5 questions with … JPMorgan Chase Head of Product for Small Business Troutman

As JPMorgan Chase leans into AI-driven products, Jameson Troutman, head of product for small business, is dedicated to innovating based on client need. 

To determine where to invest, Troutman consults the bank’s monthly survey of 500 small business owners to track their needs amid evolving market conditions, Troutman told Bank Automation News. Some of the biggest pain points small business owners expressed this summer were: 

• Inflation;

  

• Supply chain disruptions; 

• Labor shortages; and 

• Cash flow issues. 

“These needs guide our product innovation strategy,” he said during a recent interview with BAN.  

Troutman discussed his approach to innovation, recent product launches he has worked on and how he leads his team with client need at the forefront. What follows is an edited version of that conversation. 

Bank Automation News: How does your team approach the product pipeline? 

Jameson Troutman: At Chase for Business, we rely on customer and employee feedback to address small business owners’ pain points and identify the most impactful initiatives that will help them grow their businesses. With a focus on robust, agile roadmap planning and prioritization, we gather feedback from internal stakeholders, speak with customers and prospects, and look at the data we are seeing on complaints, digital engagement/usage and call center reasons to make informed decisions on priorities.  

Lastly, sometimes we need to prioritize items for risk or control reasons. We reevaluate our priorities regularly to ensure the market hasn’t shifted in a way that requires us to adjust. 

BAN: What are recent products that have launched under your leadership: 

JT: Faster payments: A recently launched online payment center that gives business owners the flexibility to choose different payment options to pay vendors and employees quickly.  

Invoicing: A digital invoicing solution that gives small businesses an easier way to create invoices and bill their customers so they can get paid faster.  

Customer Insights: A powerful business intelligence platform that provides simple, actionable insights to help business owners more effectively reach their customers, run more efficiently and make strategic decisions. With Customer Insights, Chase for Business customers will have complimentary access to aggregated, anonymized data about businesses like theirs, such as average customer profile, average ticket amount and busiest shopping times.  

Payroll: A solution for our Chase Payment Solutions customers that allows them to automate and simplify the way they pay their employees, giving them time back in their day. 

BAN: Where is innovation most necessary for small business clients today? 

JT: Small businesses are currently navigating the higher costs of doing business — whether they pass them along to consumers, cut costs within their business, or reduce their business expenses. Innovation is key to helping small businesses tackle these challenges and keeping them thriving in the ever-changing economic landscape.  

Cash-flow management remains a critical area of focus but small business owners are also learning how to adapt to new digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, and figuring out what works for their business.

From another recent survey we conducted, AI was described as the most popular technology to add in the next year. Our recent Business Leaders Outlook survey found that AI applications (48%), cryptocurrency (30%) and virtual reality/Metaverse (25%) are the top technologies small business owners plan to adopt. New technologies, especially AI, will be a game-changer for business owners — saving time, reducing costs and improving efficiency.  

From what we’ve seen, technology and artificial intelligence is here, and it’s here to stay. We expect it will have a great impact on the services we provide as a bank. 

BAN: How long does it take to get a product from idea to launch? 

JT: Our innovation timeline can vary greatly based on a number of factors — from a few months to a few quarters — based on the complexity of the build and the impact it has on our business operations. We strive to be as quick as possible to market, but given we serve over 6 million small businesses, we also need to ensure that when we launch something, it is going to work well and do the job that our customers need it to do.  

As part of this evaluation of speed to market, we will decide whether we need to test the feature with a smaller set of customers before we make it generally available to a majority of customers. For some smaller changes, we may be okay with launching it to everybody right away. For larger product launches, we follow a rigorous process that lets us test the product with a small set of customers first. Then, we slowly ramp up the roll-out to ensure our banker and operational teams are ready to properly support the launch. 

BAN: How would you describe your leadership style? 

JT: I am a people-oriented leader who mentors my teams to understand the “why” behind what we are doing. I enjoy coaching and helping individuals on my team succeed at their job and in their career. It’s in my DNA to really enjoy being in the details of the work, but I give my team the space and time to do proper discovery, understand the facts and define requirements. I trust them to deliver best-in-class products. 

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