Depending too much on technology is not good

Depending too much on technology is not good

By Hanny Agustine

JAKARTA (JP): The banking industry, a sector most affected by
the economic turmoil, suffered further when more than 500 bank
offices were damaged or burned down in the recent riots.

Angry mobs rampaged and burned not only the buildings, but
also ATMs. Bank Central Asia, the biggest private bank in the
country, was a major target. Almost 150 ATMs and 122 branch
offices were rampaged, looted and/or burned down.

As a result, as reported by the media, there were long queues
in front of the bank's ATMs still in operation. Customers waited
for hours to get to the head of the queues.

BCA has the most sophisticated online system out of all the
country's banks. The bank, which had almost eight million
customers before the riots, relies on its almost 1,800 ATMs.

Unlike ATM services provided by several other banks which
allow withdrawals only, BCA customers can also pay their
telephone, electricity and pager bills or transfer money to other
BCA branches which are online. This helps accelerate business
transactions across the country.

ATMs became widely used here only a few years ago. Things are
very simple, just push in your pin and account numbers and make a
transaction. When you need money, you can withdraw from an ATM
machine any time of day. Customers do not need to keep a lot of
money at home and there is no need to go to the bank frequently.

Due to the ease, it is not surprising that more and more
people are using ATMs. People have become used to ATMs, even
dependent.

Over the last three years, there has been a growing focus on
core business among large users. Indonesian executives are slowly
seeing information technology as a strategic tool, which can
contribute to business performance. They are beginning to look
into information technology to help reduce costs and increase
revenue.

The introduction of ATMs banks spread widely and a dependency
on technology grew.

From a customer's viewpoint, the simplicity and various
features offered by ATMs create more dependency on technology.

It was not easy, though, to convince the public about the
benefits of ATMs. Banks actually introduced ATMs a long time ago,
but it took years before people accepted the technology.

When the riots rocked Jakarta in the middle of last month, the
reliability of ATMs broke down due to vandalism. Many customers
had to delay telephone bill payments or postpone business
transactions.

There are lots of benefits in online systems, but once the
system is interrupted, business is affected. This indicts how
dependent we have become on technology.

Obviously, a lot of money was spent on preparing the
infrastructure and applying the technology.

Now the banks which were affected by the recent riots have to
invest in new machines, rebuild branch offices and install new
systems. Even though the destruction of ATMs and branch offices
does not affect a central computer system, a backup system has to
be set up and disaster recovery system implemented.

However, technology needs infrastructure readiness and
therefore bringing back normalcy will take some time.