Disruptions can result from natural disasters, cyber incidents, technology failures, supply-chain interruptions, utility outages, facility problems, workforce disruptions, or other operational risks.

A business continuity plan identifies critical functions, potential disruptions, dependencies, recovery priorities, communication procedures, and responsibilities. Disaster recovery is closely related but generally focuses more specifically on restoring technology, data, applications, and IT infrastructure after a disruptive event.

A comprehensive continuity framework may include:

• Business impact analysis
• Risk assessment
• Critical-process identification
• Recovery objectives
• Disaster recovery planning
• Cybersecurity response
• Emergency communications
• Backup strategies
• Supplier risk management
• Crisis management
• Testing and exercises

The purpose is not to predict every possible disaster. Instead, organizations identify important risks and establish practical procedures for responding when normal operations are interrupted.

Importance

Operational disruptions can affect revenue-generating activities, customer relationships, employees, technology infrastructure, suppliers, regulatory obligations, and organizational reputation.

Business continuity planning helps organizations understand which processes are most important and how long they can tolerate disruption.

Two commonly used concepts are Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO).

• RTO: The targeted amount of time within which a disrupted process or system should be restored.
• RPO: The targeted point in time to which data should be recoverable following an incident.

These objectives help organizations prioritize technology recovery and determine appropriate backup and redundancy strategies.

Business continuity is relevant to organizations of different sizes and industries. A small company may need a relatively simple plan, while a multinational organization may require detailed continuity frameworks covering multiple facilities, technology environments, suppliers, and jurisdictions.

Recent Updates

Business continuity has increasingly expanded beyond traditional disaster recovery to include cyber resilience, third-party risk, cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and operational resilience.

One significant development is the increasing focus on cyber incidents as continuity risks. Ransomware, credential compromise, data loss, cloud outages, and attacks on critical systems can interrupt operations even when physical facilities remain available.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) continues to update cybersecurity guidance relevant to organizational resilience. In February 2024, NIST released Cybersecurity Framework 2.0, expanding the framework's emphasis on governance and making it applicable to a broader range of organizations. (nist.gov)

NIST also published SP 800-61 Revision 3 in April 2025, providing updated guidance for incident response and aligning incident-response activities with the Cybersecurity Framework 2.0. (nist.gov)

Another major development is the increased importance of third-party and supply-chain resilience. Organizations increasingly depend on cloud providers, payment processors, logistics companies, software vendors, telecommunications providers, and other external partners.

Artificial intelligence introduces additional continuity considerations. Organizations may need to assess AI-related dependencies, data availability, model access, vendor concentration, cybersecurity risks, and the consequences of automated-system outages.

Current continuity planning increasingly includes:

• Cyber incident response
• Cloud-service dependencies
• Supply-chain disruption
• Third-party risk
• Data resilience
• AI-system dependencies
• Remote-work continuity
• Crisis communications
• Scenario-based testing

Laws or Policies

Business continuity requirements vary by industry and jurisdiction. Certain sectors may face specific regulatory expectations concerning operational resilience, cybersecurity, data protection, financial systems, healthcare operations, or critical infrastructure.

In the United States, NIST provides widely used voluntary cybersecurity and resilience frameworks. The NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 organizes cybersecurity activities around the functions Govern, Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. (nist.gov)

Organizations handling regulated information may also need to comply with sector-specific requirements. For example, financial institutions can be subject to regulatory expectations concerning business continuity and technology risk management, while healthcare organizations may have obligations involving the security and availability of protected health information.

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) provides business continuity and technology-risk resources relevant to financial institutions. (ffiec.gov)

The EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) became applicable on January 17, 2025, establishing digital operational resilience requirements for financial entities and certain ICT third-party providers operating within its scope. (europa.eu)

Organizations should also consider contractual obligations, insurance requirements, data-protection rules, employment requirements, and industry standards when developing continuity plans.

Tools and Resources

Business continuity planning can use a combination of risk-management frameworks, templates, communication tools, backup systems, and testing procedures.

Business Impact Analysis (BIA) templates: A BIA can help document critical business functions, dependencies, disruption impacts, and recovery priorities.

Risk registers: Risk registers organize identified risks according to likelihood, potential impact, ownership, and mitigation measures.

Disaster recovery plans: These documents describe procedures for restoring technology systems, applications, infrastructure, and data.

Backup systems: Regular and appropriately protected backups can support data recovery following system failures or cyber incidents.

Incident-response playbooks: Playbooks provide predefined procedures for responding to specific incidents such as ransomware, system outages, data breaches, or facility disruptions.

NIST resources: NIST provides cybersecurity, risk-management, and resilience frameworks that organizations can use when developing continuity programs. (nist.gov)

CISA resources: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency provides guidance and resources for cybersecurity preparedness, incident response, and resilience. (cisa.gov)

Useful continuity documentation can include:

• Business continuity policy
• Business impact analysis
• Risk register
• Critical-process inventory
• Contact lists
• Disaster recovery plan
• Incident-response plan
• Supplier continuity assessments
• Backup procedures
• Crisis communication plan
• Testing schedule
• Recovery checklists

Plans should be reviewed periodically because technology, employees, suppliers, facilities, regulations, and business processes change over time.

FAQs

What is business continuity planning?

Business continuity planning is the process of preparing an organization to maintain or restore important operations following a disruptive event.

What is the difference between business continuity and disaster recovery?

Business continuity covers the broader ability of an organization to continue critical operations during disruption. Disaster recovery generally focuses on restoring IT systems, applications, infrastructure, and data.

What is a Business Impact Analysis?

A Business Impact Analysis identifies critical business functions and examines how disruptions could affect them. It can help establish recovery priorities and objectives.

What are RTO and RPO?

RTO refers to the targeted time for restoring a disrupted system or process. RPO refers to the targeted point in time to which data should be recoverable after an incident.

How often should a business continuity plan be tested?

Testing frequency depends on organizational risk, regulatory requirements, system complexity, and changes to the business. Plans should be exercised periodically and updated when significant operational, technological, or organizational changes occur.

Conclusion

Business continuity planning provides a structured approach for preparing organizations to respond to disruptions and maintain critical operations.

A strong program typically combines risk assessment, business impact analysis, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, supplier resilience, emergency communications, backup strategies, and regular testing.

The nature of operational risk is also changing. Cybersecurity incidents, cloud dependencies, supply-chain disruptions, AI technologies, and third-party services are increasingly connected to business continuity.

Organizations can improve resilience by identifying their most important processes, understanding dependencies, establishing realistic recovery objectives, protecting critical data, and regularly testing their plans.

Continuity planning should be treated as an ongoing management process rather than a document created once and left unchanged.