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maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 20 JUNE 2018 11 BUSINESS www.creditinfo.com.mt info@creditinfo.com.mt Tel: 2131 2344 Your Local Partner for Credit Risk Management Solutions Supporting you all the way Visa admits 5 million payments failed over a broken switch VISA has admitted that 5.2million transactions failed during its IT collapse earlier this in June – because a back- up data centre designed to handle all transactions across Europe would not switch on when the problems emerged. The extraordinary service failure on the afternoon of Fri- day 1 June saw queues build up at petrol stations and shop- ping left at supermarket tills as customers were unable to pay. In the UK, 2.4million trans- actions failed to process prop- erly, while a further 2.8million failed in the rest of Europe. In a letter to the Treasury committee of MPs (pdf), Visa's Europe chief executive Char- lotte Hogg said the service failure began on the Friday at 2.35pm and was not com- pletely fixed until 12.45am the following day. The core of the problem was a humble switch, rather than a cyber attack or a catastrophic software failure. "The incident was caused by the failure of a switch in one of Visa's data centres," Hogg said. "We un- derstand what hardware mal- functioned (the switch) and the nature of the malfunction (a very rare, partial failure). We do not yet understand precisely why the switch failed at the time it did." Like other major multina- tionals, Visa maintains vast "redundant" data centres de- signed to kick in should their main system go wrong. But in this instance the failsafe failed. "We operate two redundant data centres in the UK, mean- ing that either one can inde- pendently handle 100% of the transactions for Visa in Eu- rope. In normal circumstanc- es, the systems are synchro- nised and either centre can take over from the other im- mediately … in this instance, a component with a switch in our primary data centre suf- fered a very rare partial failure which prevented the back-up switch from activating." Hogg said it took nearly five hours for Visa to fully deacti- vate the system, causing the transaction failures at the pri- mary data centre, and several more hours before all process- ing was functioning correctly. Visa has hired consultants EY to produce an independ- ent review into the failure, and promised compensation to merchants and customers who suffered losses. Visa's statement to MPs fol- lowed questions sent by Nicky Morgan, chair of the Treasury select committee, in the wake of what she described as a cat- astrophic failure in the coun- try's payment infrastructure. In her response to Morgan, Hogg said: "At its peak, the disruption affected people in the midst of returning home from work, socialising in res- taurants and pubs, and doing end-of-day shopping. We take seriously our important role in supporting financial stabil- ity in the UK. A disruption to our processing that impacts consumers at any time is un- acceptable, let alone during a busy Friday afternoon." Let your body do the talking: 5 steps to improve your nonverbal communication skills WE all make the effort to im- prove our verbal communica- tion techniques. However, how we deliver our desired message through nonverbal means is of- ten neglected in the workplace. 1. Don't try to be neutral! This is the most common mis- take I have encountered in non- verbal communication over my years as a presentation coach. "Neutral" tactics, such as trying to have a blank facial expres- sion and preventing gestures from portraying any indication of emotions, rarely sees results. "Neutral" behaviour, despite being considered the "safe" op- tion, actually creates the feel- ing that you are disinterested in what the audience has to say, distracted by something else or you are just being rude. This leaves a negative impres- sion which can be detrimental for your business relationships with employees, suppliers and your customers. 2. Be confident in your pos- ture In order to lead as an entrepre- neur you need to portray confi- dence. Your body language has a huge part to play in delivering this effectively. A strong hand- shake, a wide stance and smiling will all help you achieve this. Stand up tall as though you are on a puppet string and someone is pulling your string tight, avoid fidgeting or looking down at the floor when conversing with others. You need to be taken seriously and respected as an entrepreneur hence why your posture is so important! 3. Keep good eye contact Maintaining a level of good eye contact is a tricky art. Too much eye contact and you will come across as too intense or intimidating, whereas too little can give the impression that you are uncomfortable or nervous. Once you have mastered the perfect amount of eye contact you will be able to implement this nonverbal communication skill to help build all future busi- ness relationships positively. Unbeknownst to many, your eyes relay how you are feeling all on their own, thus a recipient may not believe what you are saying if your eyes are darting around the room. This is why you must maintain good eye contact, especially when trying to sell to a customer. 4. Change your tone when necessary In your role as an entrepreneur you will likely be involved in all areas of your business from Hu- man Resources, Accounts to Sales – all of which will require a change in your tone of voice. You would be ignorant to as- sume you can use the same tone in all situations, you need to be mindful of what tone is re- quired. A sales pitch to a big client will need to have an informatic, enthusiastic and formal tone of voice whereas a performance review with an employee will entail a compassionate and un- derstanding tone. 5. Do not jump in headfirst You cannot change your non- verbal communication skills overnight, like most things in business to implement a change can be time-consuming. I rec- ommend you first practise in a safe environment what changes you would like to implement in- stead of jumping in headfirst at work with the changes. People are quick to formulate an impression about you, so it is best to perfect your nonver- bal communication in a private environment instead of trialling the techniques as you go along, which can result in a negative or confusing message being given off by your body language to those around you.