Evidence in a recent breach-of-contract case brought by a former Commonwealth Bank executive reveals the difficulties the bank had implementing its customer service system, CommSee. The Federal Court case - which dealt with a complaint by a former South Australian corporate banking executive, Stephen Barker - provided a highly detailed account of the workings of Barker's business unit, including claims of inappropriate relationships and long lunches. A general manager at the bank, Joe Formichella, gave evidence that when he joined the bank, in 2006, staff were complaining about the new system, managers were not supporting it and training programs were not being undertaken. Commonwealth Bank launched CommSee in 2004 and rolled it out throughout the bank over the following three years. The system was designed to allow bank staff to pull up all a customer's details at one time, including all accounts and details of recent dealings with the bank. The bank was very proud of CommSee because it was largely an internal development and it gave the CBA a distinct advantage over its rivals. The then chief executive David Murray cited CommSee as being central to the bank's "customer service transformation". Formichella was appointed as general manager of corporate and financial services business in South Australia and the Northern Territory in late 2006. He was appointed at time when, according to the evidence, the bank was having "difficult financial performance" in its corporate and business banking division. Shortly after he commenced his employment with the bank, Formichella noted a number of what he considered to be cultural problems within his business unit. A large number of employees complained to him about the work environment. Those complaints included complaints about the systems the employees were required to use and the insufficiency of their training and direction. Formichella said he not could remember any positive comment. There were difficulties associated with a new credit management system that had recently been introduced and which was called CommSee Commercial Lending. There were a number of training initiatives accompanying the introduction of CommSee but these were not supported by some of the management team. The system was not being used when Formichella joined the bank and many of the staff had not undertaken the required training. The evidence in the case is an interesting case study that illustrates the point that developing you-beaut technology is only half the battle. The bank's execution of its implementation strategy, at least in the corporate banking division in South Australia, fell well short of expectations.