Infobip > Case Studies > AppZone: Enhancing Fintech Services with 98% Uptime via SMS and USSD

AppZone: Enhancing Fintech Services with 98% Uptime via SMS and USSD

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Applicable Industries

Retail
Telecommunications

Use Cases

Leasing Finance Automation

About The Customer

AppZone is a Nigerian fintech software provider established in 2008. It is recognized as one of Africa’s top fintech software companies. AppZone’s service offering focuses on providing retail and commercial banks with cloud-based software to run core operations like accounting, deposits, loans, and customer interactions. These solutions are used by 18 commercial banks and more than 450 microfinance banks across seven African countries. Together, these clients amass a yearly transaction value and loan disbursement of $2 billion and $300 million respectively.

The Challenge

AppZone, a leading Nigerian fintech software provider, was facing challenges with its transactional SMS and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) platforms. The company provides these services to financial institutions across Africa for customer communication. However, until 2020, they relied on various solution providers in different markets, leading to mixed levels of success. The main issues were the lack of reliability and high support times and costs. AppZone needed to improve its reliability and reduce support times and costs for its platforms. The company aimed to achieve at least 98% uptime and required a provider that could offer local support at the country level.

The Solution

AppZone decided to implement Infobip's USSD and SMS solutions, given their reputable brand and extensive work with over 350 banks and financial institutions in the region. These solutions enabled AppZone to onboard microfinance banks securely and more efficiently. SMS allowed AppZone customers to offer transactional services, including delivering OTPs, account balances, and other financial notifications, quickly and effectively. USSD was utilized to check account balances and top-up airtime. Importantly, neither SMS nor USSD required internet connectivity, ensuring services remained accessible regardless of mobile device capabilities. The implementation of these solutions took about two weeks.

Operational Impact

The implementation of Infobip’s solutions led to increased customer satisfaction and further positioned AppZone as a leading service provider. The reliable solutions drove brand loyalty, increased sales, and positively impacted the organization’s bottom line. The efficiency of AppZone’s business significantly improved, with less time and resources allocated to support issues and customer queries. This allowed staff to focus on new product development, higher-value conversations, and other core functions. AppZone also indicated that it would continue to use Infobip as a provider to execute its expansion strategy into other African countries.

Quantitative Benefit

Achieved targeted uptime of 98% for the end-users of AppZone’s enterprise customers.
The implementation of the solutions took about two weeks.
The solutions are used by 18 commercial banks and more than 450 microfinance banks across seven African countries.