Gill Haus, CIO of Consumer and Community Bank (CCB) at JPMorgan Chase, offered a simple answer when asked what technology most excites him. It wasn’t blockchain, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, or any trendy cutting-edge technologies.

Mobile technology is where his passion lies, Haus told Bank Automation News.

“While not an emerging piece of technology, mobile phones continue to get more powerful on both iOS and Android platforms,” Haus said. “This is great news for our mobile engineers who get the opportunity to create new functionality in our mobile app, helping to make it easier, faster and more convenient for our customers to manage their finances at any time and from anywhere.”

The CCB at the $3.7 trillion JPMorgan Chase serves more than 60 million households in the U.S. As its CIO, Haus oversees an annual technology budget of $4 billion and a staff of more than 12,000 technologists. He also heads Chase’s technology team and the global technology leadership team.

Haus previously served as head of digital technology, where he led the bank’s modernization efforts and the move of customer-facing infrastructure to the private and public cloud.

He also served as chief technology officer for several organizations, including Capital One’s enterprise products and platforms division, AOL’s content and paid service, and RideCharge, now Curb.

Bank Automation News: Talk about an emerging technology — besides mobile — that excites you and that you are exploring integrating.

Gill Haus: The other thing that is really exciting to me from a technology standpoint is how we are using data at scale to provide our customers with unique experiences. Key to those experiences has been moving our data and applications to the cloud. We are just scratching the surface on this front. The benefits to our company and our customers are going to compound over the next several years. I can’t wait for our customers to experience some of the things we are working on.

BAN: What’s something you will prioritize automating in 2022?

GH: From a technology perspective, one thing we’ll be automating a lot more in 2022 is how we build, test and release software. The end result will be drastic improvements to speed, reliability and stability, helping us to deploy new or enhanced features that our 58 million digitally active customers use on Chase.com or in the Chase Mobile app every day.

Combined with our recent transition to a product-based organization, our product, design and technology teams are collaborating even more closely, which has increased our ability to quickly respond to changing customer needs.

BAN: What do you see as the biggest opportunity for technology in retail banking right now?

GH: Some of the most exciting tech innovations today are happening in banking. One of the key advancements, and one that Chase is investing in heavily, is personalization. Consumers want access to information that is tailored personally to them. Examples include shopping recommendations at your favorite retailer based on previous purchases or movies you should watch based on what you’ve been streaming. Banking is no different.

Today, we have a feature in our mobile app called Snapshot that gives our customers a personalized view into their spending and savings habits. Our customers want more tailored experiences based on their unique needs and preferences, and we are doubling down on these capabilities. Our technology, product, digital, data and analytics, and design teams are hard at work to deliver even more personalization for our customers across all of the lines of business we serve.

BAN: What’s your favorite piece of leadership advice?

GH: Be humble. When you make yourself humble you make it safe for people at all levels on your team to ask questions and learn. It’s impossible to know everything, but if you stay humble and transparent, you’ll inspire others to learn and grow. For technologists, specifically, I’d say learn as much as you can about both heritage and modern technologies.

Companies of all sizes, including Chase, are undergoing massive technology transformations – so being able to bridge the gap between old and new technologies is key for tech leaders that want to be successful.

There has never been a more exciting time to be a technologist and those who choose to develop their career in banking will find that the sky is the limit when it comes to opportunities to use their skills and make a tangible impact for our business and customers. Can you tell I love my job?

BAN: What’s something your employees would be surprised to learn about you?

GH: In my younger days, I used to DJ at raves and nightclubs. I’ve since retired my turntables, but still enjoy listening to music as much as I can. I’ve also been a long-time video gamer. I just love how much both the hardware and software have evolved over the last decade.

Today, video games are a way for me to unwind after a long day at work or to bond with my kids. I’m often traveling for work, so having the ability to play video games on my mobile devices has been a nice way to disconnect when I’m not working.

Bank Automation Summit, taking place March 1-2 in Charlotte, N.C., is the first and only event to focus solely on automation in banking. The event will feature the brightest minds from across financial services on intelligent automation strategies and deployment. Learn more and register for Bank Automation Summit 2022.