3 Ways to Improve Your Credit Union Disaster Recovery Plan

BCP , DR, Business Continuity Planning

BCP , DR, Business Continuity PlanningAre you looking for ways to improve your Credit Union disaster recovery plan? At Ongoing Operations, we are engaged with hundreds of Credit Unions who are continually looking for ways to improve their plans. As a result, we see great ideas all the time. So if you’re ready to take your DR plan to the next level, this post is for you!

Define Critical

I know this sounds like its old news but let me tell you – I have yet to see a consistent approach to defining what “critical” is. Disaster recovery efforts are generally built around the restoration of “critical” services. But if you’ve ever tried to perform a Business Impact Analysis, you’ll agree with me that everyone has their own definition of what critical is!  The Credit Unions that have the most successful DR strategies are ones that have taken the time to DEFINE and COMMUNICATE what “critical” means to their Credit Union. Critical could be measured by financial loss, member complaints, reputational damage – the point being, it is up to the leadership team to be actively engaged in this definition.

Integrate New Technologies

We’re seeing so many cool things happening on the technology side of DR that the topic probably deserves a blog all of its own (Note to self: Write blog on newest technology implementations in DR). Here are a few ideas to get your started:

  • Tablets, Smartphones and laptops oh my! – But not to STORE copies of the plan – to ACCESS copies of the plan. Having some sort of access point (broadband enabled) is one of the most frequent additions I’ve seen in virtually every Credit Union I have worked with this year. The increasing reliance on internet based services has pushed leadership to take measures that will help them get back online quickly and from anywhere.
  • Hosted Services – If your I.T. department hasn’t brought up hosted services as a way to strengthen your plan I’d be concerned. Today’s hosted (cloud) services provide a myriad of options to safely and securely run critical services.  But which one first? In looking at current trends, email seems to be the one process/system that leaders want to improve their RTO/RPO and hosted solutions have an immediately ROI in that area.
  • Notification Systems (SMS) based – Being able to communicate quickly and accurately is imperative in a crisis. Credit unions are subscribing to their local emergency management contacts to stay informed of changing conditions in their areas. But even more important is move to have SMS and voice based notification systems in place so Credit Union leaders can quickly disseminate information to multiple audiences (staff, members, board, and public). Don’t mistake email for a great crisis communications tool. Emails get delivered but rarely are they read immediately like texts are.

Don’t Just Test the Obvious:

One of my favorite tabletops to do is a cyber-threat scenario. But it becomes even more fun when I do that scenario with a hurricane zone client! Why? Pretty obvious I’d say – to stretch the staff to consider different scenarios and identify overlooked gaps because the scope of the testing was too limited. I’m not saying don’t plan for the hurricane, blizzard, tornado or earthquake – I’m saying don’t stop there.  Ask you are a hurricane zone Credit Union; ask your staff if they know what shelter-in-place means. I can guarantee you that a tornado alley Credit Union knows this but rarely do I find it a common term in other areas. Do you always test your plan with a system failure? Try a pandemic and wipe out key leadership and test the succession plan. Eliminating employees by alphabet is also a good way to simulate a severe staff reduction scenario.  Mixing it up with different scenarios will bring fresh ideas and improve your plan.

Need more help on improving your DR plan? Contact us here.

 

 

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