Citibank Bloopers

Does globalization automatically bring in global standards ? Or, global organizations too adopt notions of local standards ? Or, are MNCs being left behind by better managed local organizations.

These are thoughts that may come to mind if one were to use the banking services available in the country. One bank that has been in focus for one reason or the other is CitiBank. No we are not talking about how hard it's been hit by the Sub-Prime crisis. We are also not talking about whether they can survive if they book their losses this time.

We are talking about Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and the standard of services on offer. We are talking about the need for designers for putting up basic essential services. A simple definition of HCI appears in Wikipedia as given below:

Human–computer interaction (HCI) is the study of interaction between people (users) and computers. It is often regarded as the intersection of computer science, behavioral sciences, design and several other fields
of study. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-computer_interaction , 30th April 2008, 4.25 pm IST).

Citibank netbanking facility is surprisingly full of bloopers that one least expects from a global organization. These range from simple common sense errors to ones that seem serious system design errors. For instance if one were to use the investment account and pledge funds for the purchase of a mutual fund, you won't be able to see the investment history for the next few days till the time the amount gets debited and the purchase goes through. So you have no online record of funds pledged, status of investment, and available funds for withdrawl or further investment. Interestingly the help desk executives also do not have access to that information. In case the purchase fails your funds would be languishing till light dawns on the execs or the system throws up some warning, which would happen only if it is designed to do so.

There are many such bloopers on this site. For instance http://www.citibank.co.in/ has a 'citibank india' link on the top menu, which leads to this page with a parallel domain http://www.online.citibank.co.in/ ... with similar or same links. What is this... official phishing ? the second image is the main home page.

This is another one. The help desk reply comes as one chunk without formatting. The text body deals with few lines of reply and diverse topics of more products and services on offer.. as diverse as chalk and cheese. There was a time when i used to annoy my girlfriend by writing long mails without using space bar. I hope citibank is not trying to do the same to us.

Oh! this one is also good.... there are two inboxes. One inbox and another on the helpdesk page. The inbox on top shows '0' mails on several pages even when there are unread mails in the helpdesk inbox !!!! How did they manage that !

This one is also pretty good !!! This is the login page. There's a link called security tips. Click on it.. you get a pop-up window. It says you are not logged-in. Fine ! but the moment i log-in i am on to a different page !!!! Why would you then give the link on the log-in page.... and why do i need to log-in to get security tips !

Besids these... there are many more bloopers to keep you entertained. Try using the complaint form on the home page... it's not working. The Form Handler is not able to post the form. The script is not working !

Ok ! answer simple questions... first time users go to citibank.co.in ... figure out how to log in ... it has to be a trial n' error thingie.... the whole idea of HCI being intituve goes for a toss.

OK! one more... figure out what's QPIN and IPIN ?

This Global bank has only one branch in our city. There are very few ATMs. But what they have though are salary accounts of several MNCs.

How long before the sheen of Brand image wears off and local competition takes over.

And lastly the larger question. Was this interface designed by a trained designer. ? I guess not !

Spoilt for choice !

Spoilt for choice !
The count down has started. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is to present it's Development Plan for the city in an year's time. To that end PMC proposes to have a week long competition in which 'young' participants will come out with a vision for the future of the Pune city.PMC has also proposed to use 'technology' to harness these young minds to 'recreate' a city based on citizen's suggestions.
(Ref: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Pune_ropes_in_
GeNext_to_design_dream_city/articleshow/2917930.cms )

And the technology that it proposes to use is - SimCity Societies !!!
The question is should we be enthused , or should we be appalled at the suggestion ?

To be able to decide that for us, let us first understand in brief what is 'SimCity Societies' , and at the other end what are the important skills and tools traditionally required for developing a masterplan.

What is SimCity Societies ?
SimCity Societies is a city-building simulation computer game of Electronic Arts (EA) and is part of the Sim games series. The developers claim it to be a social engineering simulator rather than city-building simulator. The following description appears in the Wikipedia ,
"... Public works and a tax system do not play a part in the basic game. Instead, players get daily income from workplaces in the city. However, a downloadable update includes gameplay modes where a daily tax is incurred based on the buildings within a city. Transportation networks have been simplified to dirt roads, paved roads, subways and bus stops. Players do not build zones, a key element of past SimCity games; instead, they have the ability to directly place individual buildings, something not seen in previous editions, and similar to Monte Cristo's game City Life. There are also six "social energies", called societal values, which allow players to learn about the characteristics of the citizens. The six societal values are productivity, prosperity, creativity, spirituality, authority, and knowledge.The city will look, and act, in accordance with the energies the players choose. Players may focus on satisfying one, several, or all of these values. An improved version of the reward system introduced in SimCity 2000 has been included in the game.The game is "fully customizable" and allows the players to customize individual buildings, decorations, citizens, and game rules...".[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simcity_societies, 04.04.2008].

Now ! what would one normally look for if you had to produce a masterplan, in case you are not using a computer game to do so.
A small check list would include the following:
1) Technology
2) Professional services
3) Eminent people and organizations from socially relevant background.
And the issues that one would normally deal with would include:
1) Economic
2) Social
3) Environmental
4) Administration & Safety
5) Cultural
Technology would include, Remote Sensing, Geographical information Services, Modern Surveying and documentation methods, and conversion of all the information in to formats compatible with Simulation and Design Software. Also important would be the technology to make the data accessible for inter disciplinary sharing. Technology would also be used for study of climate, quantification and documentation of natural resources, wildlife
resources, land resources & land forms, Natural drainage patterns of the land, Ecologically fragile areas and Human habitats. One would use technology to create traffic simulation models, deduce carrying capacities of the land, to plan and design services like water supply, sanitation, roads, and energy requirements. Planning tools would be used to quantify requirements of healthcare, policing, education, government machinery and public amenities. One would also need to use extensive documentation for Heritage conservation. Besides all this one would use professional minds and techniques to bring all Social, Economic and Environmental issues together in the form of a cohesive, implementable plan and vision for the growth and renewal of a city.
The essential professional services that one would require would be that of:
Urban Designers
Urban Planners
Landscape Architects
Environmental Planners
Social Scientists / sociologists
Legal Services
Industrialists, Environmentalists,Conservationists, Economists, Social Workers, and eminent personalities from various walks of life would also need to make important contributions to the process. Lastly our Politicians and Legislators would provide the overall vision for the future of this city.

Coming back to the use of SimCity Societies. Will the documentation of week long gaming on 'SimCity Societies' help us understand peoples expectations and aspirations ? And will that understanding lead to a Master Plan that provides a roadmap for equitable growth.
Is the ground work ready for this quantum leap. Apparently not. Anybody who's worked in the field of Architecture / Landscape / Urban Design would know that we are not...we are not ready because our Land Records are in a mess. We are not ready because our resource planning is inadequate. We are not ready because we have had Electricity Load Shedding for years now and we've not been able to solve it. We are not ready because the best natural asset of this city, the river is in a mess. We are not ready because the Hill that surround this city are falling pray to greed. We are not ready because the rich heritage of this city has not been conserved. We are not ready because it is impossible to get digital data on Natural and Man made resources and use them to develop a model for efficient utilization.

So are we ready to translate our vision into reality ... use technology to do so ... we have so much technology around ... and it is accessible too ... so accessible that we are spoilt for choice... where should we begin ...
Shall we begin with SimCity Societies !!

Please add to this blog and feel free to take sides !!