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What is a business continuity plan (bcp), and how does it work.

business continuity management system planning

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What Is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)? 

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a system of prevention and recovery from potential threats to a company. The plan ensures that personnel and assets are protected and are able to function quickly in the event of a disaster.

Key Takeaways

  • Business continuity plans (BCPs) are prevention and recovery systems for potential threats, such as natural disasters or cyber-attacks.
  • BCP is designed to protect personnel and assets and make sure they can function quickly when disaster strikes.
  • BCPs should be tested to ensure there are no weaknesses, which can be identified and corrected.

Understanding Business Continuity Plans (BCPs)

BCP involves defining any and all risks that can affect the company's operations, making it an important part of the organization's risk management strategy. Risks may include natural disasters—fire, flood, or weather-related events—and cyber-attacks . Once the risks are identified, the plan should also include:

  • Determining how those risks will affect operations
  • Implementing safeguards and procedures to mitigate the risks
  • Testing procedures to ensure they work
  • Reviewing the process to make sure that it is up to date

BCPs are an important part of any business. Threats and disruptions mean a loss of revenue and higher costs, which leads to a drop in profitability. And businesses can't rely on insurance alone because it doesn't cover all the costs and the customers who move to the competition. It is generally conceived in advance and involves input from key stakeholders and personnel.

Business impact analysis, recovery, organization, and training are all steps corporations need to follow when creating a Business Continuity Plan.

Benefits of a Business Continuity Plan

Businesses are prone to a host of disasters that vary in degree from minor to catastrophic. Business continuity planning is typically meant to help a company continue operating in the event of major disasters such as fires. BCPs are different from a disaster recovery plan, which focuses on the recovery of a company's information technology system after a crisis.

Consider a finance company based in a major city. It may put a BCP in place by taking steps including backing up its computer and client files offsite. If something were to happen to the company's corporate office, its satellite offices would still have access to important information.

An important point to note is that BCP may not be as effective if a large portion of the population is affected, as in the case of a disease outbreak. Nonetheless, BCPs can improve risk management—preventing disruptions from spreading. They can also help mitigate downtime of networks or technology, saving the company money.

How To Create a Business Continuity Plan

There are several steps many companies must follow to develop a solid BCP. They include:

  • Business Impact Analysis : Here, the business will identify functions and related resources that are time-sensitive. (More on this below.)
  • Recovery : In this portion, the business must identify and implement steps to recover critical business functions.
  • Organization : A continuity team must be created. This team will devise a plan to manage the disruption.
  • Training : The continuity team must be trained and tested. Members of the team should also complete exercises that go over the plan and strategies.

Companies may also find it useful to come up with a checklist that includes key details such as emergency contact information, a list of resources the continuity team may need, where backup data and other required information are housed or stored, and other important personnel.

Along with testing the continuity team, the company should also test the BCP itself. It should be tested several times to ensure it can be applied to many different risk scenarios . This will help identify any weaknesses in the plan which can then be corrected.

In order for a business continuity plan to be successful, all employees—even those who aren't on the continuity team—must be aware of the plan.

Business Continuity Impact Analysis

An important part of developing a BCP is a business continuity impact analysis. It identifies the effects of disruption of business functions and processes. It also uses the information to make decisions about recovery priorities and strategies.

FEMA provides an operational and financial impact worksheet to help run a business continuity analysis. The worksheet should be completed by business function and process managers who are well acquainted with the business. These worksheets will summarize the following:

  • The impacts—both financial and operational—that stem from the loss of individual business functions and process
  • Identifying when the loss of a function or process would result in the identified business impacts

Completing the analysis can help companies identify and prioritize the processes that have the most impact on the business's financial and operational functions. The point at which they must be recovered is generally known as the “recovery time objective.”

Business Continuity Plan vs. Disaster Recovery Plan

BCPs and disaster recovery plans are similar in nature, the latter focuses on technology and information technology (IT) infrastructure. BCPs are more encompassing—focusing on the entire organization, such as customer service and supply chain. 

BCPs focus on reducing overall costs or losses, while disaster recovery plans look only at technology downtimes and related costs. Disaster recovery plans tend to involve only IT personnel—which create and manage the policy. However, BCPs tend to have more personnel trained on the potential processes. 

Why Is Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Important?

Businesses are prone to a host of disasters that vary in degree from minor to catastrophic and business continuity plans (BCPs) are an important part of any business. BCP is typically meant to help a company continue operating in the event of threats and disruptions. This could result in a loss of revenue and higher costs, which leads to a drop in profitability. And businesses can't rely on insurance alone because it doesn't cover all the costs and the customers who move to the competition.

What Should a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Include?

Business continuity plans involve identifying any and all risks that can affect the company's operations. The plan should also determine how those risks will affect operations and implement safeguards and procedures to mitigate the risks. There should also be testing procedures to ensure these safeguards and procedures work. Finally, there should be a review process to make sure that the plan is up to date.

What Is Business Continuity Impact Analysis?

An important part of developing a BCP is a business continuity impact analysis which identifies the effects of disruption of business functions and processes. It also uses the information to make decisions about recovery priorities and strategies.

FEMA provides an operational and financial impact worksheet to help run a business continuity analysis.

These worksheets summarize the impacts—both financial and operational—that stem from the loss of individual business functions and processes. They also identify when the loss of a function or process would result in the identified business impacts.

Business continuity plans (BCPs) are created to help speed up the recovery of an organization filling a threat or disaster. The plan puts in place mechanisms and functions to allow personnel and assets to minimize company downtime. BCPs cover all organizational risks should a disaster happen, such as flood or fire.  

Federal Emergency Management Agency. " Business Process Analysis and Business Impact Analysis User Guide ." Pages 15 - 17.

Ready. “ IT Disaster Recovery Plan .”

Federal Emergency Management Agency. " Business Process Analysis and Business Impact Analysis User Guide ." Pages 15-17.

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5 Step Guide to Business Continuity Planning (BCP) in 2021

A business continuity plan provides a concrete plan to maintain business cohesion in challenging circumstances. Click here for the key steps that can help you formulate a formidable BCP.

A business continuity plan (BCP) is defined as a protocol of preventing and recovering from potentially large threats to the company’s business continuity. This article explains what a business continuity plan is today, its key benefits, and a step-by-step guide to creating a formidable plan.

Table of Contents

What is a business continuity plan (bcp), key benefits of having a business continuity plan, step-by-step guide to building a formidable business continuity plan (bcp) in 2021.

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a protocol of preventing and recovering from potentially large threats to the company’s business continuity. Such a plan often aims to address the need for updated business norms and operational standards in unpredictable circumstances such as natural disasters, data breach/ exposures, large scale system failures etc. The goal of such a plan is to ensure continuity of business with no or little damage to regular working environments, including job security for its employees.

It covers everything from business processes, human resources details, and more. Essentially a BCP provides a concrete plan to the organization to maintain business continuity even in challenging circumstances. 

Below are key reasons why businesses need to have a BCP today:

  • BCP’s relevance has gone up considerably after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and was also a major testing time for organizations that did have such a plan in place. The organizations which had a business continuity plan in place were better able to cope during these unprecedented circumstances better than those who did not have any such plans.
  • The recorded number of natural disasters has increased from 375 in 2016 to 409 in 2019 Opens a new window . Globally, the loss because of natural disasters was $232 billion in 2019, according to a study by Aon Opens a new window .
  • The number of cyberattacks has also increased in all geographies and all business verticals. MonsterCloud reported that cyberattacks have skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. All this means that the organizations have to be better prepared to fight disasters. The importance of BCP can hardly be exaggerated in this context. Preparing a BCP is imperative for any enterprise, big or small, today. 

The end goal of a BCP is to ensure that the essential services continue to run in the event of an incident. For instance, if there is an earthquake where your customer service representatives operate from, your BCP will be able to tell you who will handle customer calls until the original office is restored.

Also Read: What Is Disaster Recovery? Definition, Cloud and On-premise, Benefits and Best Practices

Difference between a business continuity plan (BCP) and disaster recovery plan (DCP)

A BCP is often confused with a disaster recovery (DR) plan. While a DR plan is primarily focused on restoring the IT systems and infrastructure, a BCP is much more than that. It covers all areas and departments of the organization, including HR, marketing and sales, support functions. 

The underlying thought behind BCP is that IT systems can hardly work in silos. Other departments also need to be restored to cater to the client or for meeting the business demands. 

“Many people think a disaster recovery plan (DRP) is the same as a business continuity plan, but a DRP is only a small, yet essential, a portion of a full BCP. A DRP focuses solely on restoring an organization’s IT infrastructure while minimizing data loss. On the other hand, a BCP is a comprehensive guide on how to continue the mission and business-critical operations during a time of an unplanned disruption (natural disasters, pandemics, or malware),” says Caleb Pipkin, a security expert at Logically . 

Whether a business is small, big, or medium-sized, it needs a ‘plan B’ to recover quickly in the event of a natural disaster or a crisis and can survive the disruption. BCP helps you dust yourself and get back to business quickly and easily. It means that the enterprise will be better placed to address their customers’ needs even in the wake of a disaster. 

On the other hand, the lack of a plan means that your organization will take longer to recover from an event or incident. It could also lead to loss of business or clients. Let’s look at some key benefits of BCP.

1. It is a roadmap to act in a disaster

A well-defined business continuity plan is like a roadmap during a disruption. It allows the firms to react swiftly and effectively and maintain business continuity. In turn, this leads to a faster and complete recovery of the enterprise in the shortest possible timeframe. It brings down the business downtime and outlines the steps to be taken before, during, and after a crisis and thus helps maintain its financial viability. 

2. Offers a competitive edge

Fast reaction and business continuity during a disruption allow organizations to gain a competitive edge over its business rivals. It can translate into a significant competitive advantage in the long run. Further, your clients will be more confident in your ability to perform in adverse circumstances allowing you to build a long and sustainable relationship with your business partners.

Developing competence to act and handle any unfavorable event effectively has a positive effect on the company’s reputation and market value. It goes a long way in enhancing customer confidence. 

Also Read: Top 8 Disaster Recovery Software Companies in 2021

3. Cuts down losses

Disasters have a considerable impact on all types of business, whether big or small. Business disruption can lead to financial, legal, and reputational losses. Failure to plan could be disastrous for businesses. You may lose your customers while trying to get your business on track. In the worst circumstances, you may not be able to recover at all. A well-defined business continuity strategy minimizes the damage to an organization and allows you to bring down these losses as much as possible. 

4. Enables employment continuity and protects livelihoods

One of the most significant consequences of a disaster is the loss of employment. The loss of livelihood can be curtailed to an extent if the business continues to function in the event of a disaster. It leads to greater confidence in the workforce that their jobs might not be at risk, and the management is taking steps to protect their jobs. It helps build confidence in senior management’s ability to respond to the business disruption in a planned manner. 

5. Can be life-saving

A regularly tested and updated BCP can potentially help save the lives of the employees and the customers during a disaster. For instance, if the BCP plan for fire is regularly tested, the speed with which the workforce acts can help save lives. 

6. Preserves brand value and develops resilience

Possibly the biggest asset of an organization is its brand. Being able to perform in uncertain times helps build goodwill and maintain its brand value and may even help mitigate financial and reputational loss during a disaster. 

BCP curtails the damage to the company’s brand and finances because of a disaster event. This helps bring down the cost of any incident and thus help the company be more resilient. 

Also Read: 10 Best Practices for Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP)

7. Enables adherence to compliance requirements

Having a BCP allows organizations to have additional benefits of complying with regulatory requirements. It is a legal requirement in several countries.

8. Helps in supply chain security

A precise BCP goes a long way in protecting the supply chain from damage. It ensures continuity in delivering products and services by being able to perform critical activities.

9. Enhances operational efficiency

One of BCP’s lesser-known benefits is that it helps identify areas of operational efficiency in the organization. Developing BCP calls for an in-depth evaluation of the company’s processes. This can potentially reveal the areas of improvement. Essentially, it gathers information that can benefit in enhancing the effectiveness of the processes and operations. 

Also Read: 7 Ways to Build an Effective Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan  

The COVID-19 pandemic has put the spotlight on preparing for a disaster like never before. We make the job easier for you by listing out the key steps in building a formidable business continuity plan: 

How to Build a Business Continuity Plan

How to Build a Business Continuity Plan

Step 1: Risk assessment 

This phase involves asking crucial questions to evaluate the risks faced by the company. What are the likely business threats and disruptions which are most likely to occur? What is the most profitable activity of your organization? It is vital to prioritize key risks and operations, which will help mitigate the damage in the event of a disaster. 

Step 2: Business impact analysis

The second step involves a thorough and in-depth assessment of your business processes to determine the vulnerable areas and the potential losses if those processes are disrupted. This is also known as Business Impact Analysis . 

Essentially, Business impact analysis (BIA) is a process that helps the organization define the impact if critical business operations are interrupted because of a disaster, accident, or emergency. It helps in identifying the most crucial elements of the business processes. For instance, maintaining a supply chain might be more critical during a crisis than public relations.

While there is no formal standard for a BIA, it typically involves the following steps: 

  • Collating information: As a first step, a questionnaire is prepared to find out critical business processes and resources that will help in the proper assessment of the impact of a disruptive event. One-on-one sessions with key management members may be conducted further to gain insights into the organization’s processes and workings.
  • Analysis: This is followed by analyzing the collected information. A manual or computer-assisted analysis is conducted. The analysis is based on an interruption in which crucial activities or resources are not available. Typically it works on the assumption of the worst-case scenario, even when the chances of a risk likelihood are low. This approach is followed to zero in on the systems that, when disrupted or interrupted, threaten the organization’s very survival. This way, these processes are prioritized in the business continuity plan. 

The analysis phase helps identify the minimum staff and resources required for running the organization in the event of a crisis. This also allows the organizations to assess the impact on the revenue if the business is unable to run for a day, a week, or more. There might be contractual penalties, regulatory fines, and workforce-related expenditure which need to be taken into account while finding out the impact on the business. Further, there might be specific vulnerabilities of the firm, and they need to be considered in the BIA. 

  • Preparing a report: The next step is preparing a BIA report, which is assessed by the senior management. The report is a thorough analysis of the gathered information along with findings. It also gives recommendations on the procedure that should be followed in the event of a business disruption. The BIA report also shares the impact on the revenue, supply chain, and customer delivery to the business in a specific time frame. 

The business impact analysis report may also include a checklist of all the resources, such as the names of key personnel, data backup , contact information, emergency responders, and more.

  • Presenting the report: Usually, this report goes through several amendments before being cleared by the senior management. The involvement of senior management is crucial to the success of the business continuity plan. It sends out a strong signal in the organization that it is a serious initiative. 

Also Read: Will Extreme Weather Events Affect Your Business? Lessons From the Texas Winter Storm

Step 3: BCP Testing

Several testing methods are available to test the effectiveness of the BCP. Here are a few common ones: 

  • TableTop test: As the name suggests, the identified executives go through the plan in detail to evaluate whether it will work on not. Different disaster types and the response to them are discussed at length. This type of testing is designed to make all the key personnel aware of their role in the event of a disaster. The response procedure is reviewed, and responsibilities are outlined, so everybody knows their roles.
  • Walk through: In this type of testing, the team members go through their part in the plan with a specific disaster in mind. Drills or a simulated response and disaster role-playing are part of this. This is a more thorough form of testing and likely to reveal the shortcoming in the plan. Any vulnerabilities discovered should be used to update the BCP accordingly.
  • Disaster simulation testing: In this type of testing, an environment that simulates an actual disaster is created. This is the closest to the actual event and gives the best case scenario about the plan’s workability. It will help the team find gaps that might be overlooked in the other types of tests. Document the results of your testing so you can compare the improvement from the previous tests. It will help you in strengthening your business continuity plan. 

Frequency of testing – Typically, organizations test BCP at least twice a year. At the same time, it depends on the size of your organization and the business vertical you operate in.

Step 4: Maintenance

A business continuity plan should not be treated as a one-time exercise. It needs to be maintained , so the organization’s structural and people changes are updated regularly. The key personnel might move on from the firm, and this would need to be updated in the Business Impact Analysis and BCP. The process for regular updating of the documentation should be followed to ensure that the organization is not caught on the wrong foot in case of a business disruption. 

Also Read: Offsite Data Replication: A Great Way To Meet Recovery Time Objectives

Step 5: Communication

Sometimes executives tend to ignore communication while preparing a BCP. It is a crucial aspect, and your BCP should clearly define who will maintain the communication channels with the employees, regulators, business partners, and partners during the crisis. The contact information of the key people should be readily accessible for the BCP to work without any trouble.

In the end, the organizations should accept that despite preparing a formidable business continuity plan, several factors beyond your control may still affect its success or failure. The key executives might not be available in the event of a crisis; both the primary and the alternate data recovery sites might have been affected by the event; the communications network might be damaged, and so on. Such factors are common during a natural disaster and may lead to the limited success of the business continuity plan. 

The success of a business depends on it acting swiftly and efficiently when confronted with an unanticipated crisis. Any failure to do so results in a financial and reputational loss, which takes up a long time to recover. It can be avoided if the organization quickly gathers itself during a disaster. A business continuity plan is then of paramount importance for a business of any size. At the same time, it is crucial to ensure that the BCP is not a one-time exercise. It needs to be continuously evaluated, tested, amended, and maintained so it doesn’t let you down when you need it the most. 

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Experts Discuss the Importance and Advantages of Business Continuity Plans

By Andy Marker | August 25, 2020 (updated October 14, 2021)

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Experts make the case for developing a business continuity plan so that disruptions don’t negatively affect your operations, when they inevitably arise. 

Included on this page, you’ll learn the importance and benefits of business continuity planning (BCP) , and how a strong plan helps staff in a crisis . Plus, find a PowerPoint business continuity argument template to help make the case for embracing business continuity in your company.

What Is a Business Continuity Plan?

A business continuity plan (BCP) is part of a business continuity management system (BCMS), and includes the procedures an organization must follow in an emergency. The document also contains steps for recovery in the days and months after the incident.

One part of a BCP is the disaster recovery plan , which contains plans for IT and technical continuity. An organization can follow specific steps to write its business continuity plan, or hire an outside consultant. For details on writing a BCP, read "How to Write a Business Continuity Plan” ,

Importance of a Business Continuity Plan

A strong business continuity plan can reduce risks during a crisis, and helps ensure that the company can continue to provide goods or services and earn income by detailing how to respond during and after an incident. 

An often-quoted statistic claims that 40 percent of businesses never recover from a disaster . Although some experts question the statistic’s sources, it stands to reason that recovering from a major disruption is tough. After all, staying in business can be difficult, even during the best of times.

Alex Fullick

As business continuity consultant Alex Fullick, General Manager at Stone Road , explains, "I think the global pandemic has proven that everybody and every organization, no matter what size, needs the ability to respond and recover from any sort of eventuality, whether large or small. If anyone still has the mindset that it's going to happen to someone else, they're probably going to go out of business."

As natural disasters and data breaches become more frequent, the question is not if, but when a disruptive event will take place.

Business continuity plans can help an organization address the following issues before disruption occurs:

  • People Don't Know What to Do in a Disaster: Proactively creating plans and training employees ensures a safe and timely recovery. When you've identified sensitive and critical functions ahead of time, you can better plan to execute quickly when a crisis occurs. 
  • Insurance Isn't a Solution: An organization may acquire insurance plans for healthcare, vehicles, or fixtures and equipment replacement. However, insurance can't cover the loss of customers who turn to other companies when you can't fulfill orders or reimburse you for a lost reputation.
  • Creating a Plan Is an Investment in Your Company: Although a BCP may carry fixed costs in training, wages, or equipment, the plan will get your company up and running ASAP in a disaster. For more about budgeting for a business continuity plan, read “ Business Continuity Planning: How to Do It Well .”

Business continuity can also provide a competitive edge. As the following examples show, companies that pursue business continuity are first to get back to work after a disaster.

  • Fire swept through the facilities of Cantey Technology, a consultancy and server host, destroying cables and hardware. However, a business continuity plan gave the company the foresight to implement a redundant offsite data center with regularly scheduled backups, which ensured seamless, continued service for clients. 
  • In another instance of a fire, this time at a telecom provider, redundant network infrastructure and solid incident planning enabled the company to restore service within six hours of a fire reaching the switching center. 
  • Even though they were located on the second floor, Houston-based Gaille Media’s offices were destroyed during Hurricane Harvey. Since they stored their data and critical documents in the cloud, however, they continued to serve customers throughout the disruption, with staff working remotely. 

"I find myself a little frustrated with some planners who have said, ‘Oh, they're busy updating their pandemic plan now,’" Fullick adds. "What do you mean you're updating your plan on people's availability? Don't you already have plans in place for, let's say, the winter flu season when you're missing 20 percent of your staff because they're all at home with the flu?"

How Business Continuity Helps Different Departments

Importance of business continuity for the supply chain .

Supply chain disruptions can be crippling, and a BCP can help sustain inventory levels. A business impact analysis (BIA) can reveal risks to key vendors’ ability to make and deliver goods in a crisis, so you can plan ahead. 

Toyota plants in North America demonstrate how a broken supply chain shut down production thousands of miles away. After the 2011 Fukushima earthquake in Japan, Japanese parts manufacturers went offline. When Toyota plants in southern Ontario couldn’t get parts for the assembly line, the company had to lay off many employees. 

"Companies are starting to realize they can be impacted, [and] not just directly by an upstream supplier that sends them something. That supplier can be impacted, too, and the effect trickles down,” Fullick explains. “[As] you see in the news, companies are starting to think more locally, rather than internationally. Companies have more control over a supplier or a vendor who is local, in the same state or province or country, than [they do] over a supplier in another country."

Ask how your suppliers will respond to a disruption to determine if they have a business continuity plan. Then, work that information into your BCP.

Importance of Business Continuity to Small Business

Small business owners often think they are exempt from crises — but when large-scale events occur, they can be among the first casualties. Almost a quarter of companies that do reopen fail within a year; having a BCP is essential to recovery.

"Unfortunately, some people think it won't happen to us ," says Fullick. "That carefree attitude is no longer tenable, especially after a pandemic that affected everyone."

Tony Bombacino

For Tony Bombacino, business continuity is a daily practice. He is the co-founder and President of Real Food Blends , a private company that makes whole foods for people with feeding tubes. “I'm always thinking to myself, 'What am I not thinking about?'” he says. “I spend a lot of time thinking about what might happen, and how to be ready for it.”

Bombacino also believes that business continuity preparedness starts outside of the business continuity plan. "It starts up front with contract negotiation” he says. “Cash is king in a small business.”

Real Food Blends doesn’t produce or pack their products, so it’s important that his manufacturing partners are large, stable, and have their own well-defined business continuity plans. If his partners aren’t prepared for handling disruption, his business might not be able to survive.

Importance of Business Continuity to IT

Most companies rely on IT to maintain services like the internet and Voice over IP (VoIP). The team also stores documents and runs machines. Without IT, a business is unworkable. Therefore, a business continuity plan for IT is crucial.

Importance of Business Continuity Planning in Crisis Management

Crisis management is part of a business continuity plan. Business continuity provides the overall approach for protecting human and other resources, and ensures that vital processes keep running. Crisis management focuses on communications and decision-making.

The Importance of Governance in Business Continuity Management

Effective governance is key to sustaining business continuity efforts. Governance starts with the business continuity policy, and the support of leadership ensures the plan always covers new risks.

However, not everyone thinks that governance always addresses all the correct questions. "Traditionally, governance tends to focus on how many scenarios your plan covers," explains Fullick. "It covers a flood, it covers fire, it covers an earthquake, a tornado, and a hurricane. You need a different plan for each one. Five plans. Each department has five plans, but do they contain the right detail?”

The Importance of Business Continuity to HR and People

Crises do not only impact tools and buildings — they also affect human well-being. If you understand how disasters change lives, you can better help staff manage their emotional and physical tolls. 

business continuity management system planning

"We bring our whole selves to work," says Debbie Rosemont, a productivity consultant and Certified Professional Organizer at Simply Placed , a business consulting firm. "I don't take my emotions, or what happened to me before I came to work, and set that outside. Who I am and how I feel shapes my ability to work and produce. When businesses or companies think about continuity plans, they've got to consider the whole person and how an event or disruption might impact somebody, even if it happens outside of work."

Disruptions can prevent people from coming to work. Illness, like a flu outbreak, may keep them at home. Damaged roads and train systems (that can occur after an earthquake) can hinder their commute. Whether employees commute to the office or work remotely, some of the following concerns may distract them from their duties:

  • They fear they will be laid off.
  • They've lost loved ones.
  • They have a financial burden and are anxious about economic losses.
  • They've suffered a disruption to their living arrangements with a loss of personal effects from a natural or human-made disaster.

Michele Barry

"When there are job losses, when people don't know when they're going to get their next gig,  when some people have lost numerous family members, this is extreme grief," says Michele Barry , Principal Consultant at Fortis Consulting. "You need your cloud system as your recovery system. You need an evacuation plan. You need to get all your files back after a crisis, which could motivate staff and sustain the business. But understanding people and politics is essential, too."

Rosemont suggests that doing business continuity planning in "normal times" is a chance for employers to source support systems. Employees can use these resources daily and during a crisis. Examples of resources include the following:

  • An excellent healthcare benefits program
  • An employee assistance program (EAP) that provides discounted legal or other advice
  • Mental health and medical resources, such as access to doctors or counselors
  • Daycare facilities or resources for both children and adults (such as elderly parents)
  • Financial planning tools or advisors
  • Sources of financial assistance
  • Apps for meditation and calming anxiety

Mike Semel

A further consideration, especially in natural disasters, is that it may be easier to restore the business than to gather your workforce. “It's easier to recover technology than it is to have the people there to use it,” explains Mike Semel, President and Chief Compliance Officer at Semel Consulting . “With the cloud and online backups, you can just go to somebody else's computer and log into Microsoft and get to your email. Your bigger problem will be people, and you need to focus on making sure your people don't disappear on you.” 

In disasters, people may leave town. If you can keep people safe, but local, you may be able to recover your business faster. As an example, he shares how his company guided a credit union to contract with a local hotel chain. The executives would move their families to safety and only then return to work. This same consideration applies to small businesses. “If you're a doctor's office, you know that the doctor needs to be there,” says Semel. “The receptionist needs to be there. The nurse needs to be there.”

How Business Continuity Helps

Business continuity business case template.

Business Continuity Business Case Template

Top leadership might wonder why they should invest time and money in business continuity planning. Use this free downloadable business case template to build a convincing argument for business continuity. These customizable slides include suggested argument points that you can adapt to fit your company’s needs. 

Download Business Continuity Business Case Template — PowerPoint

For most useful free, downloadable business continuity plan (BCP) templates please read our  "Free Business Continuity Plan Templates"  article.

​​​​​​​Benefits of Having a Business Continuity Plan

The benefit of a business continuity plan is that it prepares a company for a crisis. Trained staff will know what to do and the organization will be able to safely continue delivering key products and services, while meeting its legal and other commitments.

The following are additional advantages of business continuity:

  • Review Weaknesses and Risks: Planning for business continuity provides valuable data and insights that have worth beyond emergency preparedness. Business continuity planning means leadership can assess skills, resources, strategies, and personalities, and uncover inefficiencies. Such findings often result from a business impact analysis. To learn more, read “ All about Business Impact Analysis: A Step-by-Step How-To .”  
  • Understand Your Business Processes: Business continuity planning demands that you put your entire organization under a microscope. As a result, you can find and remedy inefficiencies in everyday operations, which will make your company more resilient.
  • Improve Processes: Ideally, your plan will cover all aspects of the company and can reveal new challenges and opportunities. Improving processes at all levels pays for the investment.
  • Help Companies Pivot Quickly: Planning helps you quickly recover critical IT systems and other processes after an incident.
  • Build Confidence among Customers: With your BCP, customers know they can rely on continued access to your products or services. For example, when experiencing the aftermath of a natural disaster or a pandemic, B2C customers may find comfort in such things as a favorite food that you may provide. Your parts and services may help B2B customers pursue their livelihoods in the face of uncertainty. 
  • Build Confidence among Employees: A plan and adequate training shows staff what to do when a crisis occurs. They also have some reassurance that their jobs will continue during and after a disruption.
  • Mitigate Financial Risk: A 2019 ITIC survey indicates that an hour of downtime can cost anywhere between $1 million and $5 million for large enterprises. Smaller businesses (those with 200 to 500 employees) responded that halting processes for one hour can cost at least $100,000. Can your company afford such losses? Plans reduce losses.
  • Keep Your Team Members Safe: Creating and training staff on an accident response and evacuation plan can keep your team safe during accidents and disasters.
  • Define Responsibility: When management and the chain of command grow ad hoc, they can fail in a crisis. A strong business continuity system names and trains crisis response leaders, and also provides roles for the rest of the team. "People need to be empowered to actually take action, and not sit there and wait for the CEO to make a decision," insists Fullick.
  • Streamline Technology: As part of the process, you will review processes and the digital platforms and infrastructure that the company has pieced together over time. You may find that it’s practical to integrate technology, and one platform may effectively complete the tasks of several disparate apps. 
  • Allocate Key Financial and Human Resources: Understanding your company’s critical functions means you can focus financial and human resources on those processes, so you can keep the business running during a severe disruption.
  • Provide a Way to Continue Working: Planning helps ensure that remote workers have access to the files, applications, and digital resources they need. This step reduces or eliminates downtime, so you can still provide products and services to customers.
  • Eliminate Potential Costs: When a business is offline or closed, it inevitably loses revenue. However, slipped supply deadlines can result in additional fees from vendors or, depending on the locale and industry, fines for regulatory non-compliance.
  • Make Coping in a Crisis Easier: In an emergency, people are often distracted thinking about their safety, as well as that of their friends and family. Training and a plan to fall back on helps people focus.

What Is Business Continuity Management (BCM)?

Business continuity management is the process a company uses to identify risks and, from there, to avoid or reduce the impact of those risks. Ultimately, this makes a company more resilient in a crisis.  

Disruptive events can impact information systems, business processes, or both. For example, a hurricane or an earthquake can cut electricity. Without power to run data centers or laptops, business processes such as supply replenishment and payroll are impossible. 

As StoneRoad’s Fullick explains, "Business continuity management is a set of plans and procedures to help you prepare for, respond to, and recover from business interruptions. Beyond that, it empowers people to make decisions when things occur. It's about knowing what resources and skills are available when something happens, whether it’s a small incident or a global pandemic." 

With BCM, companies review their needs and capabilities to create contingency plans. From there, they can deliver at least some of their regular output, or the minimum acceptable service, in the event of a crisis. Continuity of service preserves a corporation’s reputation and revenue.

Benefits of Business Continuity Management System (BCMS)

A BCMS keeps staff safe and protects assets from risk. With human, IT, and other resources, a company can continue to provide goods and services. As a result, the company will continue to create revenue and retain a solid reputation.

You can learn about the types of risks and threats to organizations, as well as regulatory requirements for business continuity planning in our article, “ Business Continuity Planning: How to Do It Well .”

"I don't think as many business people consider business continuity like they should,” says Bombacino. “I feel more prepared here, at my company, than I did when I worked at big companies. I think that’s because when big companies get really big or successful, or have lots of money, they think nothing bad can happen to them. One boss used to say there's a difference between being successful because of something and being successful in spite of something. Many companies are successful and don't have a business continuity plan. But what one thing could happen and wipe them out because they're not ready?”

Fullick adds that the value of business continuity will become increasingly clear to companies in the near future. “I think business continuity will grow as a key component for a lot of organizations, and [that] leadership on all levels is going to focus on BCP now.”

Disadvantages of Business Continuity Plans

Business continuity plans are costly and time-consuming to execute. Plans often require outside advice, and poorly written plans (or those that leadership doesn’t support) can be unsafe and cause financial losses. 

A plan also risks becoming a ticked box on a requirements list, rather than an actionable, practical document. Management can forget to share the plan with the teams who could benefit from it. "Often when people aren't a part of discussions, the crisis management team is activated, but everyone else, including leadership, is sitting around and thinking, ‘What's going on?’” explains Fullick. “Management and employees are each waiting for the other to act. But people should know what to do and just start doing it."

 Plan writers also often worry too much about specific disaster scenarios. "You need to focus on people, places, and things, and not so much on the trigger," Fullick urges. "You could lose your building because of a pandemic, or a flood, a fire, or an earthquake. Those are all different triggers for the same problem: What do we do now that our building is gone? Continuity planning should be about building a skillset, so your employees and leadership — beyond the disaster recovery team — know exactly what to do, and what the resources are, no matter what is happening." 

In essence, business continuity planning empowers people and adds value to the company. Real Food Blends’ Bombacino says, “Some entrepreneurs hate meetings and process and structure. They don't want to talk about business continuity planning. But for us, this is our life's work. Other families, our customers, depend on us. So we view business continuity planning not as just a smart thing to do, but as our responsibility to make sure that we avoid the continuity pitfalls out there."

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What Is Business Continuity?

What is business continuity

Business continuity is an organization's ability to maintain or quickly resume acceptable levels of product or service delivery following a short-term event that disrupts normal operations. Examples of disruptions range from natural disasters to power outages.

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Is business continuity the same as business resilience or disaster recovery?

Business continuity, disaster recovery, and business resilience are not the same, but they are related.

  • Business continuity is a process-driven approach to maintaining operations in the event of an unplanned disruption such as a cyber attack or natural disaster. Business continuity planning covers the entire business—processes, assets, workers, and more. It isn't focused solely on IT infrastructure and business systems.
  • Business resilience encompasses crisis management and business continuity. It requires a response to all types of risk that an organization may face. An organization that is business resilient is essentially in a constant state of "expecting the unexpected." It means continuously preparing to meet disruptions head-on, including events of extended duration that may affect more than one facility or region.
  • Disaster recovery focuses specifically on how to restore an enterprise's IT infrastructure and business systems following a disruption. It is considered an element of business continuity. A business continuity plan (BCP) might contain several disaster recovery plans, for example.

What is a business continuity strategy?

A business continuity strategy is a summary of the mitigation, crisis, and recovery plans to be implemented after a disruption to resume normal operations. "Business continuity strategy" is often used interchangeably with "business continuity plan." Both consider the broader goals, legal and regulatory requirements, personnel, and even the business's clients and partners.

What does a business continuity plan mitigate?

A relevant and well-tested BCP can help ease the negative impacts of an unexpected business disruption in many ways.

  • Financial impact: Disruptions to product supply chains and critical services to customers can directly affect sales and revenue. Downtime caused by unplanned disruptions can also result in higher costs for a business as it looks to repair operations and mitigate previously unidentified threats.
  • Reputation and brand impact: Failure to resume operations quickly and supply customers with the products or services they expect can prompt customer defections and tarnish the brand. Damage to reputation can in turn cause investors and capital sources to pull back funding, exacerbating the financial impact of a business disruption.
  • Regulatory impact: Customers and vendors are likely to complain when businesses fail to respond appropriately to disruptions, which may result in regulatory scrutiny or even censure. In highly-regulated industries, such as energy and financial services, business continuity planning is mandatory to ensure regulatory compliance.

Business continuity planning activities

A well-crafted and tested BCP can go a long way toward helping a business recover swiftly from a disruption. These are key steps a business may want to take.

Identifying critical business areas and functions

Business continuity planning begins with identifying an organization's key business areas and the critical functions within those areas. A business needs to determine and document the acceptable downtime for each area and function considered vital to operations. Then a plan to restore operations can be established, documented, and communicated.

Analyzing risks, threats, and potential impacts

Creating appropriate response scenarios requires knowing what disruptions the business could experience. An upfront analysis of risks and threats is necessary in order to prepare contingency responses to events. Organizations can also conduct a back-end analysis after an event to gather metrics and assess lessons learned. This information can drive improvements in how the business responds to disruptions.

Outlining and assigning responsibilities

A BCP details which personnel will be responsible for implementing specific aspects of the plan. It also identifies key decision-makers and a chain of command. The plan should include alternative options in case primary personnel are incapacitated or unavailable to respond to the disruption.

Defining and documenting alternatives

A business continuity plan should define and document alternative communication strategies in case telephone services or the internet are down. Enterprises should also have alternatives for mission-critical spaces such as data centers or manufacturing facilities in case buildings are damaged.

Assessing the need for critical backups

Essential equipment may be damaged or unavailable during a disruptive event. A business should consider whether it has access to backup equipment and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) during extended power outages. Business-critical data needs to be backed up regularly, and is mandatory in many regulated industries.

Testing, training, and communication

Business continuity plans need to be tested to ensure they will be effective. (Disaster recovery plans should be tested as well.) A best practice is to conduct a plan review at least quarterly with leadership and key team members who are responsible for executing the plan.

Many companies use role-playing sessions, simulations, and other types of exercises several times per year to test their BCPs. This approach helps to identify gaps, develop strategies for improvement, and determine if more resources are needed. Targeted staff training and communicating to the whole workforce the benefits of having a business continuity plan are also vital to its success.

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10 best business continuity software solutions

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  • Agility RecoveryPlanner: Agility
  • Archer Business Resiliency: Archer
  • Castellan Business Continuity Management: Castellan
  • CL360 Business Continuity: CL360
  • Fusion Framework System: Fusion
  • NAVEX One IRM: NAVEX
  • ParaSolution Business Continuity Platform: ParaSolution
  • SAI360 Business Continuity Management: SAI360
  • LogicManager Business Continuity Management: LogicManager
  • Quantivate Business Continuity Management: Quantivate

Business continuity software vendors

What are business continuity management program solutions, how does bcm software work, business continuity software: pros and cons.

Many software providers offer BCM solutions that assist organizations in planning for and responding to disasters. The following BCM platforms are among the leading products within the category.

Agility RecoveryPlanner

The Agility RecoveryPlanner software suite provides a complete business continuity management planning package to assist organizations in maintaining compliance with BCM standards and requirements.

The scalable and customizable software assists firms of all sizes active within all industries with performing business impact analyses and risk assessments, creating and managing continuity plans and fulfilling compliance reporting requirements, among other functions.

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To assist firms in planning, Agility provides the BIA checklist as shown in Figure A to prospective customers on its website .

business continuity management system planning

RecoveryPlanner is appropriate even for organizations that have already implemented business continuity plans. Because the Agility software simplifies data collection — including by encouraging collaboration across departments — and prioritizes operations processes, firms will find it easier to maintain and update plans, manage essential vendors and more efficiently manage crises.

Multiple pricing packages are available, and a work-from-home option can be added to each. The Basic Notifications Package includes the company’s Preparis Agility Alerts and its Business Continuity Training Center, Tabletop Testing Templates, Document Storage, Self-Contained Mobile Command Center and Ship-to-Home Laptops, while the Enhanced Planning Package adds a 10-user license for the Agility Planner and the Annual Business Continuity Plan Review component. A Premier Resilience Package, which adds Expert Consulting Services and an Annual Facilitated Tabletop Testing component, is also available.

Contact the company’s sales team for pricing information, which varies based on numerous factors, including which packages a customer selects. For more information on Agility, complete the company’s Contact Us page or call Agility at 1-866-364-9696.

Archer Business Resiliency

Archer Business Resiliency offers organizations a BCM solution that aligns operations continuity planning, IT disaster recovery, crisis management and incident recovery services with an organization’s overarching business goals. The vendor’s emphasis on automation assists customers in rapidly responding to disruptions and assists coordinating recovery efforts when crises occur.

In keeping with ISO 22301 business continuity standards, Archer Business Resiliency aligns operational continuity planning and recovery efforts with internationally accepted requirements and seeks to grade and surface risks before incidents occur, as shown in Figure B. The company’s approach also supports the flexibility necessary for adapting to businesses’ changing needs and requirements as circumstances evolve and change.

business continuity management system planning

Archer pricing is dependent upon several factors, including the specific package components selected, the type of technical support selected and the number of users within the organization. For more information on Archer, complete its Contact Us page .

Castellan Business Continuity Management

Designed for integration within everyday operations and emphasizing automation, Castellan Solutions’ Castellan Business Continuity Management combines program governance and automation features with system integration and cloud-based services to deliver robust and reliable BCM functionality. Castellan’s solution also includes such security-conscious features as support for single sign-on, multi-factor authentication and data security standards.

As should be expected from a BCM solution, Castellan provides business impact and risk management assessment assistance (Figure C), planning and strategy guidance and testing expertise. Reporting and dashboard functionality is customizable and seeks to identify gaps where identification and correction will better prepare customers for crises. Mobile incident support, emergency notifications and communication and crises dashboards are other features designed to assist command and control operations when incidents occur.

business continuity management system planning

As is typical for BCM software solutions, pricing is dependent upon components selected and the number of users within a customer’s organization. For more information on Castellan, complete the organization’s Contact page or call the company at 1-800-478-7645.

CL360 Business Continuity

CLDigital’s CL360 Business Continuity Management provides forms, templates, workflows and a comprehensive application that assists organizations in collecting essential operations continuity information from users, processes, systems, applications and vendors, among other sources.

The CL360 software subsequently analyzes that information to help generate visual dependency maps, surface risks, and identify gaps in planning and coverage. Recognizing the complexity of business impact analyses and risk assessments, CL360 Business Continuity software provides customers support features — including field insights and wizards — that assist teams in efficiently completing BCM tasks.

Understanding business continuity requirements change over time, CL360 is a no-code platform that permits customization and updating via simple drag-and-drop operations and pre-prepared tools. Subsequently, maintaining currency is easier and takes less time as new vendors and technologies are added or old suppliers and platforms are terminated.

For CLDigital CL360 pricing or more information on the CLDigital CL360 Business Continuity software solution, call the company at 1-866-321-5079 or complete its Contact form .

Fusion Framework System

Featuring integration compatibility with such popular platforms as Salesforce and ServiceNow, Fusion Risk Management’s Fusion Framework System includes prebuilt connectors and two-way communications with multiple third-party applications to better permit emergency notification and response for critical workflows. Fusion’s Community Connector simplifies connecting customers, partners and employees to better manage operation disruption risks.

Like other BCM solutions, Fusion guides businesses through continuity planning, organization preparedness reviews, risk and impact assessments, tolerance configuration, and prioritization and dependency mapping. The offering also provides context mapping features, which better assist businesses in understanding how they fulfill essential workflows and processes.

For Fusion pricing or more information, call the company at 1-847-632-1002 or complete its Contact form .

NAVEX One IRM

Formerly marketed as Lockpath, following its acquisition by NAVEX, the BCM solution is now integrated within the NAVEX One Platform’s Integrated Risk Management solution. With components for surfacing and resolving third-party risks, building an automated risk assessment system and monitoring compliance requirements, the NAVEX One platform approaches BCM challenges from a broad integrated risk management perspective.

NAVEX encourages customers to begin the process by reviewing its core IRM questionnaire online , which explores an organization’s business continuity planning status and preparedness to work with a third-party risk manager. With APIs designed for organizations to select and apply as needed, NAVEX One strives to be an easily administered proactive platform that enhances continuity and risk visibility while also freeing technical employees’ time and reducing corresponding daily operational management expenses.

Pricing is dependent upon multiple factors, including which products a customer selects. Product examples from which customers can select include integrated compliance management, hotline service and incident management, policy and procedure management and third-party risk management. For more information on NAVEX One, call the company at 1-866-297-0224 or complete its Contact Us page .

ParaSolution Business Continuity Platform

Another comprehensive solution that incorporates traditional BCM components as well as an optional ISO 22301 Certification compliance module, among other features, Premier Continuum’s ParaSolution Business Continuity Program offers business continuity, crisis, supplier and IT disaster recovery management features. Whether requiring risk and business impact assessments, crisis planning or guidance structuring emergency recovery processes, ParaSolution is designed to adapt to an organization’s specific needs.

During a crisis, ParaSolution’s mobile app assists an organization’s stakeholders in obtaining the most current emergency information. The tool also offers prebuilt forms and workflows to address dependencies and assist recovery when incidents occur.

Free trials are available, and as is consistent with BCM platforms, pricing varies based on multiple factors including adopted features and user base. For more information on Premier Continuum ParaSolution, call the company at 1-877-761-6222 or complete its Contact page .

SAI360 Business Continuity Management

Noting the variety of threats to a business’ operation include cyber attacks, natural disasters and breaches introduced by third-party vendors, the SAI360 Business Continuity Management platform assists establishing accurate risk assessment and mitigation frameworks with tools that automate BCM processes to improve efficiencies and aid automated incident response. With global scalability and support for multiple languages, SAI360 provides an intuitive software solution that also supports regular recovery testing, dashboard generation and even comprehensive worksite training.

The product offers forms and reporting, as well as authorization processes, that match a business’ existing workflows. Combined with proprietary algorithms and customized reports, SAI360 can speed response actions and minimize disruption when catastrophes do occur, including using its mobile platform as shown in Figure D.

business continuity management system planning

For more information on SAI360, complete the company’s Contact Us page or call SAI360 at 1-312-546-4500.

LogicManager Business Continuity Management

LogicManager’s Business Continuity Management is a taxonomy-driven solution, as demonstrated in Figure E, that seeks to track essential internal operations that must be recovered should a disaster occur, as well as other dependencies integral to maintaining business continuity, including with vendors and suppliers.

business continuity management system planning

Multiple LogicManager modules are collected within its Business Continuity Management Software Solutions platform, including the company’s Business Impact Analysis tools, Business Continuity Planning development software, disaster scenario planning exercises, and testing software and incident response tools.

The company’s BCM platform offers a wealth of traditional risk management, gap analysis, business continuity planning and disaster recovery features that are carefully integrated to simplify access to essential disaster recovery information. It also assists in performing continual reviews as well as completing corresponding dependence-determination, workflow and recovery process updates. The platform’s disaster recovery process supports identifying and capturing adjustments and enhancements while performing a recovery to to recover efforts.

In keeping with its taxonomic approach, LogicManager associates business-impacting risks and controls directly with business continuity and disaster recovery plans to help firms better understand the relationship between such essential elements.

The software aids in demonstrating BCP compliance with auditors and regulators, too. Such functionality also assists general reporting for corporate governance purposes.

Designed to align BCM planning with the organization’s specific needs, LogicManager also integrates with common human resources information systems to automate updating crisis management call trees. Staff need not continue manually updating key stakeholder names, addresses and contact information as a result. Subsequently, the solution assists in reducing the investment needed to build and maintain proper business continuity plans and recovery processes and helps ensure accuracy and efficient responses when crises arise.

LogicManager offers customers flexible pricing to help meet individual company’s unique risk management and business continuity needs. Complete the company’s pricing request page for or call LogicManager at 1-617-530-1210 for more information.

Quantivate Business Continuity Management

Featuring the range of typical BCM features organizations would expect from a comprehensive solution, Quantivate Business Continuity software includes risk assessment, risk scoring, business impact analysis, scenario-replicating exercises, real-time updates, vulnerability analysis and a mobile application to assist recovery when a disruption occurs. The vendor’s package also includes helpful scoping and operational tools, including a business process library, business continuity templates, a disaster plan editor and centralized storage for business continuity plans, disaster recovery documents and other corresponding BCM materials.

Quantivate also offers optional consulting services. Organizations needing assistance can contract the worldwide provider of governance, risk and compliance technology and services to help guide BCM efforts.

For example, Quantivate’s consultants can assist customers in scheduling and conducting personnel interviews when developing business continuity plans, designing disaster recovery workflows and crafting crisis management processes. The company’s business continuity experts can also perform full business impact analyses, host threat and vulnerability assessment meetings, document critical recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives, perform gap analyses within existing BCM and recovery strategies, and inform and educate stakeholders and participants as to their roles and responsibilities.

Whether seeking to improve simple spreadsheet and document-based business continuity planning, better identify and resolve recovery gaps, formalize BCM and disaster recovery processes or modernize corresponding BCM planning, workflows and communication, Quantitative Business Continuity Software is well positioned to assist organizations of all sizes working in most every industry. As noted earlier, customers can outsource BCM planning responsibilities to Quantitative, which employs its own software with proprietary processes to fulfill those tasks.

For more information on Quantivate or to obtain pricing information, complete the company’s Request a Demo page , call 1-800-969-4107 or email [email protected].

BCM solutions help with the advanced planning and preparation organizations undertake to minimize business disruptions due to disasters and enable rapid recovery when a catastrophe occurs.

BCM includes not only the software and hardware components employed to maintain and recover business operations but also the risk and crisis management strategies, contingency planning, business recovery policies, and procedures implemented and continually updated as part of an overall comprehensive operations continuity effort.

BCM software assists organizations by providing a complete framework by which they can review, prepare for and minimize any outages or downtime resulting from crises whether disasters occur due to human error, purposeful malicious activities or natural disasters.

BCM solutions typically help organizations navigate a complete range of essential business continuity elements, including: Performing operations impact assessments; surfacing and tracking risks; developing, monitoring and testing contingency plans; drafting and maintaining business continuity plans and procedures; generating emergency alerts; managing crisis communications; and guiding recovery actions when disasters occur.

BCM solutions assist organizations in identifying operations and preparedness needs, spotting operational coverage gaps, establishing contingency processes, and effectively responding to disasters to minimize if not eliminate downtime and outages.

There are no downsides to using BCM software, as it lays the groundwork for addressing all the corresponding requirements and processes, while also providing visual maps to assist with planning and mobile applications to speed recovery when incidents occur.

Stay aware of the right software with these recent articles on the eight best enterprise accounting software suites and a guide to the best data intelligence software .

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Organize a business continuity team and compile a  business continuity plan  to manage a business disruption. Learn more about how to put together and test a business continuity plan with the videos below.

Business Continuity Plan Supporting Resources

  • Business Continuity Plan Situation Manual
  • Business Continuity Plan Test Exercise Planner Instructions
  • Business Continuity Plan Test Facilitator and Evaluator Handbook

Business Continuity Training Videos

The Business Continuity Planning Suite is no longer supported or available for download.

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Business Continuity Training Introduction

An overview of the concepts detailed within this training. Also, included is a humorous, short video that introduces viewers to the concept of business continuity planning and highlights the benefits of having a plan. Two men in an elevator experience a spectrum of disasters from a loss of power, to rain, fire, and a human threat. One man is prepared for each disaster and the other is not.

View on YouTube

Business Continuity Training Part 1: What is Business Continuity Planning?

An explanation of what business continuity planning means and what it entails to create a business continuity plan. This segment also incorporates an interview with a company that has successfully implemented a business continuity plan and includes a discussion about what business continuity planning means to them.

Business Continuity Training Part 2: Why is Business Continuity Planning Important?

An examination of the value a business continuity plan can bring to an organization. This segment also incorporates an interview with a company that has successfully implemented a business continuity plan and includes a discussion about how business continuity planning has been valuable to them.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: What's the Business Continuity Planning Process?

An overview of the business continuity planning process. This segment also incorporates an interview with a company about its process of successfully implementing a business continuity plan.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 1

The first of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “prepare” to create a business continuity plan.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 2

The second of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “define” their business continuity plan objectives.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 3

The third of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “identify” and prioritize potential risks and impacts.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 4

The fourth of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “develop” business continuity strategies.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 5

The fifth of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should define their “teams” and tasks.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 6

The sixth of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “test” their business continuity plans. View on YouTube

Last Updated: 12/21/2023

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The 15 Best Business Continuity Software and Tools for 2024

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Solutions Review’s listing of the best business continuity software is an annual mashup of products that best represent current market conditions, according to the crowd. Our editors selected the best business continuity software based on each solution’s Authority Score; a meta-analysis of real user sentiment through the web’s most trusted business software review sites and our own proprietary five-point inclusion criteria.

The editors at Solutions Review have developed this resource to assist buyers in search of the best business continuity software and tools to fit the needs of their organization. Choosing the right vendor and solution can be a complicated process — one that requires in-depth research and often comes down to more than just the solution and its technical capabilities. To make your search a little easier, we’ve profiled the best business continuity software providers all in one place. We’ve also included platform and product line names and introductory software tutorials straight from the source so you can see each solution in action.

Note: The best business continuity software is listed in alphabetical order.

The Best Business Continuity Software

Platform: Archer Business Resiliency

Description:  Archer Business Resiliency enables users to identify and catalog their organization’s mission-critical processes and systems, as well as develop detailed business continuity and disaster recovery plans to protect their business from disruption. The platform offers incident management capabilities, which gives users the ability to quickly evaluate the criticality of an incident, determine the appropriate response procedures, and assign response team members based on factors such as business impact and regulatory requirements. Additionally, Archer Business Resiliency offers a coordinated and automated approach to business continuity and disaster recovery planning, testing, and execution.

Learn more and compare products with the Solutions Review Data Pr otection Buyer’s Guide.

Platform:  Arcserve Continuous Availability

Description:  Arcserve offers several different backup products, including Arcserve Unified Data Protection (UDP), Arcserve Replication and High Availability, Arcserve UDP Cloud Direct, UDP Cloud Hybrid, and a legacy offering. UDP provides comprehensive Assured Recovery for virtual and physical environments with a unified architecture, backup, continuous availability, migration, email archiving, and an easy-to-use console. Arcserve Continuous Availability ensures business continuity with asynchronous, real-time replication and automatic failover to prevent downtime and data loss. Recovery testing can be fully automated or performed on a scheduled basis.

Platform:  Asigra Cloud Backup

Description:  Asigra is built for cloud computing environments and designed to offer backup efficiencies by allowing enterprises to capture, ingest, and store less data. Designed for compatibility with public, private, and hybrid cloud architectures, the Asigra platform is equipped with agentless software architecture, global deduplication, and data compression technology along with NIST FIPS 140-2 certified security. Asigra also offers ransomware protection, business continuity, and compliance management. These platforms offer bi-directional malware detection, deep MFA, immutable retention, and variable repository naming. In addition, the vendor reduces recovery time objectives and eliminates silos of backup data.

Platform:  Axcient x360Recover

Description:  Axcient offers a single solution that incorporates data protection, disaster recovery, archiving, and test/dev. Axcient x360Recover offers flexible deployments and ease of management to MSPs. The vendor also provides two self-service platform options that can be managed by a single user: Axcient Business Recovery Cloud, which is the legacy solution, and Axcient Fusion. Axcient Fusion is built to run on the public cloud, and both platforms offer one-hour and eight-hour RTO options. Axcient enables users to mirror their entire business in the cloud, thereby simplifying data access and restoration, failovers, and virtualization.

  • Castellan Solutions

Platform:  Castellan Platform

Description:  Castellan Solutions provides business continuity software to organizations of all sizes. The vendor’s SaaS platform enables users to leverage automation and intelligence to solve operational resilience, crisis management, and emergency notification challenges in a single centralized location. Additionally, through fully integrated business impact analyses, risk assessments, and plan development functionality, users can set business continuity requirements and create visualizations summarizing the entire, end-to-end value chain. The solution also offers embedded alerts and emergency notifications.

business continuity management system planning

Platform:  Cohesity SiteContinuity

Description:  Cohesity is a data management company that manages, protects, and extracts value from enterprise data. The provider’s flagship tool, Cohesity DataProtect, safeguards a wide range of data sources on a single web-scale platform. The solution can be deployed on-premises on qualified platforms in the data center, public cloud, and on the edge. Cohesity SiteContinuity is the automation and orchestration engine that powers Cohesity’s unified data protection portfolio. The tool delivers near-zero RTO with hot standby and automated recovery of a single application or an entire site within minutes on a secondary site or cloud.

Platform:  Commvault Complete Data Protection

Description:  Commvault provides data protection and information management software to help organizations protect, access, and use all of their data economically. The provider offers Commvault Complete Data Protection, which is an all-in-one solution combining Commvault Backup & Recovery with Commvault Disaster Recovery for enterprise-level data protection software. The solution provides backup, replication, disaster recovery orchestration, copy data management, scale-out architecture, ransomware protection, migration support for data and application, and a web-based user interface. Additionally, Commvault Complete Data Protection delivers fast VM, application, and storage snapshot replication with flexible RPO/RTO.

Platform:  Datto Unified Continuity

Description:  Datto offers backup and disaster recovery appliances, Software as a Service ( SaaS ) data protection, and managed networking products. Datto is offered for data on-prem in a physical or virtual server or in the cloud via SaaS applications. Datto Unified Continuity offers a suite of business continuity platforms, including SIRIS, ALTO, Cloud Continuity for PCs, and SaaS Protection. The vendor is completely channel-driven and recently released SIRIS 4, a business continuity and disaster recovery solution built for MSPs. Datto also boasts nine data center locations worldwide, including the U.S., Canada, Iceland, the U.K., Germany, Australia, and Singapore.

Platform:  FalconStor StorGuard

Description: FalconStor provides data protection and recovery services. FalconStor StorGuard enables storage virtualization and optimizes efficiency across heterogeneous storage and networks, deliver centralized management and continuous availability of primary data for business continuity. The platform’s built-in WAN-optimized replication with compression provides improved efficiency and cost reduction. The provider’s tool, RecoverTrac also automates complex and error-prone manual disaster recovery operations, allowing any associated applications and services to be brought back online as quickly as possible.

  • Fusion Risk Management

Platform:  Fusion Framework System

Description:  Fusion Risk Management’s Fusion Framework System enables users to leverage objective risk insights that help to audit, analyze, and improve business operations. The platform also offers continuity planning capabilities, allowing users to sequence their actions based on dependency and what-if analysis, rather than static plans. Additionally, Fusion Framework System enables users to prioritize, set, and maintain impact tolerances to learn over time what their organization can withstand with regard to disaster.

Platform: Oracle Risk Management Cloud

Description: The Oracle Risk Management Cloud delivers automated advanced security and transaction monitoring to strengthen financial controls, ensure the separation of duties, stop fraud, and streamline audit workflows. The solution enables users to create a risk-intelligent culture at their organization by collaborating with business owners through periodic surveys, assessments, and dashboards. Additionally, users can calculate risks by using analysis and context models in order to determine the best course of action.

  • Premier Continuum

Platform: Premier Continuum ParaSolution

Description:  Premier Continuum is a business continuity software solution provider, aiming to help clients increase their level of organizational resilience. Its flagship platform, ParaSolution centralizes, standardizes, and automates business continuity management operations. To enhance efficiency, ParaSolution offers a quick-start data improt engine, pre-built templates, assessment templates, fully configurable workflows, real-time plan updates, and an ISO 22301 self-assessment tool. The platform also provides a BC module that integrates BIA, risk assessment, crisis management, and reporting, as well as vendor risk assessment capabilities.

Platform: Quantivate Business Continuity

Description: Quantivate is a leading provider of web-based business continuity, risk management, and compliance software and service solutions. The vendor’s product portfolio includes a comprehensive suite of applications for business continuity, vendor management, enterprise risk management, information security, and internal audit management. Quantivate offers a wide range of business continuity services in its Governance, Risk, and Compliance Suite, including emergency operations center plans, continuity of operations plans, hurricane plans, full business impact analyses, threat and vulnerability assessments, RPO/RTO documentation, exercises, and a maturity roadmap.

  • Veritas Technologies

Platform: Veritas NetBackup Resiliency Platform

Description:  Veritas Technologies provides backup and recovery, business continuity, information governance, and storage management tools. Its flagship NetBackup  product is a single and scalable solution that can protect physical, virtual , and cloud workloads. Multitenant support is optional, and the solution is available on a converged platform that requires minimal administration, even in large environments. The NetBackup Resiliency Platform offers automated, orchestrated recovery for multi-tier applications in the cloud and on-prem with added APIs to optimize time and resources. Additionally, the solution ensures compliance with stringent SLAs through audit reports and non-disruptive recovery rehearsals.

Platform:  Zerto IT Resilience Platform

Description:  Zerto offers an IT Resilience Platform, which combines backup, disaster recovery, and cloud mobility into one converged solution. Through an enterprise-scale, the provider’s software platform delivers continuous availability, which minimizes downtime. Additionally, IT Resilience simplifies workload mobility to freely protect, recover, and move applications across hybrid and multi-clouds. Users can replace their legacy solutions through Zerto’s single platform. Zerto also powers resiliency offerings for Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud, and AWS. The provider was recently acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

Download link to Data Protection Vendor Map

This article was written by Tess Hanna on December 26, 2023

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Tess Hanna is an editor and writer at Solutions Review covering Backup and Disaster Recovery, Data Storage, Cloud Computing, and Network Monitoring. Recognized by Onalytica in the 2021 "Who's Who in Data Management," and "Who's Who in Automation" reports. You can contact her at [email protected]

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The Backbone of Resilient Organizations: Demystifying Business Continuity

What is business continuity.

No matter what business you’re in, unexpected disruptions can happen. Outages, natural disasters, supply chain failures, cyber incidents, equipment failures, and other physical and technical issues can all disrupt your ability to function and thrive.

To ensure your business is ready for unexpected events, you need to know what to do when things go wrong—and this is where business continuity comes in. Read on to learn more about business continuity, including disaster recovery, and what to include in your business continuity plan. Also, find out about business continuity management and business continuity solutions.

What is business continuity and why is it important?

Business continuity is an organization’s readiness to continue functioning during times of disruption. Business continuity is important because it reduces the potential impact of a disruption on customers, employees, and partners.

Having a business continuity plan (BCP)—which includes the analysis, technology, documentation, training, key team members, and procedures involved in resolving potential crisis situations—is vital for ensuring business continuity. A BCP includes goals focused on minimizing the potential impact of a crisis on a company’s financials and reputation—and maintaining industry, regional, and global compliance standards and regulations.

What’s the difference between business continuity and disaster recovery?

While business continuity and disaster recovery are often used interchangeably, they’re not the same thing.

Disaster recovery is a key part of a business continuity plan and is focused specifically on systems, data, and IT infrastructures. It includes technology, strategies, and processes for saving, restoring, and recovering data and protecting against cyber threats.

For a BCP to be successful in reducing downtime, mitigating risks, and remediating issues like data loss and corruption, disaster recovery measures are crucial. While both involve processes, people, and technology, business continuity offers a much wider scope to encompass the steps necessary for maintaining operations across every part of a business.

What should be included in a business continuity plan?

There are three components of a business continuity plan to consider:

  • Resilience—developing business functions and infrastructures to be prepared for an unexpected situation.
  • Recovery—setting up backup and recovery solutions for your applications, systems, and networks; determining what systems should be prioritized in the event of a disaster; and choosing a third-party vendor for additional help and resources if necessary.
  • Contingency—creating steps for what to do if a disruption occurs. This includes setting up a chain of command with key people and defining their responsibilities when it comes to communication, technology, third-party contracting, and coordinating temporary spaces. Keep these in mind at every step in the planning process to help ensure your BCP covers the full scope of your business.

With these three key components in mind, take the following steps to start building your business continuity plan:

  • Run a business impact analysis (BIA), which examines your current business functions, processes, and technology. An analysis will uncover potential vulnerabilities, risks, and threats you might encounter. Doing so helps identify areas of improvement and what to prioritize. After an analysis, you may consider making additional technology investments as well.
  • Outline and assign responsibilities for who will delegate, act, and support in the event of a crisis. These individuals will execute any necessary steps, be points of contact, gather resources, and guide efforts to minimize downtime for affected business functions.
  • Determine alternative forms of communication in case your standard means of communication are impacted by an outage or downtime.
  • Prepare backup equipment in case of damage or outages to prevent business-critical functions from stopping.
  • Understand and follow business continuity standards, which are legal and regulatory requirements determined for an industry. These are helpful when determining what steps you need to take in scenarios such as a breach or data loss. Creating a plan isn’t the last step—to make business continuity an important part of your organization, you also need business continuity management.

What is business continuity management?

Business continuity management includes the processes you put in place to set up and maintain your business continuity plan. It should include the following:

  • Creating policies that define the scope, objectives, and principles of business continuity. These should always keep the customer in mind to ensure you’ve documented what business-critical functions may impact customers and who is involved in customer service communication in the event of an outage or disruption.
  • Assembling business continuity teams throughout your organization who can communicate and enforce policies and procedures that are put in place. These employees will take part in ongoing reviews and tests to make sure everything and everyone is properly prepared for an incident.
  • Supporting a culture of business continuity by educating your entire organization about risks, policies, and documentation available. Offering ongoing training is an important way to increase awareness and gather data to see if there are any gaps or areas in need of improvement.
  • Maintaining up-to-date compliance standards and best practices to make sure your processes, workflows, and employees all work within the correct industry standards as they relate to data. If a business doesn’t keep up and an unexpected disruption occurs, there’s the risk of increased financial damages, legal costs, and fines.

Keeping track of all the continuously developing parts of a business continuity plan can be daunting for a growing organization. To reduce the time and effort involved, many businesses invest in business continuity solutions.

What kind of business continuity solutions should I consider?

The business continuity solutions you choose should be based on your organization’s needs. Depending on the industry you’re in, the size of your company, and your business-critical functions, you’ll find a range of software and resources available. These options include:

  • Cloud-based storage solutions, which provide a secure, remote location to back up and run workflows and applications, as well as store data. If there’s a breach or error causing data loss, you can access what you need from the cloud.
  • Backup and recovery tools for making copies of the data, applications, and systems within your IT infrastructure. If anything is deleted, corrupted, or shut down during a disruption, you can restore them and minimize downtime. These solutions offer different options for running backups, including automatically on a schedule, instantly, or as needed.
  • Virtualization tools that replicate environments and workspaces. If there’s an outage or device issues, employees can still access their applications and run processes as normal, reducing downtime that may affect services.
  • Contracts with third-party providers, such as disaster-recovery-as-a-service (DRaaS) and backup-as-a-service. Based on your agreement, a provider can run data backups, host your IT infrastructure, and offer support in the event of a disaster. These services are typically offered with a subscription or a pay-as-you-use model and include support from IT and cybersecurity experts.
  • Unified communication tools to support collaboration across your entire organization. With one platform for connecting frontline workers, customer service agents, and other key members of your continuity teams, it’s easier to keep everyone up to date on disruptions and manage shifts and schedules to make sure the right people are available.

Business continuity should be a priority for any growing business looking to ensure the safety and security of their employees, technology, and data. To support the planning process, there are several solutions available to make business continuity planning easier. Though you can’t predict or prevent every disruption, with the right tools, a solid plan, and an educated team, business continuity can save you time, money, and resources across your organization.

Learn more • Developing your business continuity plan • Business continuity and disaster recovery

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Business Continuity Management System (BCMS)

Business continuity management systems | TÜV Rheinland

React quickly in times of crisis with a business continuity management system

You want to resume productive operations as quickly as possible after disruption or failure of your business processes, particularly those that rely on critical IT systems? Our business continuity management system (BCMS) as per ISO/IEC 22301 and ISO/IEC 27031 allows you to react quickly and correctly with practical emergency plans, IT emergency concepts and recovery plans.

A BCMS bundles interrelated methods, procedures and rules to safeguard the continuation of critical processes and can be integrated in or based on existing management systems. We define an individual strategy, which we derive from your specific requirements. With these necessary resources in place, it becomes possible for you to restart operations in order to avoid unacceptable downtimes.

You want your employees and business operations to continue to function even in times of crisis? Contact our experts now.

Safeguard your productivity with business continuity management and IT emergency management

Business continuity management system – TÜV Rheinland

Business continuity management is the best way to prepare for potential crises and minimize the impact of disruption. Use effective emergency planning to ensure that everyone at your company follows the plan when an incident occurs. Our pragmatic emergency concepts and recovery plans enable you to return to productive operations as quickly as possible after disruption or failure of your business processes, services, IT services or systems.

You can effectively reduce disaster related costs, meet compliance requirements and create an integrated risk management system that offers you legal certainty and a market advantage. By improving your availability level you also gain a considerable competitive edge, as your customers and business partners can rely on your company to stay functional even in times of crisis.

We develop your business continuity management system in just three steps

In just a few steps, we determine the maturity of your business continuity, develop a shared procedure for its continuous improvement and work with you to develop shared emergency strategies and plans:

  • GAP analysis We analyze the existing aspects of your business continuity management system or IT emergency management system and therefore its maturity level.
  • Improvement planning Based on this analysis we identify the measures needed to improve the maturity of your business continuity management system. We develop pragmatic approaches and measures that help you establish a suitable business continuity management system that evolves and improves over time.
  • Implementation We work with you to implement the improvement plan and coach BCM officers how to implement and establish management tasks. This will give you the tools you need to handle a disaster or major incident, so you can act and react precisely and effectively in the event of an emergency.

The BCMS is designed, implemented and operated based on the standards ISO/IEC 22301 and ISO/IEC 27031.

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Resilience of your business processes especially during critical incidents.

Learn how to deal with risk situations and limit potential losses due to interrupted supply chains.

Active crisis management with business continuity management

Our experts have extensive experience in the field of business continuity management. We help you introduce comprehensive BCM solutions and provide quality assurance while the project is in progress. We also help you coach your BCM officer and create tests and training concepts.

In addition, our "survival mix – risk and business continuity management" offer can bring together various analyses of threats ensuring alignment of your BCMS with identified risks.

Learn more about BCM. Make an appointment with our experts.

FAQ: Questions and Answers about Business Continuity Management

What is a business continuity management system.

A business continuity management system, or BCMS for short, is a management system that bundles interrelated methods, procedures and rules to ensure that critical business processes keep running in the event of damage or emergencies and continuously develops and improves them.

What are the advantages of Business Continuity Management?

With our emergency concepts and restart plans you can return to productive operation quickly after disruption or failure of your business processes, whether they are IT-assisted or not, and thus reduce downtimes. This is an effective way to lower follow-up costs and create a risk management system that provides legal certainty. You also gain a considerable competitive edge through a high level of availability.

What are the requirements for a comprehensive Business Continuity Management System?

A comprehensive BCMS should pursue a process-oriented approach and requires interaction between management processes, business processes and support processes. A business impact analysis (BIA) identifies the essential processes and assesses their availability requirements. Once the company has been analyzed, strategies and plans are developed to counter potential risks and scenario-based tests and exercises are conducted.

What standards underpin a BCMS?

A BCMS is designed, implemented and operated on the basis of standards ISO/IEC 22301 and ISO/IEC 27031.

What are the stages of developing and operating a BCMS?

We analyze your business processes and identify potential threats. On this basis we identify your actual protection needs. As part of a business impact analysis (BIA) we assess your business processes and IT services in regard to their availability requirements in case of an incident. Then we work with you to develop a suitable and detailed emergency strategy. We help you implement and operate the BCM software and create test and training concepts. During the project you also receive quality assurance from our certified experts.

What main BCMS-related questions does a business need to ask?

  • How heavily is our productivity affected in the event of an incident?
  • How do my customers and business partners react to a production outage?
  • What is our maximum tolerated outage time?
  • How can we maintain critical processes?
  • What are the legal and regulatory requirements that could be breached?
  • How can losses and effects be minimized?

Our experts on business continuity management systems can answer all these questions for you. Contact us now to find a solution that is tailored to your business.

Will my business automatically have permanent protection once the BCMS has been implemented?

No, setting up and operating a BCMS is not a one-off process, it requires regular testing and adjustment. This process is referred to as a continuous improvement process (CIP for short). We offer suitable training courses to ensure that the employees involved also receive continuous training.

Can a BCMS only run as an isolated management system?

No, it can be integrated in or based on existing management systems (e.g. QMS, ISMS).

Can a BCMS be certified?

Yes, if a BCMS has been implemented in line with ISO/IEC 22301:2019 it can be certified by an accredited company. Certification as per standard ISO/IEC 27031 is not possible.

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ISMS According to ISO/IEC 27001

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Improve systematic control over your company’s information security.

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Scope of Business Continuity Management System

August 16, 2023

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Business continuity management deals with the analysis, design, and implementation of policies, plans, and procedures that address all aspects of a company’s ability to survive and continue operations during a crisis.

Business continuity management’s scope and components includes disaster recovery planning, cyber security incidents, personnel and customer service disruptions, and physical or technical infrastructure failures.

Business continuity management involves identifying, assessing, and prioritizing risks associated with a business’s different components, from IT systems to people resources. Through understanding these risks, organizations can affect operations in critical times, and companies can plan for prevention and a quick response when faced with an emergency.

When designing business continuity plans, it is important to consider not only the current capabilities of an organization but also its long-term objectives. The scope should include the following:

Business impact analysis

An effective business continuity program begins with a thorough review to determine potential impacts from disasters involving key areas such as production facilities or IT networks.

Risk assessment

A process that identifies threats related to their probability and severity helps assess overall risk levels throughout the organization.

Response plans

Detailed steps on how the company will react in case of a disruption incident, such as customer service recovery or financial losses due to downtime.

Employees need to be briefed on safety protocols and trained on any new procedures enacted by business continuity plans to ensure operational efficiency during times of crisis.

Regular testing helps evaluate if plans are working properly or require improvements & adjustments before an actual emergency arises.

Documentation

All measures taken by the organization – from risk assessment results to test results – should be documented for reference purposes. Recovery time objective and recovery point objective timelines need to be recorded in the planning process .

Are you a business continuity professional looking for ways to ensure the continuity of your business operations? A Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) can be a valuable asset to help companies stay resilient during business disruption and catastrophes.

By having insight into potential risks , businesses can protect their data, profits, and services from unexpected events that threaten their success. In today’s blog post, we’ll be exploring the scope of BCMS in detail – what it includes, why it matters and how organizations can benefit from its implementation. Dive in with us as we uncover the power of this critical system.

business continuity

Purpose of your Continuity Planning

A continuity plan provides detailed instructions on maintaining services during an interruption. This includes steps for assessing the risk posed by a disruption , developing strategies for reducing or mitigating its impact, determining resources required to restore operations

Establishing protocols for communication between departments; preparing staff for responding; making backup plans; testing recovery plans; storing backup copies of critical data; and updating procedures as needed . Additionally, continuity plans should include information about suppliers or vendors who could assist in case of a disruption.

BCP’s fundamental goals remain the same—to assure stability through disruption—plans can differ. So determining your plan objective will be crucial to achieving your goals. This can usually be categorized into the first part, a BCP .

Ensure all are aware of the goals in the plan. If, for example, the plans are primarily concerned with ensuring IT continuity, it becomes evident to other businesses that additional planning is needed .

Auditing a business continuity plan

A regular evaluation of the business continuity plan is vital for maintaining the accuracy of data incorporated into the business continuity plan. If there have been any changes in risk and business goals, they should be revisited and updated as a result.

Until recently, ransomware wasn’t a business risk . It is now considered a risky threat and, in this sense, is now commonly used within B.C. Plan in countless industries .

Best BCDR Vendors

A business continuity and disaster restoration vendor can provide support for deploying the technology required for your continuity plan. These services could cover data backup, cloud replication, and networking infrastructure, among many others. Choosing the right BCDR vendor is easier if your business continuity program exists.

Your BCP key elements will determine the technology required to mitigate and recover potential threats. You should look elsewhere if the data backup solution doesn’t satisfy your RPO .

BCP testing

Organizations have the right to adapt their technology, methods, employees, and facilities. Therefore it is crucial that BCP be regularly tested, reviewed, and updated. Plans can test the feasibility of a business strategy through a combination of desk exercises, walking-throughs, training, crisis management communications, and emergency enactments for the test.

The BCP is maintained and checked regularly, ensuring its accuracy. It’s easy for business plan managers to get a quick overview and mitigate risks. A complex test requires a thorough analysis of the consequences of business disruptions .

Business continuity planning software, tools, and trends

Several resources can be found that will help a business through its Business Continuity Plan process. How a company will manage a business continuity project is determined by the complexity of its plan, the time and resources available, and the budget.

Before purchasing, it is important to look at product and company offerings. For more complex functions, a business continuity plan software database is built with modules to execute specific tasks.

business continuity management, system, bcm

Importance of business continuity planning

Business continuity plans are a business-oriented process that helps organizations assess potential threats, vulnerabilities, and weak spots to their organizations at times of crisis. Establishing business continuity programs provides business leaders with an effective way to handle the interruption.

A BCP allows a company to provide continued customer service during an economic crisis, reducing customers’ tendency to switch to competitors. This plan reduces the downtime of businesses and outlines the steps needed for the company for financial viability.

Key disaster scenarios

A good way of doing that would be to determine a key catastrophe scenario. This key disaster scenario provides insight into management executives, BCM, and DRP teams. It should also include the worst-case possible time of greatest magnitude and total data loss.

The next section helps organizations develop key catastrophe scenarios and prepare for them. The detail-based development of the Key Disaster Scenario takes place in the Risk Analysis phase.

Free download of BCP template

Business continuity professionals’ roles have changed and continue evolving. IT managers need to understand the importance of a good IT strategy to ensure that their teams are well-trained on the topics of IT security, risk management , and emergency management.

Business continuity plans must also consider growing and evolving technologies like cloud-based virtualized services.

BCP implementation

When an organization starts its planning , it starts the process of collecting important documents. BIA defines the critical operations that can be continued during crises and the resources that need maintaining the operations.

The RA identifies potential risks and dangers, both internally and outside the country, their chances, and their damage potential. The next step is identifying the best way of dealing with the threats identified through the BIA and RA. Business continuity plans are designed to identify step-by-step methods in response to problems.

Document limitations and assumptions

A project should identify “is“ and not “is” during a typical planning phase. You can be sure there won’t be conflict about which projects should be included in BPCP. The BCP project should not address multiple site accidents unless it addresses one or more key personnel.

Design clear objectives and scope

In determining success, a BCM Coordinator can determine whether the product meets the demands of executive management. As the BCM Coordinator must determine what his role is as an Organization BCM coordinator, it is essential that a consensus is made about what exactly the BCP will do. Organizations’ BCM coordinators need to assess the scope of the operations covered.

Benefits of Having a BC Plan

A comprehensive BC plan can have major economic and social advantages, such as minimizing unforeseen losses in economic activity, reducing business liability, maximizing organizational stability, and ensuring scalability and efficiency.

Deliverables

A BCP project delivers deliverables such as project planning proposals, project work plans , and project reporting mechanisms. The proposal might cover the Definition, Scope, Objectives, Roles, and responsibilities.

Element of a business continuity plan

The element of the plan you should consider is assessing the risks surrounding your business and creating response plans accordingly. This means identifying the types of risks that may occur, whether internal or external, quantifiable or unquantifiable and then assigning response activities adapted to the company’s culture and goals.

Documentation of risk assessment processes is also key to successfully implementing a business continuity plan, as your resources must have written guidance on exact procedures for responding to identified threats.

business continuity

Business Continuity Plan Assessment

The assessment identifies the risks and helps prioritize preparing for the greatest possible threats to your business plan . In some companies, the analysis may be based on a specific impact analysis. It gives you a broader insight into the threats at a glance and their severity.

The scope of a Business Continuity Plan

The scope of BCPs includes analyzing potential risks , developing strategies to reduce or mitigate risk, testing the plan regularly, having documented continuity processes in place, and training employees on the procedures outlined in the BCP. Creating a properly detailed BCP ensures companies can anticipate any setbacks or changes they may experience due to unforeseen events.

Specify your data backup and recovery plan

BCPs should specify the procedure for data recovery. How much time is it necessary to have backups in place? Where do we store data to ensure a safe environment ? Tell me the recovery procedure for the money? This question needs to be addressed in relation to electronic records as well as critical documents.

Specify BCP testing and training procedures

A simple BCP may look great, but does not work for real. Initially, this will take real-time testing before being implemented. This will be updated daily. Planning may soon become obsolete and useless if changes occur. The procedure for training a trainee should include the BCP itself.

Identify your risks

Which disruption events could be impacting your business operations? What about tornados and fires? What happens if there’s a hostage situation or a malicious ransomware attack? It is obviously impossible to determine when a disaster strikes a business operation or when.

Have a detailed communications plan

What can be done to alert your team when your telephone network is disrupted ? Who has the legal capacity to speak to companies in a media and customer-based environment? The plan should contain a list of people who may be contactable during a crisis.

Identify critical business functions

The key step in developing an effective BCP is a business impact assessment (BIA) which determines the crucial areas of the business to maintain and quickly recover after a disaster hits. This is the main business function you want your BCP to protect.

List the components, functions and procedures of your BC team

Is the BCP still in operation? Tell me the most important staff to be notified? Where can a BC team member meet with another employee when their premises don’t work properly? This issue and many others will need a detailed response from the BCP.

Identify critical systems and the dependencies between them

You need to identify systems and data critical to company operations. What is the best way for a company to work efficiently by providing the necessary materials to operate?

Have you read?

Objectives of business continuity management

What is a business continuity management system?

Benefits of business continuity management system .

What are key elements of business continuity management system

Purpose of a business continuity plan

Strategies for business continuity planning

Key components of a business continuity management system

what is disaster recovery planning?

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Chris Ekai is a Risk Management expert with over 10 years of experience in the field. He has a Master’s(MSc) degree in Risk Management from University of Portsmouth and is a CPA and Finance professional. He currently works as a Content Manager at Risk Publishing, writing about Enterprise Risk Management, Business Continuity Management and Project Management.

Key Components of Business Continuity Management Systems

Elements of a Business Continuity Management System

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business continuity management system planning

EHS On Tap E194: The Crucial Role of Business Continuity Planning

Updated: Feb 20, 2024

business continuity management system planning

On episode 194 of EHS On Tap, Tom Heneghan, manager of Preparedness Education and Youth Preparedness at American Red Cross, talks about the importance of business continuity planning.

Tom Heneghan oversees the development and operations of preparedness programs designed to help families, communities, businesses, schools, and organizations become better prepared for disasters and other emergencies. Since joining the American Red Cross in 1993, he has worked primarily in the implementation and delivery of national preparedness and health and safety training programs. These programs reach approximately 9 million individuals each year.

Since 2013, Heneghan has managed the Ready Rating program; a free, web-based membership program that guides organizations on how to quantitatively measure their level of disaster preparedness; and then take the actions needed to continually improve that level. He also oversees a suite of programs and services designed to enhance the resilience of individuals, households, and communities when challenged by disasters and empower people to save lives when witnessing life-threatening events.

IMAGES

  1. How to create an effective business continuity plan?

    business continuity management system planning

  2. Business Continuity Management System

    business continuity management system planning

  3. What is business continuity plan (BCP)?

    business continuity management system planning

  4. Business Continuity Plans

    business continuity management system planning

  5. What Exactly is BCM?

    business continuity management system planning

  6. Introduction to Business Continuity Management (BCM)

    business continuity management system planning

VIDEO

  1. Business management|module 2|planning

  2. Corporate planning process

  3. Business Continuity Management

  4. 6. What is a business continuity management system? (Avalution, 2014)

  5. Business Continuity Management Element Definitions

  6. Business Continuity Planning BCP

COMMENTS

  1. Best Business Continuity Management Program Solutions Reviews ...

    What are Business Continuity Management Program Solutions? Gartner defines business continuity management program solutions as the primary tools used by organizations to manage all phases of the business continuity management (BCM) life cycle, from planning to crisis activation.

  2. What Is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP), and How Does It Work?

    Business continuity plans (BCPs) are prevention and recovery systems for potential threats, such as natural disasters or cyber-attacks. BCP is designed to protect personnel and assets and...

  3. ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management Made Easy

    The ISO 22301 standard offers a framework for planning, testing, and monitoring a business continuity management system (BCMS). The ISO 22301 document contains 10 sections, which introduce the standard and definitions, as well as actionable requirements of the standard.

  4. All about Business Continuity Planning

    Business continuity planning ensures that the company deals with disruptions quickly, and minimizes the impact on operations. Business continuity planning is also called business resumption planning and continuous service delivery assurance (CSDA). What Is the Primary Goal of Business Continuity Planning?

  5. 5 Step Guide to Business Continuity Planning (BCP) in 2021

    A business continuity plan (BCP) is defined as a protocol of preventing and recovering from potentially large threats to the company's business continuity. This article explains what a business continuity plan is today, its key benefits, and a step-by-step guide to creating a formidable plan. Table of Contents

  6. Working Toward a Managed, Mature Business Continuity Plan

    International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard ISO/IEC 22301:2019 Security and resilience—Business continuity management systems (BCMS)—Requirements specifies how to design and implement a BCMS. 1 Having the necessary procedures, processes, activities, assets and decision-makers in...

  7. Business Continuity Plan: Example & How to Write

    Step 3: Establish the business continuity plan objectives. Step 4: Evaluate the potential impact of disruptions to the business and its workers. Step 5: List actions to protect the business. Step 6: Organize contact lists. Step 7: Maintain, review, and continuously update the business continuity plan.

  8. What is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)?

    A business continuity plan (BCP) is a document that consists of the critical information an organization needs to continue operating during an unplanned event. The BCP states the essential functions of the business, identifies which systems and processes must be sustained, and details how to maintain them.

  9. Business Continuity Plan Advantages

    A business continuity plan (BCP) is part of a business continuity management system (BCMS), and includes the procedures an organization must follow in an emergency. The document also contains steps for recovery in the days and months after the incident.

  10. What Is Business Continuity?

    Business continuity planning covers the entire business—processes, assets, workers, and more. It isn't focused solely on IT infrastructure and business systems. Business resilience encompasses crisis management and business continuity. It requires a response to all types of risk that an organization may face.

  11. Business continuity planning

    Business continuity is the intended outcome of proper execution of both business continuity planning and disaster recovery. Several business continuity standards have been published by various standards bodies to assist in checklisting ongoing planning tasks. [6]

  12. What is business continuity and why is it important?

    Business continuity planning establishes risk management processes and procedures that aim to prevent interruptions to mission-critical services and reestablish full day-to-day function to the organization as quickly and smoothly as possible.

  13. What is Business Continuity Management (BCM)?

    This phase includes several steps: Program initiation, during which the scope and the objective of a BCM strategy are defined, as well as areas of responsibility and goals. BCM team formation, which includes deciding which team members will be involved based on their skills and expertise.

  14. ISO 22301:2019

    It provides a framework for organizations to plan, establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain, and continually improve a documented management system to protect against, reduce the likelihood of, and ensure recovery from disruptive incidents. Why is ISO 22301 important?

  15. 10 Best Business Continuity Software Solutions

    The Top 5 Best Business Continuity Software Solutions | Part 1 Watch on Business continuity software vendors Many software providers offer BCM solutions that assist organizations in...

  16. Business Continuity Planning

    Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 6. The sixth of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should "test" their business continuity plans. Organize a business continuity team and compile a business ...

  17. The 15 Best Business Continuity Software and Tools for 2024

    Datto Unified Continuity offers a suite of business continuity platforms, including SIRIS, ALTO, Cloud Continuity for PCs, and SaaS Protection. The vendor is completely channel-driven and recently released SIRIS 4, a business continuity and disaster recovery solution built for MSPs. Datto also boasts nine data center locations worldwide ...

  18. PDF Crisis management and business continuity guide

    Crisis Management & Business Continuity Guide. KPMG designs and delivers a series of independent cyber security simulations to test an organization's cyber incident response, business and board crisis management procedures when faced with a cyber focused disruption scenario. KPMG designs and delivers end-to-end business continuity, IT ...

  19. ISO 22301:2019(en), Security and resilience ? Business continuity

    0.1 General. This document specifies the structure and requirements for implementing and maintaining a business continuity management system (BCMS) that develops business continuity appropriate to the amount and type of impact that the organization may or may not accept following a disruption.

  20. What is Business Continuity?

    Business continuity is an organization's readiness to continue functioning during times of disruption. Business continuity is important because it reduces the potential impact of a disruption on customers, employees, and partners. Having a business continuity plan (BCP)—which includes the analysis, technology, documentation, training, key ...

  21. Business Continuity Management System (BCMS)

    Business continuity management is the best way to prepare for potential crises and minimize the impact of disruption. Use effective emergency planning to ensure that everyone at your company follows the plan when an incident occurs. Our pragmatic emergency concepts and recovery plans enable you to return to productive operations as quickly as ...

  22. Business continuity and resilience management: A conceptual framework

    1 INTRODUCTION. Aspects of business continuity management (BCM) include planning, preparation and mitigation activities that aim to deal with potential threats to a company, reduce vulnerability and maintain operations after experiencing disturbing circumstances (ISO22301, 2019).A range of challenges has triggered research interest in the BCM field over the past decade.

  23. Scope Of Business Continuity Management System

    Business continuity management's scope and components includes disaster recovery planning, cyber security incidents, personnel and customer service disruptions, and physical or technical infrastructure failures.. Business continuity management involves identifying, assessing, and prioritizing risks associated with a business's different components, from IT systems to people resources.

  24. EHS On Tap E194: The Crucial Role of Business Continuity Planning

    Updated: Feb 20, 2024. On episode 194 of EHS On Tap, Tom Heneghan, manager of Preparedness Education and Youth Preparedness at American Red Cross, talks about the importance of business continuity planning. Tom Heneghan oversees the development and operations of preparedness programs designed to help families, communities, businesses, schools ...