{"id":32839,"date":"2017-08-09T13:04:18","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T20:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.xamarin.com\/?p=32839"},"modified":"2017-08-09T13:04:18","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T20:04:18","slug":"payit-brings-peer-peer-payments-mexico-mobile-devops-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/xamarin\/payit-brings-peer-peer-payments-mexico-mobile-devops-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"Payit Brings Peer-to-Peer Payments to Mexico with Mobile DevOps and the Cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tVisual Studio Mobile Center is now Visual Studio App Center. Learn more here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\n \nPayit<\/a>\u2019s mobile apps are\u00a0revolutionizing\u00a0how Mexican residents pay bills and request and send money among\u00a0friends and family. Initially a web-only way to pay rent, the founding team quickly realized that their customers were paying each other using the platform and developed Mexico’s first peer-to-peer payment network\u00a0(available on\u00a0Android<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0iOS<\/a>), removing the need for wire transfers, checks, or visits to the ATM.<\/p>\n

Today, Miguel\u00a0Cervantes,\u00a0Payit\u00a0CTO, tells us how\u00a0Payit\u00a0has\u00a0grown\u00a0from\u00a0a one-man development\u00a0team\u00a0to\u00a0a fast-moving organization with an\u00a0automated,\u00a0bi-weekly release\u00a0cadence to continuously ship high quality, secure apps to their\u00a0passionate expanding customer base.<\/p>\n

Tell us a little bit about your company and role.<\/h3>\n

\"PayitWe started\u00a0Payit\u00a0a\u00a0couple of years ago\u00a0to solve a big problem for Mexico\u2019s\u00a0residents: cash.\u00a0Because\u00a0of its geography and lack of infrastructure, Mexico has the biggest \u201ccost\u201d of cash\u00a0transactions\u00a0in the world.\u00a0Consumers\u00a0spend 2.3 billion pesos and 48 million hours simply accessing cash (getting to an ATM, waiting in line, and paying associated fees),\u00a0and\u00a0Mexico\u2019s welfare program\u00a0spends a\u00a0significant portion of\u00a0its funds in dispersion and logistics costs.\u00a0Less than\u00a030%\u00a0of\u00a0Mexico\u2019s\u00a0adult\u00a0population has a debit account,\u00a0but\u00a0the vast majority have a smartphone\u00a0(see\u00a0Fletcher School\u2019s Institute for Business in the Global Context (IBGC) – Tufts University\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0to learn more about the cost of cash in Mexico).<\/p>\n

We\u2019re\u00a0serving two\u00a0distinct\u00a0audiences or situations where\u00a0people\u00a0heavily\u00a0rely on cash, even living in the biggest cities:\u00a0young adults,\u00a0typically\u00a0between 18–34, who frequently need to\u00a0pay\u00a0or request funds from\u00a0friends (roommates, trips, small loans) and\u00a0small business owners and shopkeepers who need to collect payments for goods.\u00a0This \u201cinformal market\u201d\u00a0of business owners\u00a0represents over half of the Mexican economy, but they\u2019re historically\u00a0largely cash-based.<\/p>\n

With\u00a0Payit,\u00a0our goal is to revolutionize\u00a0the way we do things,\u00a0making them easier, better, and faster. We allow\u00a0anyone with a smartphone to send or receive money,\u00a0and\u00a0we\u00a0free\u00a0business owners\u00a0to\u00a0accept any form of digital payment,\u00a0from a simple credit or debit cards\u00a0today to\u00a0crypto currencies in the future.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m\u00a0Payit\u2019s\u00a0CTO,\u00a0and\u00a0I have experience with numerous languages and frameworks: a little\u00a0Obj-C and Java, as well as\u00a0web languages such as JavaScript \/ VB Script,\u00a0but most of my experience\u00a0is in\u00a0writing enterprise-level C# applications for desktop\u00a0(none targeting mobile platforms). Since our development team is small, I\u2019m actively coding with our developers on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

Tell us about your app; has it evolved over time?<\/h3>\n

Before\u00a0Payit,\u00a0we were a software\u00a0development company.\u00a0As many\u00a0developers know,\u00a0this is\u00a0an extremely cyclical business; sometimes you have tons of work,\u00a0sometimes you don’t.<\/p>\n

In one of those\u00a0\u201csometimes not\u201d\u00a0phases,\u00a0we decided to start a service to satisfy one of our\u00a0own\u00a0needs: making\u00a0rent payment easier.\u00a0After we released,\u00a0we quickly\u00a0realized that\u00a0many\u00a0people\u00a0were sending\u00a0money to\u00a0each other<\/i>, not just their landlords, and saw an\u00a0opportunity to tackle a\u00a0much\u00a0bigger market\u00a0and\u00a0help our whole country.<\/p>\n

Our app is simple; it allows people to\u00a0securely pay and collect funds\u00a0through their mobile phones. Users create a login\u00a0using their\u00a0cellphone number\u00a0or\u00a0Facebook\u00a0account, link their bank accounts and debit cards, and can immediately start sending and requesting money, view payment requests, and more. Before\u00a0finalizing a transaction,\u00a0users\u00a0must enter a\u00a0unique\u00a0PIN to ensure all\u00a0of their\u00a0transfers are approved and safe.<\/p>\n

Why did\u00a0you choose Xamarin?<\/h3>\n

I analyzed\u00a0many technologies,\u00a0basing my decision on four main criteria:<\/p>\n