3 key resources for supporting your disaster recovery strategy
by: Mark Komnik
Does your credit union have the necessary resources needed to resume business operations in the event of a disruption or disaster? Disaster Recovery Plans will vary from institution to institution, but these three resources are needed for a successful recovery regardless of the strategy.
People – The most important resource you have in your credit union is your people, and the first priority should be to locate them and make sure they’re safe — not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because they have the information your credit union needs to run. Do you have full names, street addresses, email addresses, landlines, and cell phone numbers for everyone, and is this information updated on a regular basis? You should also make sure your recovery procedures are available in multiple ways. You don’t want to only have it in a binder in the office, because that doesn’t help you if the building catches fire. At the same time, you don’t want it available only online, because what if the power is out? Have it in multiple places in multiple ways, and make sure some of it is in “for dummies” fashion in case inexperienced people need to use the information.
Data – Another key resource to support your DR recovery is to assure ALL your data is protected in the event of a significant disruption. This is essentially an insurance policy against catastrophe. The best disaster recovery strategy should include storing data off‐site (e.g., hot site, cloud storage, or with a DR vendor such as Ongoing Operations), while maintaining at least one copy on tape (for high availability systems such as your core). You should maintain an inventory of your software and have it readily available. Also, make sure there’s way for people to get passwords. This can be difficult due to the security aspects, but you don’t want one person to be the password repository and then not be able to reach them during an event.
Facility Needs – While you should already have an alternate location for the recovery of your operations (because you perform testing on a regular basis, right?), facility needs are a key resource too. This should include office space, furniture, and equipment (in the event you have to relocate). Those resources may be at another branch location or provided to you by a third-party. Working from home is a viable solution as well. Keep in mind, you may be at that alternate location for an extended time depending on the extent of the disaster.
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