When a £200,000 payment almost went to scammers, good IT security wasn’t enough
A toy company received what looked like a legitimate email from a supplier: “We’ve changed our bank details.” The payment was queued. The timing seemed right. Only a final manual check prevented £200,000 from disappearing into a scammer’s account.
This near-miss reveals something crucial about supply chain automation: speed and efficiency mean nothing if you can’t trust what’s happening.
The Three Pillars of Automation Security
1. Technical Security (The Obvious Bit)
Yes, you need firewalls, updated software, and proper monitoring. But here’s what catches people out:
Outdated middleware. We’ve seen businesses running old systems because “it works and we’re afraid to touch it.” Understandable. Risky.
Monitoring gaps. Does a failed connection at 2am trigger an alert at 2:05am? Or do you find out at 9am when customers start calling?
Untested backups. Everyone has backups. Not everyone has tested whether they can actually restore from them.
Standards like ISO 27001 aren’t just for winning enterprise contracts. hey’re frameworks that keep you disciplined about the basics when you’re busy building the future.
2. Data Security (Where Most Solutions Fall Short)
When you automate invoice processing or purchase orders, you’re trusting a system to interpret financial documents and transfer data between platforms. Get it wrong and you might:
- Overpay suppliers
- Send wrong products to customers
- Trigger penalty clauses (retailers like Tesco levy substantial fines for incorrect shipments)
The AI temptation: Yes, AI can read invoices. But can you explain to your FD exactly how it decided £2,000 should be £20,000? Can you audit the decision when something goes wrong?
At GetConnect, we use AI to help our engineers work faster, not replace them. The AI assists; the engineer ensures accuracy. Because we know from years in promotional merchandise distribution that:
- Product codes rarely match between systems
- Customer references can be ambiguous
- Quantities, units, and pricing structures vary wildly
Our engineers build and test the mappings. GetConnect Hub validates the data. Your transactions stay correct, traceable, and trustworthy.
3. Commercial Security (The Bit Nobody Talks About)
This is about ensuring your team trusts the automated systems you’ve implemented.
Scenario one: Your accounts team still manually checks every invoice because they don’t trust automation. You’ve paid for efficiency but aren’t getting it. That’s a commercial security failure.
Scenario two: Your automated ordering works perfectly, but it’s been ordering from a supplier whose prices have crept up 15% in six months. Nobody noticed because everything’s automatic. You’re losing margin. Another commercial security issue.
Building trust takes time and transparency. Your team needs to understand:
- How the system works
- What it’s checking
- Where human judgment still matters
- That it catches errors, not just processes quickly
Why Engineers Matter
Skilled engineers checking the code that maps your data aren’t just ensuring technical correctness. They’re understanding commercial implications:
- Does this discount apply before or after tax?
- Does this delivery date account for supplier lead time?
- Does this customer get special pricing?
We don’t just connect systems. We ensure those connections make commercial sense for your business.
The Real Lesson
The toy company had good IT security. Updated systems. Proper monitoring. Secure networks. They almost lost £200,000 anyway because their process for validating bank changes wasn’t robust enough.
True security requires understanding:
- The specific risks in your industry
- The unique workflows in your business
- The commercial context of your automated systems
At GetConnect, we build relationships so we understand your unique needs and can build in security the right way. Not one-size-fits-all solutions. Not AI doing everything. Just careful engineering, industry knowledge, and systems you can actually trust.
Because automation without trust isn’t automation – it’s just faster ways to make expensive mistakes.
GetConnect specialises in B2B e-commerce integration for promotional merchandise and fulfilment businesses. We connect your systems properly, so you can scale with confidence.
To book a demo follow this link – Contact – GetConnect
Call us on – 03332407426
Email – help@getconnect.net
