Equity Bank has had issues with their ATM system since last week. Apparently this was caused by an upgrade of the ATM system. It was a big problem last week since it was end month and some people receive their salaries through the bank. Customers turned to social media to let out their frustrations with the bank’s services. The bank on its part has not offered any information, on any platform, on either the upgrade or the issues they encountered after that.
In my opinion, Equity Bank could have handled this better and their communication plan leaves a lot to be desired. In this case, it has opened an avenue for speculation with some even suggesting that the bank is on the verge of collapse.
Here are things that Equity Bank should have done to handle the situation.
1. Inform customers about the upgrade
Equity should have told their customers beforehand about the planned upgrade so that they can plan for it. Especially because the upgrade happened at a time many customers would want to make use of the ATM services.
2. Inform customers about the issue
As soon as the encountered a problem with the upgrade, Equity should have informed their customers about it and then direct them on alternatives. This could have been in the form of a circular at their ATM’s, updates on social media, via email and even via sms where possible.
3. Quickly responding to customer queries
Equity should have responded quickly to the customer queries on social media. This would have helped diffuse because it would have been an indication that they were aware and are working on it. Instead they chose to ignore customer queries on the issue.
4. Continuously update their customers
Equity chose to stay mum as the situation unfolded. They should have been continuously updating their customers instead and keeping them informed about the situation.
What do you think Equity should have done better?
Update
Equity has released a statement and an excerpt of it is below.
Equity Bank has in the last few days experienced a delay in service delivery caused by a process of enhancing our data storage capacity to enable us increase our offering on our delivery channels especially ATMs. The experienced delays were not foreseen or expected as we had envisaged seamless backend operations without affecting our customers experience. We had anticipated that the enhancement would be over before month end.
Our team has now resolved all issues that were causing delays and we are pleased to inform you that our services are now back to normal in all our outlets.
We sincerely apologize to all our esteemed customers for inconveniences caused by this delay in our services recently. We assure you of and reiterate our commitment to continue serving you with dedication as we continue walking together in our financial services journey.
Dr James Mwangi, CBS
Group Managing Director and CEO
You can access the full statement here.