PURPOSE OF RESEARCH IN ANY DESIGN
Design research is the foundation for creation of products, services, and systems that respond to human needs. Design research is a vote against hunch-based reasoning. It prevents the need for endless testing, and provides a basis for evidence-based decision-making. Today most of the leading private sector organizations are wielding it with great success. Hence I am sharing my experience from working in a leading private bank in India showcasing scenarios where research for the purpose is absent.
It’s a mandate to mention how tedious is the job of any Indian Private Bank employee. Especially when you are terrorized to meet the bank’s monthly targets which is outside the role that you were hired for(in my case only transactions) with addition to customer queries (which used to be huge number ). I used to work in one of the most busiest branch in my city (Kolkata, India), and had almost twelve people sitting in front of me at any given moment, seeking for account related help or information other than transactions.
Our bank used a software called Finnacle through which almost all the banking transaction were done. Irrespective of how user friendly the software was, its password had to be changed every month and could not be relevant to any of the previously used ones. Hence, even though the password update concept sounds reliable in order to enhance security, it used to be a huge challenge. It was a pain building a new password every time fulfilling the criteria that the software provided and also something that supports my memory. Every month end all the systems used to run slower than normal. Hence, it had to be written by me somewhere, which is easily available and easy to read so that I could log in fast.
The second biggest constrain was that the system would log me out if the idle time was more than 5mins. Therefore, every time I am talking to a customer in the midst of my huge pile of transactions, the system used to throw me out and I had to again search the recent password (written somewhere), enter it, in order to log in and resume my transaction.
I understand completely that the security system of any bank comprehends the kind of crimes can take place from unauthorized access and has therefore taken the measures accordingly. But if we see that in our practical life, it is those measures that’s making us leave signs to the criminals to breach the security. Theoretically, the login password was written by me and any false transaction against my employee code, could have held me accountable against it. But in this scenario, would you held me accountable for the breach of Security System of the company? Don’t you think a research before designing a security system of a banking institution would have served a better purpose?
