BANKER FORUM FOCUSES ON BUSINESS RESUMPTION

AVON, Conn. MARCH 29, 2004 — COCC combined technical expertise with client experience in a recent technical forum in Sturbridge, Mass. The forum helped 51 community banks and credit unions improve their business resumption plans and boost overall system security.

“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. “Our consistently high attendance at these events proves that we’re successful.”

This is COCC’s fourth technology forum in the past 18 months. COCC expanded the format of this popular event to include a business resumption panel and several presentations. The panel sparked enthusiastic discussion with representatives from banks and a credit union who presented aspects of their business resumption plans and testing initiatives. Two additional institutions shared their full business resumption manuals with the attendees. The company has scheduled two additional technology forums in 2004 in addition to its three regional client meetings and frequent client visits.

The Sturbridge 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. A luncheon speaker discussed risk management for information technology systems. In the afternoon, COCC’s Joe Lockwood, introduced a panel of technology experts to answer a list of attendees’ questions.

Sprinkled throughout the day were questions to and from the audience about size of IT staff, contact management systems used, and back-up strategies in place. “Asking those questions stimulates discussion between attendees,” says Lockwood. “We know the forum is successful when we see attendees engaged in discussion through lunch and breaks. They’re learning from each other as well as COCC.”

The morning’s business resumption panel began with a presentation by Larry Walker, Vice President – Data Processing for $600M Chelsea-Groton Savings Bank in Groton, Conn. Walker explained the bank’s communications configuration, emphasizing redundancy and the importance of explaining the network to regulators.

“I recently spent an hour going through our network diagram with the examiner,” said Walker. “It was beneficial to both of us, since examiners are not always knowledgeable about the details of data communications.”

Everett Hanson, Vice President – MIS for $1.1B 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.

COCC’s Vice President – Production, Scott Johnson, then described the company’s business resumption plans. “While all critical core applications will be available within 24 hours of a declared disaster,” said Johnson, “COCC is also offering a platinum recovery service that provides real time business resumption.” Johnson added that the real time solution is based on mirroring technologies that maintain two copies of the institution’s database at any given time.

The afternoon 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.

“We find the Tech Forum to be extremely informative,” said Richard Telesmanick, Vice President – Operations for $237M The Community Bank in Brockton, Mass. “Sometimes you have to hear the information from the experts and have the opportunity to ask questions. I can guarantee that the 7-8 hours I spend here will eliminate 20 hours of my own time researching solutions for the bank.”

Joe Zazzaro, Assistant Vice President — Information Systems at $700M Woronoco Savings Bank in Westfield, Mass., added, “The Tech Forum is a great collaborative where colleagues can discuss pressing issues and develop solutions. I find it highly worthwhile.”

The day ended on a particularly happy note for one credit union operations officer — he won a USB “thumb” drive. This hard drive device, which is roughly the size of a key chain, is often used to transfer files to and from laptop computers, making it the ideal device for backing up and restoring data in the event of an emergency.