What’s Unique about Fintech
The financial technology sector has to operate at a fast rate to stay ahead in adopting new technologies and methodologies. This could not be truer than with the COVID-19 pandemic. The global pandemic changed the world in ways we could never have imagined. From the initial global standstill, businesses had to swiftly adapt to a new reality to survive the economic storm that had a major impact on everyone’s financial stability.
This is where financial services became a lifeline for private customers and organizations. Fintech companies were well-positioned to scale up their infrastructure to accommodate the increased demand. Fintech solutions that offered improved, automated services for business owners and consumers to better manage financial transactions and processes had a competitive advantage.
But it’s not all that easy to develop a robust Fintech app. The industry has to navigate a maze of regulations, policies, risks, and conditions that are still evolving. So, if security in any Fintech solution falls short, it can be the demise of the Fintech company that comes with a load of liabilities.
This is where quality assurance and software testing services play an integral role in business responsiveness, sustainability, and growth. The role of QA is paramount in ensuring customer satisfaction by detecting and resolving defects, verifying business requirements, and validating security controls. However, this all needs to happen with an element of speed.
In the 2020-2021 Word Quality Report, statistics were good indicators that the majority of surveyed Fintech companies adopt Agile and DevOps, and have the appropriate QA and testing expertise, IT strategies, and processes in place to achieve high results. One factor that did stand out was not having sufficient time for testing. If testing coverage is compromised, it can threaten the entire business. So, how do managers and QA overcome this?
Financial Application Testing
The objectives of an Agile and DevOps environment are to improve the quality of product while improving speed in delivery. The benefits offer enhanced security, better customer experience, a high level of business responsiveness, and a faster time to market.
However, the average Fintech model comes with several testing and QA challenges. QA has to respond with a testing approach that meets the objectives through frequent software releases while measuring quality. In DevOps, QA focuses on continuous integration and automated testing for regression and functional testing. Ultimately, testing should be entrenched in the process from development to QA.
What to Test
When development does a daily code drop, automation can ensure there is sufficient coverage of testing features without affecting delivery times. Manual software testing is necessary but should always be kept to a minimum or reserved for user experience and exploratory testing. But when it comes to Fintech apps, security must always be at the forefront for both developers and QA.
- Automation: Delivery of FinTech is lean and fast with a focus on continuous integration development processes. Efficiency is a necessity and that’s where an automation framework is indispensable. It helps increase product quality and reduce manual effort. Integrate automation where possible.
- Security: This is a high priority that should always be tested to find vulnerabilities, ensure personal data is protected, compliance is monitored, and high API security. For example, processing payments or accessing the app via different devices.
- Data Integrity: Validating and protecting stored data, and data transfers and exchanges data during transfer. For example, testing two-factor authentication procedures and account accessibility.
- Functionality: Core functionality can be continually tested through regression tests and when new functions and features are added, unit and integration tests can be run to ensure the continued stability of the product. For example, expected functions work such as being able to open an account, pay a bill, or make a deposit.
- Performance: This is important to ensure the system doesn’t crash if there is an increase in volume and that it can run efficiently during peak hours. For example, testing a payment gateway with a high number of users during lunchtime hours or a high rate of transactions per rate.
Testing-related Issues
With some applications like social media apps, software testing can survive a trade-off if there’s insufficient time. Known bugs may still go through to the production environment even though it’s considered low risk. The same cannot be applied to Fintech apps. Even the smallest defect can have serious consequences.
Fintech is a diverse industry that can have a range of different types of apps such as retail banking services, brokerages, or stock trading. What they have in common is being able to process a lot of data quickly with the guarantee that the data is accurate. Because Fintech is such a competitive industry, rapid development and release sit at its core. Some challenges with testing Fintech apps include:
- Compatibility with a range of devices, platforms, networks, and operating systems.
- Security testing and compliance monitoring.
- Lack of finance knowledge in a DevOps environment.
- Expectations for time to market impact time for testing.
Testing Under Tight Deadlines
If a well-structured QA and testing process is embedded in the process early on, it provides a solid foundation that ensures quality in a fast-paced environment. One advantage is that Fintech apps rarely have to rely on legacy code and systems so tests can be written in parallel with the requirements and development user stories.
Using design patterns breaks down the code into units makes it easy to test and maintains the momentum of checking quality while developing new features. Utilizing modern software development practices allows both developers and QA to integrate new additions without compromising on stability and security.
Conclusion
Fintech is revolutionizing the way financial services are delivered with an emphasis on rapid delivery and user experience. QA can ensure there is always added value in the process by proactively engaging with development from the start of every project.
By putting security at the center of every featured design and developing a continuous integration process within an automation framework, DevOps can meet objectives and exceed expectations.
