v.2 Rescuing Wealth Management App Ecosystem for Investment Advisory Firm

Solution Overview

• Intitle: hire fintech developers

• Intext: hire fintech developers 

• https://itexus.com/hire-financial-software-developers/

The solution is a comprehensive investment platform that has been transformed from a struggling system into a robust ecosystem, empowering users to manage their investment portfolios effectively. Through a complete architectural redesign and infrastructure enhancement, the platform now offers a diverse range of investment portfolios for American and Chinese securities, along with ready-made investment ideas managed by professional analysts. It tracks major global indices, stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, and various financial instruments, providing users with a holistic view of the market.  

User Functionality: 

• Investment Portfolio Management: Users can access diverse investment portfolios, including equities, blue-chip stocks, and penny stocks, with ready-made investment ideas managed by professional analysts. The platform tracks major global indices and provides real-time market news updates and expert analysis. 

• Educational Features: The platform offers simplified explanations of investment concepts and comprehensive resources to enhance user understanding of investment strategies. 

• Deals and Promotions: Users receive information on special deals related to investment products and services, enhancing their investment opportunities. 

• Analytical Tools: Daily analytics and performance charts help users track investments, with insights on how global and local news impact stocks and bonds. The platform also provides trading signals via push notifications for timely decision-making. 

• User Experience: A user-friendly mobile application interface offers personalized investment strategies, real-time market updates, and expert commentary to guide investment decisions.  

Analytics Team Functionality: 

• Market Analysis: The team conducts in-depth analysis of market trends and investment opportunities, providing expert opinions and regular market insights. 

• Analytics and Reporting: Daily performance reports are generated, monitoring the impact of news on investments and offering detailed reviews of companies and industries. 

• Portfolio Management: The team enables users to create and manage diverse investment portfolios, curating and updating ready-made investment ideas. 

• Performance Tracking: Continuous monitoring and evaluation of investment portfolios are conducted, generating detailed reports on outcomes and strategies. 

• Data Interpretation: The team analyzes the impact of news on market movements, delivering actionable insights based on data trends.  

Accounting Team Functionality: 

Financial Management: The team monitors subscription revenues and expenses, generating financial reports to track profitability and ensure compliance with regulations.  

Admin Functionality: 

• Content Management: The admin oversees educational content and resources, providing access to webinars and online courses for skill development. 

• User Support: The admin manages user inquiries and optimizes the user experience based on feedback and analytics.

Project Challenges

The project encountered several significant challenges that impeded its progress and effectiveness, including:

Vendor Issues: Initial collaboration with the first vendor resulted in a poorly executed product, leading to significant instability, frequent crashes, and unreliable data management.

Fragmented Architecture: Inconsistent implementation of microservices caused conceptual problems at the domain level, contributing to performance bottlenecks and complicating the integration of new features.

Infrastructure Shortcomings: Misconfigured cloud infrastructure hindered operational efficiency and overall system performance.

Inadequate CICD Management: The absence of a structured Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CICD) process meant that builds were assembled manually, causing delays and inefficiencies in the release cycle.

Communication Lapses: Ineffective project management practices resulted in a lack of clear documentation and knowledge transfer, making it difficult to align development efforts with business needs.

Knowledge Gaps: The new team at Itexus faced significant challenges due to a limited understanding of the existing project mechanics, which complicated the transition.

Stabilization Issues: The existing application had numerous stability problems, particularly with push notifications and overall functionality, necessitating a complete overhaul rather than simple fixes.

Complex Payment Logic: The payment processing logic was poorly implemented, requiring extensive reworking to ensure accurate and reliable transactions.

Inefficient Incident Management: The previous system lacked a structured approach to incident management, resulting in delays in addressing critical issues, such as application crashes and downtime.

User  Experience Challenges: The user interface was not intuitive, making it difficult for users to navigate the application and access the information they needed effectively.

Transitioning to a New System: Migrating from the old system to the new architecture posed challenges in data integrity and user adaptation, requiring careful planning and execution to ensure a smooth transition.

Resource Constraints: Limited resources and time pressures added to the complexity of the project, necessitating efficient prioritization and management of tasks to meet deadlines.

Managing Stakeholder Expectations: Balancing the expectations of various stakeholders while addressing technical challenges required effective communication and transparency throughout the project.

Third-party integrations

Project Scope

The project involved the development and stabilization of a comprehensive ecosystem that included:

Web application

Mobile applications for iOS and Android

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system

CMS (Content Management System)

Integration Efforts

The team was tasked with integrating existing systems, which included:

Transitioning from OneSignal for push notifications to native push notifications.

Integrating with Salesforce for customer management.

Data integrations with financial data providers such as AlphaVantage, Yahoo Finance, Investing.com.

Payment processing integrations with Cloud Payments.

Architectural Changes

The existing microservices architecture was re-evaluated and transitioned towards a modular monolith approach to enhance stability and performance.

A new application was developed that utilized old code and data but was wrapped in a more stable structure, avoiding the pitfalls of the previous implementation.

Outcome

The solution led to a more stable and reliable application, allowing the client to continue operations with their in-house team effectively.

The project not only stabilized the existing systems but also laid the groundwork for future enhancements, including potential projects involving artificial intelligence to further improve customer engagement and operational efficiency.

Results & future plans

Throughout the project, the need for effective third-party integrations was a significant focus for the team. Initially, the existing setup included integrations with various services that were poorly designed and maintained, contributing to system instability. In the course of the stabilization efforts, it was determined that some integrations, particularly those with local payment providers, were no longer viable and needed to be phased out. Itexus proposed replacing these with more reliable global solutions, such as Cloudpayments, to enhance payment processing and improve overall functionality.

Additionally, the project team recognized the necessity of implementing communication channels for user notifications. While an integration with OneSignal for push notifications was already in place when Itexus assumed the project, the team suggested transitioning away from this service in favor of native push notifications. This change was in line with the client’s desire to reduce costs while increasing system stability. The reliability of application performance was further supported by incorporating Sentry for error logging and monitoring, enabling the team to swiftly identify and address issues as they arose.

For data services, the integration of multiple data providers such as Alphavantage, Yahoo Finance, and https://www.investing.com/ allowed the application to deliver real-time market data, enhancing the decision-making capabilities of users. Furthermore, to facilitate seamless customer relationship management, Salesforce was integrated into the ecosystem.

The goal of these third-party integrations was to create a more cohesive and efficient user experience while ensuring the application remained stable and reliable. The enhancements not only streamlined existing processes but also paved the way for future functionalities, such as the development of Telegram bots to support user engagement and automate notifications, indicating a commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology in the investment management landscape.