Mobile application development: step by step – our experience

We studied successful examples from the CIS and global markets, analyzed market scenarios, and tested hypotheses based on qualitative and quantitative analysis. The best solutions were presented for approval to the Bank.

The design of target scenarios was built collaboratively with the client, as the Bank needed to organize its internal processes alongside the project.

While the functionality was inspired by existing market solutions, the new banking application had no direct analogs: we created an ideal customer journey project and adjusted all processes to fit this project.

The main page conceptually had to be served as a dashboard—a stack of cards displaying business status: account balances, transaction statuses, and quick access to the most requested operations, such as transfers and statements. Tabs included tariffs, other bank products, online accounting, and foreign economic activity (FEA).

The application aimed to help entrepreneurs easily and efficiently manage cash flow, access real-time information, and perform operations with the fewest possible interactions. The application's backlog was planned a year ahead during the design phase.

In the first release, application functionality had to satisfy key daily needs of entrepreneurs, so three key service features were launched straight away:

1. Free administration of funds — daily banking: opening accounts, sending or receiving payments, viewing transaction history and actual balances. This core banking functionality needed to be convenient and fast, ensuring seamless communication and high transactions speed. It means process acceleration both in the digital service and the bank’s internal systems.
2. Ensuring simple and efficient FEA Management — as the market of this segment was rapidly growing, the FEA functionality was prioritized in the first release. We recognized that SMBs often lack in-house accountants and solve the cases through internet banking on PC. We aimed to offer a complete FEA solution within the mobile app — simple, user-friendly, and accessible. We incorporated requirements from businesses of all sizes, including micro, small, medium, and large businesses.
3. Sales dashboard on mobile, as a tool for business analytics, statistics, and increasing revenue through installment programs, was also being prepared for the first release. Dashboard provided daily sales counts and balances in the first version. Future updates in the backlog included consolidated business data, growth dynamics, rise and fall forecasts, and asset portfolios — these data is essential for entrepreneurs on a daily basis.

tekmates approved the visual concept, app design, and research-based solutions to the bank. The priority was an intuitively understandable and simple control that met entrepreneurs' needs without distractions. The new app was designed to seamlessly integrate into daily business processes without requiring extensive adaptation.

We chose a minimalist design with two key color accents — black and red. Instead of the overused trend of 3D illustrations, we opted for a unique "duotone isometry" style, creating 2D visuals that mimicked 3D effects. There were no comparable solutions on the market.

A friendly robot character was also developed to mitigate user frustration in case of errors. The robot appeared in different confusing scenarios to lighten the possible unpleasant mood with illustrations.

Flutter — Google's cross-platform development innovative technology. Other Home Credit Bank products developed on this stack, so it was chosen to ensure seamless integration with existing products.

The starting point was an analysis of the bank's IT infrastructure. Key technologies, integration possibilities, and interaction protocols were discussed upfront. Clear guidelines for implementing new components and libraries were agreed upon with the bank's architecture committee and information security team.

Flutter's advantage is the ability to develop for both mobile platforms — iOS and Android. It significantly reduces development time, however there were also some challenges. Flutter banking applications — an ascending global trend: Alibaba, Ebay, Google Ads and others use it. During that time there were almost no platform specialists in Kazakhstan. Thanks to active development practice, tekmates assembled a team of top experts.

Micro-services ensure product to be flexible and help to easily scale in services. The bank's ambitious goal to rank among the top 3 digital banks for SMBs in Kazakhstan required the digital bank to be user-friendly and available 24/7.

Unlike monolithic systems, micro-service architecture allowed independent teams to develop functionality, reducing time-to-market. Flexible scalability helps to handle growing user traffic and maintained high response speeds.

Collaborative efforts between tekmates and the bank’s IT team laid a solid foundation for product growth and the future dissemination of best practices. Effective and transparent interactions enabled us to meet tight deadlines.

A partnership-based approach, productive project management, and tekmates’ technological expertise enabled to achieve the goal within just six months.

Immersion in the bank’s processes allowed for greater flexibility: sometimes, Home Credit Bank's team worked from tekmates’ office and vice versa. We called it insourcing: a dedicated team that combines external market expertise, external contractor’s economic advantages, business expertise, and the core benefits of in-house operations — deep engagement with the client’s challenges and objectives as if they were our own. The approach proved to be far more efficient than outsourcing.

Development was initially planned to be incremental, so the Scrum framework was chosen, consisting of two-week sprints and clearly defined goals. Scrum enabled visibility into process, real-time work progress, and simultaneous secondary research conduction, functionality testing, and demos for the bank’s team.

Teams were divided into four streams based on the functionality:

• core banking
• payments
• FEA
• sales dashboard

Working by streams easens communication and daily meetings.

Each stream had its own project manager, designer, developer, and analyst, ensuring clear responsibility for specific scenarios.

Workflows, decision-making points, and escalation processes were defined in collaboration with Home Credit Bank. Each stream established fundamental production cycle hygiene to ensure transparency at every stage and enable effective change management

tekmates’ team grew from 10 to 70 members, including developers, designers, managers, and analysts.

Six months from initial design to app store publication—an unprecedented achievement for the digital markets of Kazakhstan and globally.

The resulting digital bank for entrepreneurs from scratch in very tight deadlines included comprehensive daily banking functionality, online FEA management, and sales dashboards for merchants.

“This achievement was possible thanks to a strong partnership, seamless collaboration with the bank, business expertise, and the technological competence of our team. Our work with Home Credit Bank reaffirms the ambition of red_mad_robot Central Asia (tekmates) to become the top IT company in Kazakhstan. We possess the unique skills to create large-scale digital products for Central Asia’s market in short time and drive transformative change by showing concrete results,” emphasized Agiis Konkabayeva, CEO of tekmates.

Central Asia’s market demands rapid product development and accelerated time-to-market: growing competition leaves fewer open niches, and delays can lead to missed profits. It is crucial to quickly assess market conditions, design and launch best solutions, and respond flexibly to user needs with the support of strong digital partners.