The Basics of Business Continuity

Business continuity planning ensures that your company can keep operating during and after disasters. Start with these fundamentals:

Perform a risk assessment

Identify threats (fire, flood, cyberattack, hardware failure) and assess how they would impact critical business functions.

Define critical functions and objectives

Understand which systems, data and roles are essential for your operation. Determine their Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs).

Implement a backup strategy

Follow the 3‑2‑1 rule: maintain at least three copies of your data, stored on two different media, with one off‑site or in the cloud. Test restores regularly.

Develop a Disaster Recovery plan

Document the steps to recover systems and data, including who is responsible for each task, how to contact vendors and where to find backups.

Ensure communication & training

Maintain up‑to‑date contact lists for employees, clients and vendors. Plan how you’ll communicate during an outage (e.g. alternative email or text alerts). Cross‑train staff so multiple team members can perform critical tasks.

Test and update regularly

Conduct tabletop exercises or full DR drills at least annually. Adjust the plan based on lessons learned and changing business needs. Business continuity isn’t a one‑time project—it’s an ongoing process.