The 3 Essential Qualities of Software for Finance

The financial sector is one of the most sophisticated, profitable, and competitive sectors in almost all modern economies. There’s no room for error, there are high standards of reliability and consistency, and there are a myriad of laws and regulations that you need to follow to a T if you don’t want very harsh fines.

Digitisation, data processing, and AI are all becoming mainstays in the finance sector, and most companies will not be able to be competitive without heavily relying on all three. Sadly, many bespoke software programs and algorithms that are designed for finance companies don’t fully suit the sector. They don’t follow international standards and laws, they don’t meet the security requirements of finance companies, and they don’t offer the reliability necessary for continued use.

If you’re looking to use software for finance, there are some essential qualities that you need to be on the lookout for, and in this article, we’ll go over all the major ones.

#1 Security

Security is of utmost importance for companies working in the finance sector. A single exploited security flaw could mean permanent loss of trust in your company, or worse yet, a lawsuit that will leave you bankrupt. Companies take special measures each step of the way to ensure their internal procedures, consumer data, and more are well-protected.

This is especially the case for the software programs you use, because in most cases, these software programs have access to very sensitive data in your company, and if a security flaw were to be exploited, it might substantially damage your company.

Therefore, it is paramount that you ensure the software programs you use in your finance company adhere to the highest security standards and protocols. They need to be thoroughly tested against the most common attacks. This is doubly true for consumer-facing software, which is generally more susceptible to security breaches.

#2 Reliability

Work in finance is very intricate: you’re dealing with money, and the slightest error might cost you or your clients a substantial amount, and as they accumulate over time, these errors might make your services uncompetitive and unreliable.

And while errors can occur in every part of your business process, a particular faultline is the software programs you use. And although most are harmless bugs that cause slight inconveniences at most, serious errors that cause miscalculations, unreliable data storage, and more aren’t uncommon.

That’s why every finance company needs to make sure the software programs they use are extremely reliable. Make sure the software development agency has a competent testing team and automated testing suites that ensure a reliable standard.

#3 Adherence to Laws and Regulations

The finance sector is notorious for its laws and regulations. Communications with clients, data processing, and everything in between is subject to tens if not hundreds of very specific laws and regulations on local, state, federal, and even international levels. This is due to the importance of the sector and the damage volatility could cause.

And if the software programs you use don’t adhere to these laws and regulations during data collection, processing, presentation, etc., it can cause you a lot of issues. You definitely need to avoid that by ensuring you only work with software development agencies with a proven track record developing software for finance. These agencies will have experience developing software programs that adhere to these standards.