Turning the current adversity into a chance to improve
Since we founded 2gether, we’ve faced several unexpected, adverse situations which required effective and quick solutions.
These last two months, the challenges have been especially demanding due to the operational difficulties caused by the coronavirus, the increase of online fraud, the market’s volatility and the user growth.
Each and every one of the adversities we’ve faced have reinforced us as a team and prepared us better for the future growth.
Our efforts to build a better financial future and coming together in the hardest of times have led us to face every challenge as an opportunity to improve structurally, and that makes us stronger.
I’d like to share with you how all the experiences that we’ve lived through these past months have helped us be better prepared for the future.
Security measures
In April we quickly implemented additional security measures to protect both the company and the users from the increase of online fraud after the Covid-19. Said measures were needed to guarantee 2gether’s most important principle, the security, but they’ve also caused friction with users for not offering an optimal in-app experience.
From that moment on, the Product team modified their work methodology to address as fast as possible a new alternative security solution that, while increasing the security levels, could offer a good user experience and was scalable.
This new solution is currently in the middle of its development process and it will allow users to validate their payment methods easily and quickly, guaranteeing the security and the experience, and eliminating the need to block any operations.
I’d like to close this section by offering some recommendations so that we can all work together to build the security we deserve:
- Never provide anyone with any bank data.
- Never share a temporary code sent by your bank with anyone.
- If you receive an email or visit a website, always make sure that the address is secure before introducing any sensitive data.
Card top-ups
The banks that issue the cards used by 2gether users have also increased their security measures, sometimes limiting the possibility to top-up 2gether accounts.
To answer the problem, together with talking to the banks to come back to normality, we’re developing a new alternative of top-ups via bank transfer, a less immediate method than the card top-ups, but structurally safer and, therefore, not subject to possible limitations.
Card shipments
The coronavirus has forced our card provider to close their factory in Andorra and to move the production to a factory in Norway. This effort has delayed shipments, causing dissatisfaction among some users.
After continuous management alongside the provider, we’ve achieved to start receiving two card batches since two weeks ago, and we’re currently one or two weeks short from catching up to old shipments and go back to our usual shipping times of around 2 or 3 weeks.
Saturation of blockchain networks
Lastly, the saturation of the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains has caused delays in some operations and inconsistency in the balance of some accounts. Each of these cases is allowing us to strengthen the operations to start reducing the number of cases and ensuring a fix as soon as possible.
Volume of cases in Founder Care
These issues have significantly increased the workload in Founder Care, receiving up to 1,500 cases per week, when the average would be 800.
Besides reinforcing the Founder Care team, the department has counted on the help from all the other company departments, including the help from the Development team with the swift automatization of procedures, the Marketing team with the coordinated management of social media profiles, the Design team with the communication with users, and of course, the help from Salvador Casquero (Founder and Chairman) and mine, coordinating efforts and managing the security throughout the whole process.
We’ve replied to each and all cases and comments we’ve received. Of course, we’ve received criticism, but many of the negative opinions have changed to end up giving us positive feedback, which fills us with strength and motivation.
At 2gether, we face adversities together, we learn from them all and they all make us be better in the future.
Solving our Founders’ issues is what drives us, it’s part of our culture. We will keep doing it until we offer a financial experience so secure and easy that everyone can enjoy the great perks of the decentralized economy and its technology.
