What is Business Continuity?
What is Business Continuity?
Business continuity is the capability of an organization to continue delivering products and services at acceptable predefined levels following a disruptive incident. A business continuity plan (BCP) documents the procedures and resources needed to maintain operations during and after events such as natural disasters, cyberattacks, pandemics, infrastructure failures, or supply chain disruptions.
Business continuity vs disaster recovery
While often discussed together, business continuity and disaster recovery serve different purposes:
- Business continuity focuses on maintaining overall business operations — it encompasses people, processes, facilities, and technology
- Disaster recovery focuses specifically on restoring IT systems and data after a disruption
Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity. A comprehensive business continuity program includes disaster recovery as one of its components.
Components of a business continuity plan
Business Impact Analysis (BIA) — identifies critical business functions, the impact of disrupting them, and the maximum tolerable downtime:
- Recovery Time Objective (RTO) — the maximum acceptable time to restore a function
- Recovery Point Objective (RPO) — the maximum acceptable data loss measured in time
- Maximum Tolerable Period of Disruption (MTPD) — the longest the business can survive without the function
Risk assessment — identifies threats that could disrupt operations and evaluates their likelihood and impact:
- Natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, severe weather)
- Technology failures (hardware failure, software bugs, network outages)
- Cyber incidents (ransomware, DDoS attacks, data breaches)
- Human factors (key personnel loss, labor disputes)
- Supply chain disruptions (vendor failures, logistics breakdowns)
Recovery strategies — defines how critical functions will be maintained or restored:
- Alternative work locations or remote work capabilities
- Redundant systems and infrastructure
- Manual workaround procedures
- Third-party recovery services
- Communication plans for employees, customers, and stakeholders
Plan documentation — the written BCP includes:
- Roles and responsibilities
- Contact information for key personnel and vendors
- Step-by-step recovery procedures for each critical function
- Resource requirements
- Communication templates
Business continuity in compliance frameworks
- ISO 27001 — control A.5.29 addresses information security during disruption, and A.5.30 addresses ICT readiness for business continuity
- NIST CSF — the Recover function (RC) addresses recovery planning, improvements, and communications
- SOC 2 — the Availability criterion addresses system uptime and recovery capabilities
- ISO 22301 — the dedicated international standard for business continuity management systems
Testing the BCP
A business continuity plan that has not been tested is unreliable. Testing approaches include:
- Tabletop exercises — team discussions walking through scenarios
- Structured walkthroughs — step-by-step review of procedures with assigned teams
- Simulation tests — practicing response to a simulated disruption
- Full interruption tests — actually activating recovery procedures (highest assurance but most disruptive)
Testing should occur at least annually and after significant changes to the business or infrastructure.
Common pitfalls
- BCP exists on paper but is never tested or updated
- Critical dependencies on single points of failure are not identified
- Communication plans do not account for the disruption itself (e.g., email is down)
- Key personnel are not trained on their BCP responsibilities
- The plan does not keep pace with business changes
How episki helps
episki helps organizations document their business continuity plans, schedule and track testing exercises, and maintain evidence of BCP activities for auditors. The platform links BCP activities to ISO 27001 and NIST CSF requirements. Learn more on our compliance platform.
