Client Background

The client is a financial services provider with a large client base in South Africa, delivering investment, insurance, and retirement solutions. The retirement platform formed a cornerstone of its strategy to deliver seamless, digital-first customer journeys.

Challenge

The client faced several performance risks ahead of the platform launch:

• No established performance baseline for capacity and reliability
• Untested APIs that risked bottlenecks under load
• High risk of production failures without validation
• Geographic latency concerns, with hosting in Europe but a South African client base
• Shared QA environments, introducing test noise

Solution

Inspired Testing executed a multi-phase performance testing strategy, aligned with each release:

• June 2024: Core backend APIs (Calculator, Disinvestment, Rules)
• August 2024: WhatsApp-based pre-withdrawal and withdrawal APIs
• December 2024: Browser-based withdrawals

Key activities included:

• Load & stress testing with Apache JMeter, simulating 50–1,000 concurrent users
• Targeted API and UI testing across browser, messaging, and backend services
• Real-time monitoring using Dynatrace to diagnose bottlenecks (e.g. duplicate calls, database slowdowns)
• Localised execution in South Africa to model realistic user latency
• Test coordination to minimise QA environment noise

Results

Before Testing:

• No baseline for concurrent usage
• APIs untested at scale
• Unknown infrastructure limits

After Testing:

• Load, stress, spike, and soak tests validated scalability
• Bottlenecks in APIs were identified and remediated
• Coverage extended across web, WhatsApp, and backend APIs
• CPU and memory utilisation tracked for infrastructure insight

Business Impact

The project delivered measurable business benefits:

• Increased Confidence in System Readiness – verified ability to handle peak loads
• Enhanced API & Infrastructure Insight – clear visibility of system behaviour
• Improved System Resilience – exceeded target transaction volumes
• Proactive Remediation Plans – optimisations implemented pre-launch
• Strategic Alignment with Real Users – testing from South Africa matched client experience

Why Inspired Testing?

• Deep domain expertise in financial services
• Proven performance testing frameworks with Apache JMeter and Dynatrace
• Local execution strategy ensuring realistic results
• Senior engineers and test leads delivering actionable insights