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Espeo Software Oy officially opens in Helsinki, deepening our commitment to the Finnish market

Espeo Software Oy officially opens in Helsinki, deepening our commitment to the Finnish market

Espeo Software has opened a local LLC in Finland to better serve our long-time clients there and to make it easier than ever to work with us. With more than thirty Finnish clients under our belts, the Nordic country has been among our most valued markets for over a decade. Our local team now has fewer hurdles to jump to work with our Finnish partners. It’s where Espeo was born and we’re returning to our roots. 

Eleven years ago, founders, Paweł and Sylwia Rogowicz launched Espeo Software after studying in Finland and working in several Finnish software houses. They saw an opportunity to connect Polish developers with the urgent IT demands of Finnish startups and enterprises. The work culture they experienced there — one that prizes direct communication and flat management structure continues to influence Espeo everywhere we’re now present. 
 
Since those early days, Finland has continued to be a major market for Espeo Software and our opening of a local LLC only deepens our commitment to delivering pragmatic digital solutions to Finnish companies in the payments, healthcare, educational technology, and media sectors. This Finnish entity establishes a local technical presence and brings us closer in line with Finnish electronic invoicing while still delivering the same nearshore Polish development team we’ve done for the past eleven years.
 
Aki Inkeroinen, general manager of Espeo Software Oy pointed out that Finnish companies prefer a local presence in Finland partly to streamline invoicing and partly to be sure that IT partners meet their expectations. It sweetens the deal making working with Espeo more attractive. 
 
“The basic thing,” said Inkeroinen, “is that we can better serve the Finnish clients that we have and attract others. The key thing is that when we have a local company, we can better cooperate with local partners here in Finland but also we can have electronic invoicing. The expectation with Finnish clients is that we are able to comply with the normal Finnish working model.”
 
Petri Laaksonen, project manager for Finland coordinates tasks and serves as the point of contact between developers in Poland and Finnish clients. Our local technical presence ensures we meet our client’s standards.
 
“Finnish companies,” said Inkeroinen, “expect that we open a local company here. For their partnerships with software houses, they have partner morals and they expect the company is local. We have been working with Finnish customers for eleven years, but officially we have not been able to fulfill many of their partnership rules that require a local presence and local company, but now we fulfill this. Finnish companies prefer the ease of electronic invoicing that meets Finnish tax law to invoicing in other jurisdictions. It’s just one more step toward deeper cooperation here.” 
 
We’re pleased to be returning to our roots in Finland by opening a local LLC there while still connecting Polish tech talent with innovative Finnish firms.
 

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Blockchain Finance Financial Services

7 real use cases of blockchain technology in fintech

Blockchain use cases in fintech have taken the world by storm. The popularity of blockchain keeps on growing. By 2018-2022 many European and North American banks were exploring the technology and how to leverage it. Financial companies spent around $552 million on blockchain projects globally. But, what is this technology exactly, and which blockchain usability will change the face of banking and finance?

This article will provide you with simple answers to both these questions and share different examples of blockchain ecosystems influencing global finance.

Table of contents:

  1. What is blockchain technology, and how does it revolutionize the financial services sector?
  2. Decrease transaction costs
  3. Resolve identity theft issues
  4. Global payment options
  5. Enhanced regulation and auditing
  6. Credit reports
  7. Lending as a way to gain budget or to invest
  8. Financial instruments trading
  9. Conclusion to blockchain application in fintech

What is blockchain technology, and how does it revolutionize the financial services sector?

Blockchain technology is a data management system using complex cryptography to power many cryptocurrencies and other decentralized applications. At their core, blockchains are accounting systems and digital ledgers that facilitate auditing. What makes them different from traditional databases is that they distribute up-to-date versions of ledger data to all the devices on the network. This makes it nearly impossible to change the information once it’s on the blockchain network as all the devices in the network would have to accept the changes i.e. in the voting process. 

One of the first times blockchain was used, its product was Bitcoin, which facilitates digital money transfers and has no central authority, such as a central bank. The protocol uses the computing power of all the devices — called mining — in the network to add new data to the chain and rewards miners with bitcoins. 

The complexity of the system makes it resistant to hacking as someone would have to take control of the 51% or more of the computing power of the network to do it. 

Later, Ethereum emerged and introduced smart contracts, making this blockchain more useful for business needs like financial markets.

Blockchain has many applications in real-life financial services. PWC revealed in a 2017 report that 77% of fintech companies expect to involve it as a part of their systems. Forbes summed up the 50 most significant 2022 projects and mentioned many in the fintech sector.

Fintech companies are moving towards this new trend for several reasons, including the following.

Decrease transaction costs

An online transaction has multiple elements that you have to consider. There are trading companies or applications, transfer channels, as well as some intermediaries who slow down the process and introduce some extra charges to it. The costs rise even more for international dealing.

A study by McKinsey says that remittance companies are making $40 billion per year with these fees. Blockchains can decrease all these losses. Blockchains enable direct peer-to-peer (p2p) transactions over the internet, which eliminates the intermediaries and their costs. The decentralized system also eliminates delays in online payments. Their real-time data updating feature further ensures smooth, error-free operations and prevents extra charges or lost investments. 

Resolve identity theft issues

A press release by Javelin shows that 6.64% of consumers became a victim of identity theft in 2017. Since then, digital fraud and identity theft issues were made even more painful, especially during the pandemic. 

Banks and fintech firms are required to implement know-your-client and anti-money laundering procedures following increased oversight. Of course, this means they need a lot of paperwork which slows their processes. It can take weeks to verify the identity and complete an online transaction. The lengthy and non-standardized paperwork of these verifications further adds to the problem.

Therefore, financial institutions are increasingly open to implementing a blockchain-based system. In this system, the user has to prove the identity only once. After that, they are given a verification document that they can use to conduct transactions from any part of the world. They can also use this document to manage and share personal data, log in without a password, and e-sign any document.

Global payment options

The blockchain network is entirely internet-based and doesn’t need any specific setup for operation. Thanks to the digitization of assets, users can access the data and conduct transactions from any part of the world using their account’s public and private keys.

Its internet-centric system also makes it flexible for global transactions. In fact, the 2016 Statista study about blockchain usage opportunities amongst financial institutes reveals that about 60% of the total blockchain-based transfer of digital assets involved cross-border transactions. 

Enhanced regulation and auditing 

With increased financial connectivity across the world, the demands for regulatory services are also growing. Companies will need better and more advanced fintech systems to deal with the demand, and that’s where blockchain solutions come to play. 

Blockchain applications use a decentralized system that creates new storage areas for every new action but never tampers with the old blocks. It also maintains a non-deletable report of the transaction related to your blockchain. The system also saves the original document of the trade that the users can view at any time.  

Moreover, blockchain provides all the data and analysis reports at one single source, which is beneficial for auditing. Its smart, read-only nodes decrease the time and the cost required for verification and accounting.

Credit reports

Banking & financial institutions often store the transactional information of their users to analyze their monthly transactions. They use this data to analyze the credibility of the users and prepare their credit reports. However, they mostly use a centralized server or system for this job, which is a huge security risk. Anyone who can hack into the server can get complete access to the private data of all users. 

Blockchain-based systems are different and more reliable in this case. They decentralize the information and use separate storage spaces to protect the data. It also deploys robust security algorithms and identity verification protocols that further enhance the level of security.

The best part is that they can also help to audit these credit reports at a much higher speed than the traditional system.  

Lending as a way to gain budget or to invest

Traditional credits and loans are not accessible for some businesses, while they may still require cash flow to expand or start performing efficiently. It is valid for some fintech startups or e-commerce companies. On the other side, groups of small investors are looking for a way to invest without much work and unnecessary risk.

Blockchain tools, especially smart contracts, are a way to match investors with individual borrowers. The technology provides a way to transfer assets, sign deals with terms transparent to both sides and finally automate debt management and execution. Blockchain mitigates risks on both sides and gives a chance to investors and borrowers that are omitted in the traditional finance system.

Financial instruments trading

Cryptocurrencies and NFTs are investment options, but that is not what this case is about. Blockchain networks, often private enterprise ones, have been changing the way financial assets are traded for years. The process requires approvals, audit trails, and accessibility for many pre-verified roles like financial brokers or advisors.

All of that is done by each unit taking part in the process separately. Blockchain is one virtual place where those businesses meet with full accountability and transparency of actions. Solutions for financial clearing services are cutting times and errors by more than half.

Conclusion to blockchain application in fintech

Blockchain use cases in fintech are revolutionizing the finance industry. The benefits of blockchain are clear as it has removed the barrier of speed, cost, and many more factors of financial transfers. It can provide you with real-time database management, financial tracking, resource management, and a lot more.

This future tech can even enhance the security level of your financial institution and work as a defence against identity theft issues. These advantages are noticed by large banks like HSBC, Deutsche Bank, and KBC are using this technology to maintain the reliability of their services.  

Blockchain platforms are the future of finance, not only for cryptocurrency users but also for FIAT currencies, a trend that is driving massive business. That is why many organizations are looking for a way to use blockchain to be a part of it. 

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Software Technology

Unit tests and why not to skip them in your app development project

Unit tests and why not to skip them in your app development project

In software engineering, unit testing refers to testing individual units of source code. They’re part of the application code, written during development. Unit tests are powerful tools for developers, who can use them repeatedly to quickly and automatically fast check if the units of code work as they should.

However, writing them takes time, and since you can deliver an application without unit tests, some entrepreneurs unwisely consider them unnecessary. Time is money after all and some clients and IT companies don’t want programmers to spend time writing tests. They assume that manual tests are sufficient, so they can hire someone who’ll test their system or they can do it themselves — which will reduce short-term costs. Some clients are unaware that unit tests are a thing. In either case, knowing the benefits of unit testing will help you understand that having them actually saves considerable time and money.

Unit tests and why not to skip them in your app development project

Table of contents:

 

Why unit tests matter

Before I get into the details, I’d like to share a story. I recently worked on a lottery gaming application where my job was to write one of two REST APIs. Work on the first service started about a month earlier than mine. The previous team did not write any automatic tests for the first API.

But the customer was content with the production method because he received the first several features quickly. When work on the second service started, unit and integration tests were part of the code production. Initially, the product owner had to wait longer for results and was not happy. There was some pressure to give up writing tests and leave them for later if there was enough time. I had to convince the product owner that this would be a huge mistake that will cost in the long run — especially when it comes to long-term maintenance. 

Over time, the benefits of unit tests — and the contrast between the two APIs grew. In the service with tests, when a developer added a new feature, manual testers detected almost no errors. In this version, the team could do their work systematically. By contrast, the project without tests often came back for corrections, disrupting the flow of the project. Over time, more developers joined the second service team. They could quickly adapt and implemented new features. The client also attempted to enlarge the first team, but it was ineffective and they ultimately abandoned it.

Throughout the whole development process of the second API, the developers were more productive and proud of code they wrote. Even though it took longer to start, jumping into a development project without unit tests leads to major headaches later.  

 

Don’t skimp on unit tests

As I mentioned above, the client wanted to give up writing automated tests, as he thought that manual tests are enough. This is due to the superficial treatment of the testing process. Many people think that once a tester tests an application’s functionality, he can move on. There is no need to do it again unless they need to change the feature behavior. It seems easy, but there are some dangers and gaps in this reasoning.

First of all, many people know exactly what they want and tend to think that there won’t need to be changes. But no matter how detailed the initial app specification is, after receiving the feature and using it, ideas of how to improve it always emerge. This is a normal and healthy part of Agile development.  In addition, something that may seem like a small change may actually require changes in many areas. What’s more, the main functions of the system consist of smaller functionalities — and these are often shared. Making changes in one area may affect others — often in places we don’t expect. 

A tester may need to test a feature many times as its behavior changes. A developer can use a test repeatedly for months or even years as long as there is a part of the system that it checks. The effort put into writing it will pay for itself in the long run.

 

How unit tests work

Unit tests usually run for a minute or two, so you can use them very often. Developers can launch them several times when adding a new functionality to the system. Thanks to this, they can detect defects early so they can find and correct them quickly. Manual testers can only test a new function once it goes live. Finding the cause of the error and fixing it at this stage often takes longer and is more difficult because it concerns a larger area of code. 

What’s more, manual testers don’t always check the code right after they’ve finished their work. Sometimes a developer can go several days or even weeks without them. To fix this type of error after such a long time requires digging down into the code again — time that could go toward moving the project forward. However, the key question is how can rapid error detection affect the stability of the project? Project complexity always increases over time. The more complex the project is, the more internal code dependencies it has. Introducing new functions often requires changes to the existing code. Errors are inevitable and can often occur in unexpected places.

If we can automatically check if the basic unit functions are preserved, and errors that were found are fixed at the developing stage, total functionality delivery time is much shorter.  We reduce the impact that system complexity has on the introduction of new functionalities and changes. We gain greater predictability regarding the time and resources needed to implement new features or to change existing ones. 

Unit tests are not only useful for checking the existing units. The very process of writing them also improves the stability of the project. Unit tests affect how developers write the application code. They force the programmer to divide the code into small units with a clearly defined, single responsibility. This process requires the programmer to plan the implementation and reveals edge cases. If individual responsibilities are not separated into units, they cannot be reused. If a unit meets several requirements, it is more difficult to understand which dependencies apply to each one, and that significantly impedes changes.

As one unit test checks one specific behavior of a single unit, information about the error found is very precise. The developer sees exactly what expectation has not been met and which unit has failed. Unit tests can also tell what is the expected result, which makes it easier for the developer to fix the fault. This benefit is particularly important when developing larger applications that more than one person worked on. The person who introduces the new functionality may not know the whole system. Information obtained from the unit tests are then particularly useful. In effect, system development is more efficient.

Unit testing has another important advantage for long-term projects: it’s easier for new developers to join it. This is not a secret, that in the IT industry, employee migrations between companies are common. In some cases, development teams might have to grow as projects grow. Unit tests give them comfort: despite the lack of knowledge of the system, they can test their changes. If an error is detected, the information received is so detailed that in many cases it is possible to fix it quickly without long analysis or asking others for help. Unit tests also give comfort to the project owner — changes in the development team are less time consuming and less stressful.

 

Project stability

There is another advantage of unit testing that affects project stability. Assumptions in the project change or evolve over time. Technology itself is also developing: new tools, new versions of libraries as well as new ideas regarding the quality of software development comes out. All these changes make refactoring necessary if we want to maintain code quality.

Unit tests allow us to quickly pre-check whether refactoring changes, often of global scope, negatively affect the functions of the system. The developer immediately receives information about the impact of the change. Based on the list of detected faults, he can make corrections or withdraw changes if he considers that the scope of work is too large and unprofitable.

Refactoring in a project that does not have automated tests is often rejected in advance because it is risky. It’s difficult to estimate its scope and time needed to complete it. 

 

Final thoughts on Unit tests

As we can see, unit tests have many advantages that make them profitable, despite their initial cost. Although those preparations need to be made before developers can start using them. Additional lines of code that always need to be written when adding a new feature, and fact, that just like the main application code, they also need to be modified when requirements change.

We need to remember programmers will use unit tests throughout the development process. They often fire the tests several times a day when they write changes. Unit tests are invaluable tools for programmers to add features and make modifications. These tests may detect errors at an early stage, support maintaining application consistency and code quality.

They are invaluable for long-term projects because they reduce the impact of their complexity on making improvements. The saving of time that we think will be gained by not writing them is apparent. The knowledge of their benefits allows us to understand that thanks to them we save time and our nerves.

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Finance Financial Services Technology

How to build a secure and customer-friendly online payment solution

How to build a secure and customer-friendly online payment solution

Today’s era is the best time for all online service providers. The rapid growth of the e-commerce sector has given birth to innovative online payment solutions as well such as e-wallets, bank transfers, mobile apps and many more. A study by Statista says the online payment sector’s transactional value amounts to approximately $8.49 trillion and is still rising.

However, this rising dependence on online payment systems has also led to some problems concerning the security of these solutions. This article will introduce you to these problems and we will share some effective tips to deal with them.

How to build a secure and customer-friendly online payment solution

Table of contents:

 

Payment integration

As an online service provider, your payment system has to be fast, secure, and efficient. The most preferred card payment system may be secure, but it cannot offer these features all the time. The card payment system lacks an interface between processing systems, which restricts its linkage. 

Even if you use an integrated system, there are tons of regulations that restrict its efficiency. Some of them may need a specified application while the other may be out of reach for your business.

Therefore, you would end up in delayed payments, lost transactions, and sometimes even extra expenses for the fund transfer.

You have to find online payment providers who can offer multiple third party integration for your app or website. You can also obtain an application programming interface, or API and then have your development team integrate them. These integrated systems will address the liquidity issues and minimize delays. They will also open the client account in multiple banks, which will further boost the fund transfer processes.

You can also consider adding support for new technologies like cryptocurrency payment with your payment system. How about building a seamless Stellar peer-to-peer payment app to deliver great financial freedom?

 

Multiple payment ecosystem

The whole point of an online business is to provide services without any regional borders. The feature is profitable for business, but it also means that you will have to deal with multiple currencies. You will need multiple bank accounts around the globe and will be facing many different payment rules and regulations. Apart from the payment, your web or app will also have to deal with multiple languages, security standards, and banking infrastructure.

As an online service provider, you have to consider all these issues while designing your payment system. You have to ensure that your business can deal with the currencies preferred by your consumers. The payment system should also align with international taxes, trade rates, and other charges.

The best solution for it is to use a third-party payment system rather than developing a new one. You can simply search for online payment service providers who already have the required infrastructure for international payments. The service provider will take native currency from the consumer and convert it into your currency.

The service provider experienced with international payments can also provide you with tools and knowledge to better understand your customers in different countries.

 

Time and time again companies have trusted us as a software development provider. Read more about some of our projects and find out why.

Risk of fraud

One of the drawbacks of online purchase and payment is the risk of data theft. According to Statista, the US alone faced 1244 data breaches in 2018, which exposed over 446 million records. The leaked data included information about the companies, personal information, as well as payment details of users.

Both the government and online stores are taking measures to secure consumers from these problems. They have started to use data encryption, secure sockets layer certification, and many other techniques to secure confidential data. Merchants are must also meet the payment card industry data security standards before accepting card payments. 

The main security arena of this standard includes:

  • Building and maintaining a secure network
  • Implementing a vulnerability management program
  • Regular testing and monitoring of the payment system
  • Use of strong access control measures
  • Developing and using an information security policy
  • Encrypting cardholder data and protecting it

Though there is no way to stop data fraud completely, there are tricks to prevent them. For them to work, you have to find an online payment service provider who follows the latest security standards. You should also analyze your network for vulnerabilities like weak passwords and exposed systems.  

Moreover, you can consult some security experts and conduct audits to find the weakness of your application or websites. 

 

User experience

The most considerable challenge in a payment method is changing user preferences. The consumer doesn’t want to spend time in complicated procedures or checkouts. They want simple, straightforward, yet secure payment methods.

In simple words, you need to develop a friendly user interface and provide all the required options. It should include support for cards, mobile payment, e-wallets, and all the other well-used payment modes. Moreover, you should never stick with just one or two debit or credit cards. Include at least the popular types such as American Express, Visa, and Mastercard. The same theory also applies to e-wallets.

Apart from payment, it is also best to integrate recurring payments, customization, payment tracking, and similar management tools.

Following are some more ways to ease out the payment process for your customer:

  • Allow purchase and payment without signup requirements.
  • Use a consistent design with minimal distractions to prevent your consumer from confusion
  • Skip unnecessary information like a surname
  • Reassure security using Secure Socket Layer and minimizing redirect pages.
  • Offer to save payment details and use it for one-click payment in the future.
  • Enable auto-fill wherever possible.
  • Assist users and use input masks to prevent errors.
  • Always display a brief description to explain errors.
  • Optimize your payment page for mobile tablets and all other smart devices.
 

Final thoughts on building secure and customer-friendly online payment solution

Online payment systems are the latest trend in today’s internet-driven world. 

With these payment systems, you can get rid of the regional barrier and acquire consumers from all over the world. They can also remove the hassle of visiting a particular address for availing services or getting payments. Furthermore, new technologies such as blockchain offer new ways of securing sensitive data and offering more transparency.

So, research, prepare and get ready for business growth that comes with these systems. In the meantime, check out how we helped IPG with building and integrating their core payment system.

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