Bank Experiences
Smiley is focused on keeping personal, mainline connections with all of our partner banks. We interviewed two of our partner banks to hear their experiences.
Encore Bank's Experience
Erin Simpson recounted the events that unfolded at Encore Bank during the CrowdStrike outage. In the early hours of Friday morning, a representative of Smiley Technologies reached out to Erin and the bank’s leadership, as they did with each bank partner. By now, the Crowdstrike outage headlines were all over the news, and Smiley reassured Erin that the team had been working overnight to make sure the bank’s servers and critical applications would all be up and running in the morning.
By the time the morning rolled around, some employees found their computers working normally, while others got the dreaded blue screen of death. Unfortunately, the only fix to each PC was touching them individually. The Smiley team helped Encore’s IT team manually fix the issue on each PC. Smiley also frequently updated the bank, informing them about the steps they were taking, including bringing in staff outside the technical team to manage the influx of calls.
Despite having around 100 computers affected, the impact was minimal due to Smiley’s calm, honest communication and efficient response. Erin recalled, "Smiley made it feel like it was just really almost a traditional event for us. It didn't feel like this big, big, big deal." Their efforts ensured that the bank’s operations continued smoothly, and banking customers didn’t even realize anything was wrong.
"Smiley made it feel like it was just really almost a traditional event for us. It didn't feel like this big, big, big deal."
Bodcaw Bank's Experience
At 2:26 AM on Friday morning, Korey Keith got an email from Smiley. “The email announced that there was a CrowdStrike issue, and gave us an update of what was going on," Korey recalled. Smiley’s prompt messaging allowed him to immediately start planning with his team. By 5:00 AM, they had a plan to check each location and prioritize recovery efforts.
Throughout the early morning hours, Smiley maintained constant communication, providing updates and reassurances. They prioritized customer-facing systems first, focusing on teller PCs and other critical services. Korey praised their consistent communication, saying, "Smiley did a phenomenal job of communicating. I would say that's probably one of their strengths. They over-communicated.”
When the bank opened in the morning, many computers displayed the blue screen of death, while others booted up normally. Smiley Technologies' clear instructions and prioritization ensured that the most critical systems were addressed first. By 8:00 AM, the majority of Bodcaw Bank’s systems were back online, allowing them to conduct business as usual. Korey highlighted the effectiveness of Smiley's response, remembering, "We were up and running. We never missed a transaction with a customer."
Korey also emphasized Smiley’s' proactive communication and the realistic promises they made. "At no time during that did we ever see messaging that made us think we were going to be 100% operational next day," he said. "And I think the key to leadership is how you manage adversity and crisis situations. And it always goes back to being very clear with your communication."
Reflecting on the experience, Korey expressed his gratitude for Smiley Technologies' dedication and professionalism, noting, "Your team did a remarkable job in handling this issue. We're super thankful for the communication that started early in the morning and continued at a high level."
"And I think the key to leadership is how you manage adversity and crisis situations. And it always goes back to being very clear with your communication."
