Network disasters: Prepare now or pay later
There are two outcomes you can count on with network disruptions: angry customers and lost revenue. Whether an outage stems from tech issues, cybercrime, or an unexpected natural catastrophe, the damage compounds by the hour. And it doesn’t stop there: Fallout can extend even further, with consumers losing trust in your organization—and taking their business elsewhere.
A growing and notable threat to network disruptions is cyberattacks. As the digital payment ecosystem grows more complex by the day—so do the methods criminals deploy to wreak havoc. Last year, a global hospitality and entertainment company suffered $110 million in losses, and significant reputational damage, after being hit by a ransomware attack that shut down their systems.
Protection starts with perception. And even the sturdiest networks are subject to unforeseen disaster. It’s a question of when, not if, a network outage will occur, making it vital that banks understand the risks they face and choose the best path toward resiliency.
Below are three scenarios detailing what can happen during an outage — and how solutions can mitigate the damage.
Scenario 1: Cyberattack!
Cyber criminals break into your bank’s network, shutting it down and demanding a ransom. The IT team scrambles while your customers are shocked to find their transactions can’t be processed. As lawyers and law enforcement teams rush to the scene, angry calls overwhelm your customer service desk. Soon merchants are calling, too. You’re losing thousands of dollars in processing fees per hour, and your team indicates it could take days to unlock the network, even if you meet the criminals’ exorbitant financial demands. Customers are livid, canceling their cards and ranting to journalists about the situation.
Scenario 2: Not-so-routine maintenance
You’ve scheduled routine maintenance for 30 minutes at 3 a.m., a non-disruptive hour. But when you try to bring the system up, the network fails to beat back to life. A mad, all-hands-on-deck scramble finally brings the system online again 18 hours later.
In that time, consumers have been hit with extraordinary impacts — declined transactions and missed payments. For you, the damage can result in millions in lost revenue and incalculable harm to your reputation.
Scenario 3: Data center meltdown
Your network’s data center sits thousands of miles away, in a city that’s experiencing record-high temperatures. The heat overwhelms the center’s cooling system, and when its supercomputers shut down, so does your ability to process payments. Transactions across your region fall by 50%, causing financial losses to businesses, not to mention your bank, that multiply with every passing minute. Customers are told the outage was an act of nature and out of your control, but they start moving their accounts elsewhere. It will take months to recover the bank’s reputation and lost revenues.
Help is here
Disruptions may be inevitable for even the most secure digital networks. However, there are ways that banks can prepare for the worst case. Robust payment resiliency services can keep operations running smoothly, improve customer satisfaction and mitigate financial losses—even during bumpy times.
Exciting advances are also shaping today’s AI-based solutions to keep payments moving. Pairing seamless experiences with more accurate payment authorization and decisioning is even more essential in a global digital economy. This allows banks to give customers what they want, when they want it, to keep commerce – and trust – flowing.
