What is a FinTech platform?
Competition in business is always fierce, so many businesses look to find an innovative solution to common problems in order to stay ahead of their rivals.
Other businesses look primarily at how user-friendly their model is, and the use of innovation and technology usually provides this.
Whichever way a business arrives there, a platform will be the basis of their innovation because of the benefits it provides.
In one of my previous posts we outlined why you should buy a proven platform rather than build your own, but let’s explore what a platform actually is, and how having one will benefit your business?
When looking at a platform, it is important to understand that it is a structure on which you can start building your product.
It provides:
1). Infrastructure:
The infrastructure a platform provides allows you to scale your business. This means that you can maintain one central team of staff to run the day-to-day operations of the business, without the need to hire excessive amounts as your client base grows.
This scalability, and the stability it comes with, is important, especially for small businesses, as budgets will be better spent in the development of your core offering as opposed to the backend payments processing.
Additionally, the infrastructure that many platforms come with will enable you to monitor activities, report on outcomes, and ensure your business is compliant with industry regulations.
Buying a proven platform will allow you to build on this infrastructure as opposed to having to build it from scratch, meaning you have more time to develop your core offering.
Further to this, depending on the platform you buy you will be able to use it secure in the knowledge that you are compliant with industry regulations because it will be built and developed with your industry in mind.
2). Platform:
features will vary depending on the sector you are in and the purpose of the platform itself.
Businesses tend to have a number of different requirements, whether it is customer usage, backend administration or others, so having a range of user interfaces accounts for these different requirements.
Here, using a proven platform as opposed to building your own means you will benefit from the experiences of others who have used the platform and provided feedback.
By missing out the build and development process you are able to focus on your frontend business offering, and save money in the process.
For businesses in the FinTech sector in particular, multiple account types may be required, including loans, savings and current accounts to name just a few.
A platform should provide the ability to run and manage these accounts fairly simply.
Payments are becoming a big industry too. As businesses look to more innovative ways to make and receive payments, they will need platforms that can integrate these new technologies.
3). Tools:
A platform will, in many cases, also provide an array of tools to manage the business.
In the case of FinTech firms, payments, accounts and other features will need to be managed, along with the management of fee and transaction limits.
Here you encounter a significant benefit when buying a proven platform.
Security in financial services is vital, and a proven platform is likely to have weathered onslaughts from hackers and other such attackers, meaning that your platform will reap the benefits of other users developments. In comparison, a purpose built platform will need to go through initial testing and development.
4). APIs:
An API, which stands for Application Programming Interface, is the messenger that takes requests and tells a system what you want to do, and then returns the response back to you.
By providing a comprehensive range of APIs, any business using a platform will be able to build any product it requires to act alongside the base platform.
This will mean that businesses, particularly those facing budgetary constraints, are able to focus their energy and attention on their core business proposal, while ensuring it integrates with the platform.
The truth of the matter is that in business nowadays being user-friendly, especially when handling payments, but also having the ability to handle data securely, are minimum requirements from customers.
Platforms are able to provide a base for businesses to work from and scale their model, which enables them to develop their main business offering, and outsource the backend processes.
As the sector faces these challenges, businesses need to ensure their fintech solution is proven and rigid enough to withstand any potential threats, but also flexible enough to respond to regulatory changes.
If you are looking to hear more about how a built, but bespoke, backend platform can help your business, email us at hello@trusek.com or call us on 020 7048 0470.