How much would a mistake cost your property?
Do you have any idea? $30,000 or $100,000? How about $5 Billion?
According to Bill Chappell’s recent article "$5 Billion Error Made By Bank Once Derided As 'Germany's Dumbest,” a $5 Billion error is not uncommon for one German bank in Berlin.
“One of Germany's largest banks mistakenly sent more than $5 billion to other banks, according to German media. It's not the first stumble for state-owned development bank KfW, which famously sent hundreds of millions of dollars to Lehman Brothers on the same day the U.S. bank filed for bankruptcy,” writes Chappell.
What would cause such a significant amount of money to be sent to other banks? We were – very – curious about the cause and result.
So, we kept reading.
We’re sure you can imagine that what we discovered is what prompted us to write today’s article.
The piece continues that “In an emailed statement, KfW — full name: Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau — told German media that it recovered the money that it had transferred by mistake. The bank says the problem was due to human error, as a computer programming mistake prompted the bank's automated payment system to repeat transfers to four banks multiple times.”
Did you catch it? If not, this is what stuck out to us like a sore thumb:
- “The bank says the problem was due to human error”
- “as a computer programming mistake prompted the bank's automated payment system to repeat transfers to four banks multiple ”
These statements are not uncommon and certainly critical to any organization. They’re also a reality you need to address for your property.
Keep reading; we’re going to discuss how ‘human error’ and ‘poor computer programming’ relates to your property, and how each can be avoided.
The Shortcomings of Reactive Operations
You know about Proactive Operations if you’re an avid reader of our articles.
But, what we don’t usually talk about is reactive operations. We have to today.
Today’s article highlights two major characteristics of a reactive operation that you need to know – and avoid.
These two flaws can happen to your organization:
- Cumbersome systems forcing inadequate training, and resulting in human error
- Antiquated tools only lead to confusion and reactive operations
Not addressed and fixed these flaws may result in multiple mistakes across your property, on more than one occasion.
Of course, the money is returned, and we’re surprised to learn that KfW is considered the World’s Safest Bank according to Global Finance magazine.
But, the mistake happened more than once.
There are no second or third chances or a redo for your property. Agree?
We get it; you’re not up against losses in the billions.
But, several repeated mistakes can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars lost. Are you willing to take that risk moving forward?
You need to resolve these potential obstructions before they occur or immediately after they happen the first time.
The luxury of money “returned the next day” doesn’t exist for you.
You need a unified solution.
Why?
Today’s unified solutions help you avoid the common mistakes that reactive operations make regularly.
Move to an Easy-To-Use Unified Solution
A significant aspect of achieving Proactive Operations is implementing a unified solution.
It’s also the best option for avoiding the major flaws that make your operation reactive.
A unified solution provides you:
- An easy-to-learn and easy-to-use solution for staff
- Superior technology that helps you avoid expensive mistakes
An easy-to-learn and easy-to-use solution for staff
Your team is held accountable for their efforts. Your responsibility is to give them the best resources to perform their duties. It’s only fair.
One of the biggest issues we find with operations that use old solutions or a multitude of individual tools is inadequate training.
Why? The solution or tools don’t work properly, and they’re too cumbersome to learn let alone use day after day.
This hindrance leads to human error.
When your staff has trouble using or can’t learn the solution you’ve forced them to use, why do you expect them not to make mistakes?
It’s common sense, but it happens across organizations all of the time.
Give your staff a solution they can pick up quickly, and that’s easy-to-use. It’s how you avoid costly slipups.
Superior technology that helps you avoid expensive mistakes
Touting ‘superior technology’ is easy when you don’t have to explain why or merely provide a partial explanation.
Trust us; you’ll understand the difference when you find a truly superior technology.
With a unified solution, you’ll have superior technology at your fingertips and disposal.
Not only will you be able to avoid the flaws noted in this article but also prevent these common setbacks from hindering your operation:
- Managing too many tools prevents seamlessness
- Discrepancies with information diminish data integrity
- Unaligned teams lead to substantial communication issues
- Poor communication puts everyone on a different wavelength
These are problems that are easy to identify, but it’s the ones you don’t even know exist that halt effectiveness.
Unified solutions cut through the “programming errors” and provide you with a robust system to focus only on being proactive.
Avoiding mistakes becomes standard across your whole organization because everyone is operating from one, interconnected, easy-to-learn and easy-to-use solution.
You foster a universal language that creates a seamless flow of information, which eliminates the inefficiencies leading to errors and liability payouts.
As you already know, a simple mistake can cost your property a fortune. Are you going to take action to avoid this ‘mistake’?
Or, are you going to be proactive?
(Want to learn more about the two primary characteristics of a unified solution? You should read this article here.)
Over to You
You don’t have a reset button for your property. That’s why you need an easy-to-use unified solution to avoid pricey mistakes.
A top-notch solution gives you the confidence of knowing your staff can quickly learn and use your system, operate it efficiently, and avoid errors that affect your bottom line.
Are you ready to avoid your next “$5 Billion Error?”
