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O
ne of the rarely spoken about
aspects of technology is the level of
compromise it requires. Most articles
tend to focus on benefits. How whatever the
innovation is will make life easier, faster or
smarter. Instead of the fact that users will
have to put up with an irritating side-effect,
and will only accept doing so because the
overall advantage it brings is so great.
The smartphone is probably the greatest
example of this concept. Yes, it can make life
easier. Yes, it can be everything from a TV
to a notebook. But the compromise is that it
requires charging sometimes twice a day.
The service equivalent, meanwhile, is
probably planned (or scheduled) downtime.
Something customers have to endure
every so often, and do so because online
banking (for example) remains far more
convenient than going into a branch, even
if the website disappears every so often for
routine maintenance.
But today, the winds are changing.
As technology improves, consumer
expectations move. The compromises
people are prepared to make for helpful
or exciting innovations begin to disappear
as they want more and will accept less
inconvenience and delay to get it.
For most industries, this equates to a
change in service delivery. Picky, choice-rich,
consumers are not noted for their patience
when let down. If availability isn't instant,
they aren't interested. And brand loyalty is
an antiquated concept when competition is
so rife in every market.
It means that something businesses had
always considered routine is suddenly a
big issue for consumers. While planned
downtime was once an acceptable excuse
for a lack of service (or at the very least a
necessary evil), businesses are soon going
to have to turn to new backup and support
innovations to ensure that the promise of
‘always on’ can actually mean ‘always on’.
Changing expectations
In August 2017, Barclays announced that
almost a million of its customers would
be without online, mobile and telephone
banking services for a weekend. The reason?
They were in the process of separating their
www.intelligentcio.com
Mohamad Rizk, Manager System Engineers,
Middle East at Veeam Software
“
TODAY THE WINDS
ARE CHANGING.
AS TECHNOLOGY
IMPROVES,
CONSUMER
EXPECTATIONS
MOVE.
retail and investment arms, ring-fencing the
latter as part of new legislation following the
global financial crisis.
It’s not the first instance of this happening.
More or less all banks and consumer-
dependent businesses with a substantial
digital presence perform ‘scheduled
maintenance’ from time to time. The
difference now is that the more egregious
examples of it are starting to hit the news.
Of course, to businesses the process probably
sounds fairly reasonable. A bit of disruption for
a greater good. Better online services for all.
INTELLIGENTCIO
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