What are the pros and cons of dedicated recovery space?

With NCUA’s focus on ensuring credit union’s are capable of meeting their RTO/RPO as evidenced through testing continues to grow, the appeal of mobile recovery units is shrinking. Most mobile recovery providers are unable to deliver a fully equipped and functioning unit in under 48 hours! In today’s fast paced credit union industry, an RTO (Recovery Time Objective) of 48 hours is unheard of for critical/vital processes. So what other options exist? Savvy credit union leaders are turning to dedicated recovery space to solve this issue!

DEDICATED RECOVERY SPACE – THE PROS

• Dedicated space is available within minutes
• Dedicated space has no deployment time
• Dedicated space can handle the short -term and daily disruptions that mostly occur within a business
• Dedicated space can be tied to your IT solution so that the impact to consumers is greatly minimized
• Dedicated space can be used to handle pending issues such as a hurricane – allowing for preposition of assets
• Dedicated space is often available by other credit unions to it’s peers

DEDICATED RECOVERY SPACE – THE CONS

• Dedicated space isn’t moveable
• Dedicated space can require your employees to drive or commute to a different location
• Dedicated space could be impacted by the same issues as your production site if not far enough away

Regardless of your preference, the real question is – can you meet your RTO/RPO goals with your current recovery strategy? If you lose your data center/headquarters, do your RTO/RPOs stand? If the answer is no, its time to look into other options and dedicated space just might work for you!