Corestep Microfinance Bank
CoreStep Microfinance Bank is a financial institution driving financial inclusion through technology, innovation, and strategic product offerings. Transitioning from a conventional microfinance setup to a fully digital bank, CoreStep launched its fintech platform, Corebank.
Corebank acts as a one-stop digital marketplace for services like deposits, transfers, loans, investments, and MSME advisory.
Industry Vertical
Microfinance & Digital Banking
Microfinance & Digital Banking
The Challenges
1. Moving to a More Efficient Infrastructure:
CoreStep relied on traditional, in-house on-premises systems to run its business services
like B2B operations and Point-of-Sale POS devices. However, this setup couldn't keep up with
the company’s growth. To handle more customers efficiently and ensure services ran smoothly
without hiccups, CoreStep needed to shift these systems to AWS, a cloud platform known for
reliability and scalability.
2. Making Loan Services Work Better Together:
CoreStep's loan application system was hosted on a separate cloud provider, Azure. This
setup created a divide between their systems, making it harder to streamline operations. By
planning to move the loan services to AWS in the future, CoreStep aimed to unify its
platforms and make everything work more seamlessly.
3. Building a Smarter POS System:
With their POS network expanding rapidly, CoreStep decided to build a new Terminal Management
System TMS to better support its operations. This system needed to handle:
- Instant Notifications: Sending alerts or updates directly to the devices.
- Secure Communication: Ensuring sensitive data exchanges between devices were
safe.
- Better Insights: Providing detailed analytics to improve decision-making.
To make this possible, they required:
❖ A serverless design, so the system could grow and manage workloads automatically.
❖ A setup that allowed updates to happen without stopping services.
❖ A strong and reliable backend using AWS tools like Elastic Load Balancing to share the
workload evenly, Amazon RDS to manage their databases efficiently, and NAT Gateways for
secure internet access.
1. Moving to a More Efficient Infrastructure:
CoreStep relied on traditional, in-house on-premises systems to run its business services like B2B operations and Point-of-Sale POS devices. However, this setup couldn't keep up with the company’s growth. To handle more customers efficiently and ensure services ran smoothly without hiccups, CoreStep needed to shift these systems to AWS, a cloud platform known for reliability and scalability.
2. Making Loan Services Work Better Together:
CoreStep's loan application system was hosted on a separate cloud provider, Azure. This setup created a divide between their systems, making it harder to streamline operations. By planning to move the loan services to AWS in the future, CoreStep aimed to unify its platforms and make everything work more seamlessly.
3. Building a Smarter POS System:
With their POS network expanding rapidly, CoreStep decided to build a new Terminal Management System TMS to better support its operations. This system needed to handle:
- Instant Notifications: Sending alerts or updates directly to the devices.
- Secure Communication: Ensuring sensitive data exchanges between devices were safe.
- Better Insights: Providing detailed analytics to improve decision-making.
To make this possible, they required:
❖ A serverless design, so the system could grow and manage workloads automatically.
❖ A setup that allowed updates to happen without stopping services.
❖ A strong and reliable backend using AWS tools like Elastic Load Balancing to share the workload evenly, Amazon RDS to manage their databases efficiently, and NAT Gateways for secure internet access.
Solution
Phase 1: Migration of B2B and POS Services
SoftGEM successfully migrated CoreStep’s on-premises B2B and POS services to AWS, leveraging
Amazon EC2 instances for computing power.
- Stability: The migration enhanced operational reliability.
- Cost Savings: AWS's scalable infrastructure reduced operational overhead by
X%.
- Future-Ready: The groundwork for migrating the Azure-based loan service
application to AWS was completed, streamlining CoreStep’s infrastructure for future
expansion.
Phase 2: Terminal Management System TMS Development
SoftGEM designed a serverless architecture using AWS Fargate, enabling CoreStep to efficiently
manage containerized workloads.
- Database Resilience: Amazon RDS for MSSQL with replication ensured high
availability and faster data recovery.
- Traffic Distribution: Elastic Load Balancing ELB was implemented to
efficiently distribute traffic, optimizing system performance.
- Service Continuity: A NAT Gateway provided secure outbound internet access
while ensuring zero downtime during system updates.
Phase 1: Migration of B2B and POS Services
SoftGEM successfully migrated CoreStep’s on-premises B2B and POS services to AWS, leveraging Amazon EC2 instances for computing power.
- Stability: The migration enhanced operational reliability.
- Cost Savings: AWS's scalable infrastructure reduced operational overhead by X%.
- Future-Ready: The groundwork for migrating the Azure-based loan service application to AWS was completed, streamlining CoreStep’s infrastructure for future expansion.
Phase 2: Terminal Management System TMS Development
SoftGEM designed a serverless architecture using AWS Fargate, enabling CoreStep to efficiently manage containerized workloads.
- Database Resilience: Amazon RDS for MSSQL with replication ensured high availability and faster data recovery.
- Traffic Distribution: Elastic Load Balancing ELB was implemented to efficiently distribute traffic, optimizing system performance.
- Service Continuity: A NAT Gateway provided secure outbound internet access while ensuring zero downtime during system updates.
Results
- Seamless Migration with Minimal Downtime : Migrated B2B and POS services to
AWS with less than 2 hours of downtime, ensuring uninterrupted service delivery.
- Enhanced Scalability and Cost Efficiency: AWS Fargate’s serverless
architecture enabled CoreStep to handle peak workloads with 28% scalability improvement,
saving 1,200,0000 in infrastructure costs.
- Expanded Customer Base : Corebank’s active user base grew from 5,000 to over
150,000 within 12 months, driven by innovative features like reward incentives and zero
transaction fees.
-
Increased Customer Engagement : The implementation of the TMS introduced
features like device push notifications and advanced analytics, which significantly enhanced
the user experience. These updates resulted in a 40% increase in active user sessions, a 25%
growth in transaction volumes, and a 30% improvement in user retention over the course of
three months.
- Seamless Migration with Minimal Downtime : Migrated B2B and POS services to AWS with less than 2 hours of downtime, ensuring uninterrupted service delivery.
- Enhanced Scalability and Cost Efficiency: AWS Fargate’s serverless architecture enabled CoreStep to handle peak workloads with 28% scalability improvement, saving 1,200,0000 in infrastructure costs.
- Expanded Customer Base : Corebank’s active user base grew from 5,000 to over 150,000 within 12 months, driven by innovative features like reward incentives and zero transaction fees.
- Increased Customer Engagement : The implementation of the TMS introduced features like device push notifications and advanced analytics, which significantly enhanced the user experience. These updates resulted in a 40% increase in active user sessions, a 25% growth in transaction volumes, and a 30% improvement in user retention over the course of three months.
