Is testing my core processor enough to pass a disaster recovery test?

Just as there are thousands of types of potential disasters (Man-made, Environment/Natural, Cyber and Technical), there are equally as many variants possible to test your disaster recovery plans. And because the complexity of your infrastructure continues to evolve it is difficult to determine what to test and how to test it! In working with hundreds of credit unions each year, it is quite common for me to see that most credit unions focus their Disaster Recovery (DR) testing energy on the core transaction processor. That’s one test. What about your delivery channels (ATMs, Online Banking, Shared Branching, etc) or critical business processes such as payroll and cash management?  Can you start to see where the “One DR test per year” approach to may be inadequate and/or perhaps even negligent in today’s high risk environment?

I can almost hear what you are thinking  – “great …. more testing” (imagine this drawn out in the infamous voice of the boss from Office Space – That’d be grreaaatt.)

And I get it – between operational duties, continuity planning, security implementation/testing  and compliance/regulatory checklists – you are tapped out!

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