How to Recover from a Computer Error

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Computer algorithm problems have recently made the news in a big way. A few weeks ago, the pound suffered a six per cent loss in value against the American dollar – seemingly the result of a computer error that occurred after French president Francois Hollande said that Britain should make a speedy exit from the European Union (EU).

This highlighted the issue of the rising use of computers and their algorithms in business and how, maybe, they aren’t as effective as we would hope. Not that it’s going to stop their use, of course.

But there are some things that businesses can think about in order to prepare themselves for any computer error eventuality.

Keep customers happy

There are times when a computer error is going to happen, regardless of how safe you thought you were from this. This means that companies need to have a proper contingency plan in place to keep their customers happy.

External problems could cause interruptions in service or even a loss of data. In order to keep customers satisfied in situations like these, you should act as soon as you can. It’s always best to come out with a social media post or a text to all customers or clients, alerting them to the problem and assuring them that you’re working to get everything back to normal. Keeping customers informed is vital.

If you need some help in delivering customer service across different channels, software exists to make it easier.

Saying sorry is hugely important. Acknowledging that your customers are going to be inconvenienced is vital. Don’t make excuses. Just come out and apologise. And make sure it sounds sincere, otherwise you risk raising hackles.

Explain what happened

When a problem has occurred, it’s best to fully explain what happened. Don’t leave your customers wondering about things because this will only lead to worse problems, such as your customers making assumptions. It’s often likely that whatever they imagine could be worse than the actual problem.

Send a personalised email to each group of customers you may have and keep the content focused on the specific problems that these customers may have experienced.

Knowing what happened will go some way towards helping reassure your customers that you are dealing with it and making sure that it won’t take place again.

Use the appropriate language for your customers when you’re explaining. If you’re directing your communications towards personal banking consumers, for example, you shouldn’t go too far into the technical aspects of the error.

Just keep it simple, while still explaining what happened. When you’re doing this, make sure that you let them know you have taken steps to ensure it will not happen again.

Ensure you have the right systems

One of the most important tips I could give you when it comes to recovering from a computer error is to make sure that you then implement the right systems to prevent something like that happening again.

If you haven’t updated your systems in a while, this is a good place to start. To begin this process, you could take Aspect’s self-assessment, which could help you compare your current situation to where you’d like to be.

You could then look at bringing in some cloud-based services to your business. This could help in avoiding any data loss because everything is saved automatically.

Even after an external problem, such as internet cuts, anything you did before that point will still be saved on your system, which means you won’t lose anything.

Author: Guest Author

Published On: 18th Nov 2016 - Last modified: 26th Feb 2019
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