expertise and the specific needs of the project.
FinTech solutions require domain expertise, much like any other industry-specific project. This is why domain-driven design, or DDD, is critical for teams that want to build a stable and scalable base for future software development. The process involves, but is not limited to, the following:
Once the analysis of project requirements and setting up a development team was done, we selected the set of most suitable technologies based on our expertise and the project’s specific requirements.
The need to store dynamic report data led us to conclude that MongoDB was the best database for this particular project. The app's scalability and schemaless architecture will allow it to readily handle large volumes of data.
One of the primary reasons our team chose Nest.js was its built-in security, which provides a solid basis for further security measures. Furthermore, its modularity and extensive ecosystem make it ideal for projects within the FinTech industry.
When it comes to handling massive UI-related data interactions, React was a logical choice - mainly due to its quick rendering abilities, along with code reusability - allowing us to significantly shorten development time frames.
The accessibility of features depends on the role allocated to the user. Administrators, Clients, and Users share some functionalities, but they also have separate criteria that the platform must meet. We achieved this by implementing role-based access control.
The platform enables employers who handle large groups of organizations or clients to manage them in a simple and user-friendly manner. They can easily access all important information, as well as create new clients or manipulate existing ones.
The secure storage of financial documentation is a critical component of the FinTech business. Digitization became a necessity and a major focus for each new product attempting to contribute to the financial niche.
The law clearly defines documents containing sensitive financial information. When permitting users to upload financial documentation, the tech team must impose tight data mapping to guarantee that the information complies with the law.
The process of financial data analysis is not a fully arbitrary one that typically produces similar results that are required on a regular basis. To save our users' valuable time, we have allowed them to create and save templates that may be reused everytime they create a report.
Once the users have uploaded their company's financial papers, mapped all of the data, and developed a template, they are enabled to generate the financial analysis report. These reports will employ a variety of dynamic tables, texts, and graphs to assist in summarizing and visualizing an extensive report. The software also allows users to save and review their reports whenever they are required to do so.
Once created, financial analysis reports can be simply exported as Excel and Word documents, which are useful for interacting with other departments within the employer's organization. Additionally, reports can be exported as XML files, which are commonly used by state agencies.
Digital reports are a new criterion for all modern organizations seeking to provide the best user experience, wherever they are and whichever industry they belong to. FinTech industry, however, is leading the way.
The platform we created generates the most appropriate multi-handling documentation zone, allowing its users to have the following:
We will quickly mention another project we executed for the same client. It is a similar platform that automates financial reports but with the addition of a feature for calculating company taxes. For this tax-calculating feature, the platform only requires input in the form of a gross balance, and the platform does the rest. It supports multiple companies in a single package.
For this project, the Inviggo team did the entire infrastructure, just like in the project case study available above, including the same workflows and methodologies.
Leveraging AI-based technologies and tools for financial report analysis holds immense potential. Artificial Intelligence solutions can drastically reduce the time FinTech accountants spend on creating and analyzing reports, which currently occupies about 90% of their workload. Through machine learning algorithms and natural language processing, these solutions automate data extraction, categorization, and compliance checks, ensuring accuracy in reporting. This automation allows accountants to focus more on developing strategic financial insights rather than data handling, improving both efficiency and decision-making within FinTech firms.
Types of AI technologies that are typically applied to accounting include:
According to McKinsey & Company’s insightful research, artificial intelligence and associated technologies can dramatically cut G&A expenses and save time for business support activities such as the finance department. Business support functions like accounting can be improved and automated by utilizing AI and ML-based accounting software and are typically used for the following processes:
AI-driven solutions can assist FinTech companies with research related to taxation, accounting standards, global regulations, and economic, industry, and business research. Additionally, AI can also enable accountants to perform insightful predictive analytics, which is quite useful for preparing financial and cash flow forecasts.
Managing companies in a landscape in which technology highly and deeply influences decision-making has become a difficult and frustrating endeavor. If you are still somehow hesitant to adapt to modern standards or you’re still not entirely bought by all the potential that digitization enables, our team is more than ready to assist you in defining your goals, scoping your business strategy, and supporting your shift through any technical step required during this transition.
By selecting the correct software development partner, you will be able to stay ahead of technological advancements and secure your position in the ever-competitive global market.
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