Simplicity is sophistication

When we started SteadyPay, we worked out of what used to be a yoga studio. It was small, just able to squeeze in four desks. It was all we could afford.Almost a year later we moved into our first proper office. To mark the occasion we used washi tape to decorate a wall. More often than not, the decoration took the form of a quote.The quote had to be meaningful; it couldn't be like those platitudes too often posted on Facebook and Instagram. Sure, "shoot for the moon: even if you fail you'll land among the stars" is grand, but it also warrants an eye roll.This is a picture of a quote that appears on the wall. The full quote is "simplicity is the ultimate in sophistication". It's often attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci (though the accuracy of this is doubtful).Steve Jobs appropriated it to explain Apple's design philosophy. We've appropriated it too.Simplification isn't easy, especially so in financial services where a raft of regulations state how a business must engage with customers. Regulations provide a safeguard, but the trade-off is complexity. A small example: when you apply to SteadyPay we're required to take you through not just one but two documents explaining the features of our credit agreement.Nonetheless, we're constantly searching for ways to reduce or remove complexity from the customer experience.For example, as a lending service we need to gather information on your employer, income and expenses. However we don't ask you to manually fill in lots of boxes or provide documentation. Instead, you link SteadyPay to your main bank so this information can be automatically collected.And because you link SteadyPay to your main bank, this makes the management of top-ups and repayments pretty much effortless. SteadyPay automatically detects when you've been paid, determines if the pay is above or below average, and tells you if you're due a top-up or a repayment.If you think we're doing something that appears unnecessary or cumbersome, please don't be shy. You can give us feedback by emailing [email protected] or by using the in-app chat service.