Union Bank Of India — urgent necessity of proper escalation matrix for union banks dit-powai

Address:

Frazer Road, Patna, Bihar, 800001

To
The Managing Director & CEO
Union Bank of India.
Central Office, Mumbai – 21.

Urgent necessity of proper Escalation Matrix for Union Bank’s DIT-Powai

Kind Attention – Mr Ishraq Ali Khan, General Manager DIT- Powai

Respected Sir,

Brick-and-mortar branches are still one of the leading sales channels of public sector banks in India. Digital channels are on the rise but a significant percentage of Indian customers still prefer branches for atleast some banking needs. However the bank branch as we know it, with tellers behind windows and bankers huddled across tables is undergoing reinvention. Union Bank of India over the last few years have taken significant steps in this direction. Among them one of the most notable and visible addition is installation of electronic display units or flat-screen televisions at its branches.

However the ground reality of the actual implementation process across branches is pathetic. The implementing agency M/s OASYS Cybernetics Pvt. Ltd has taken Union bank and its customers for granted. At many branches in Bihar and Jharkhand the TV units have been delivered in broken/shattered condition. It is a common sight to find units with faulty displays been installed by this vendor. Even after repeated communications from branches and regional offices the broken/damaged units are not being replaced. Such is the condition that at some places branch staff had to fetch the TV cartons from the local courier office!! The situation has worsened due to negligence of a few officials at DIT, Powai. Calls from branches are diverted from one number to another and ultimately to local regional office, even though selection of the vendor and payments are all done centrally from DIT, Powai. Neither DIT nor the regional office has advised their local representatives to visit branches to get real status of the implementation.

Harassment of branch staff are more aggravated due to lack of any functional escalation matrix with contact details of responsible officials from DIT. Branches are not able to timely raise their concern about various issues to the appropriate officials. Vendors and their friends at DIT take full advantage of the situation, merrily bypassing calls and responsibility.

Almost every Monday morning branch staff and their customers are faced with some rude shock from DIT like PCs getting blocked due to some faulty security patches being deployed or the branch network bandwidth getting choked. Almost in all the cases branches are totally in the dark about whom to contact for quick resolution and restoration of customer services.

In almost any contemporary corporate setup, organizations prospectively define issues that matter and ensure that an appropriately designed escalation pathway is in place. An issue that matters to branch and its customers should be addressed with a sense o[censored]rgency based on its criticality and it requires prompt notification and escalation to appropriate levels of management. Also impacted branches need to made aware of the ongoing status of any issue including tentative timeline for resolution and point of contact for queries and useful answers.

In view of the above we sincerely hope that you will quickly intervene to devise a functional incident management process with responsible points of contact for branches o[censored]nion Bank of India. Carefully created escalation processes will definitely help to ensure that unresolved problems don't linger and issues at branches are promptly addressed, minimising the adverse impact on business operations to the satisfaction of branch staff and their valuable customers.

Thanking You,
Yours faithfully,
Manju Kumari
Frazer Road, Patna,
Bihar, Pin - 800 001.

Copy to:
i) Shri Rajiv Kumar,
Finance Secretary, Govt. of India.
ii) Sri S. Siddharth,
Principal Secretary, Finance Dept, Govt of Bihar.