In the financial industry, the ability to bring your mobile applications to market or make functionality enhancements in a timely manner has become essential to stay competitive. The demand for efficient and secure digital solutions has led fintech companies to accelerate the time to market of their apps to improve the user experience immediately, respond to a business need and make improvements according to the market context.
What is time to market?
First things first, what is time-to-market (or TTM)? It is the period of time between the ideation of the product and its launch on the market.
First-to-market players gain a number of advantages in various aspects, such as market share, revenue and sales growth. Being the first to enter is a key element in most product development strategies. To achieve this, it is essential to have a development team that is persistent and capable of fine-tuning timing and ensuring efficiency. Both factors are key and non-negotiable.
Companies that reduce time-to-market have understood the dynamics of production times better than their competitors. This means: a more efficient and better planned business strategy, control of all development phases, a team that knows exactly what to do and when. In short, a process in which unnecessary actions are eliminated, the focus is clearly set on the objectives and over which there is more and better control. The combination of all this results in a lower probability of a delayed launch and higher profitability margins.
Reducing TTM requires you to focus on certain areas of your product and complement it with a working method that helps you reduce time to market.
Time to market of an app and development time:
Time is a valuable resource in all businesses because it equals money and resources invested. In addition to the place you will occupy in relation to your competition in terms of who gets to market first with different solutions, products and functionalities. It is proven that if your product or functionality improvement is a pioneer in its category, it could acquire about 70% of the market share.
Fintech and banking companies are competing today in a race to bring better, faster and more intuitive applications to their customers. Therefore, in this race, whoever does not implement these upgrades in an agile and prompt manner, loses a great market opportunity and risks losing users.
On the contrary, those who have an agile response methodology in mind, based on time to market development and improvement of their apps with a differential fee that responds to what the customer is looking for in a banking app, are more likely to attract a greater number of users and retain their existing customers. To accelerate time-to-market it is crucial to adopt an agile approach to development, where key features are prioritized and delivered in iterative cycles. This allows for greater flexibility and the ability to quickly adjust functionality according to market and user needs.
In addition, a solid marketing strategy is essential to accelerate the launch of mobile applications in the financial industry. A thorough understanding of the target market and user needs is critical to developing effective messages and campaigns.
In this article, we will explore different possible ways to shorten development times and position your mobile applications in the market faster and more effectively.
7 tips to improve time to market in a fintech company
1. Have a strategy:
To achieve any objective, having a good plan to achieve it and fulfill it is key. Its function is to guide the work process and avoid unnecessary detours that only lead to delays that do not lead to the achievement of the desired goal. To reduce time-to-market, this strategy should have a calendar with key dates and milestones of the project, considering potential risks and their possible solutions.
2. Define revenue goals for your fintech application:
A balance must be achieved between agile development times and costs. That is to say, a quantified budget where the improvement of the times does not mean incurring in expenses that harm the profitability of the project. One way to do this is to be clear about the revenue goal and measure it at all stages of development. It is not about adding features and perfecting the product ahead of time, but rather choosing the right investments and optimizing productivity.
3. Automation and integration of an App:
Automation helps reduce TTM and technology is a great ally in this path by reducing the likelihood of human error, improving problem-solving times and lowering the workload of the team. It is ideal for repetitive tasks. At the same time, it is complemented by integration, which keeps data up to date and avoids confusion and recurring validations in the team.
4. MVP to verify the feasibility of the App launch or improvements:
It doesn’t matter if you are launching a new App to the market or simply adding a new feature to your App, or updating your banking application. The concept tests and test users are a determining factor so that once in production the launch in question is a success and does not generate a major error. Test a lot and test fast. Check all phone models, technologies, and variants. Consult with experts who can help you perform those critical user tests. We know that testing a lot and time to market can be somewhat conflicting concepts, so from the beginning, we recommend that when you have a launch or improvements to make in a short time, consult with your mobile development provider so that they can support you in the development process or in the testing environment.
5.Implements agile methodologies for the development of Apps:
Fast and reliable product development processes are the complement to improve the time-to-market of an Application, because they eliminate system inefficiencies and provide permanent feedback from customers. By providing a real-time workflow, it allows difficulties to be identified immediately and adjusted.
6. Be flexible:
Faced with dynamic environments and business needs, being flexible allows you to react with immediacy and to adapt and overcome changes more quickly. Flexibility sometimes impacts your project launch times or involves a larger budget. Look to surround yourself with a team of mobile experts, or have a dedicated team to respond to this project from the beginning, that in case of any modification that arises in the process allows you to be prepared and continue with the workflow. Sometimes these changes come and we find ourselves with an insufficient team to fulfill the tasks. Anticipate these needs and always have a partner you can turn to.
7. Consider outsourcing:
Reducing the TTM (Time to Market) definitely implies improving the productivity of the work team. For this reason, outsourcing is often a great decision to achieve the goal because it allows you to avoid, for example, the overload of certain specialists. For outsourcing to become an advantage, communication between the supplier and your team must be fluid and permanent.
Fintech Marketing Strategy
Encouraging your users to use your application for specific activities and to know all its capabilities to get the most out of it is crucial for success.
It is then when time metrics come into play to know more precisely the following relevant information for the development of your marketing strategy:
- Average time in the application: the first thing is to understand the expectations and behavior of users to evaluate the duration of the sessions. Not only that, but also focus on industry benchmarks and trends. It is advisable to track the average time users spend on each application over longer periods than just a year and, in parallel, also obtain this data on a monthly, quarterly and even seasonal basis.
- Time in app by user segment: user segmentation is essential to analyze time in app data as average data provides an incomplete view of what is actually happening. In the specific case of fintech, the ideal way to clearly understand the app’s usage patterns and identify potential problems in the user experience, it is best to segment by: user type, product usage, objectives and demographics.
- Time in the application per screen: to maximize the user experience in your application it is crucial to take into account the time they spend on each screen during their session. This valuable information will allow you to quickly discover which pages are the most relevant and highlight them in the main navigation. In addition, you will be able to identify those screens with low interaction and take actions to improve them, either by eliminating them or moving them strategically. Complementarily, you will also be able to redesign and reposition screens that do not meet your customers’ expectations to achieve longer and more satisfying sessions. Optimizing your user interface is what ensures you deliver an unparalleled experience.
Technology stack to accelerate the time to market in the development of a fintech
In the fast-paced world of mobile fintech applications, time-to-market is a critical factor that can make the difference between success and failure. Achieving rapid market entry is essential to meet user demands, stay ahead of the competition and capitalize on emerging opportunities.
To achieve this goal, an efficient and appropriate technology stack is critical. In this way, developers will be able to create quality products while optimizing costs.
What do we mean by technology stack? The list of all the technological services involved in the development of an app: pieces of software, systems, databases, libraries, tools, frameworks, platforms and applications.
Each application requires for its creation and execution a customized technological stack that must be strategically selected.
The main benefits of a good technology stack are to improve the efficiency of business management and developers’ work by enabling data-driven decision making. At the same time, it creates more reliable and consistent user experiences.
This is a brief guide to take into account when defining the technological stack to develop an application:
1- Precisely define the project requirements.
2- Establish the functions, speed and performance required by the solution.
3- Adopt agile methodologies.
4- Offer more than what is required by the audience to achieve better performance.
5- Build an excellent team taking into account the experience and knowledge of each member.
6- To have a flexible and scalable development team.
7- Consider and monitor the budgeted cost for the final development and maintenance.
With the right technology stack, fintech companies can significantly reduce the time-to-market of their mobile applications and remain competitive in a constantly evolving market.
How to improve time to market with AI in fintech
Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the development of mobile applications in the fintech sector, enabling companies to speed up time to market and automate complex tasks, analyze financial data in real time and personalize user experiences.
Some AI applications that are revolutionizing the fintech industry are:
1. Advanced data analytics
AI offers advanced data analytics capabilities that enable fintech applications to process large volumes of financial information in real time. By using intelligent algorithms, applications can identify patterns, trends and investment opportunities more accurately and quickly. This not only streamlines decision making for users, but also improves the delivery of personalized services tailored to the specific needs of each customer.
2. Process automation
AI-driven automation enables the elimination of manual and repetitive tasks in the process of developing and operating fintech applications. From data validation to fraud detection, AI can perform these tasks more efficiently and accurately than traditional methods. This significantly reduces the time and resources required to complete development and ensures greater efficiency in application operation.
3. Improving user experience
AI in fintech is revolutionizing the user experience by providing more natural and personalized interactions. AI-powered chatbots can answer questions and resolve user issues instantly, providing efficient, round-the-clock customer service. In addition, AI-based recommender systems can offer relevant financial products and investment suggestions tailored to each user’s interests and behaviors.
4. Fraud detection and prevention
Security is a key concern in the fintech sector, and AI plays a crucial role in fraud detection and prevention. By analyzing anomalous behavior and identifying suspicious patterns, AI algorithms can detect fraudulent activity in real time, protecting both users and financial institutions.
5. Fast and accurate approval processes
In fintech, speedy approval of loans and financial services is essential to meet customer needs. AI makes it possible to quickly assess the credit risk and creditworthiness of users, speeding up the approval process and reducing the bureaucracy associated with traditional applications.
Developing a Fintech App Using Flutter
In the ongoing quest to accelerate the time-to-market of mobile fintech applications, Flutter has emerged as a powerful tool that is revolutionizing application development in the financial industry. Flutter ranks second as the most widely used cross-platform mobile framework among developers.
Created by Google, it is an open source framework that allows you to create native applications for iOS and Android from a single code base.
These are some of the advantages that make Flutter stand out and that have turned it into one of the preferred ones to accelerate the development of apps in the Fintech sector:
- Fast development and easy maintenance: with Flutter, developing applications using a single code streamlines the process and facilitates updates and maintenance of the app.
- Good cross-platform performance: applications developed with Flutter have a performance comparable to those created for individual systems.
- Cross-platform adaptability: apps created with Flutter adapt easily to different devices and operating systems.
- Consistent user interface: allows sharing UI business logic across all platforms, simplifying the development process.
- Reduced development time: Flutter offers hot reloading, which allows design features to be adjusted in seconds, speeding up the development process.
- Faster time to market: working with a single code for different platforms requires less manpower, which speeds up the launch of the app.
- Native app-like experience: Flutter offers high quality UI animations, eliminating performance bugs and prioritizing user experience.
- Rapid app growth: its wide range of available widgets enables rapid app development and growth, improving user experience and increasing market reach.
- Flexibility in design: allows you to create new widgets and combine them with existing widgets, facilitating the creation of unique and easy-to-use designs.
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