The goals and needs of entrepreneurs in different countries are mostly alike but the perception of its implementation in digital channels may vary depending on the business communication habits and regulatory policies. That was the case when we helped design the new ForteBusiness mobile banking app for the Kazakhstan market.
ForteBank has a noticeable share of the banking services market. The new banking app was designed to strengthen the position of the bank in the B2B segment and to embody the mobile-first principles.
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To design such a service, the bank engaged the DAR Tech team as experts in design and product analysis, and Markswebb to ensure the new product was closely aligned with customer needs and digital market trends.
Markswebb researchers have helped save the individual approach to the customers and keep focused on their business values.
The ForteBusiness mobile app has launched in November 2021 and has immediately become the leader in the “Finance” category in AppStore and Google Play with the average rate of 4,5. Since the launch, more than 15k entrepreneurs started using the app.
ForteBank business clients that already have internet banking experience are ready to use the app with basic features for fast access to accounts and products. The customers of the more digitalized banks need features that expand the possibilities of running businesses in mobile-only mode.
This includes convenient paperwork, billing and making payments, adding new services, and quick support on any questions. This kind of customers are ready to refuse to use internet banking in favor of the mobile app and become another bank’s customer if one can provide complete mobile services.
Regardless of the experience, direct communication with the bank’s manager is important to all the entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan. This is one of the most important aspects of business communications in the country — personal contacts prevail over interfaces. To digitalize and optimize customer service, our researchers suggested transferring communications from voice to text channels gradually.
To maintain the feeling of an individual approach, every customer can be attached to a personal manager in the chat. Still, if there’s no answer in 3 minutes, any vacant manager can catch the dialog. This way both the personal connection and fast responsiveness are kept.
To find the best user tasks implementation, Markswebb researchers have studied 36 mobile banking apps on both Android and iOS — from Europe and Kazakhstan.
The experience of Kazakhstan banks has become the reference for basic features: which tasks the bank should solve at launch to keep up on the local market. Russian banks were the source of the best practices for remote account opening, onboarding customers, and product management. The neobanks of Europe showed the directions for developing digital services beyond the base service quality.
As the result of the research, we formed 400 criteria that describe the quality of solving the main business tasks in every mobile app.
According to these criteria, Markswebb researchers along with DAR Tech crew have formed these release priorities:
The first interactive Figma prototypes were evaluated together with bank customers. They have gone through various scenarios and made comments right away.
The key advantages of the new app are the easy start for entrepreneurs via the digital signature and fully remote account opening.
The ForteBusiness mobile bank was released in November 2021 and immediately became one of the highest-rated apps in the "Finance" category in the Google and Apple stores, with an average rating of 4.5 stars. Since its launch, over 15,000 entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan have become users of the app.
"We had the right strategy in developing the mobile bank — all decisions regarding functionality, processes, branding, and capabilities were based on objective data: market, product, and user insights. Thanks to DAR Tech and Markswebb, we have an app perfectly tailored to our clients' business needs, with immense potential for scaling not only in Kazakhstan but also in the CIS countries. The ForteBusiness app has become part of the bank's ecosystem and strengthened our position as a digital leader."
Samal Kylyshbaeva,
Director of MSME Product Development and Service,
ForteBank
The key advantages of the new app include an easy start for entrepreneurs using an electronic signature and completely remote account opening. Business users particularly appreciated the convenient communications through the mobile bank, which offer a comprehensive digital experience while maintaining a personalized approach to customer service.
This case study demonstrates a strategic approach to binding digital services with users’ needs through customer development and best practices analysis. By partnering with Markswebb, ForteBank successfully aligned its mobile banking services with customer expectations, implemented key improvements, and positioned itself as a market leader in the B2B segment.
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Every year we conduct up to 15 studies of digital services. These are industry benchmarks that reflect the state of the market and trends.