Online bankFirst Directlast week
had to draft in extra customer support staff from its
owner,HSBC, to cope with
high call volumes when some customers encountered problems after
their accounts were migrated to a new online system.
Some users were locked out of their accounts because their
browser settings were incompatible with the system. Service desk
staff had to talk thousands of callers through the steps they
needed to take to update their browser.
Jonathan Etheridge, head of e-futures at First Direct, said the
move to the new platform was part of HSBC Group's programme to
standardise its global e-commerce products on a single bespoke
platform, developed in-house on IBM Websphere technology.
"Within five days of the system going live, we migrated around
half our internet customers on to it," he said. "We had some issues
with call volumes and drafted in staff from different parts of
HSBC."
Etheridge said the platform gave customers additional
functionality and offered an improved business development
environment for controlling workflow and release management.
This would allow technically competent business managers to
introduce customer programmes in hours rather than days, he
added.
"The system has been live in Hong Kong for some time and it will
eventually be rolled out to all HSBC brands worldwide," said
Etheridge.
"Each brand will have its own look and feel, but the technology
will be the same."
In the UK, HSBC's own internet banking service will move onto
the platform later this year, although it will not offer the same
features as First Direct, Etheridge said.
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