Electronic transactions have for
years and decades long been an integral part of the present-day lifestyle. When
one gets to a certain age, they become entwined with regular activities, from
withdrawing money from automated teller machines (ATMs) of banks, to making
payments using electronic means such as mobile electronic wallets. Globe
Telecom’s GCash is a prime example of splendid utility that comes from
electronically-facilitated financial transactions. But what happens when these
services are stopped? For some people they would be horribly inconvenienced.
And it will be so this month for some companies, namely Globe’s GCash and BPI’s
ATMs and services.
ABS-CBN reports that Globe Telecom and the Bank of the Philippine
Islands (BPI) will be taking down their respective services at different days
this October. This is to provide time for both of them to complete some
necessary updates to their respective systems before restoring these services
for their clients. First off, Globe will be making their GCash mobile wallets
unavailable this coming Friday on October 11. Thankfully the shutdown in
services is both short and happening in general off-hours for most people anyway,
from 12 midnight to 6 AM.
Next week it will be BPI’s turn
to shut down their electronic services temporarily, to give time for their own
system updates. The downtime will be much longer than that of Globe GCash
above, as it will take a whole day. BPI explained on its official Facebook page
that the affected services will be almost all that involves electronics: ATM,
CAM, debit cards, online banking, BPI mobile app, and their platforms BizLink
and ELink, with the only exceptions being prepaid cards and credit cards. The
updates, geared at providing “advanced services and capabilities,” will happen October
19, two Saturdays from now, lasting 12 midnight to 11:59 PM of that day.
The reason both Globe and BPI are
undergoing service-stalling system updates at so close a time is because both
companies are part of the larger umbrella of the Ayala Corporation, their
principal shareholders, and therefore are acting on synergy. To that effect, BPI
is advising customers to finish their electronic transactions before October 19
to make sure they are not interrupted during the scheduled update.
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