Were financial institutions ready for a pandemic?
As a society, we can all collectively say no because no one was really “ready” for a pandemic, but the real answer is more complex than you might think. Financial institutions’ business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) plans actually did include pandemic planning because the FDIC issued regulations in 2008 that detailed the “actions that financial institutions should take to minimize the potential adverse effects of a pandemic.”
Despite this, most community banks and credit unions have now realized that they weren’t as prepared for the current situation as they thought. While pandemic planning may have already been a part of their policies, even institutions’ most comprehensive BC/DR plans didn’t account for business operations and local branches being open while also having 90 percent of their staff working remotely. While community financial institutions are currently strategizing how to safely reopen and bring their employees and customers back into the branch, now is the time to review BC/DR policies and procedures to help prepare for the future.
With new aspects to consider, financial institutions should modify their BC/DR testing and planning, integrating new updates regarding technology, data security, backup and recovery – all of which helps them be ready for future regulatory changes and audits. In reshaping these plans, utilizing the right technology solutions can help institutions be better prepared for any situation.
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While some financial institutions have been hesitant to implement cloud solutions, more are now making the move in response to the pandemic, recognizing that investing in a cloud infrastructure optimizes operations, drives future strategies, amplifies security and improves the customer experience. More importantly, a cloud environment, be it private or public, can help address the need for highly available resources and provide more flexible restore options for the institution’s BC/DR testing procedures.
Utilizing cloud recovery solutions as the institution’s primary backup and recovery platform is a proven alternative to building out a physical disaster recovery site at another location, which can be cost prohibitive. When an institution’s infrastructure is backed up to the cloud, employees can access essential services and data through a secure virtual private network (VPN) connection – whenever and wherever they are.
Additionally, with the rise in the remote workforce, utilizing a cloud recovery environment can offer a better solution to remote connectivity and mobile computing requirements. However, as institutions reshape BC/DR policies, it’s important that all employees (not just the IT department and c-level executives) have proper training and know what to do in the event that your BC/DR plans need to be implemented quickly. And, remote solutions should be available to all employees in order to access important customer data from anywhere.
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Chances are that as financial institutions across the country rolled out their pandemic plans, they had to make significant adjustments as cities moved into “shelter in place” mode. The uncertainty and anxiousness of the unknown was compiled by sending their employees home, away from their brick and mortar offices. But, as we’ve learned from the first half of this year, having a tried and tested BC/DR plan lays the groundwork for successful operations in any scenario. What we’ve also learned is that there needs to be additional measures taken to better test and plan for future scenarios, ensuring that employees can continue to provide customers the same level of service that they are accustomed to no matter where they may be working from.
In the event of a global pandemic, the industry has discovered the importance of technology solutions that are flexible and scalable. It’s just as important to ensure BC/DR plans and solutions are updated, tested and thoroughly reviewed regularly, so employees are truly prepared to resume their daily tasks, regardless of location and channel.
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