For the last three days, customers of State Bank of India are unable to carry out banking transactions in three city branches owing to technical glitch.
Though bank officials said it was a minor ‘teething’ problem and would be solved in the coming days, the bank staff and customers thought differently.
It all started when SBI decided to implement a secure cloud-based productivity suite with latest features and a technology server within the group.
“Since Thursday, I was unable to withdraw money. It is not due to demonetisation effect, but the server which keeps crashing at regular intervals. It is pathetic to see people waiting in the lounges for long hours,” said a regular customer at SBI Vadapalani branch.
Nationwide problem
Accepting that they were not able to help their clients, the Valasaravakkam branch Manager said: “It is not only three city branches, it is the problem of at least 750 branches nationwide as we have shifted over to a virtual server. We have escalated the matter to our senior officials and this has been taken to the highest level. Even then, the issue has not been solved.”
‘Solution in 10 days’
Reacting to the development, a bank spokesperson said: “We have our own servers in two places. We are now switching over to secure cloud-based server. It is a teething problem and will be solved in 10 days. We have asked the customers of these branches to go to nearby branches to complete their financial transactions.”
He also said that it was not correct to state that all the 750 branches were affected due to the switchover.
“The entire exercise will be completed in two months. The switchover exercise has begun with small branches and if it succeeds, we will ask large branches to follow suit. The entire exercise is being monitored at all-India level,” he said.
