Enhancing Fintech Reliability with Cloud-Native Webhooks
In the fast-paced world of fintech, where every transaction and piece of data holds immense value, the flow of information between services is paramount. To ensure seamless communication and uninterrupted data transfer, webhooks have become indispensable for many financial technology companies. In this blog, we’ll explore how ZET, a fintech company, has leveraged webhooks and at ZET we have transformed webhooks to a cloud-native architecture to guarantee high availability and reliability in their operations
The Power of Webhooks
Webhooks are automated HTTP requests triggered by specific events in a source system, sent to a destination system with a payload of data. They enable real-time communication between different software systems, making them ideal for event-driven interactions. At ZET we utilise webhooks in several critical areas:
1. Payment Gateway (PG) Confirmation
When customers make payments, Our platform needs to receive payment confirmation promptly. Webhooks allow the Payment Gateway to trigger real-time notifications to our systems, ensuring that payment information is received and processed without delay.
2. Transaction Information
Partner organizations frequently share transaction data with our platform. By employing webhooks, these partners can trigger automatic data transfers to our services as soon as new transactions occur, streamlining the data flow.
3. Internal Service Callbacks
Our platform has various internal services that often execute long-running jobs that require coordination and status updates. Webhooks facilitate callbacks between these services, ensuring that each step of a task is communicated effectively.
The Challenge: High Availability
In the world of fintech, downtime is not an option. Even the briefest interruption in data flow can have significant consequences. So we have recognized this challenge and embarked on a mission to ensure high availability for their webhooks.
The Solution: Cloud-Native Webhooks
This journey towards high availability led us to embrace a cloud-native architecture for webhooks. The primary objective was to capture incoming webhook requests reliably and address processing concerns separately. Here’s how we achieved it:
1. AWS API Gateway
We have turned to AWS (Amazon Web Services) API Gateway, a robust solution that provides highly available endpoints for receiving webhook requests. The simplicity and ease of configuration in API Gateway made it a natural choice.
2. AWS Simple Queue Service (SQS)
To address the challenge of service downtime and potential data loss, we have integrated AWS SQS. Instead of processing incoming requests immediately, SQS acts as a buffer, temporarily storing the data until services are back online. This guarantees that no transactional information is lost, even during service outages.
The Result: Data Reliability and Peace of Mind
By implementing this cloud-native approach, we have transformed the reliability of webhooks. Downtime in any service no longer translates into missed transactional information. When services are restored, all queued items in SQS are processed, ensuring that data remains consistent and reliable.
By migrating webhooks to a cloud-native architecture using AWS API Gateway, AWS SQS, We have not only safeguarded our data but also strengthened our reputation for providing consistent and reliable financial information to our customers.
In conclusion, for any organisation, cloud-native architecture has become an invaluable tool in the pursuit of unwavering data reliability and high availability. In a digital age where financial transactions happen at lightning speed, the ability to capture, store, and process data seamlessly is the key to success, and At ZET we have unlocked this potential with precision and foresight.
