CU*Answers, the 100% credit union-owned CUSO, recently held a CU*Answers University course for its credit union clients titled “Simplifying Business Continuity Management.” Jim Lawrence, Manager of Disaster Recovery and Business Resumption Services, hosted the event and indicated that the course is “a ‘must attend’ for credit union professionals responsible for continuity risk management and/or the development and maintenance of their organization’s disaster recovery plans.” He added that the course is centered around a five-phased approach from start to finish for the development and implementation of an effective BCM program.

The core data processor went on to say that it offers credit unions using the CU*BASE^® system a sense of security due to its own business continuity plan. To mitigate the risk of having to perform a full system recovery in the event of a service disruption, the CUSO has installed an identical processing environment at its High Availability data center with real-time data replication. Supporting these redundant systems are meshed network infrastructures to provide system availability and security if the primary production system should become unavailable. This allows CU*Answers to continue providing core-processing services to its clients including CU*BASE, online banking, and third-party vendor communications during most foreseeable events.

CU*Answers added that regular rollover and disaster recovery exercises are conducted throughout the year to ensure readiness.