Invest Latam

Provides investment services in Latin America. Discover how we developed a platform that enables companies to receive online loans from investors, while investors can invest funds and receive returns.

Industry:

Capital Markets

Location:

USA

Business size:

Medium and Large Enterprises

Problem and Solution Summary

Small businesses in Latin America struggled to secure loans through traditional banking channels, facing lengthy processes, stringent criteria and limited access to funding. Additionally, investors sought alternative opportunities for direct investment with meaningful returns. The lack of a dedicated platform for such transactions created inefficiencies and hindered the growth of both businesses and investors.

The client found a niche where small businesses faced challenges accessing loans, and traditional banking processes were often cumbersome. Recognising the need for a more efficient and accessible solution, the client aimed to create a platform connecting investors with small businesses, enabling them to secure loans directly and fostering a more streamlined and inclusive financial ecosystem.

Computools developed an innovative online platform facilitating direct connections between investors and businesses. The platform allowed investors to lend money to small businesses; businesses could access the necessary capital directly.

About the Client

The client operates as a pioneering investment service in Latin America, offering a unique platform that redefines how loans are negotiated and agreed upon without the involvement of traditional banks.

The platform facilitates the connection between investors and businesses or individuals in Latin America, enabling them to negotiate and finalise loan agreements directly. With a minimum savings threshold of COP$500,000, individuals can join the platform and choose the interest rate they want to invest.

Companies and individuals engaging with the service undergo a formal credit evaluation process, providing necessary guarantees, and are subject to monitoring by a debt recovery firm in the event of payment delays. This stringent process ensures a level of safety and reliability in the loan transactions conducted through the platform.

Outcome

The Computools team completed all the tasks on time and achieved the project's objectives. During the project, work was done on the front-end development of three pages, i.e.Home, Investors and Borrowers. Small fixes, which were negotiated at the initial stages of the project, were also made. Close cooperation with representatives of the client made it possible to understand the needs of its customers more fully. This in turn helped create an original and intuitive page design. After launching the web service pages, the number of client customers has increased significantly.

Several key issues we solved:
  • Developed front-end of the service pages.
  • Created an original and intuitive page design.
  • Made small fixes to existing pages.

Business challenge

weaknesses

  • Not as secure as a bank; negotiations and money transfers are done directly between the platform’s clients
  • Not much work from our side
  • Tight schedule

strengths

  • A personal guarantee backs loans, and companies follow a solid credit process
  • Reimbursement control
  • Companies that borrow following credit evaluation provide guarantees and are monitored by a debt-recovery firm in case of delays

Business challenge

Project Completion Details and Current Arrangements

The initial stages involved comprehensive consultations and goal definition to align the project with the client's objectives. The foundation for the platform was laid out through a series of analyses, exploration and risk identification.

Interactive prototypes and specifications were developed to provide a clear vision of the project, and a well-defined project timeline was established. The project progressed seamlessly through consulting, product design and product engineering phases, culminating in efficiently developing the platform's front-end pages.

Business challenge

Why Computools?

The client chose Computools as their digital transformation partner for several compelling reasons. Computools demonstrated a deep understanding of the client's needs and objectives from the initial consulting stage. The expertise and experience of Computools' team members, carefully selected for their knowledge and skills, ensured a robust project team.

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STORY IN DEPTH

The client carefully looked at different companies to help them build their investment platform. After considering factors like technical skills and experience, they chose Computools because we had a lot of experience in creating similar platforms for finance and investment. Our team had the right mix of skills needed for the project. The constant communication, new technologies, and flexible project management approach made the client confident in their choice.

Project Description

The platform connects small businesses and investors through credit and investment agreements conducted via auctions. Pioneering the first of its kind in Latin America, it allows individuals to lend money directly to small companies in the region without the involvement of traditional banks.

The operational principle is simple: clients choose a company for investment based on the service's reliability rating, negotiate a rate and make investments. To enhance their platform, the client sought Computools' expertise for the front-end development of their service. Following initial negotiations and discussions, the collaboration transitioned into a productive partnership.

The project's specification was crafted during the second stage, outlining the necessary actions for the development process.

The project's workflow involved users creating accounts as investors or borrowers, followed by a verification process of details, phone numbers, documents and bank accounts. The main flow centred around negotiating loans or deals between investors and borrowers.

Digital Platform & Technology

The stack of necessary technologies is determined by the idea and objectives behind the project. Depending on the complexity and necessary functions, optimal technologies are selected from the current market. An innovative solution based on existing tasks can be created for individual tasks.

Communication Framework

Constant communication with the client is crucial for solving urgent questions, discussing tasks and current issues in the project. To communicate with the customer in this project, the most convenient instant messengers were selected. Regular conferences and meetings were held on Skype, and WhatsApp was used for urgent discussions. This made it possible to perform tasks in a timely fashion in accordance with the necessary requirements.
Skype
Whatsapp
Trello

Team

For the project to be completed on time and considering all the requirements, we carefully select employees for a team.

Business Analyst

Mikhail Shvaikovsky

Mikhail is an experienced Business Analyst who can competently translate business needs into effective solutions. In his spare time, he enjoys photography and culinary studies.

Architect

Igor Ryadinskii

Igor Ryadinskii
Igor successfully started to lead the team by demonstrating strong soft and hard skills. He’s into football, adores Formula 1, and always looks for ways to improve at work and in daily life.
Igor Ryadinskii

Project Manager

Viktoriia Semenchenko

Viktoriia is an open-minded Project Manager at Computools with over four years of experience in software development using Agile and Waterfall methodologies. With a background in Business Analysis and Scrum Master courses, she excels in building productive customer relations and delivering successful projects. Viktoriia's skills in managing multiple teams, facilitating, negotiating and coordinating software development using Agile and Scrum make her a valuable asset to the company.

Business Development Manager

Artem Babura

Artem Babura
Artem specialises in automating business processes, implementing cutting-edge management systems, and optimising digital operation models. His mission is to drive prosperity for clients by offering end-to-end solutions in innovative software development, allowing businesses to focus on their core objectives.
Artem Babura

Quality Assurance Engineer

Mariia Hrekova

With over 5 years of experience, Mariia expertly monitors every phase of the software development process to secure product quality and standards. She enjoys dancing and travelling.

Designer

Valeriy Panchenko

Valeriy Panchenko
Valeriy demonstrates excellent results in the field of user experience, design and research. He enjoys swimming, hiking and cooking.
Valeriy Panchenko

Computools’ Engineering Team

Story of a Team Decision

Although they are all professionals, the selection is carried out according to the level of their expert knowledge, skills and experience. We strive to gather the necessary number of specialists to complete the tasks as efficiently and quickly as possible.

Backstage

The development of applications and new pages is done efficiently and quickly, thanks to the chosen methodology and project management tools. However, so that each developer feels that he is a sought-after and active participant in the project, we hold various meetings, for example brainstorming or dev meetings.

Sprint Retrospective

Our employees share experiences and project successes at developer meetings. This helps to see and evaluate the work from the outside. In some cases, the exchange of experience helps to find the best solution for the next section of the project.

Planning Session

The team gathers to discuss the goals and priorities for the upcoming sprint. This involves reviewing the product backlog, identifying user stories and estimating the effort required for each task. The team collaboratively plans the tasks to be undertaken, ensuring a clear understanding of expectations and timelines.

Sprint Demo

The team presents the finished increments of the product to stakeholders, showcasing the implemented features and addressing any questions or feedback. This session allows stakeholders to assess the progress, ensuring alignment with expectations and facilitating transparent communication.

Communication Flow

Internal communication in a team is necessary to maintain communication between participants, timely completion of tasks and quick resolution of emerging difficulties. For this project, Trello was chosen as the best way to distribute, monitor and complete tasks. Thanks to this, the Project Manager was always aware of the task's status and could take timely action if necessary.

Project Management Methodology

Since the work on the project was carried out in a short time, the Kanban methodology was chosen. This saves time on developing pages and applications and improves the entire team's efficiency.

Kanban gives the flexibility to build a sustainable competitive advantage and empowers the team to accomplish more and faster. Every project has a backlog of tasks to get through, and a series of stated processes that a task must pass through before it is delivered. Using the Kanban board, everyone can instantly see how tasks are moving through the process. The simplicity of the visual presentation enables the PM to spot bottlenecks easily while they are forming.

The most obvious benefit of using Kanban is improved flow efficiency, which happens shortly after the method is implemented into the project. Visualising your process will highlight areas of inefficiency very quickly. The next Kanban benefit is increased productivity. Kanban benefits team productivity by shifting the focus from starting work to finishing work.

Project timeline

3 months
9 months
5 months
Consulting & design phase
Engineering phase
Launch
01

CONSULTING

  • Defining high-level project goals
  • Analysing and exploring existing solutions
  • Identifying project risks and constraints
  • Researching and formulating solutions
02

Product DESIGN

  • Selecting basic architectural patterns and tools
  • Forming an application stack
  • Developing interactive prototypes and specifications
  • Configuring technological processes and interactions between roles
  • Calculating the number of project teams
03

Product Engineering

  • Forming a team based on project scope and estimation
  • Distributing tasks among team members
  • Executing and completing development tasks
  • Integrating necessary functions into new pages
  • Refining and implementing page design
  • Developing a testing plan
  • Testing UI and unit
  • Applying improvements and stabilising code
04

Launch

  • Refining and implementing finalproject specifications
  • Testing to ensure system stability
  • Feeding back post-launch to identify strengths and weaknesses
  • Ongoing communication and transparency through tools like Redmine
  • Monitoring key performance indicators and user feedback for continuous improvement

Design

Design development was carried out per the client's stipulated requirements and needs. The basics of user experience were laid out at the stage of interactive prototyping. In the future, an active refinement of the user interface will be carried out to create the most convenient and intuitive design of the pages.

USER PERSONA → SITE MAP → WIREFRAMES → USER INTERFACE

USER PERSONA

Detailed profile of a typical user, informing design decisions

invest latam site map

SITE MAP

Visual representation of website structure and navigation hierarchy

WIREFRAMES

Basic skeletal outlines depicting layout and functionality without design details

USER INTERFACE

The visual elements and interactive components enhance user experience

PRODUCTION RELEASE

The production release marked the project's culmination, introducing the client’s platform to end-users. The process involved meticulous testing, ensuring a seamless user experience. The release brought tangible results, substantially increasing the client's customer base, and noteworthy improvements in key performance indicators. For instance, the platform's throughput increased by 108%, demonstrating its positive reception in the market.

ONGOING SUPPORT

Ongoing support is a cornerstone of our service. We provide continuous assistance, addressing queries, resolving issues promptly and adapting the platform to evolving needs. Regular feedback sessions allow us to identify areas for improvement and implement necessary updates. This sustained collaboration ensures the platform's long-term success and reflects our dedication to being a reliable partner, even after the initial project concludes.

Contact Us

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