On January 22, 2020, CU*Answers held its 8th annual corporate “Continuity Awareness Day”. This all-staff event is an essential component of their business continuity and incident response programs.
“This year’s theme is ‘Planning and Responding to Disruptions in a 24/7 Business Environment,’” said Jim Lawrence, Vice President of Business Continuity. “Every planned system maintenance task, every software deployment, even new product implementation projects must consider how it impacts member access in the 24/7 online and mobile environment, whether on the Atlantic coast or the Hawaiian Islands.”
“Monitoring and responding to disruptive events happens around the clock when you’re a core data processor for a network approaching 300 credit unions across six time zones,” added Lawrence. “Careful planning and transparent communications are required to all stakeholders who participate in serving the member. Continuity Awareness Day is an opportunity to refocus and remind all staff that they play an important part in achieving that goal.”
Business continuity awareness and training is an integrated part of normal daily operations at CU*Answers, beginning with the onboarding process for each new employee and continuing education classes and exercises for seasoned staff. Information regarding the CU*Answers Business Continuity program including tips for credit unions to improve their level of preparedness can be found on the CU*Answers website.