4 gotcha’s to avoid when implementing new systems

by Ongoing Operations

by. Tim Daugherty

We all make decisions – hundreds of them daily, perhaps even thousands! All business decisions are discussed and go through a vetting process. During that process, is your credit union bringing up the topics of BCP and DR as part of the decision making process? If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a surprise system implementation which threw your RTO’s out the window, this post is for you!

GOTCHA’S TO AVOID WHEN IMPLEMENTING NEW SYSTEMS

1) Don’t talk to your IT Department – When looking at new systems and applications the Information Technology department should always be involved and/or consulted. Just because it’s new and shiny and has a lot of bells and whistles doesn’t mean it’s the best system/application for you and the credit union.

2)  Forget to look at what it takes to recover/restore the new system – After all the RFPs and demos it comes down to the final decision of which system will we purchase? Everyone has their checklist of what they are looking for i.e. price, usability, interfacing with other systems, etc. Most likely on the checklist there are a couple checkboxes missing. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery. If you currently considering Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery in all your business decisions then you are one of the few and I salute you. For those that are not currently considering BCP and DR in their business decisions I recommend that you start.

3) Just because it looks good  – Begin by taking a very close look at the  new system/application and how it will impact the operational standards in your credit union.  Consider the recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives –  Will my recovery time improve or get longer? What’s the risk of data loss? Will this be another system IT needs to recover or is a vendor responsible? These type of questions and more should always be asked.

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