Hey, So: Adam Ward

Hey! So, who are you? Give us a little intro.

Hey! I'm Adam Ward, Chief Technology Officer at Haysto. I manage the Development team, oversee the tech strategy for the business, and ensure we’re always using the latest technology to continuously innovate our in-house software and integration potential.

Before joining Haysto, I worked for over 10 years as a web/software developer for various agencies and startups - building, planning and managing an array of bespoke web applications across a wide collection of industries.

Why would a mortgage broker need a Chief of Tech?

Haysto is a tech-focussed company - but with a big blend of human excellence! 

We've invested a huge amount of time and effort into building an amazing team of Case Managers, Mortgage Experts and Insurance Specialists, who have an unimaginable amount of ever-changing market knowledge stored in their brains, as well as top notch customer service! 

My role is to ensure we can provide the team with the best in-house tools they need to automate the repetitive and day-to-day tasks. This enables them to work quickly and efficiently, and leaves them to focus on the things that matter - our customers. 

The mortgage industry is lagging behind other financial sectors. We're looking to introduce more technology to improve the customer experience and to achieve a complete end-to-end online mortgage application process. We’re an ambitious bunch at Haysto and we’re not looking to stop at what’s already possible - we’re looking to take everything to the next level.

What drew you to a career in tech?

It all started with sound and music technology. From a young age I had a passion for recording music and was always exploring and experimenting with using the latest sound technology. When I started playing in bands (back in the MySpace days🤭) I was keen to try and build our band’s websites, which is where my love for web technologies started. 

Technology is at the heart of Haysto - what makes this platform different?

Our platform is completely bespoke. It’s been built from the ground up, in-house, with the sole purpose of meeting the needs of Haysto customers and Mortgage Experts. We haven’t spent time bending our business needs around the limitations of off-the-shelf software. Instead, we rethink how these products can be rebuilt to suit our business needs and improve service offerings.

Our platform’s been built in a systematic way, allowing us to easily incorporate new technologies as we scale up. Future features that we’re excited about include; utilising open banking for income and expenditure analysis, integrated credit checks, and direct integrations with mortgage lenders for real-time decisions for our customers. 

What’s the best bit of your job? And what’s the biggest challenge?

The best part is, undoubtedly, the shared goal of making our customers’ dreams come true. But this can only work collectively as a team, and the whole tech team gets a huge amount of satisfaction knowing that the software we create plays a big part in that goal.

It’s always a challenge to keep on top of changes in technology, but it’s a challenge I very much still enjoy. The continuous innovation from startups all around the globe keeps my mind busy with ideas and inspires me to always look at how other industries tackle similar issues to the ones we face. It certainly feels like the most exciting time to be working in tech for me. A lot of the previous limitations in computing and web technologies are a thing of the past now and it really feels like the possibilities are endless!

If you could make one impossible thing possible, what would it be?

There’s so many ideas that I want to explore, but the only thing that pushes back on me is the number of hours in a day. So, more hours in the day please!