In today’s constantly changing business environment, the need for effective business continuity planning cannot be overstated. An estimated 40% of businesses do not reopen after a natural disaster, and another 25% close a year after the disaster.
A business continuity plan (BCP) serves as a roadmap to navigate through unforeseen disruptions, ensuring the continuity of operations and safeguarding against potential risks. In this blog post, we will:
- Define a business continuity plan and its key components
- List the consequences of not having a BCP
- Explain the business continuity planning process and who needs one
- Highlight keys to BCP success
- Dispel some common misconceptions about BCPs
- Provide tips on choosing the right business continuity partner
What Is Business Continuity Planning?
Business interruptions are not a matter of if, they are a matter of when. In fact, 9 out of 10 organizations experienced operational downtime in the past year. This is why you need to be ready and have a clear business continuity strategy for how your organization will respond and recover.
Business continuity planning is a comprehensive approach to identifying potential threats and understanding how they could impact your operations. It is designed to help protect your people, environment, and property—and to keep your business running in the face of disruption.
The stakes are high: 75% of organizations without a continuity plan fail within three years of a major disaster.
By proactively identifying risks, seeing the gaps, accepting unavoidable risk and mapping out a recovery plan, you can protect your reputation, build customer trust, and maintain financial stability.
The Consequences of Not Having a Business Continuity Plan
A robust business continuity strategy can prevent businesses from significant risks and vulnerabilities. Real-world examples abound, and here are just a couple:
A break in continuity can cost $10,000 an hour
Even the smallest enterprises heavily rely on data and connectivity. As a result, IT disruptions have become more expensive than ever. Just one hour of downtime can cost $10,000 for small businesses. Those hourly costs can grow to more than $5 million for larger companies.
Most businesses overestimate their recovery readiness
Many businesses are confident in their ability to recover quickly after a disruption—but the numbers tell a different story. While nearly 60% of businesses believe they can be back up and running within a day, only 35% do. The longer recovery takes, the more likely a business will have to shut its doors permanently.
The repercussions of not having a BCP extend beyond immediate financial losses. Businesses may experience prolonged downtime, leading to customer dissatisfaction and loss of market position. Disruptions can also have a ripple effect on stakeholders, including employees, customers, and suppliers, which may impact long-term business resilience.
Who Needs a Business Continuity Plan?
Business continuity planning is indispensable across various sectors, including finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and IT services. While large corporations may have dedicated resources for BCPs, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) stand to benefit equally, albeit with tailored business continuity strategies that align with their size and risk profile.
Key Components of a Business Continuity Plan:
A business continuity planning framework includes several components:
- Program Initiation & Management: Establishing and overseeing the framework, development and maintenance of the BCP.
- Risk Assessment: Identifying potential threats and vulnerabilities—and analyzing how they could impact business operations.
- Business Impact Analysis: Determining which functions are most critical, how disruptions would affect them, and which areas should be prioritized during recovery.
- Business Continuity Strategies: Defining the steps, resources, and procedures needed to maintain or quickly restore essential operations during a disruption.
- Incident Response: Executing predefined actions to address and manage disruptions promptly as they occur.
- Plan Development & Implementation: Documenting detailed plans and putting them into action across departments to ensure a coordinated response.
- Awareness & Training Programs: Educating employees about their roles and responsibilities in executing the business continuity plan and providing training to enhance their preparedness.
- Business Continuity Plan Exercise, Assessment & Maintenance: Testing the plan through drills or simulations, evaluating its effectiveness, and updating it regularly to reflect changes in the business or threat landscape.
Keys to BCP Success
To implement a successful BCP, there are four areas to focus on for program initiation and management.
- Establishing the need: This involves conducting a thorough business continuity assessment of potential risks and vulnerabilities that could disrupt business operations. It highlights the importance of implementing a BCP to mitigate these risks and ensure organizational resilience.
- Obtain support and funding: In this stage, businesses need to secure buy-in from key decision-makers by clearly articulating the benefits of a BCP. This includes obtaining necessary financial resources to support the development, implementation, and ongoing business continuity planning efforts.
- Build the organizational framework: Establishing the organizational structure and processes necessary to support the business continuity plan. This involves appointing a dedicated team or coordinator, defining roles and responsibilities, and integrating continuity procedures into existing business processes.
- Introduce key concepts: Educating employees and stakeholders about risk management, processes and communication. This ensures clear understanding and acceptance of the plan throughout the organization, fostering a culture of preparedness and resilience.
Common Misconceptions About Business Continuity Plans
Business continuity planning is often misunderstood—leading many organizations to put it off or overlook critical areas. Here are some of the most common misconceptions:
- “One-size-fits-all” plans are good enough: Some assume a generic template can cover all bases, but effective BCPs must be tailored to your specific business processes, industry requirements, and organizational structure.
- Only large enterprises need them: It’s a myth that only big corporations benefit from continuity planning. In reality, small and midsize businesses face great risks from prolonged downtime and would benefit from a well-defined BCP.
- It’s just an IT issue: Technology is important, but business continuity goes far beyond servers and backups. A strong plan should also address people, facilities, supply chains, and communication protocols.
- They only apply to natural disasters: While events like floods and storms are serious threats, disruptions can also come from cyberattacks, power outages, equipment failure, or public health crises. Your continuity plan should account for a range of scenarios.
- Once it’s written, it’s done: BCPs are not “set-it-and-forget-it” documents. They need to be regularly reviewed, tested, and updated to stay relevant as your business evolves and new risks emerge.
- They’re too expensive and time-consuming: Yes, developing a business continuity plan requires time and resources—but the cost of doing nothing can be far greater. Business continuity planning helps minimize losses, maintain operations, and protect your reputation when disruption strikes.
How to Choose the Right BCP Partner
It can be a daunting task to develop, implement, and execute a business continuity plan. This is a big decision. After all, the resiliency — and potentially the success — of your organization depends on the effectiveness of your BCP and the partner you choose.
So, how do you select the best partner to guide your business continuity planning process? There are five essential questions you should ask any potential provider right at the start. Here they are:
1. How long have they been in business?
The first question is entirely quantifiable: how long has the service provider been in business?
Can a “young” company be a good choice? Maybe, but you need to put in the due diligence to be sure they know their stuff and are stable enough to survive. Longevity, on the other hand, brings certain benefits:
- A depth of knowledge in the field
- A breadth of experience across many companies and industries
- An increased likelihood of future stability
- Proven commitment to business resiliency services
2. What’s their reputation as a company?
This question looks at the provider’s reputation in the industry. Two key ways to examine reputation are:
- Look at the company’s website. Are there client testimonials available for review? Do they have case studies you can read? Sure, the company has handpicked these, but regardless, they do tell you if the company has satisfied customers.
- Ask your network. Chances are you know someone who has had first-hand experience with the provider. Ask for their candid feedback.
3. What is the breadth of their capabilities?
Effective business continuity planning requires addressing a wide range of factors to ensure true organizational resilience. It’s important to choose a provider whose expertise covers not only IT but also business processes, cybersecurity, and more.
In essence, your partner should be able to support the full spectrum of your business needs—not just isolated components.
4. Do they have a holistic resiliency mindset and approach?
When you look at a provider’s capabilities, you should also look at their mindset and approach. For instance, a provider might have an extensive menu of services, but treat them all as separate items and passively allow you to pick and choose from among them. You could conceivably “fail to sign up” for the right services for your business.
In contrast, a provider with a holistic resiliency mindset and approach will have a wide breadth of services, but couple that with the ability to put it all together with a focus on the outcomes your company needs. They will be able to help you create a business continuity program that is appropriate for your business, selecting the right mix of services and support to deliver true resiliency.
5. Are they in alignment with industry standards?
In the past several years, business continuity management has been the subject of many new and helpful standards, such as ISO 22301. Any provider you consider should be familiar with the industry standards and work in alignment with them.
If you are in an industry with unique requirements, such as HIPAA for the healthcare industry, you want a provider who can execute a business continuity plan that supports those compliance requirements.
Start with a Business Continuity Assessment
Business continuity plans are essential for any business looking to navigate uncertainties and safeguard their continuity. Organizations today must view BCPs not as an expense, but as a necessary investment in their future stability and growth. By planning ahead and being prepared, businesses can strengthen their operational resilience.
Ready to Learn More?
It’s important to regularly assess your current BCP—or begin the process of developing one if you haven’t already. Our Business Continuity Planning Assessment can help you identify gaps, evaluate risk, and build a plan that aligns with your business goals. To learn more, talk to a WIN Specialist today.