Wells Fargo has moved its Digital Labs team into a new 17000 square foot facility in San Francisco to provide a bigger stage to showcase the bank's emerging technologies.
Originally founded nearly a decade ago as an online-only space, the Digital Labs team comprises nearly a dozen developers, engineers, strategy consultants, and technical project managers led by director Miranda Hill.
Explaining the move to the new location in the heart of Silicon Valley, Hill says: "We needed a place to showcase our demos for customers, executives, and the team member population. You can only do so many PowerPoint presentations. But by creating demos for a smartphone or tablet, we can provide an immersive experience that is much more effective.”
In recent times, the Lab has helped roll out a gallery of popular tech-based features, including Wells Fargo Mobile Banking App; SurePay person-to-person digital pay service; real-time online account activity alerts; and Wells Fargo Wallet, the company’s entry in the mobile wallet space.
One of its more recent outputs, card-free payments at ATMs via one-time mobile passcodes is expected to be introduced across the bank's estate of 13000 cash machines nationwide in the spring.
Developers are already working on next-generation financial services technology integrating things like virtual reality, social media, biometrics, and GPS-based systems into customer services, Hill says. Ultimately, she wants to have lab locations across the company to embed the culture of innovation within the bank's DNA.
“I hope to provide more team members with a front-row seat to innovation,” she says. “It is critical for the lab to continually push the boundaries on the future of personal finance and money management. The more we motivate team members to reimagine experiences, the more successful we’ll be as an organisation in redefining the future of banking.”