Information architecture of digital online banking: Putting things in order in the chaos of useful services

The entire year of 2018 saw online banks for small businesses actively implementing various non-banking services designed to address diverse business needs throughout their entire lifecycle. However, the explosive growth in the functionality of online banks took a toll on their information architecture: the addition of new services significantly burdened the online banking systems, both structurally and navigationally, creating numerous challenges for users.

In 2019, banks face a significant challenge: optimizing and organizing the infrastructure they’ve created to transform a collection of disparate services into cohesive business platforms. What should they focus on, and what principles should they follow?

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Structural Revolution

Finances, which were once the core element of business-oriented online banking, are now becoming just one of many components. This transition, which began recently, will continue to evolve. At Markswebb, we identify six key components that play a central role in the worldview of an entrepreneur or a small business manager and must be integrated into business-oriented online banking platforms: counterparties, employees, finances, document management, reporting, and products (goods and services).

In the context of business online banking, we focus on two aspects of its information architecture, which now integrates numerous non-banking services:

1. Structure – the logical hierarchy of elements represented within the system.
2. Navigation – interface elements that help users locate the necessary information and functions.

The proliferation of non-banking services in online banking systems has exponentially increased the number of user scenarios, which were already diverse. What elements should be closely monitored when building the structure of business-oriented online banking platforms? Here’s a list:

• Logical Connections – For instance, linking an issued invoice with its corresponding payment while offering the creation of an associated act, which will also be connected to the invoice and payment, etc.
• Contextual Functions – Nearly every component (counterparty, product, employee, payment) presented in online banking is accompanied by a set of actions that can be performed on it. These actions should consistently follow their "parent" across all sections of the online bank, creating predictable habits for users.
• Integration of Directories – For example, an employee directory is used in payroll services, access management for online banking, issuing corporate cards, and managing them. However, in many systems, these directories exist independently. They should be unified and shared across all services since employees remain the same.
• Proximity of Related Components – For example, a unified events calendar should reflect all important client deadlines, with configurable access for different accountants if needed. Currently, users often have to navigate several calendars—for tax reporting deadlines, external economic activity documents, and personal tasks and meetings.

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Key Principles of Organization

1. Do not fear duplicating paths to essential functions to cover the maximum range of user scenarios.
2. Use simple and clear terminology in navigation and interfaces. Business-oriented online banking often relies on accounting jargon ("debit," "credit," "conversion"), which may confuse users, particularly newcomers to business. For example, repeating a payment is sometimes labeled as "copying," which is often misinterpreted as exporting the payment document.
3. Ensure consistency in contextual functions, so each component has the same set of actions wherever it appears.
4. Implement a unified transaction feed. Multiple feeds confuse users, especially inexperienced entrepreneurs. A single feed combining incoming and outgoing transactions, including statuses like "Pending Signature," "Processing," or "Rejected," is far more intuitive.
5. Enable effective filtering—avoid automatic activation, preserve active filters from the previous session, and minimize unnecessary actions like pressing an "Apply" button. Active filters should be clearly displayed and remain visible during page scrolling.
6. Provide morphological search across the entire system, not just for payments, with context-specific actions for search results and the ability to prioritize manual results for popular queries. This feature has already been implemented by Tochka Bank and BSS (Digital2Go), and we hope it gains wider adoption.
7. Ensure structural flexibility:
   • Services should adapt to the user’s context. For instance, a sole proprietor under a simplified tax regime should receive reminders and calculated taxes tailored to their specific business type.
   • Adjust navigation to reflect the user’s current "worldview." For example, users frequently handling foreign currency transactions should see relevant functions prioritized, while others remain out of the way.
   • Use shortcuts and pattern detection—identify recurring payments and suggest automation options to streamline the user experience.

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Conclusion

A well-designed information architecture can significantly enhance the user experience. When everything needed is readily accessible and distractions are minimized, efficiency improves, and the entrepreneur's overall satisfaction increases. Achieving this outcome requires meticulous work by designers on the structure and navigation of online banking systems, alongside the use of modern data analysis technologies to tailor interfaces dynamically to the context and needs of each of hundreds of thousands of users.