Capturing The Demands of New-Generation Investors
Over its 20 years of establishment and development, PHS has established itself as a leading Vietnamese brokerage firm, aimed at capturing a new generation of investors. With over 20,000 downloads on both Google Play and the App Store, PHS’s Mobile Trading app has served a vast number of traders and investors every day.
However, user reviews indicated recurring concerns that the existing application lacked the seamless user experience and advanced features set that modern investors require. The Product Design team identified key opportunities to address these issues, including modernizing the application’s UI/UX, enhancing navigation, and implementing a more user-friendly layout.
The team also saw further opportunities to optimize the app’s performance. These include streamlining the onboarding and login processes, reducing loading times, and addressing performance issues to ensure a smoother user experience.
As competition in the trading landscape intensifies, PHS recognized the need for a comprehensive, user-centric upgrade to stay relevant and deliver a superior trading experience.
Turning Legacy Application into a User-First Trading Platform
After a thorough internal assessment, PHS required a vendor that could fully meet its technological capabilities in design, development, integration, migration, and implementation. They decided to engage KMS Technology to architect and build the PHS Elite Trading Application from the ground up.
Leading this full-scale app transformation, KMS Technology’s approach was centered on a deep collaboration, combining PHS’s market insights with our software engineering excellence. We devised a comprehensive strategy that focused on four priorities:
- Resolving current pain points related to core features, including user registration, login processes, and trading speed.
- Enhancing the app’s capability to swiftly integrate new features in the future.
- Tracking basic customer behavior on the app.
- Boosting self-onboarding rates after the app’s launch.
We divided the working process into three key phases to ensure a structured and effective approach to modernizing Phu Hung Securities’ trading app:
Phase 1: Research & Evaluation
KMS Technology initiated the project with an intensive discovery phase rooted in a user-centered design philosophy. We worked closely with PHS stakeholders to map out user journeys and define key functionalities that would address critical customer needs.
To gather comprehensive insights, our team conducted detailed workshops and interviews across six focus groups, including:
- Marketing and Product teams
- Customer Helpdesk team
- Broker Managers and Directors
- Broker Helpdesk team
- Underlying and Derivative brokers
- Investors (Gen Z and others)
“The process of working with KMS on the project has given me more specific insights into how to design products with a user-centered approach and focus on solving key customer issues.
Additionally, KMS’s product designs also emphasize staying updated with design trends while ensuring client requirements are met. As a result, when the product is launched, the overall design stands out in the market.”
Chi Pham, Manager of Marketing & Customer Care Center of PHS
Phase 2: Product Reformation
With a clear understanding of user needs, KMS Technology’s Product Design team collaborated tightly with PHS teams to gather detailed requirements and architect the trading application.
- Design Architecture: The Solution Architect developed technical solutions and ensured seamless integration and implementation.
- Agile Development: The development team used the Scrum method, conducting two-week sprints that included grooming, planning, daily stand-ups, demos, and retrospectives.
- Project Management: The project manager worked closely with the client on project reporting, risk management, and handling escalations.
Phase 3: App’s UI/UX Improvements and Simplified Navigation
Early in the process, our team listened closely to both seasoned brokers and Gen Z investors, who voiced frustrations with the app’s cluttered screens and confusing navigation. To address these pain points, KMS Technology rebuilt the application using Flutter, unlocking the flexibility to deliver a unified look and feel across devices while enabling a richer visual experience.
We implemented a Clean Architecture approach to guarantee design consistency across all layouts and screens, creating a unified and polished user experience. Key features like order placement and asset tracking were strategically positioned on the main screen for immediate access.
We also streamlined navigation flows to enhance overall usability, supplementing the design with additional in-app guidelines and explanations to help users quickly master the app’s powerful features.
These collective improvements were validated by a surge in positive user reviews and a notable increase in active trading sessions within weeks of launch. “We trust that the product will be well-received by investors in the future.” – Nhan Pham.
“As the Project Lead for this project, I have experienced constantly changing emotions. From moments of great anxiety when seeing the project’s outcome still quite rough and not yet meeting expectations, to feeling more confident and satisfied with the product as the project neared completion.
KMS, as the solution provider, has delivered to PHS a completely new product in both user interface and experience, and PHS also trusts that the product will be well-received by investors in the future.”
Nhan Pham, Deputy General Director Cum Project Lead of PHS
Phase 4: Enhanced Onboarding and Performance Optimization
To create a frictionless entry point for users, KMS Technology streamlined the onboarding and login processes, significantly reducing the number of steps required for actions like initial login and account registration (eKYC).
Behind the scenes, adopting Clean Architecture provided a clear separation of concerns, making it easier to deliver personalized content and recommendations, particularly for younger users. The separation not only enabled tailored experiences for different investor profiles but also improved the platform’s overall maintainability.
Performance was also a priority at the time. KMS Technology improved the app’s speed and loading times by implementing efficient caching mechanisms and asynchronous programming. The integration of real-time data feeds and push notifications further enhanced the experience, providing investors with instant updates to support timely and effective trading decisions.
A New Benchmark for Mobile Trading
On 1st August 2024, the PHS Elite Trading Application was successfully launched on both Google Play and the App Store, with impressive highlights:
The launch marked more than a technical milestone; it redefined what investors could expect from a mobile trading platform. PHS’s bold investment in innovation paid off, delivering measurable gains in user engagement, business agility, and brand reputation.
“I acknowledge and greatly appreciate KMS’s efforts through their solutions and their readiness for the relatively complex demands from PHS.”
Jacky Chen, General Director of PHS