The importance of conducting tabletop exercises at your credit union
Being prepared for a continuity event involves more than just having a plan in place and distributing it to the team. Your credit union should have run periodic tabletop exercises, where credit union executives and other team members review how the credit union would respond in the event of a cyber-attack, natural disaster, terrorist attack or other continuity event. In this blog, we’ll discuss what a tabletop exercise is, and why your credit union should conduct them.
What is a tabletop exercise?
A tabletop exercise serves as a practical evaluation tool to assess a group’s preparedness in responding to various hypothetical scenarios, such as fires, major weather events, pandemics or cyber incidents. Facilitated by an organizer, participants simulate their reactions based on their established business continuity plans, discussing the necessary steps as if the crisis were unfolding. The participation of executives is crucial, with representation from all functional areas of the credit union. The facilitator may introduce additional challenges and test decisions against existing response procedures, ensuring a focus on adherence to the established plans. This approach minimizes the risk of straying from the planned response and proves invaluable in a credit union’s Business Continuity Program (BCP).
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