It's only when things go tits up you recognise the value of integration

South Eastern Trains does exactly what the name suggests; operate the train network in the South East corner of the UK. The trains run between five principal terminals in London and the coast. Everywhere is linked, every service is interdependent.

They operate an iPhone app and a web site to share live train running information. My colleague Lyn says this is her most used and valuable app; a big claim considering the gazillions to chosse from.

I’m assuming the train running information runs on a loop according to the timetable with a manual intervention when delays and cancellations occur. When things are running BAU, the digital travel information is perfectly adequate.

Last night the service simultaneous failures at two terminals, a signalling breakdown and a security alert, meant the value of information was at a premium.

A home page message on the web site said the terminal I use was closed, but the train running information app on the iPhone and web said all trains were running to time. So travellers had little choice but to join the thousands of people wanting to get home to hear a man shouting updates from the steps. On what was the hottest working day so far this year.

Separate from fixing what caused the problems and preventing them from happening again, the lessons for the senior leadership team are:

1. Providing accurate travel information is a core offering, not a nice to have, not just during major incidents;
2. Issuing it digitally is the most convenient channel for most customers;
3. The web and iPhone app are therefore business critical systems;
4. Business critical systems are not the sole responsibility of a single function IT, the digital team, the comms team etc;
5. Business critical systems should be fully integrated strategic assets;
6. Strategic assets need operational engagement at the most senior levels;
7. Getting this right on Monday would have transformed the experience for me, thousands of my fellow customers and the people waiting for us;
8. Getting this stuff right makes life easier for staff, helps them to be more productive and reduces the cost of these unavoidable incidents for investors.