On October 13, 2022, CU*Answers facilitated a tabletop exercise for a $250M credit union in central Iowa as part of their business continuity program. With so much emphasis on cyber-related threats, the group wanted to remind everyone that other forms of disruptive incidents still occur, potentially impacting the ability to serve the member base.

The scenario for this exercise included an afterhours fire at the main office. Upon arrival and detection, the credit union response and recovery teams discussed what actions were to take place, including what information is needed to make effective decisions. “With staff primarily back in the office, more events are occurring on site again,” states Jim Lawrence, VP of Business Continuity at CU*Answers. “Adapting to the circumstances requires organization and coordination as well as well documented schedules.”

“Credit unions continue to grow more integrated with third-party vendors with an IT infrastructure that is hybrid in nature, with components both on-premises and in the cloud,” he continued. “Understanding the impact to operations should any one of your sites unexpectedly go offline is critical in the credit union’s ability to respond.”

CU*Answers helps credit unions across the country develop and test their business continuity plans using all tools available, such as the tabletop exercise described above. The benefits include helping build and maintain the muscle memory of response teams, determine areas of the plans that require updating, and identify questions and action items to complete before the next disruptive incident occurs.