Blackberry’s comms outage overshadows service issues

Blackberry has never been a trendy brand.  Secure, safe, functional, great for dads – sure, but certainly not a phone you’d have to worry about flashing around on the train. But that’s fine – that’s exactly what Blackberry is known for, and that’s why so many businesses choose to rely on its secure service.

The past few days have (cue melodrama) devastated trust in the world of mobile technology, as the UK and rest of the word has struggled to access to its emails and update its Facebook status whilst on the go. The Blackberry outage has shaken consumer faith in one of the most reliable brands.

However, and fundamentally, this is not solely because of the service issues, but rather because of the brand’s refusal to engage with its consumers.

Blackberry’s failure to communicate what was wrong with the network and when it would be fixed frustrated and angered customers and led many to vent publicly on social channels.  But in response to this anger and questioning, Blackberry’s usually active Twitter and Facebook accounts were incommunicado, with the exception of a bland statement that failed to empathise with the angst of its customers.

Blackberry failed to take advantage of the one thing social media does best: brand to customer engagement! When there is a crisis, it must be met head-on and customers need to be empathised with and assured that their issues are being addressed. When Blackberry’s reputation was being attacked, they should have taken control of their communications and dealt with aggravated customers to avoid speculation building.

Rather than the service disruption damaging Blackberry’s reputation as a reliable and safe service provider, it will be the lack of transparent and timely communications that will ultimately lead consumers to question whether the company is in control and if the brand is still credible.