JPMorgan: The Bank Of Technology

JPMorgan Chase is not only on the cutting edge of the banking industry, but they are a leader in technology. They are spending $2 billion alone just to overhaul its network which is twice of what technology giant, Hewitt Packard, is spending in the same time period to overhaul their network. JPMorgan Chase is also spending an additional $1 billion to support the plan to reduce the number of global centers from 90 to 30. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase’s CEO, knows that smart investments in technology can help reduce overhead and increase revenue but one of the reasons for such high funding in the technology sector of the company is to enable the computer systems used by the company to speak the same language. JPMorgan Chase was formed by the merger of several financial institutions who utilized different computer databases, some of which were out of date. In order to allow the company to run smoothly and be able to harvest all of this information onto one system, a standalone network needed to be formed so that data was not lost and business moved along without a hitch. Not only is investing in technology important to bring the network onto one system but it is also invaluable when it comes to introducing new products as well as reducing processing time. For instance, the introduction of the Blink Card which enables users to pay using their credit card just by holding it over a reader instead of having to swipe the card, enter a pin, sign for the purchase, or hand it to the store associate to process. Home equity loan processing also was reduced from two days to just two hours. Being on the forefront of technology allows JPMorgan Chase to introduce the newest, greatest products keeping customers enticed and bringing new customers on board.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_25/b3989067.htm