Case Study, Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity
How Iowa State Savings Bank
Turned a Federal Reserve Finding
into a Complete DR Plan
After a Federal Reserve IT review flagged gaps in their disaster recovery plan, ISSB partnered with Aureon to build a complete, tested business continuity solution, and earned high marks at their next exam.
Partnership Overview
A Federal Reserve Finding and a Compliance Clock Ticking
After a Federal Reserve Bank Review, Iowa State Savings Bank received notice that improvements were needed in its business continuity and disaster recovery plan. With the increasing volume of mobile and online banking, the stakes for a strong DR program had never been higher — and the bank needed to act decisively.
Managing disaster recovery, network security, and business continuity internally was a daunting task for ISSB's team. Without specialized IT expertise on staff, the bank risked patching gaps in isolation rather than building a truly comprehensive, tested solution — and leadership knew they needed outside expertise to do it right.
Federal Reserve DR Gaps Identified
A Federal Reserve Bank Review found gaps in ISSB's business continuity and disaster recovery plan — requiring decisive action in an era of growing mobile and online banking dependency.
Complexity of Handling IT Internally
Without specialized IT expertise on staff, ISSB risked patching gaps in isolation rather than building a comprehensive, tested DR solution — making outside expertise essential.
Built, Tested, and Proven — Not Just Planned
Aureon implemented its Cloud Suite for Financial Institutions — hosting all hardware infrastructure at the bank in Knoxville while using the Aureon data center as a complete backup for the entire ISSB network. The infrastructure was redesigned from the ground up to handle backup and security for any type of event, eliminating every gap identified in the Federal Reserve review.
Aureon didn't just build the plan — they tested it. The full test environment was spun up in under two hours, with workstations replicating exactly as they appear at the bank. Key banking activities and critical interfaces with other banks, the Federal Reserve, and ATM card systems were all successfully tested — proving the plan would work when it mattered most.
Cloud Suite for Financial Institutions
All hardware hosted at the ISSB location in Knoxville, with the Aureon data center serving as a complete backup environment — ready to become ISSB's hosted environment in any disaster scenario.
Infrastructure Overhaul & DR Design
Aureon overhauled ISSB's hardware and redesigned the infrastructure to cover all aspects of the network — eliminating every gap identified in the Federal Reserve review and documenting a complete business continuity plan.
Live Disaster Recovery Testing
The full DR environment was spun up in under two hours, with workstations replicating exactly as they appear at the bank. Key banking interfaces with the Federal Reserve, other banks, and ATM card systems were all successfully tested.
Ongoing IT Partnership
Beyond disaster recovery, Aureon serves as ISSB's ongoing IT partner — handling everyday maintenance, monitoring, and support so bank staff can focus on serving clients in Knoxville, Iowa.
A Compliance Gap Turned Into a Competitive Strength
During its next Federal Reserve IT examination, ISSB received positive comments and high ratings — due in large part to the thoroughness of the disaster recovery and business continuity plan that Aureon had built and tested. As Controller Dawn Rankin noted, Aureon's resources and response time to critical issues give the bank the peace of mind to focus on clients rather than IT concerns.
High Ratings at Federal Reserve IT Exam
ISSB received positive comments and high ratings at its next Federal Reserve IT examination — due to the thoroughness of the DR and business continuity plan Aureon built and tested. A compliance gap became a competitive strength.
Peace of Mind to Focus on Banking
With disaster recovery fully addressed, ISSB's leadership can redirect attention to core banking operations — confident that critical systems are monitored, protected, and tested by Aureon's team.
Avoiding Disaster Through Outsourced IT
"It is truly a partnership. The Aureon team has a 'do whatever it takes' attitude, which makes for great working relationships and a reliable network. Without their expertise, we'd be courting disaster instead of avoiding it. It certainly makes our jobs easier, knowing that we have a partner who has our best interests in mind every step of the way."
Dawn Rankin
Controller & Vice President of Compliance, Iowa State Savings Bank
Community Banking · Knoxville, Iowa · Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity
From Federal Reserve Finding to Best-in-Class Disaster Recovery
Iowa State Savings Bank is a locally owned community bank in Knoxville, Iowa. Like many community banks navigating the growth of mobile and online banking, ISSB understood the critical importance of a strong disaster recovery plan — but when a Federal Reserve Bank Review identified gaps in their business continuity framework, they knew it was time to bring in experts.
ISSB turned to Aureon to overhaul their infrastructure and build a comprehensive disaster recovery solution. Aureon implemented the Cloud Suite for Financial Institutions, hosting all hardware at the bank while establishing Aureon's data center as a complete backup environment. If an incident occurs at the Knoxville location, Aureon becomes ISSB's fully operational hosted data center for every network application — with no single points of failure.
The proof is in the testing. Aureon spun up the complete disaster recovery environment in under two hours, successfully validated all critical banking interfaces — including connections with other banks, the Federal Reserve, and ATM card systems — and earned ISSB high ratings at their next Federal Reserve IT examination. Today, Dawn Rankin and her team lead with confidence, knowing their "do whatever it takes" technology partner has every aspect of their network covered.
Frequently Asked Questions
Following a Federal Reserve Bank Review, ISSB received feedback that improvements were needed in its business continuity and disaster recovery framework. With the continued growth of mobile and online banking, maintaining a secure network and protecting critical data had become increasingly complex. Rather than attempting to address the gaps internally without specialized expertise, ISSB turned to Aureon to build a truly comprehensive solution.
The Aureon Cloud Suite for Financial Institutions hosts and manages a bank's hardware infrastructure while using Aureon's data center as a secure, complete backup environment. For ISSB, this means all hardware runs locally at the Knoxville branch under normal operations — but if an incident occurs, Aureon's data center immediately becomes a fully operational hosted environment for every ISSB network application, keeping critical banking functions running without interruption.
Aureon conducted a live disaster recovery test, spinning up the complete test environment in under two hours — with every workstation replicating exactly as it appears at the bank. The team successfully tested all critical banking activities, including interfaces with other financial institutions, the Federal Reserve, and ATM card systems. This end-to-end validation gave ISSB verified confidence that their plan would function exactly as designed in a real emergency.
During ISSB's next Federal Reserve IT examination, the bank received positive comments and high ratings — due in large part to the thoroughness and completeness of the disaster recovery and business continuity plan Aureon had built and tested. What began as a compliance gap identified in an audit became a demonstrated strength by the time of the next review.
Aureon serves as ISSB's ongoing IT partner — handling everyday network maintenance, monitoring, and support in addition to the disaster recovery infrastructure. The scalability of Aureon's resources and their responsiveness to critical issues means ISSB always has expert help available. As Dawn Rankin, Controller and VP-Compliance, put it: Aureon's "do whatever it takes" attitude makes for great working relationships and gives the bank a truly reliable network to depend on.
Is Your Bank's Disaster Recovery Plan Ready for the Real Thing?
Whether you're preparing for a regulatory exam or building a complete business continuity solution from scratch, Aureon's financial IT experts can help you avoid disaster — not just plan for it.
