Business Continuity
Planning and preparation to ensure critical business functions continue during and after a disaster.
Also known as: Business Continuity Planning, BCP, Business Continuity Management, BCM
Category: Business & Economics
Tags: planning, resilience, risk-management, operations
Explanation
Business continuity encompasses the proactive planning and preparation that enables an organization to continue delivering products and services at acceptable predefined levels following a disruptive incident. While disaster recovery focuses on restoring IT systems, business continuity addresses the broader organizational capability to maintain essential functions.
**Core elements of business continuity**:
- **Business Impact Analysis (BIA)**: Identifying critical functions and the impact of their disruption
- **Risk Assessment**: Evaluating threats and vulnerabilities to the organization
- **Continuity Strategies**: Developing approaches to maintain operations during disruptions
- **Plan Development**: Documenting procedures, roles, and resources needed
- **Testing and Exercises**: Validating plans through drills and simulations
- **Maintenance**: Keeping plans current as the organization evolves
**Key metrics**:
- **Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD)**: Longest acceptable outage for each function
- **Recovery Time Objective (RTO)**: Target time to restore operations
- **Recovery Point Objective (RPO)**: Maximum acceptable data loss
**Business continuity vs. disaster recovery**:
Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity focused specifically on IT systems. Business continuity addresses the entire organization including people, processes, facilities, and technology.
**Critical success factors**:
- Executive sponsorship and organizational commitment
- Cross-functional involvement in planning
- Regular testing and plan updates
- Employee awareness and training
- Integration with overall risk management
**Common threats addressed**:
- Natural disasters and severe weather
- Cyberattacks and technology failures
- Supply chain disruptions
- Pandemic and workforce unavailability
- Facility damage or inaccessibility
Effective business continuity management builds organizational resilience, protects reputation, and can provide competitive advantage during industry-wide disruptions.
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