Making BlackBerry crumble: what could RIM learn from their recent blackout?

Hear that? That’s a huge sigh of relief from BlackBerry users and service is restored to all handsets across the world today. After three days of going back to the 90s with just calls and texts to rely on, users are now able to access their apps, browser and BBM service.

So, what was the problem at RIM HQ in Slough? Well, nobody’s all that sure. Today Research in Motion (RIM) released a statement to say that ‘the problem was the result of backup systems failing to perform as expected.’

As users started to vent their anger on Twitter and Facebook RIM remained pretty silent coming out with occasional updates stating that their service was experiencing problems. Even the appearance of Stephen Bates, the UK managing director of Research in Motion in the news caused users to hit back in frustration as they were just directed back to the company’s Twitter page or corporate website – services users could not access.

There are around 70 million BlackBerry users in the world and although RIM remained silent on how many were actually affected, the number is thought to be well into the millions. This could not have come at a worse time for RIM especially with the launch of the iPhone 4S which will be officially released on Friday.

But what could RIM have done differently? Could the widespread backlash from customers be handled differently? Well, they certainly could have gained some tips from Customer Experience in Telecoms.

Visit the website now to download your complimentary resources on customer experience and get some great tips on how to successfully manage your CEM strategy.