BusinessContinuity

BusinessContinuity is the practice of planning and preparing to ensure that an organization can continue essential operations during and after a disruptive event, such as a natural disaster, cyberattack, or supply chain disruption. It encompasses prevention, response, and recovery activities designed to minimize operational, financial, and reputational impacts.

Key components include business impact analysis to identify critical processes and dependencies, risk assessment to evaluate threats and vulnerabilities, and strategy development for maintaining or restoring operations. Formal plans, procedures, and communication protocols are developed to guide actions before, during, and after a disruption. Recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs) help define acceptable downtime and data loss. The discipline also emphasizes training, awareness, testing, and ongoing maintenance of plans and capabilities.

Implementation is typically guided by a management system approach, requiring leadership commitment, defined roles and responsibilities, and integration with broader risk management. International standards such as ISO 22301 specify requirements for a business continuity management system (BCMS), while other guidelines, such as NFPA 1600 and sector-specific frameworks, provide additional structure and best practices.

Relation to other fields is important: business continuity complements disaster recovery, focusing on maintaining operations in real time, whereas disaster recovery concentrates on restoring IT systems. Together, they contribute to organizational resilience, enabling quicker recovery, protection of stakeholders, regulatory compliance, and preservation of trust and value during and after adverse events.