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The RBS, Ulster Bank And NatWest Disaster. What Can We Learn From It?
Email Fails And Why It's So Important To Get Email Communication Right
TweakYourBiz TV Talks With Entrepreneur, Investor And Philanthropist Bill Liao

The RBS, Ulster Bank And NatWest Disaster. What Can We Learn From It?

Posted: 28 Jun 2012 02:11 AM PDT

I'm sure everyone will have heard about the problems with the Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and Ulster Bank in the past week. I bank with Ulster Bank and I'm told payments made to me last week are unlikely to reach my account until next week – almost 14 days delay. All my direct debits are on hold too and I'm waiting to hear if there are any ramifications to this.

According to this news report on the BBC Wednesday (27^th) lunchtime they say 99% of accounts are up to date. I've just checked and mine isn't – in fact Ulster Bank have an announcement on their site saying they hope to clear the backlog by next week. Conflicting stories are not good.

This is an unprecedented calamity for the group of banks and I am sure they are going to lose a lot of customers because of it. I have been hearing a lot about personal account problems – wages not being received, pensions being held up, mortgages not paid. But I haven't heard much about big business accounts and how they have been affected.

In my previous life in London we banked with NatWest and deals would be made that hinged on over £1 million hitting our account on a particular day or large payments being made which had to reach our suppliers by a certain time that day. If this debacle had happened to our business in those days it would have crippled us.

Computer glitch?

The reason for the "computer glitch" is still unsure – I've seen it blamed on new IT employees in India and also the software company in the US doing an upgrade. No actual definitive reason is being given which is quite strange and indeed scary.

So lessons are needed to be learnt from this and I'm sure some heads will roll too. I believe businesses can also learn from this complete failure as well.

Prevention

Back up, back up, back up – always ensure your data is backed up on a regular basis. The more important the information the more often the back up should be
Don't allow minions to be in charge of important updates – if something is critical to your business ensure the person dealing with it is capable and you can rely on them
Oversee work done to make sure it is correct – if you have to delegate use a supervisor or yourself to check people's work until you are sure they no longer need to be overseen
Provide up-to-date and on-going training – keep your employees knowledgeable about all systems
Surprise audits – do spot checks to make sure the productivity and quality is being kept up
Always have a check off point during important tasks being done – maybe a supervisor has to sign off at different stages so if there is a problem it can be pinpointed
Treat anything major to your business like the big red button – handle with care

Deal with the fall out

If the **** does hit the fan then deal with it immediately – don't allow any delays
Keep people informed - don't hide behind "no comment" or clever wording to disguise what has actually happened
Ensure all are singing from the same song sheet – if it is widespread across a few companies or countries then make sure they are given the up to date information to pass on to customers and clients and no conflicting reports
Have a back-up plan – always have a system or plan that goes into motion whenever any problems arise.
Have a back-up plan of the back-up plan

Recovery

Learn from your mistakes – analyse what went wrong and put systems in place to ensure it doesn't happen again
Provide compensation – if people are affected by what happened in any negative way offer compensation, freebies, discounts or whatever it takes to keep their custom

Mistakes happen; it's a fact of life. If you do what you can to prevent them in the first place all the better. In this technological day and age we all rely heavily on systems working. But think outside the box as if the system didn't work – what would happen? And be prepared just in case. Hopefully the RBS "glitch" will be sorted very soon and nothing like this will happen again to any other banking institution.

If you have any helpful ideas how companies can avoid or deal with "glitches" please do let me know.

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Image: "Man looking astonished in a network data center/Shutterstock"

Email Fails And Why It's So Important To Get Email Communication Right

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 09:10 AM PDT

Over the past number of weeks, I've been interviewed in the Irish media on email etiquette an the importance of getting email communication right. Research has shown that with human communication, only 7% is the actual words that are spoken or written; 93% of communication is non-verbal. This is one of the main reasons why email, as a mode of communication, can be tricky and needs to be managed correctly.

Here are a few examples when emails have gone wrong and how it's so easily done.

Sending to All instead of One

Recently, Aviva Investors sent a mail to 1,300 staff members firing them. One Friday morning, an email with leaving instructions meant for one employee was accidentally sent to the company's entire global workforce of 1,300 people. It told staff to hand over all property belonging to the company, together with security passes, as they left the building.

The email was wonderfully worded "I am required to remind you of your contractual obligations to the company you are leaving. You have an obligation to retain any confidential information pertaining to Aviva Investors operations, systems and clients."

And it closed with: "I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and wish you all the best for the future."

So while the email from a written communication's perspective was carefully thought out, the sending of it was not.

It's been reported that that a stunned silence ascended on the workforce through Ireland, UK, New Zealand and other locations.

The 'Reply All' button

Two travelers booked flights for the first time with US budget airline Spirit Airlines when going to a concert. Their flight was delayed, so they missed their concert and looked for compensation. They were given $200 worth of Spirit Airlines vouchers but that wasn't enough. They wanted a note from the CEO which they got (unintentionally) and it went like this:

"We owe him nothing as far as I'm concerned. Let him tell the world how bad we are. He's never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny."

Instead of only sending this to his staff member, he accidentally hit "reply to all" and the couple got to see what the CEO really thought of their complaint. They emailed it to several bloggers and the company had a very red face.

It's this type of communication that customer service or management should avoid. I constantly advise clients not to send out mails that they would not want their mums to get!

Over-use of Caps button

A restaurant client of mine received an email of complaint from a customer. However, it was written in all capitals. This is considered screaming or shouting and there were quite a few exchanges between staff and management. However, one of the managers decided to call up the person rather than just reply on email. He was a phone guy rather than an email guy.

It turns out that it was an elderly lady who didn't know how to turn off the caps lock and just wanted to alert the management about the issues of service she encountered. It was meant more as a helpful email rather than complaint…but again, the message was lost over this impersonal medium.

A Firing Offense

Another example is the infamous story of Jonas Blank in the US. He was interning in a top NYC law firm and fired off a mail to a pal revealing he was "busy doing jack..." and accidentally sent it to his boss…who fired him.

It's something that job seekers as well as professionals should be aware. Email communication is a way many people use to communicate but messages can be lost between the person writing and the person sending. From a communications perspective, it's important to know who you are sending your mail to and watch the tone and style you're writing in.

So, the rules to avoid negative press

Before you begin any emails, think about who it is you're sending the email to and what you want to say. Here are some basic, but sometimes forgotten, tips to help you get on the right email path:

Professionalism - Above all, your emails should represent you in a positive and professional light. You wouldn't wear a dirty, creased suit to work so you shouldn't send an email that portrays a less-than positive image of yourself.
Clarity - Be as clear as you can with your emails. Say what you need to say and sign off.
Approach-ability - You are neither everyone's best friend nor are you their boss. Be approachable in your emails; don't be over-friendly and don't be too cold. Find yourself a happy medium as emails do help to build and nurture relationships.

What to do if you inadvertently send a bad email

Sending a bad email need not result in negative press but it does require management and immediate management at that. You can avoid red faces if you act accordingly. Ignoring it and hoping it goes away will never help. Whether you send a mail for personal or professional reasons, you can always recover from it by following some simple tips:

Be prompt - Send an apology email straight away. As soon as you realize there is a problem, recognize it and do something about it. Don't be an ostrich and bury your head in the sand, hoping that it will all go away. It's easier to do that but better not.
Be honest - People admire honesty. And most of us make mistakes at some point – having the courage to admit it is admirable. So be honest, admit your mistake and make amends to move on.
Apologize - Everyone knows when an apology isn't meant. So in order to right an email wrong, you need to be transparent and open. It will come across as sincere – just the way you want it to.
Realize your responses - Acknowledge that despite your best efforts of apologizing, you will get responses that you may not like. It is those responses that need to be managed on an individual basis.

In summary, being careful and professional when sending emails is the best form of prevention in sending incorrect emails. But everyone is human and mistakes happen. If they do, act immediately to resolve any issues to save your reputation.

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Image: "Close-up of a send button/Shutterstock"

TweakYourBiz TV Talks With Entrepreneur, Investor And Philanthropist Bill Liao

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 06:23 AM PDT

I had the pleasure recently of interviewing Bill Liao, an Australian entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist based in Ireland. Bill is co-founder of Coderdojo, co-founder of Xing.com, founder of WeForest.org and venture partner with SOS Ventures (along with our newest Irish Dragon, Sean O'Sullivan, who talked with us on TYB in March)

Bill is a perfect marriage of tech savvy and business, where he can write an iPad app, mentor a start-up or explore his philanthropic flare.

Here is the link to the video of Bill Liao advising Angel Investors on how to look after start-ups. Well worth a watch.
Recently Bill was the keynote speaker at the amazing #dotconf event, held at the National College of Ireland.
And he will be taking part in the packed World Social Media Day event at The Rubicon Centre in Cork on June 30th. You can connect with Bill at @liaonet

Bill talks business, bikinis and code

I caught up with Bill to talk business, bikinis and code and as for angel investors, Liao's five nuggets of advice when they engage with entrepreneurs are:

not to be too greedy
find other mentors
demand measures
make their story crisp
find coders

Click here to view the embedded video.

I hope you enjoyed the interview and have some take aways that are of use to you. Apologies for the giggles, we had a little more fun than was anticipated