Explore how Nihilent navigated a highly volatile payments landscape to deliver a QA-certified, continuously integrated solution for Africa's leading bank - overcoming COTS engine failures, complex system integrations, and rapidly changing industry requirements.
Service
Technology Transformation; Digital Automation; Strategy & Consulting; Microsoft
Vertical
BFSI
Region
Africa / South Africa
Tech Stack
Abinitio, WAS Server, MQ Integration, Elastic Search, Zlinux, AIX, Control M, Jasper, LDAP, Golden Gate Replication, CAP, CMOD, CRUDL, REC7, Java, Mainframe Integration
The client is one of South Africa’s largest banks operating across wholesale, retail banking, insurance, and wealth management. Faced with frequent payment engine replacements and unstable industry requirements, the bank needed a delivery partner capable of adapting rapidly while maintaining solution quality and compliance.
A constantly shifting payments environment and legacy technology constraints demanded an exceptionally flexible and resilient delivery approach.
01
Repeated failures and shortcomings of the commercial off-the-shelf payment engine required frequent execution strategy changes and custom workarounds.
02
Integrating a multitude of systems built across different technologies introduced significant architectural and engineering complexity.
03
Poorly defined and rapidly changing industry requirements made consistent delivery planning and execution extremely challenging.
04
Requirements came from multiple stakeholders, business, compliance, and technical, creating a fragmented and constantly evolving delivery backlog.
05
Existing legacy systems needed to be modernised and integrated with new-age technology without disrupting live operations.
Nihilent adopted a continuous delivery model and enterprise engineering approach to maintain stability, quality, and momentum throughout a highly unpredictable engagement.
Continuous Integration & Delivery
Implemented a phased CI pipeline across multiple releases, covering Plan, Design, Build, Test, and Review cycles with continuous integration at every stage
Flexible Solution Architecture
Designed a scalable integration layer capable of connecting the payment engine with any off-the-shelf product, regardless of architectural changes
COTS Engine Workarounds
Built targeted workarounds to address payment engine shortfalls and deliver a seamless experience to the bank
Enterprise Capability Building:
Created long-term enterprise capabilities including CAP, CMOD, CRUDL, REC7, and LDAP integration with the payment engine
New Technology Stack Implementation
Replaced legacy components with modern technologies, including Abinitio, MQ, Elastic Search on Zlinux, Control M scheduler, Jasper libraries, Golden Gate replication, and mainframe-to-Java integration
Structured Testing Pipeline
Executed a comprehensive testing approach covering Functional, Financial Flow, Industry, NFR, UAT, and Production environments
Continuous Collaboration
Maintained an ongoing feedback loop across business, technical, architecture, quality, and operations teams to adapt to changing requirements in real time
payments solution continuously delivered to market across multiple releases
engine shortfalls successfully overcome through custom engineering
capabilities built to support long-term payment operations
Legacy systems with a new, scalable technology stack
achieved across a multitude of systems built in different technologies
improvement embedded through feedback loops at every delivery stage
Solution to the bank's compliance, technical, and business requirements simultaneously
By combining continuous delivery discipline with deep enterprise engineering expertise, Nihilent turned one of the most volatile payment delivery environments into a controlled, quality-driven program, proving that adaptability and technical rigour can coexist even under the most complex conditions.
