For several years, Xtend, Inc., the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based multi-owned cooperative CUSO, has been investing in call center and back office resources to help its credit union partners manage planned or unplanned employee-related or technology-related support challenges.  Those investments have yielded a portfolio of services that more credit unions than ever are embracing as part of their business resiliency strategy.

Xtend President Scott Collins says, “Helping our credit union owners and partners survive and thrive has always been part of our DNA, but survival has come to the forefront more often in the past several years than we would like.  Hurricane Sandy is just the latest reminder that a documented, tested disaster recovery plan needs to be prominent in the business plans of both credit unions and their vendors in order to protect the assets our customer-owners have entrusted to us.  The big events like Sandy, and the second guessing that typically follows, get all the press and often leads to a flurry of spending.  But picking partners who are also vested in business resiliency can be as important as the DR plan itself.”

Collins continues, “I believe that shared resources are a critical component to help address even the smallest unplanned outage, and they should be under the radar and priced accordingly.  During the past year we have helped partners following fires, robberies, weather anomalies, power outages, vacations and attrition.  It shouldn’t take a storm like Sandy to focus everyone’s attention on business continuity planning, and the two dozen partners that put our call center and back office resources into their plan understand that.”