A case study from the Italian market

Arkwright Digital has beenhosting the digital onboarding solution for a major card provider in Italy since 2018. The web application includes a front end where small-business owners can apply for various credit card products and a back-end self-service portal where the card provider can adjust the front end and manage different card offers. Arkwright digital also manages several API integrations to make the digital application as quick and easy as possible for the customer.

In 2021, the card provider decided to expand the product portfolio in Italy and include two new co-brand cards. As the existing journey hosted by Arkwright Digital had already showngreat results, the card provider was hoping to leverage these existing capabilities for the new products. Arkwright was thereforeasked to conduct a feasibility study and asses if the digital onboarding solution could host the new co-brand cards.

The feasibility study started with several smaller workshops, during which the card provider and the co-brand partner discussed the basic requirements of the project with Arkwright Digital . Based on these workshops, and several internal discussions, in the middle of December 2021, Arkwright Digital presented a feasibility assessment stating that the existing digital onboarding solution was suitable for extension this project. The feasibility study provided a high-level overview of changes and outlinednew implementations that would have to be carried out for this project. The following timeline was agreed with the card provider and the co-brand partner:

• 1.     January – March -> Definition of Requirements
• 2.     April – May -> Development
• 3.     May - June ->  Devo Testing
• 4.     July – October -> Market Product Testing
• 5.     25^th October 2022 -> Launch

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Definition of requirements

After the feasibility assessment and the creation of a high-level overview, the next steps were initiated. The first three months of the project timeline were then spent on a deep dive into customer needs, technical requirements, and compliance regulations to get a full picture of the project requirements. The focus was laid on customer behavior and defining A range of realistic use scenarios, all of which needed to be covered by the digital onboarding solution. The main requirements for the project included:

• Providing secure data transmission between four parties
• Integrating four new APIs and adjust the existing API integrations
• Tailoring the existing front to the co-brand product needs
• Implementing layers of security capabilities

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Development

After this extensive requirements analysis, development commenced. Arkwright Digital decided to split up initial development into two sprints: the first sprint covered the front-end changes and some of the security capabilities; the second sprint then focussed on API integration and the security capabilities related to the APIs. This agile approach was chosen in order to shorten development and extend the time for testing. Additionally, the second sprint was intended to allow for any new upcoming requirements during the process.

The first four-week sprint was completed at the end of April. All front-end changes, as well as a data encryption capability at the beginning of the customer journey, were implemented. At the same time, Arkwright Digital integrated an APIdDummy data capability to mock up API data. With the help of this procedure, testing was able to start without the full API integration and several subsequent processes in the card provider system which were triggered by the application were validated early on. As a result, the environment was effectively tested without API integration straight after the first sprint.

The second four-week sprint was mostly focused on the integration of four new APIs. The goal was to ensure data transmission between all four parties included in the process. Additionally, Arkwright Digital needed to cater to a new additional requirement: rhe co-brand partner does not hold a broker license in Italy and is thusby law not allowed to display any card product information. In view of this, Arkwright Digital needed to integrate a totally new page in the customer journey stating the product details. Furthermore, several security checks were included to check data between different parties and so ensure consistency.

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Development testing

Development testing was already started after the first sprint. The focus was to test the subsequent processes in the card provider and co-brand partner systems initiated by the application; also, the front-end changes were validated. Once both development testing and the second sprint was completed, all changes were pushed to the production systems.  

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Market product testing

Market product testing in the production system started after the second sprint and development testing in July. Here, the focus was laid on data transmission as well as a variety of customer scenarios and behaviours. More than 500 test cases were performed and validated. Minor bugs were identified and fixed within the given time-frame. Additional required variables in the API integration were also identified and implemented.

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Launch and results

The two new cobrand card products were launched on the night of 25^th October 2022. We as Arkwright Digital experienced a very smooth launch and an instant customer response. After just the first ten minutes, the first card applications were alreadycoming in. First-week data showed great results and we were proud to see a conversion rate of 56%, as well as an overall application increase of almost 200%.

In total, we can look back to a very successful project in which a complex integration was  split up into two development sprints and testing time was used efficiently. All upcoming bugs, issues, and new requirements were handled in a collaborative way by all four parties. Challenges were mastered together and the end result was a great customer experience  with a digital onboarding solution - all delivered within the agreed timeframe. We are looking forward to future projects with this client.

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