A Disaster Can Happen at Any Minute. Are You Prepared? By ImageQuest What impact would a tornado have on your bank? How about a processor outage? Do you know how long your customers would be blocked from completing transactions? Or how much revenue your bank might lose? Knowing the answers to these questions can help your organization prepare for and respond to the unexpected. Organizations typically codify this information in a business impact analysis (BIA). A BIA means precisely what it says — it’s an investigation into what impact any negative, disruptive event could have on your workforce, customers and institution. Information in a BIA may be needed for regulators during examinations, or from underwriters providing cyber liability insurance. Both want to see that your bank is prepared for the unexpected and can respond appropriately. The Biggest Advantage of a BIA What are your most critical business functions? If hampered or halted, what processes would bring your operations to a standstill? And what will that mean (in the short and long term) for your bank or financial institution? By conducting a BIA, your team will gain a thorough understanding of various disruptions and their potential impacts on your institution. With that understanding, your team can improve how those processes are protected, especially those most critical to your bank and your customers. What To Expect From a Business Impact Analysis Perhaps you’ve been mandated to conduct a business impact analysis. Maybe an incident has spurred you to be better prepared in the future. Or, maybe you just want your bank or financial firm to be the best it can be — robust and ready to weather any storm. 14 West Virginia Banker
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTg3NDExNQ==