You know the saying about Italian bureaucracy? It’s complicated and bloated — and every word of it is true, especially in the B2B fintech sector.
Credimi was a company that aimed to revolutionize the world of Italian SMEs by improving access to credit, which is notoriously difficult in Italy. One of the biggest challenges we faced in this endeavor was 'identifying companies,' or Know Your Customer (KYC).
Typically, this process involves a long, multi-step form that can take weeks to complete. Multiple documents need to be submitted, and human verifications are required at various stages. The average completion rate was between 70% and 80%, with the process taking around two weeks from start to finish. Our goal was to break through the 90% completion barrier while reducing the timeframe to just three days. How did we do it? By completely rethinking the classic KYC design.
The multi-step form remained, but it was no longer a rigid funnel. Users could jump between sections and provide whatever information they had at the time. This approach significantly reduced interruptions. Document and identity checks were performed in real time, eliminating wait times for over 80% of users.
Error management was handled through a simple state machine and validation rules. If a KYC process failed due to missing fields, the user was notified and only needed to correct the specific errors, without having to reset the other completed fields. Thanks to these improvements, we achieved a 94% completion rate and came close to our goal of reducing the process to 3 days, with an average time of 3.8 days.
