Improving brokerage experience to expand market reach

Our client had a legacy mobile app that was the core of its brokerage business. The app was to be used by two categories of users: investors and advanced traders. Since it offered the same functionality for both types of users, it could not fully meet the requirements of any of them. While the app had insufficient functionality for professional traders, it was too complicated for ordinary investors. Therefore, the customer decided to replace it with two separate mobile apps.

The company required an experienced team that would assist with the transformation of the existing application as well as the development of the new solution. They partnered with N-iX and obtained experienced engineers who have contributed to backend development, trading web app development, and implementation of new functionality.

The N-iX team has been developing two apps from scratch, taking into account the needs of both categories of users: investors and advanced traders. Also, we created a PoC on how to implement new functionality required by the client for smartphones.

To ensure library customization, our specialists have created custom plugins. For instance, we developed iOS and Android wrappers for Biometric SDK.

Also, we built a test automation framework from scratch and enabled simultaneous testing and development processes to speed up time-to-market.

Rebuilding the existing solution

First, we have gathered a team with strong engineering skills to develop two apps from scratch following the provided app design concepts. One of the main requirements was security compliance, which involved the implementation of complex authentication.

Also, we have been working on library customization. As the library is included in another repository, the main challenge was to add the library into the client's repository and make it work in line with security standards. Also, our specialists created custom plugins for iOS and Android.

The application created for regular users-investors is designed with a simple interface and well-defined functionality. As for the application for professional traders, the client requested real-time data transfer. To enable this feature, we started using gRPC — a real-time communication protocol.

Finally, the N-iX automation testing team built a tool-agnostic test automation framework from scratch that simultaneously uses two testing tools: Detox and Appium. Detox allows developers to increase the speed of testing feedback loops. Since Detox does not support real mobile device testing, we started using Appium. Our team has ensured that testing is concurrent with software development — a testing technique that involves simultaneous testing with the development process.

Launching new products

The N-iX team developed new products according to the client's development guidelines and design concepts. We built the functionality in line with the following requirements:

• designing development for different resolutions (desktop, tablet, and mobile);
• supporting WCAG 2.0 Level AA accessibility standards as required by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA);
• ensuring the applications have unit tests and minimum coverage of 80%.

Together with the client, we have developed two mobile solutions to meet the needs of different types of investors and improve their user experience. Also, our experts have helped scale the client’s business and increase customer reach by launching new solutions.