Over the past week I have experienced 3 separate incidents of an IT system failure causing major customer dissatisfaction.
The first one was last week at SPAR, Jayanagar. It was a Saturday afternoon and the mall was pretty crowded. Nothing unusual for a weekend.Trolley loads of stuff and slow processing meant that the queues started to build on all the counters. When I joined one of the queues, I realised that the slow processing was mainly due to bar code reader malfunction - the person at the counter had to type in the code for each and every item or search for them in the inventory. Some paid through SodexHo coupons which meant at at least two rounds of counting while doing mental arithmetic - only adding up to the overall processing time. Restless kids tugging their parents clothes and urging them to move created additional emotional strain. Strategically located candy and chocolate bars in the billing aisles came to the rescue of some.
10-15 minutes for every customer meant that people farther behind in the queue had a really long waiting time. Couple of them got really upset, lost their temper and started shouting at the young boys and girls at the counter. Not a very pretty scene.
I wondered if the retail IT systems were designed with the "weekend" scenarios in mind. And this was not an isolated case; I had seen similar issues in other malls around the city as well.
The other two incidents happened today - first one at a local branch of Canara Bank. Apparently the "system" was done - none of the bank employees were able to login to the system. This meant that even relatively simple transactions like balance check/passbook updates could not take place. One customer got really upset - the gentleman had filled in a form for DD and was standing the queue for some time only to realise later that it was not possible to get a DD issued !
I myself had to deposit a DD and thankfully, it did not require the "system" to be up - it is a self-service operation (which is the case in most banks these days - you fill in the form, pin the DD to the form, apply the bank seal and drop the couple into a box).
With a Landmark gift card to redeem, I made my way to the store located in Forum Mall. Spend some time browsing in the books section. Selected couple of items and went to the counter only to find that the card cannot be redeemed as the "network" was done. I returned as a dissatisfied customer without making the purchase.
As more and more of our lives get driven by "networks" and "systems", them being "down" severely impacts our day to day activities.
