Driving Fintech app enhancements for 5M monthly users

NewDay is a UK consumer lending company specialising in credit cards, undergoing a strategic shift towards digital channels. NewDay prioritises promoting online shopping using digital credit over physical credit cards with a strong focus on business expansion and internationalisation.

YLD's approach is not confined to a specific deliverable for NewDay; instead, our teams are integrated throughout NewDay's technology landscape, actively participating in a diverse range of projects.

Frontend-driven development 

NewDay faced coordination challenges within its project teams, including frontend, backend, and platform layers. To enhance efficiency, we introduced frontend-driven development and implemented a Backend for Frontends (BFF) architecture. Using a GraphQL BFF, frontend teams independently manage backends that allow for seamless connectivity and customisation.

A GraphQL BFF helped teams to specify data requirements separate from platform concerns. Autonomy was further enhanced through practices like API mocking and collaborative agreements with backend teams. Frontend teams effectively used tools like Mirage.js for API mocking that fortifies a flawless and independent development process.

When creating NewDay's internal operations tool, "NewResolve," we ensured to factor in the organisation’s focus on internationalisation, so our teams separated copies and texts from the application to make translation easier. Next.js played a vital role in creating BFFs and aggregating data from diverse sources for the frontend. 

The switch to React and Next.js involved deprecating traditional tools like Fusion, jQuery, C#, and Razor templates. With the change at hand, the component-driven development approach made it easier for engineers to conduct independent testing and be involved in quality assurance early on. As a result, it created a more natural and collaborative process for our teams.

Additionally, implementing a monorepo offered a consolidated space to host multiple projects, simplifying migrations and expediting the onboarding of new teams or engineers.

Backend service and Platform Engineering

Our backend teams write and maintain .NET services that perform all critical and regulatory functions across NewDay. We also continually support constructing a cloud-native card processing platform wherein services are built using an event-driven architecture. In addition, the platform uses a multi-tenancy model to provide replication and an “always active” design.

Platform and SRE teams use tools like Terraform to safely and efficiently build, change, and version cloud resources safely and efficiently.

Mobile development

YLD provided mentorship and hands-on guidance to junior developers resulting in improved task execution, boosted confidence, and enhanced decision-making. Amid shifting priorities, we helped empower the team to navigate changes with increased confidence and competence. In addition to these, some milestones achieved in mobile development include:

• Implementing Apple Pay's in-app provisioning for all 14 NewDay cards within a month, streamlining card addition and consolidating services in the app for a user-friendly experience. This feature is exclusive to trusted financial companies. 
• Automating engineering KPIs by building a comprehensive dashboard. Doing so allowed our teams to translate data into meaningful information for the CTO, which has also paved the way for new engineering managers at NewDay.
• Enabling mobile analytics integration with BigQuery that built a dashboard for crash-free user percentages and establishing analytics funnels for customer journey flows. Custom events were added to detect bugs in the production environment.
• Implementing extensive observability measures for our apps to enhance our ability to swiftly identify and understand the origin of issues that lead to quicker resolutions.
• Utilising SWIFT UI for iOS and Jetpack Compose for Android in our codebase to actively pursue modularisation. These enable flexible capabilities that can be seamlessly switched or removed, catering to the unique needs of NewDay’s clients.
  

Optimising team coordination with a devoted Client Partner

With multiple teams each bringing their unique expertise, it is crucial to keep everyone working in sync. A YLD client partner worked with NewDay from the beginning of the project to align specialised teams, manage dependencies and complexities, and ensure a smooth workflow for the broader team.

Aside from internal coordination, the client partner is the go-to person for our clients, seeking feedback, addressing concerns, and ensuring clients have everything they need for a successful engagement. Having a dedicated client partner has not only streamlined the internal processes in the project but also enhanced the client experience throughout every stage of the project and delivery.