Relying on its own expertise and the experience of its clients, COCC hosted a technical forum here on business resumption plans and overall system security. Fifty-one credit union and bank clients were in attendance.
"The underlying purpose behind these forums is to save our clients time researching and troubleshooting their own technical strategies," said COCC's Chief Technology Officer, Joseph D. Lockwood.
The event was the fourth hosted by COCC during the past 18 months, and included a business resumption panel and several presentations. In addition to the experiences shared, two institutions shared their full business resumption manuals with the attendees. The meeting opened with a short film that portrayed the impact of an office fire, which destroyed paper records, electronic media, and office equipment. Without clear priorities to guide the effected company, more than 30% of its business was lost.
Following the film, the meeting focused on the human and technical aspects of business recovery. Several COCC clients presented aspects of their business resumption preparations, and COCC presented its own business resumption efforts.
Everett Hanson, VP of MIS for the $1.1-billion HarborOne Credit Union in Brockton, Mass. described the credit union's experience with an automated disaster planning system. "We conducted focus groups throughout the institution to explore each person's and department's needs in the event of a disaster," said Hanson.
Among the items Hanson found in the planning system were damage assessment forms and a way of creating a clear chain of command indicating who had the authority to declare a disaster.
"The application makes you think of things you wouldn't ordinarily," said Hanson. "We now keep an inventory of staff who are trained on particular systems and functions. We know what's been tested and when. Examiners gave us high marks for that level of preparation."
Hanson added that the system prints reports from any LAN-connected PC within the institution or any authorized Internet connection.
Other discussions focused on issues such as the appropriate size for an IT staff, approaches to using digital surveillance cameras, email archival services, Internet usage reports, and security policies.
The company has scheduled two additional technology forums in 2004 in addition to its three regional client meetings and frequent client visits.
For more info: 860-674.7214 or www. cocc.com.
