The game is on, and fintechs, with their fancy shiny digital applications seriously bite into traditional bank’s customer base. We all know why – fast innovations, intelligent applications, lovely UX. The question is how to match and exceed competitors’ applications.
Traditional banks are well aware of the need, however, still busy catching up to the agile new competitors, to close the gap and match app quality and UX. Good news is, that this gap can be reduced and closed by the smart use of technology, where, among others, server-driven UI comes in.
What is server-driven UI?
Server-Driven UI is simply a way to build (banking) mobile applications faster and better than in the usual, “traditional” way.
Both traditional mobile development and server-driven UI mobile development are approaches to developing mobile applications, but they differ in several ways.
Commonly, with traditional mobile development, when creating the app, the screens that the user sees are created in development as part of the app. When the app is finished, it than has to be submitted to Apple and Google store for review (which takes time), and only upon receiving their approval is it available for users to download. The interface here is part of the app, while the data it displays come from the server in the background. “The frame“ is fixed, the data/numbers change based on the info fetched from the server.
So, what is the problem with traditional app building?
No problem, unless you want to change the way the app looks, the elements displayed, or add a new function. For any change or so-called release, one has to go through several lengthy steps to make it available.
If you, for instance, want to add a peer-to-peer function and make it part of the home screen, you will need to:
Write/change the code to change UI, once for OS and once for Android – submit new versions to Apple AND Google store separately for approval – motivate users to update the app.
This cycle usually takes weeks, and you can count that when you are done, there will be new requests to be implemented.
What is the process with server-driven UI?
This methodology approaches the mobile app development differently – the app gets both data and the UI from the server. Instead of having the screen embedded in the app, it contacts the server and gets both UI and data from it, making the changes significantly easier. This approach allows for a more flexible and dynamic user interface that can be updated without requiring the user to download and install a new version of the application from the store. It also makes it easier to customize the user interface based on user preferences or other factors.
Such approach results in the following tangible benefits:
- Screen & process reordering without the new store release
(Allows rearrangement of the customer/user screen interface and/or whole processes without changing the application on Google or App Store)
- Instant resources updates
(Mobile applications interface design improvements and updates could be done internally, outside of the App Store)
- Faster TTM for new features
(Agility, speed, and predictability enable faster time to market (TTM) from the moment of conceiving the idea about the product to launching to the market)
- Strong OS integration & peak performance
(Enables an application to be native to the device, as well as take into consideration the functionality and diverse features of each platform – IOS, Android)
(Customers have the same UX on either Android or IOS phones)
Having proven experience in creating omnichannel banking applications, with special focus on mobile apps, we at ASEE highly recommend embracing server-driven UI technology for banking mobile apps. In addition, our omnichannel banking solution Digital Edge contains many predeveloped construction elements specially developed for modern banks, further reducing the time needed to either launch a completely new app or introduce new features.
About ASEE mobile banking:
ASEE Digital Edge mobile app is a system of adaptive reusable components (building blocks) that could be changed fast to improve the mobile banking application. The main advantage of SDUI over traditional client-driven UI comes into play when you need to iterate rapidly and launch features fast and safely across all touch points (Android, iOS, ATM, watch, web). There is no more need for new versions on app stores. Most changes requested by customers are accomplished via simple changes to the responses that the server sends. Inflexibility and difficulty to quickly update your applications thru all the above-mentioned channels, whether they are Android or iPhone users, are now in the past.
We appreciate that every bank is different, and believe our experience and expertise can help our clients find the optimal digital banking solution for any business need.
Contact us for a free consulting call, or schedule a demo here.
