Tech outage... what outage? we have Mobile Money (MM) in Somalia. Why worry if credit cards and online payment fail globally! Well, maybe we should be worried, even if some of us believe we live on another planet.
Ladies and gentlemen, my #somali wantoks you should be aware of this outage and its possible ramification to #somalia's economy sooner or later! Almost all the folks who contacted me were relaxed and not concerned at all... I am worried, and I worry a lot about technology when it works... because after 3 decades of bit(ing) and byte(ing), the only things I am sure of and confident to say is that tech systems will crush somewhere sometime. Are we ready? can we be ready? Dec 31,1999 I knew the answer... today I am not sure. No I am not ready.... but trying hard to be ready.
Is Somalia ready? I hope so. One thing is certain though, if the MM platforms fail, there will be no reliable alternative payment system. In fact the whole financial system is vulnerable. And that is too scarry!
This article, https://som-isoc.org/impact-of-massive-tech-outage-and-what-to-do-about-it/?fbclid=IwY2xjawEIbAdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHc-6PiLZBJQW42w1EIicb0prvMmB7meWSoZtPaJ5eDLUHnEZwMk3ApgKSg_aem_BI8ilAYt-UrTMZ1UPJbzBw&sfnsn=wa from the Somali chapter of Internet Society covers this issue in detail, see the comment made by its founder who found himself in a long queue for petrol somewhere in the Gulf region without local cash and redundant Credit Card in the pocket... ;-((
Comments, feedback as always welcome.
What to do when technology fails?