Technology Issues saved by Humans

Has technology ever let you down?

Well, it has failed me many times, but in the week of January 16th, 2023 several issues came together that were ultimately saved by humans.

It all started with a failure with the GPS of my mobile since it started not receiving the exact location where I was moving in the city. I checked this with two applications: Google Maps and Waze, so I took it to an authorized service center. There, very kindly the employee checked it and the result of his scanner was that it did indeed have a fault. For this, it had to be reprogrammed but I would lose all my information so he suggested me to back it up. I did so and the employee reprogrammed my phone, "solving" the GPS problem (momentarily). When it was delivered to me, I tested it and everything seemed to work fine.

Data restoration process

Back at home, I started the process of restoring all the information. If anyone has already done this process, you will know that it is not simple and takes a lot of time and patience as you have to perform a specific procedure for each of the applications, as well as return to the state you had to have the best experience of the phone (screen, locks, passwords, Bluetooth pairings, etc.).

I am not going to tell you all the processes performed, but there were some applications that just by reinstalling them from the backup worked perfectly and several that were a real headache. In this story, I am only going to focus on a banking App that, due to errors in its central system, could not authenticate me. I confirmed this by calling the customer service center of this bank, where I was told that there was a failure in their system and that it would be resolved as soon as possible. The solution to their problem was given until the following day and that was when I was able to continue with the app reactivation on my phone. This left me unable to perform transactions or banking operations since to access the web application, it requests a token that is only obtained through the app. Likewise, I had no access to any functionality such as being able to use the digital card functionality, since the verification number can only be obtained from the App.

Other technology issues

When I already knew about the problems with the banking App and was waiting for a solution, the gas supplier arrived to refill the tank as they do every month. I know the employees at the truck very well and I have an excellent relationship with them. When the time came to charge me as usual, I gave him my credit card (plastic) to pay the amount consumed, and there he mentioned to me that he had had problems with the Point of Sale Terminal (POS) earlier, so he would charge me by calling their customer service center and, giving my data, the charge would be made in that other way. I accepted (without any problem), but when the customer service employee tried to make the payment, it was rejected by the same banking institution that had errors with the App. The clerk told me to give her the digital card data since this is the only way to authorize transactions with the bank. I told her that this was not possible due to the failures of the bank. Very kindly, the truck employee told me: "Don't worry, as soon as I get the POS fixed, I will come back to you to make the payment. You are my customer and if you have always been able to pay with the plastic, we will do so". Of course, I thanked him for his actions and I was a satisfied customer, despite the technology issues.

Conclusions

I have been running several tests on my phone's GPS and the software problem was reactivated after 48 hours. So, it was not a software problem and the quote to change the GPS is more expensive than the benefit of changing the phone. I will certainly not replace it with one of the same brands, since my research on the web tells me that my problem is more common than I expected (in addition to other evaluation points). Even though it was the 3rd phone purchased from that brand, I have already lost confidence in them because of this issue and other points that had been presented with it and current issues with newer versions that I was not willing to go through.

Although the banking institution does not give good service due to some technological failures, as you already know me, I have great experience in the banking sector and I know the major banks very well. That is why I keep my account at this bank, as they are "the least bad".

I will continue with the same company that supplies the gas since the service provided by the employees of the truck solves many of the issues within their processes.

Why is it important to review 'what if' scenarios (BCP-Business Continuity plan)?

1. No organization is exempt from technology issues, since technology "has no word of honor". We must have not only technical support schemes but also processes and procedures in cases in which we cannot operate as usual.
2.  Thanks to employees (humans), this is how problems are solved when technology doesn't work. If processes and/or procedures are not flexible and focused on Customer Experience (CX), employees will give bad service and therefore customers will be upset enough to abandon any brand.
3. We must review whether our customers remain with our organization because of their degree of satisfaction, or if we are the "least bad" in the market. What would happen if we start to lose our customers and/or market share? This is why financial institutions are being displaced by Fintechs by better solving specific needs and/or issues.
4. Even if the organization has an APP, this does not mean that the CX is good. Therefore, the App should touch all points of any process, not only including the "happy path", and also the alternate processes where there is interaction with the customer, such as product doubts, clarifications, returns, restorations, etc. All this must be properly integrated (in an agile, simple, flexible, and innovative way) to meet the customers’ expectations.
5. Digital Transformation must not start in reverse by offering a technological solution, and then reviewing/adapting processes, organizational culture, and finally addressing the needs of our customers, suppliers, and employees.

I offer you to review your culture, processes, and/or technology to create a specific strategy and roadmap for your organization with a customer-focused approach, improving the quality of life of employees (innovating and being more efficient) through the use of data, all this enabled by the technology that best suits your needs.

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