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The Best Programming Languages for FinTech

Category: Super Merchants

The Best Programming Languages for FinTech

As technology continues to advance, financial sectors and fintech are very receptive as they seek to improve service delivery and boost efficiency. With numerous programming languages to choose from, making the right choice for your business can be challenging. While some programming languages are more popular than others, the best language eventually boils down to your business needs.PayTabs

Do remember that every programming language can deliver desired results if you apply it accordingly. With numerous programs and boot camps offering programming training, you can utilize your GI benefits to learn code if you are a retired service member. Here are the best programming languages to consider for fintech.

1. Python

Python is one of the oldest and most popular languages for fintech. The simplicity and flexibility of its syntax make it beginner-friendly as it is easy to learn. Not only does it come with a wide array of libraries, but it is also highly scalable due to its consistency and interactive abilities. Since it allows type checking during code execution, it reduces the time you spend testing code.

You can use Python for web development, data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence applications. In fintech, it is applicable in risk and trade management, as well as pricing. It is, therefore, ideal for hedge funds, insurance, and investment banks.

2. C++

If you are looking for speed and efficiency, C++ is the perfect fit. It is great for operations that require advanced computations, which makes it ideal for quantitative analysis and finance. C++ is efficient as it allows code reusability. Therefore, you can use it when building complex projects.

The rich library gives you access to all the tools you need for your tasks and operations. Although it allows simultaneous operations fast, C++ is complex. It is, therefore, not ideal for beginners. Since it may also have security issues, it is advisable to use C++ in specific niches.

3. Java

Java Programming language can handle large amounts of data and offers impeccable security, making it ideal for fintech.  The security abilities of Java allow for easy isolation of suspicious code and virtual machines. It is also stable and versatile, meaning it can run on any platform as it works on virtual environments. You can change devices from web to mobile without necessarily having to switch code.

Java programming language is popular with banks as they handle sensitive information that requires highly secure systems. Programmers working on long-term projects can use Java as it also allows you to detect errors during the compilation stage. For big enterprises that want reliable and stable software, Java is the best option.

4. Scala

Scala is a functional and object-oriented programming language that addresses Java’s inadequacies, such as concurrency issues. It is a widely-used language in financial technology, especially in areas such as data architecture and finance platforms based on the cloud. Since it has concurrent support and immutable collection, it works well for data-intensive applications.

Although Scala is primarily a JVM language, you can compile it to other representations such as JavaScript and Native Code. With continuous improvements, Scala is simple, more stable, and predictable. Compared to other languages like Kotlin, Scala performs better in data-intensive applications and stream processing. One of the notable platforms that use Scala is PayPal.

5. Ruby

Ruby has all the ideal characteristics and features necessary for fast development. Although it may not be the most popular language in the fintech industry, it is highly effective and combines the efficient qualities of other technologies such as Pearl and Lisp. Ruby’s powerful framework allows for the development of scalable apps and the writing of highly secure codes. It also has numerous built-in plug-ins and libraries. Therefore, you can achieve time efficiency as you don’t have to write lines of code.

Ruby’s qualities make it a cost effective programming language as the free plug-ins and secure code allows for fast and cheap development.  You can use Ruby to develop financial technology such as digital payment systems and e-wallets for e-commerce. You can also build financial and analytical dashboards, as well as asset management systems.

6. SQL

SQL, also known as Structured Query Language, SQL is a crucial language for database operations. It is useful in storing, retrieving, and manipulating data. In finance, SQL makes it possible to analyze data, establish patterns and make future predictions. It is also an indispensable language for handling data with multiple variables and relationships.

Since most data in the financial sector have complex relationships, SQL makes it easy to manage it. With the increase in data science and analysis, SQL has grown in popularity. Note that SQL is ideal for small databases as it may not work well with large expansive databases.

The right financial technology is essential for any successful project, and the above programming languages can help you achieve efficiency in the finance sector. If you want to venture into the development of financial apps and systems, you can learn to code using your GI benefits and get the best out of each language.

The Best Programming Languages for FinTech
-Angela Martin: 30-something data enthusiast who enjoys statistics, yoga, running and using technology to get insights from large amounts of data.
Currently has been working in a data-related field for 6 years and her favorite animals are cats.

key-payment-data-points-that-your-business-should-value

It is important to take available information into account while taking any business-related decision. The use of correct and relevant data makes the decision more robust and efficient. However, many businesses have yet to understand the importance of payment related data. While payments are deemed to be a process, it is vital to understand that the information generated by them is immensely helpful in taking various business decisions and carrying out payment processes.

Here are some of the key payment data points which are highly useful for an online organization.

  1. Conversion Rates:

The main idea behind using key payment data point is to improve the customer experience. If the customers are finding the payment setup difficult to understand, then you should take a hard look at the payment processes. Chances are your procedures are too long or tedious for the visitors. Your payment data analytics may also show a large number of people leaving your payment sign up page midway, prompting you to re-evaluate your sign-up

 

  1. Rate of Authorization:

This tells you the success rate of the attempted transactions. As in how many transactions were completed. The lower rate of authorization implies that the payment process met certain roadblocks on the way. There could be many reasons behind that. For example, the authorization might not come through if the client does not have adequate funds in their accounts or their card may have reached its limit. Other reasons include expiry or misuse of the card. This metric can automate the process, making it more efficient.

 

  1. Ratio of Chargebacks:

Chargeback rate is one of the most important metrics for a business. Higher chargebacks may indicate a wide range of issues, making it imperative for businesses to pay proper attention to this payment data point. You should look at the occurrence of a chargeback to determine the root cause. Prompt information about a chargeback may allow you to look into its reasons quickly. Additionally, you should find out why it happened. Once you have identified the reason you may work on rectifying it.

 

  1. Reconciliation of Payments:

Another important exercise needed to be carried out by businesses is to look at the reconciliation of the payments. In simple terms, it refers to the time taken for the eventual cashing of a transaction, that is the time taken by the money to actually hit your bank account. Proper knowledge about this metric can help you in designing an automated process, leading to better liquidity. The reconciliation process can also be automatized for more robust payment data analytics. With the help of this metric, you can identify clients who are prone to late payments, letting your design better collection policy.

 

  1. Customer Satisfaction:

It is another important consideration. You should know the preferred methods of payment for your clients. This data can be easily collated from the software you use for processing payments. If you use multiple sources of payments, then you can analyze the data to understand the pattern. You can also segregate the data based on various metrics such as markets and products. This insight can help you to tweak your processes accordingly. With such changes, you can retain your customers, and at the same time, attract new ones.

Conclusion

With these key data points, you can improve every aspect of your payment strategy of our online business.

Also Read: Key Points to Know Before Integrating a Payment Gateway into Your Website

online-payment-advice-to-boost-your-b2b-business

Businesses are currently going through challenging times. The conventional methods are not effective anymore as the situation has taken an unprecedented turn. However, even in these times, business entities can follow certain guidelines to make their processes smoother and safer. If you are engaged in B2B business, then you can boost your online payment system to fortify your liquidity situation. The use of technology makes these tips more useful and efficient. So, here are some guidelines for managing your online payment processes to ensure that your business remains on the right track during this crisis.

  1. Initiate Online Invoicing:

    If you are still collecting payments for your goods and services through traditional printed invoices, then it is time to take a leap of faith and start with online invoicing. The online invoicing system has several advantages over regular invoicing in terms of costs and speed. This type of invoicing is much faster and helps you with cash generation in a lesser period of time. Electronic invoicing is also more streamlined and thus more efficient. It helps in reducing invoicing errors so that both you and your clients can spend fewer resources on rectifying the issues. Online invoicing can then be conveniently integrated with the online payment system to ensure further efficiency.

  2. Optimize your Costs:

    Once you have decided to take the online payment route, it is time to take stock of all the costs involved. While in the beginning, the system may seem pricey, it is important to take a long-term view. Also, there are several alternatives available which may help you in controlling the costs. One important category of costs is the payment processing cost category. These costs may make a difference to your bottom line, and therefore, are important for the control purpose. You are advised to seek different options so as to find the best possible solution at a minimal cost. You may also want to negotiate the terms and conditions before you settle down for a particular service provider.

  3. Install Online Fraud Detection System:

    As useful as the online payment system is, it comes with its own set of challenges. Some of the most important issues in this regard is the safety of the system. Online payments are the target of various fraudsters and scammers. In order to protect the interest of your business and your clients, it is important that you are aware of such miscreants. It is also advisable to come up with a clear cut fraud prevention You should keep your system updated to provide protection against new viruses and other cyber attacks. Advanced technological tools such as anti-virus software may come in handy in this regard.

  4. Incorporate the Latest Modes of Payments:

    Offering a wide range of choices is the key to achieve customer satisfaction. And today, there are several options available when it comes to making an online payment. Currently, tools such as mobile wallets and cryptocurrency are gaining a large following too. You can ensure higher customer satisfaction if you provide these tools for payment purposes. Most of these tools take minimal time for setup and are highly cost-effective as well. Further, these tools also provide more diversity and flexibility to your system. They are accessible even through mobile phones, which can be helpful in further expediting the online payment system.

  5. Simplify the Process:

    While online payment systems come with a wide range of options, it is important to ensure that the system still remains simple enough to understand and operate. B2B payment systems are often prone to complexities after all, especially when you introduce new features or make changes. You can solve this issue by taking proper stock of your clients’ requirements. You should also keep the number of options offered under control. It is vital that your business partners and collaborators understand the process completely too. Moreover, you should endeavor to keep the number of steps a few as possible, since lengthy payment systems tend to be more complicated.

The above guidelines are designed to ensure that you are able to set up your online payment system with the least number of problems. In this regard, you may also want to collaborate with established payment services providers to get started. Such providers may help you set up and operate your online payment system efficiently and economically.

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Your-Helpful-PCI-DSS-Audit-Checklist

In 2019, global retail sales grew by 3.4% from the previous year to hit $21 trillion. Global eCommerce accounted for 16.4% of total retail sales at $3.46 billion. Ecommerce sales continue to grow, thanks to globalization and the internet. 

This growth also comes with a few challenges, among which is payment card fraud. In 2018, payment card fraud amounted to $27.85 billion and was expected to hit $35.67 billion in the next five years.

If you intend to pursue the e-commerce route, you’ll need to consider a few things, one of which is the payment method. How many payment alternatives will you offer your customers? Are the payment methods secure?

Your customers will offer you their financial data on a silver plate; they expect that it’s secure and confidential. To guarantee this, you need to prove that you’re PCI-DSS compliant.

What is PCI-DSS?

This is a set of standards formulated by the PCI Security Standards Council. This council is made up of major credit card companies who joined forces to create security standards that protect credit card data.

As a merchant, your compliance guidelines are dictated by the number of annual transactions. Merchants are grouped into four levels:

  • Level 1

This covers merchants who handle over 6 million transactions every year or have experienced a data breach.

  •  Level 2

Merchants who handle 1-6 million transactions annually.

  •  Level 3

Merchants with less than a million transactions but more than 20,000 annual transactions.

  •  Level 4

Merchants with less than 20,000 annual transactions.

Each of these levels has different compliance requirements. The more the transactions you process every year, the tougher the compliance requirements become.

PCI DSS Compliance Checklist

PCI has six control objectives that constitute twelve compliance requirements. These requirements are not subject to merchant levels; thus, all merchants are required to adhere to the compliance requirements regardless of transaction volume.

These control objectives include:

  1. Secure Network and Systems

This control objective has two requirements:

  • Protect cardholder data by installing and maintaining a firewall

Firewalls are barriers that protect your network by preventing security threats from accessing or spreading through your network. Firewalls act as filters that determine whether information passing from one computer to another is safe or not.

  • Limit the use of vendor-supplied passwords

Every system comes with security parameters, among which are passwords. These passwords are often easy to hack; thus, you should change them before you deploy the systems. Ensure that you update system configurations and security measures as you identify new threats.

  1. Protect Cardholder Data

Cardholder data refers to personally identifiable information that’s associated with a credit or debit cardholder. According to PCI DSS, cardholder data includes PAN, which is the unique payment card number used to identify the cardholder’s account and the issuer. The standards require that merchants encrypt the transmission of cardholder data and protect stored cardholder data as stipulated in the guidelines.

  1. Implement vulnerability protection programs 

Create a program to help you identify weaknesses in your payment card infrastructure system. Hackers will exploit these vulnerabilities to access your cardholder which you can mitigate by:

  • Implementing measures to protect your systems against cyberattacks such as malware.
  • Maintain secure systems
  1. Access control measures

Limit access to cardholder data by vetting everyone who needs access to this data. This is achieved by:

  • Restricting access to cardholder data

Only authorized personnel should have access to this data. Limit the privileges of everyone to a need-to-know basis and deny all other access unless authorized.

  • Authenticate access

Employees that have access to cardholder data should be assigned unique identification. They will use these identifications to access the data, thus making it easy to track how data is handled. Do not use group IDs; every member with access needs unique identification.

  • Restrict physical access to the data

Your onsite systems are also vulnerable to attacks or internal leaks; thus, you need to put measures in place to limit physical access to cardholder data.

  1. Monitoring and testing networks

Monitor your physical and wireless networks to identify vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit to gain unauthorized access to your systems and data. To prevent cybercriminals from exploiting these vulnerabilities, you are required to:

  • Thoroughly track, analyze, and monitor cardholder environments in search of weakness.
  • Frequently test your system components, processes, etc. to ensure that you maintain security over time. 
  1. Information security

Your business needs a strong security policy that details the responsibilities of your employees towards protecting cardholder data.

Conclusion

PCI compliance isn’t a guarantee that your systems and data are safe; hundreds of companies have experienced data breaches despite being PCI-DSS compliant. Achieving compliance is merely a baseline. You need to meet the requirements as stipulated by the governing body and implement extra measures that protect your systems from emerging threats. You can never be too sure when dealing with cybersecurity, going the extra mile helps prevent cyber attacks.

About the author

Jordan MacAvoy is the Vice President of Marketing at Reciprocity Labs and manages the company’s go-to-market strategy and execution. Prior to joining Reciprocity, Mr. MacAvoy served in executive roles at Fundbox, a Forbes Next Billion Dollar Company, and Intuit, via their acquisition of the SaaS marketing and communications solution, Demandforce.

Go Beyond the Zoom

4 Ways to Add Something Extra to Your Product Visualization

While online shopping comes with the pro of being anytime, anywhere, and wearing anything (hello, 2 a.m. shopping sprees in your Ninja Turtle pajamas), it carries with it the con of not being able to see the product up close and in person. Companies often try to compensate for this by taking a handful of shots of the product from a few angles — and of course, the viewer can always zoom in.

I’ve got news: It’s time to go beyond the zoom.

Ecommerce has been trending toward more sophisticated technological adoption, and product imaging is certainly at the forefront of this movement. Having the zoom option on product images is something that has unsurprisingly been popular in online shopping since it first appeared — we all love to look at the details of a product before we buy it! Also unsurprisingly, technology has adapted quite a bit since then, and it’s time to look into new ways to give your customers the in-person experience of the product without ever having to change out of their PJs.

1. Give them the full 360-degree experience
There’s something amazing about being able to turn a product around and view it from every angle just like you would if it was right in front of you — and that’s what a 360-degree view gives your customer. It can provide a lot more detail than a still photo and descriptive text can, and is far more interactive and immersive than a slideshow from a few different angles.

The best part about this is that you probably don’t need to invest much more than you already are. If you’re doing standard photography, you likely already have a camera, tripod, and backdrop. All you need to transform your plain Jane setup to a 360-degree extravaganza is a turntable and a remote shutter release. It does take more time than a standard few shots, but the payoff can be worth it!

2. Record it in action

If you’re looking for more bang for your buck, consider shooting some videos of your product in action, preferably with someone interacting with it. If you do it right, it can act as both a video marketing tool and a product description. It doesn’t need to cost a million dollars, either; take this simple but effective video of a guy using a Kelly side table. What it lacks in budget it makes up for in humor, and comes across as more endearing and genuine than a fancy schmancy ad campaign ever could.

If you want to produce something higher-quality, try focusing on just a few products, like a new line you’re launching or your best sellers. Then you can go the route of Glory Cycles (get it?) and shoot a really nice video starring your best stuff. The best part about that promotion is how simple and well-executed it is, showing just how effective that visual experience is.

3. Artificial Reality

We’re getting into the cooler (and more expensive) stuff now. You may have heard artificial reality and virtual reality used interchangeably, but they are quite different: Artificial reality is computer-generated imagery overlaid onto the real world (think Pokemon Go). This is perfect for a lot of products, because it can literally show the customer how the product will look on them, in their home, or in their world.

Go Beyond the Zoom

Sephora is quite a pioneer in the beauty world, so it’s no surprise that it has a virtual makeup artist. Using its AR, you can try on different makeup products without ever having to put them on your face — and of course, buy what you like.

Another great application of AR comes from IKEA, which has an app that lets customers hold up their phone and see realistic images of IKEA furniture overlaid onto their room. Far from a badly photoshopped insert, the furniture is accurately placed and measured to look as realistic as possible.

4. Virtual Reality

Finally, the really high-level stuff. Virtual reality is different from artificial reality in that it is a complete view of your surroundings through some sort of lens or goggles, like the Oculus. People call it the way of the future, but it’s still got a ways to go. Due to the cost and complexity, it’s no surprise that most companies have not embraced VR, but it can still spark your creativity and make you think about applications of your products that are a little outside the box.

A few companies have taken the plunge, though. EBay launched the world’s first virtual reality department store, in which customers could view eBay products as if they were in a department store. Shopify hasn’t come out with any VR experiences as of yet, but it has heavily invested in both AR and VR, and hopes to be used in the future as a place to host virtual reality experiences. It’s likely not within reach in the very near future, but it’s an exciting space to keep your eye on.

It’s all about the experience

As technology improves, your customers will expect you to take advantage of it to provide the best online shopping experience you can. How are you wowing your customers?

About the author

Jake Rheude is the Director of Marketing for Red Stag Fulfillment, an ecommerce fulfillment warehouse that was born out of ecommerce. He has years of experience in ecommerce and business development. In his free time, Jake enjoys reading about business and sharing his own experience with others.