Ulster Bank difficulties - Automation leaves people in the dark

In recent years people have been encouraged to do their banking electronically.

Banks have been making it difficult for customers to interact with staff by forcing customers to wait in growing queues.

The push towards electronic banking has been justified on the grounds that it is cheaper and more efficient, but that efficiency has come into serious question over the difficulty experienced by customers at Ulster Bank during recent days. It was the first time something of this magnitude has happened in this country, but it should act as a timely warning of similar things likely to happen elsewhere as we become more dependent on computers.

In that sense these difficulties might even be welcomed. The problems would have been so much greater if Bank of Ireland or AIB had been hit by such a malfunction. The difficulties experienced over the Ulster Bank glitch are possibly outside this jurisdiction, because they also involved associate banks, NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland.

What happened is a reminder that business loses the personal touch when automation takes over. Nobody will get or should expect either understanding or a proper hearing from a computer. Computers only do what they are programmed to do.

What has happened is a reminder not just to the customers of Ulster Bank, but to everyone that computers operate under Murphy’s Law — if anything can go wrong, it will eventually go wrong.

Social Protection Minister Joan Burton hit out angrily at Ulster Bank. “Given all the grief that banks have caused the people in Ireland,” she said, “I really think that the bank needs to address this particular situation with absolute urgency.”

Of course, the latest difficulties should be kept in proper perspective, as the whole thing is relatively minor in comparison to the overall damage that the banking sector has done to the country. They have ruined businesses and lives, and the cream of a generation are now being forced into exile.

The problems of automation were brought home to people in the US and Canada on Nov 9, 1965, when more than 30m people were left without electricity for up to 12 hours due to a chain reaction as a result of a power surge. The system designed to prevent local power failures actually led to a massive blackout.

The current problems at Ulster Bank should act as a warning of the dangers of over-reliance on automation. ISME has called on the Central Bank to investigate what caused the glitch to ensure it never happens again. It is important to learn from the mistake, both from how it happened and how the whole thing was mishandled publicly.

Ulster Bank failed to provide customers with adequate information. Those customers were left in the dark with no alternative but to take to the airwaves to highlight their difficulties. Computers are invaluable tools but adequate steps must be taken to foresee and forestall the inevitable consequences of such glitches.