A new bank for business aimed to relieve entrepreneurs of administrative burdens, free them from routine tasks, and provide resources for strategic decision-making and business development. The key services chosen were online and offline payment acceptance, accounting services, tax calculation and reporting, and legal consultations.
For two years, together with the bank's team, we worked on the development of digital services for entrepreneurs with an annual turnover of up to $240,000 helping them achieve their ambitious goals and maintain the results. The service was designed to provide unified management of business and personal finances through a single login and password.
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We helped the team gain a detailed understanding of competitive services and timely implement relevant features for customers in a user-friendly manner.
Market product monitoring. After making a strong entry into the market with basic features, it was not obvious where to grow in order to achieve the status of a leader and gain entrepreneurs' loyalty. We conducted a thorough market analysis, and observed the digital leaders.
UX audit and product development support. To some extent, we played the role of an external UX laboratory, evaluating products objectively from an outsider's perspective. Over the course of two years, we helped examine the products in the context of the market and existing competitors, tested prototypes, went on business trips, validated hypotheses, projected research onto the digital services backlog, and evaluated their development using a comprehensive metric that considered hundreds of parameters.
The team decided to forgo white-label integration of third-party services in favor of in-house development. The challenge was to integrate all services into a unified system where documents related to a single transaction would be logically interconnected. In the online banking system for businesses, many client tasks intersect various functional blocks, so the quality of the user experience heavily depends on service integration.
The solution was horizontal document links following the model "Contract > Invoice > Payment > Work Completion Certificate." This sequence logically mirrors the business process:
By 2020, the service significantly improved its document management system, implementing a unique market solution. Its functionality is comparable to standalone cloud services but better integrated with core online banking entities.
There is a well-developed link between documents, the counterparty directory, and the payment ledger. Work completion certificates can be created as standalone documents, based on invoices or incoming payments.
The counterparty card displays the entire history of document exchange. The bank maintains links between documents created based on each other and allows manual linking. These links are also reflected in special statuses.
In the application, different scenarios for document creation are considered: from scratch, based on another type of document, or a payment. Documents are logically grouped, preserving contextual links during creation and further use. Links can be set automatically or manually, and the archive is stored in the counterparty cards for which they were prepared.
To effectively solve entrepreneurs' tasks, the directory must accommodate various user scenarios. It should offer maximum actions directly from the counterparty card and allow the storage of any information about partners and clients: accounts in different banks, interaction history, related documents.
The directory is fully integrated into business processes through contextual links with documents and payments. The links are bidirectional—both from the directory and to it—from any operation related to counterparties.
Clients have access to a partner's operation history, turnover analytics, document archive, and reliability checks. From the card, they can initiate payments, issue invoices, create closing documents, or reconciliation acts.
Before 2019, mobile banks could not calculate taxes and contributions to budgetary organizations, handle closing documents, or generate tax reporting documents. The first to introduce these vital functions for individual entrepreneurs were mobile banks. In 2020, the bank was the first to launch automated accounting for companies under the simplified tax system "income minus expenses."
Calculations are based on data from two sources. In the "Tax Base" section, the client sees accounted income based on turnover, and below they can independently enter amounts for accounts in other banks and/or cash turnover. They see a preliminary tax calculation, displaying the included data, the formula, and the result. The same logic applies to expense accounting.
In the "Previously Paid Amounts" section, clients can enter advance tax payments and contributions and/or the amount of trade levy. Each thematic item has contextual hints to help correctly understand and fill out the fields.
The first thing a client encounters upon receiving a currency transfer is a notification. It's crucial that it is noticeable and contains all necessary payment information, document submission deadlines, and sanctions for missing deadlines. To ensure the entrepreneur does not miss important information, it can be duplicated via email and SMS.
Information about currency receipts and distributable amounts is conveniently delivered to the user. The distribution itself has been simplified: click "Distribute," select the receipt, and proceed to create an instruction to debit funds from the transit account. Each currency credit shows the deadline for its distribution, and the system reminds about their expiration.
This is convenient for entrepreneurs receiving many currency transfers: they can track statuses and deadlines for all currency credits in one place and take specific actions immediately.
All payment solutions were combined in a product that also functions as an online cash register, providing clients with an inventory management system and analytics directly in the online bank.
The online bank and mobile app allow not only service connection but also full management of receipts. Then tools for launching online sales without an online store and online cash register were introduced, such as through a social media profile using the "Billing" service.
Besides traditional trade and online acquiring, payments by QR codes through the fast payment system were launched and integrated into all products and services. Entrepreneurs can display generated QR codes for payment directly on products or generate dynamic QR codes, displaying them in the online cash register interface and terminals. The bank automatically registers the trading point in the system immediately after activating the "QR Payment" toggle.
When chats first appeared in mobile banks for businesses, entrepreneurs could already get help with their tasks. For example, clients received notifications about financial monitoring requests directly in the online chat, along with a link to the form for uploading each required document. Documents and certificates previously ordered via chat were saved in a special section.
In 2020, banks competed with chatbots. There were only five on the market, but some could only provide information and transfer the dialogue to an operator. The smartest bots were in the applications. One bot provided information about connected products and explained how to perform tasks in the app interface. Another bot helped open products. And only one bot guided the client through the task resolution scenario.
A notable example is changing the tariff plan. The bot clarifies the account for which this is necessary and helps select a tariff, showing available options and key cost information. It then asks if the user wants to make an advance payment for service and for how long. The tariff selection is confirmed by an SMS code directly in the chat.
The team managed to create an "invisible" banking service for entrepreneurs that reduces stress and saves time on routine operations.
One of the main challenges was to develop fundamentally new mobile and online banking services that provide the best client experience for entrepreneurs. The goal was not to copy existing services, solutions, or processes. The team seeks and creates tools to best solve clients' problems—and Markswebb actively assists in this endeavor.
This case study demonstrates the effective development and launch of a business bank that provides comprehensive digital services for entrepreneurs. By leveraging market product monitoring, UX audits, and ongoing product development support, the project successfully positioned the bank as a market leader in digital services, significantly improving the user experience and business operations for its target audience.
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