If you want to incorporate an app or an API in your company’s ecosystem, Jeff Smith, President and CEO of DCBank, suggests focusing on a few key elements: “The number one thing is user experience (UX) –– make sure there’s the fewest number of keystrokes possible,” he says. “Then there’s the experience of your app developer, and their ability to clearly understand the problem you’re trying to solve.”
DCBank is a Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform that helps financial institutions and FinTech entrepreneurs with their digital payments (including the transfer of funds), card services, digital wallets, identity and lending software.
The company goes beyond just offering online banking services, though. Clients are also provided with access to API developer tools, which allow them to have full control over the DCBank products they are engaging.
What is an API? An Application Programming Interface (API) allows two apps to communicate and share data.
It’s no surprise that user experience is a top priority for the online bank, considering the main purpose of many of their applications and APIs is to offer more services to clients in an easy and accessible way –– while empowering them to embed those services in their own technology, says Smith.
Creating best-in-class APIs that deliver seamless UX is heavily dependent on the second priority he mentioned — working with a seasoned app developer.
When Smith was searching for a company to build custom applications, his expectations were clear: He wanted an experienced team that was client-focused, and one that would clearly understand and deliver solutions to a problem, not just build an app. Smith also wanted a team that could deliver on budget and on time.
Some other questions DCBank considered during its search included:
- Will this developer have the ability to replicate the app or API solution across multiple platforms?
- How many apps are required?
- What’s the strength and position of teams involved in the building of these apps?
Smith says he found all the development support he was looking for with Vog App Developers.
“I’m still using Vog and it’s been five years,” he says. “I don’t use anybody else.”
The first project that Vog worked on for Smith was building and launching new features for a cryptocurrency application.
“The first objective was to get the app online and offer the ability to purchase cryptocurrency from a mobile app versus having to go to a computer,” explains Smith. “It was the first app of its kind in Canada.”
Vog continues to provide ongoing monthly support and development for that application, adding new coins, making changes to the environment, updating policies, managing iOS updates, and more.
After the success of the cryptocurrency initiative, Smith engaged Vog to build out applications and APIs for DCBank’s core services. With these, the goal was to make the tools more accessible, thus enabling easier integration for customers.
Vog also provided advisory support so the platform can duplicate or resell services without needing to rebuild a new app each time.
Having an external development team that could be depended on for deliverability and speed is even more important today, as the impact of COVID-19 increases use and expectations of digital banking services, says Smith.
“The pandemic has pushed the requirement for non face-to-face transactions that can occur wherever, such as a business owner doing payments from their iPad,” Smith says. “That has pushed demand ahead five to seven years, so we’re trying to deliver a better interface on a more expedited basis.”
With double-digit growth annually for the past several years, DCBank works hard to meet those demands, says Smith.
When it comes to return on investment (ROI), Smith says it’s measured differently depending on the function of each individual app. His team has seen value from improved user experience and customer satisfaction, contract renewals, and additional services that are offered to customers.
As for the cryptocurrency application Vog first built for Smith?
“The ROI for that app was multiple thousands,” he says.
