TSB Calamity Gives Pause For Thought On Storage Of Data
It was a time bomb that ticked for three years – late last month, it blew!
You do not need to search hard on the Internet to find warnings by experts in 2015, to the Spanish bank Sabadell.
These predicted that transferring TSB from the Lloyds systems to Sabadell’s own platforms was ‘high risk.’
The switch was long planned for ‘late 2017’ but, last October, was delayed into this year.
Unfortunately, we all know what happened next.
Businesses have sustained damage, house sales have been lost and countless customers have endured the stress of seeking a means to purchase the essentials of everyday living.
Back in 2012, Santander pulled out of a deal to buy three hundred branches of RBS, citing the complications of migrating between the bank’s differing IT systems as the reason.
That looks a sound call, in hindsight, and one which its competitor failed to heed.
The whole sorry mess should give us all reason to think carefully about online services and the sanctity of our data.
Some customers complained that, post transfer, their accounts held less than they should have done.
How does someone who, after pressure from a bank, has dispensed with regular statements through their letterbox and only logs on for balance checks, prove that some of their money has gone?
Generally, the option of holding our data on distant servers ‘in the cloud’ is a good thing.
Our photos and the like are less likely to be lost out there than on our own hard disks and memory sticks. But there is some information that it is best to have our own copies at home on paper.
