business continuity management plan example

What Is A Business Continuity Plan? [+ Template & Examples]

Published: December 30, 2022

When a business crisis occurs, the last thing you want to do is panic.

The second-to-last thing you want to do is be unprepared. Crises typically arise without warning. While you shouldn't start every day expecting the worst, you should be relatively prepared for anything to happen.

A business crisis can cost your company a lot of money and ruin your reputation if you don't have a business continuity plan in place. Customers aren't very forgiving, especially when a crisis is influenced by accidents within the company or other preventable mistakes. If you want your company to be able to maintain its business continuity in the face of a crisis, then you'll need to come up with this type of plan to uphold its essential functions.

In this post, we'll explain what a business continuity plan is, give examples of scenarios that would require a business continuity plan, and provide a template that you can use to create a well-rounded program for your business.

Table of Contents:

What is a business continuity plan?

• Business Continuity Types
• Business Continuity vs Disaster Recovery

Business Continuity Plan Template

How to write a business continuity plan.

• Business Continuity Examples

A business continuity plan outlines directions and procedures that your company will follow when faced with a crisis. These plans include business procedures, names of assets and partners, human resource functions, and other helpful information that can help maintain your brand's relationships with relevant stakeholders. The goal of a business continuity plan is to handle anything from minor disruptions to full-blown threats.

For example, one crisis that your business may have to respond to is a severe snowstorm. Your team may be wondering, "If a snowstorm disrupted our supply chain, how would we resume business?" Planning contingencies ahead of time for situations like these can help your business stay afloat when you're faced with an unavoidable crisis.

When you think about business continuity in terms of the essential functions your business requires to operate, you can begin to mitigate and plan for specific risks within those functions.

Business Continuity Planning

Business continuity planning is the process of creating a plan to address a crisis. When writing out a business continuity plan, it's important to consider the variety of crises that could potentially affect the company and prepare a resolution for each.

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• Business Continuity Plan Basics
• Understanding BCPs
• Benefits of BCPs
• How to Create a BCP
• BCP & Impact Analysis
• BCP vs. Disaster Recovery Plan

Frequently Asked Questions

• Business Continuity Plan FAQs

The Bottom Line

What is a business continuity plan (bcp), and how does it work.

Pete Rathburn is a copy editor and fact-checker with expertise in economics and personal finance and over twenty years of experience in the classroom.

Investopedia / Ryan Oakley

What Is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)? 

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a system of prevention and recovery from potential threats to a company. The plan ensures that personnel and assets are protected and are able to function quickly in the event of a disaster.

Key Takeaways

• Business continuity plans (BCPs) are prevention and recovery systems for potential threats, such as natural disasters or cyber-attacks.
• BCP is designed to protect personnel and assets and make sure they can function quickly when disaster strikes.
• BCPs should be tested to ensure there are no weaknesses, which can be identified and corrected.

Understanding Business Continuity Plans (BCPs)

BCP involves defining any and all risks that can affect the company's operations, making it an important part of the organization's risk management strategy. Risks may include natural disasters—fire, flood, or weather-related events—and cyber-attacks . Once the risks are identified, the plan should also include:

• Determining how those risks will affect operations
• Implementing safeguards and procedures to mitigate the risks
• Testing procedures to ensure they work
• Reviewing the process to make sure that it is up to date

BCPs are an important part of any business. Threats and disruptions mean a loss of revenue and higher costs, which leads to a drop in profitability. And businesses can't rely on insurance alone because it doesn't cover all the costs and the customers who move to the competition. It is generally conceived in advance and involves input from key stakeholders and personnel.

Business impact analysis, recovery, organization, and training are all steps corporations need to follow when creating a Business Continuity Plan.

Benefits of a Business Continuity Plan

Businesses are prone to a host of disasters that vary in degree from minor to catastrophic. Business continuity planning is typically meant to help a company continue operating in the event of major disasters such as fires. BCPs are different from a disaster recovery plan, which focuses on the recovery of a company's IT system after a crisis.

Consider a finance company based in a major city. It may put a BCP in place by taking steps including backing up its computer and client files offsite. If something were to happen to the company's corporate office, its satellite offices would still have access to important information.

An important point to note is that BCP may not be as effective if a large portion of the population is affected, as in the case of a disease outbreak. Nonetheless, BCPs can improve risk management—preventing disruptions from spreading. They can also help mitigate downtime of networks or technology, saving the company money.

How to Create a Business Continuity Plan

There are several steps many companies must follow to develop a solid BCP. They include:

• Business Impact Analysis : Here, the business will identify functions and related resources that are time-sensitive. (More on this below.)
• Recovery : In this portion, the business must identify and implement steps to recover critical business functions.
• Organization : A continuity team must be created. This team will devise a plan to manage the disruption.
• Training : The continuity team must be trained and tested. Members of the team should also complete exercises that go over the plan and strategies.

Companies may also find it useful to come up with a checklist that includes key details such as emergency contact information, a list of resources the continuity team may need, where backup data and other required information are housed or stored, and other important personnel.

Along with testing the continuity team, the company should also test the BCP itself. It should be tested several times to ensure it can be applied to many different risk scenarios . This will help identify any weaknesses in the plan which can then be identified and corrected.

In order for a business continuity plan to be successful, all employees—even those who aren't on the continuity team—must be aware of the plan.

Business Continuity Impact Analysis

An important part of developing a BCP is a business continuity impact analysis. It identifies the effects of disruption of business functions and processes. It also uses the information to make decisions about recovery priorities and strategies.

FEMA provides an operational and financial impact worksheet to help run a business continuity analysis. The worksheet should be completed by business function and process managers who are well acquainted with the business. These worksheets will summarize the following:

• The impacts—both financial and operational—that stem from the loss of individual business functions and process
• Identifying when the loss of a function or process would result in the identified business impacts

Completing the analysis can help companies identify and prioritize the processes that have the most impact on the business's financial and operational functions. The point at which they must be recovered is generally known as the “recovery time objective.”

Business Continuity Plan vs. Disaster Recovery Plan

BCPs and disaster recovery plans are similar in nature, the latter focuses on technology and information technology (IT) infrastructure. BCPs are more encompassing—focusing on the entire organization, such as customer service and supply chain. 

BCPs focus on reducing overall costs or losses, while disaster recovery plans look only at technology downtimes and related costs. Disaster recovery plans tend to involve only IT personnel—which create and manage the policy. However, BCPs tend to have more personnel trained on the potential processes. 

Why Is Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Important?

Businesses are prone to a host of disasters that vary in degree from minor to catastrophic and business continuity plans (BCPs) are an important part of any business. BCP is typically meant to help a company continue operating in the event of threats and disruptions. This could result in a loss of revenue and higher costs, which leads to a drop in profitability. And businesses can't rely on insurance alone because it doesn't cover all the costs and the customers who move to the competition.

What Should a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Include?

Business continuity plans involve identifying any and all risks that can affect the company's operations. The plan should also determine how those risks will affect operations and implement safeguards and procedures to mitigate the risks. There should also be testing procedures to ensure these safeguards and procedures work. Finally, there should be a review process to make sure that the plan is up to date.

What Is Business Continuity Impact Analysis?

An important part of developing a BCP is a business continuity impact analysis which identifies the effects of disruption of business functions and processes. It also uses the information to make decisions about recovery priorities and strategies.

FEMA provides an operational and financial impact worksheet to help run a business continuity analysis.

These worksheets summarize the impacts—both financial and operational—that stem from the loss of individual business functions and processes. They also identify when the loss of a function or process would result in the identified business impacts.

Business continuity plans (BCPs) are created to help speed up the recovery of an organization filling a threat or disaster. The plan puts in place mechanisms and functions to allow personnel and assets to minimize company downtime. BCPs cover all organizational risks should a disaster happen, such as flood or fire.  

Federal Emergency Management Agency. " Business Process Analysis and Business Impact Analysis User Guide ," Pages 15 - 17. Accessed Sept. 5, 2021.

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Enterprises are often defined by how they deal with events that are out of their control. For example, how you react to a disruptive technology or cope with a sudden change in the markets can be the difference between success and failure.

Contingency planning is the art of preparing for the unexpected. But where do you start and how do you separate the threats that could do real harm to your business from the ones that aren’t as critical?

Here are some important definitions, best practices and strong examples to help you build contingency plans for whatever your business faces.

What is a contingency plan?

Business contingency plans, also known as “business continuity plans” or “emergency response plans” are action plans to help organizations resume normal business operations after an unintended interruption. Organizations build contingency plans to help them face a variety of threats, including natural disasters, unplanned downtime, data loss, network breaches and sudden shifts in customer demand.

A good place to start is with a series of “what if” questions that propose various worst-case scenarios you’ll need to have a plan for. For example:

• What if a critical asset breaks down, causing delays in production?
• What if your top three engineers all quit at the same time?
• What if the country where your microprocessors are built was suddenly invaded?

Good contingency plans prioritize the risks an organization faces, delegate responsibility to members of the response teams and increase the likelihood that the company will make a full recovery after a negative event.

Five steps to build a strong contingency plan

1. make a list of risks and prioritize them according to likelihood and severity..

In the first stage of the contingency planning process, stakeholders brainstorm a list of potential risks the company faces and conduct risk analysis on each one. Team members discuss possible risks, analyze the risk impact of each one and propose courses of action to increase their overall preparedness. You don’t need to create a risk management plan for every threat your company faces, just the ones your decision-makers assess as both highly likely and with a potential impact on normal business processes.

2. Create a business impact analysis (BIA) report

Business impact analysis (BIA) is a crucial step in understanding how the different business functions of an enterprise will respond to unexpected events. One way to do this is to look at how much company revenue is being generated by the business unit at risk. If the BIA indicates that it’s a high percentage, the company will most likely want to prioritize creating a contingency plan for this business risk.

3. Make a plan

For each potential threat your company faces that has both a high likelihood of occurring and a high potential impact on business operations, you can follow these three simple steps to create a plan:

• Identify triggers that will set a plan into action: For example, if a hurricane is approaching, when does the storm trigger your course of action? When it’s 50 miles away? 100 miles? Your teams will need clear guidance so they will know when to start executing the actions they’ve been assigned.
• Design an appropriate response: The threat your organization prepared for has arrived and teams are springing into action. Everyone involved will need clear, accessible instructions, protocols that are easy to follow and a way to communicate with other stakeholders.
• Delegate responsibility clearly and fairly: Like any other initiative, contingency planning requires effective project management to succeed. One proven way to address this is to create a RACI chart . RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted and informed, and it is widely used in crisis management to help teams and individuals delegate responsibility and react to crises in real time.

4. Get buy-in from the entire organization—and be realistic about cost

Sometimes it can be hard to justify the importance of putting resources into preparing for something that might never happen. But if the events of these past few years have taught us anything, it’s that having strong contingency plans is invaluable.

Think of the supply chain problems and critical shortages wreaked by the pandemic or the chaos to global supply chains brought about by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. When it comes to convincing business leaders of the value of having a strong Plan B in place, it’s important to look at the big picture—not just the cost of the plan but the potential costs incurred if no plan is put in place.

5. Test and reassess your plans regularly

Markets and industries are constantly shifting, so the reality that a contingency plan faces when it is triggered might be very different than the one it was created for. Plans should be tested at least once annually, and new risk assessments performed.

Contingency plan examples

Here are some model scenarios that demonstrate how different kinds of businesses would prepare to face risks. The three-step process outlined here can be used to create contingency plans templates for whatever threats your organization faces.

A network provider facing a massive outage

What if your core business was so critical to your customers that downtime of even just a few hours could result in millions of dollars in lost revenue? Many internet and cellular networks face this challenge every year. Here’s an example of a contingency plan that would help them prepare to face this problem:

• Assess the severity and likelihood of the risk: A recent study by Open Gear showed that only 9% of global organizations avoid network outages in an average quarter. Coupled with what is known about these attacks—that they can cause millions of dollars in damage and take an immeasurable toll on business reputation—this risk would have to be considered both highly likely and highly severe in terms of the potential damage it could do to the company.
• Identify the trigger that will set your plan in action: In this example, what signs should decision-makers have watched for to know when a likely outage was beginning? These might include security breaches, looming natural disasters or any other event that has preceded outages in the past.
• Create the right response: The organization’s leaders will want to determine a reasonable recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) for each service and data category their company faces. RTO is usually measured with a simple time metric, such as days, hours or minutes. RPO is a bit more complicated as it involves determining the minimum/maximum age of files that can be recovered quickly from backup systems in order to restore the network to normal operations.  

A food distribution company coping with an unexpected shortage

If your core business has complex supply chains that run through different regions and countries, monitoring geopolitical conditions in those places will be critical to maintaining the health of your business operations. In this example, we’ll look at a food distributor preparing to face a shortage of a much-needed ingredient due to volatility in a region that’s critical to its supply chain:

• Assess the severity and likelihood of the risk: The company’s leaders have been following the news in the region where they source the ingredient and are concerned about the possibility of political unrest. Since they need this ingredient to make one of their best-selling products, both the likelihood and potential severity of this risk are rated as high.
• Identify the trigger that will set your plan in action: War breaks out in the region, shutting down all ports of entry/exit and severely restricting transport within the country via air, roads and railroads. Transportation of their ingredient will be challenging until stability returns to the region.
• Create the right response: The company’s business leaders create a two-pronged contingency plan to help them face this problem. First, they proactively search for alternate suppliers of this ingredient in regions that aren’t so prone to volatility. These suppliers may cost more and take time to switch to, but when the overall cost of a general production disruption that would come about in the event of war is factored in, the cost is worth it. Second, they look for an alternative to this ingredient that they can use in their product.

A social network experiencing a customer data breach

The managers of a large social network know of a cybersecurity risk in their app that they are working to fix. In the event that they’re hacked before they fix it, they are likely to lose confidential customer data:

• Assess the severity and likelihood of risk: They rate the likelihood of this event as high , since, as a social network, they are a frequent target of attacks. They also rate the potential severity of damage to the company as high since any loss of confidential customer data will expose them to lawsuits.
• Identify the trigger that will set your plan in action: Engineers make the social network’s leadership aware that an attack has been detected and that their customer’s confidential information has been compromised.
• Create the right response: The network contracts with a special response team to come to their aid in the event of an attack and help them secure their information systems and restore app functionality. They also change their IT infrastructure to make customer data more secure. Lastly, they work with a reputable PR firm to prepare a plan for outreach and messaging to reassure customers in the event that their personal information is compromised.

The value of contingency planning 

When business operations are disrupted by a negative event, good contingency planning gives an organization’s response structure and discipline. During a crisis, decision-makers and employees often feel overwhelmed by the pile-up of events beyond their control, and having a thorough backup plan helps reestablish confidence and return operations to normal.  

Here are a few benefits organizations can expect from strong contingency plans:

• Improved recovery times: Businesses with good plans in place recover faster from a disruptive event than companies that haven’t prepared.  
• Reduced costs—financial and reputational: Good contingency plans minimize both financial and reputational damage to a company. For example, while a data breach at a social network that compromises customer information could result in lawsuits, it could also cause long-term damage if customers decide to leave the network because they no longer trust the company to keep their personal information safe.
• Greater confidence and morale: Many organizations use contingency plans to show employees, shareholders and customers that they’ve thought through every possible eventuality that might befall their company, giving them confidence that the company has their interests in mind.

Contingency plan solutions

IBM Maximo Application Suite is an integrated cloud-based solution that helps businesses respond quickly to changing conditions. By combining the power of artificial intelligence (AI) , Internet of Things (IoT) and advanced analytics, it enables organizations to maximize the performance of their most valuable assets, lengthen their lifespans and minimize costs and downtime.

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How to write a business continuity plan template

To avoid the common pitfalls associated with growing a successful business, you’ll need to come up with a long-term plan. A business continuity plan template can help you anticipate and avoid disruptions to your company.

Unanticipated threats can wipe out your assets, while risky courses of action can lead to disastrous results. Take the pandemic as an example, which wrought havoc on companies’ plans for growth. In the first year, 43% of businesses temporarily closed , something few could have anticipated.

In this article, we’ll explore why you need a business continuity plan template to help you stay on steady footing, even if the ground beneath you shakes.

Get the template

What is a business continuity plan template?

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a roadmap for long-term success that factors in common pitfalls and risks. A business continuity plan template ensures that you dot your Is and cross your Ts, and craft a reliable plan to handle unexpected events or disasters.

The template will include fields for filling in information on your current resources, recovery procedures when you face critical setbacks, and a list of personnel responsible for addressing such issues.

The primary purpose of business continuity management is to analyze the current status of your company and its state of preparedness for unexpected threats. With it, senior management can find any weak spots in the business and proactively identify solutions to problems that could hinder progress toward your goals. Of course, there are other reasons you’d benefit from this template.

Why use a business continuity plan template?

Reiterating on the above, the main function of the business continuity plans template is to provide a framework for addressing any problems that may arise in various departments and areas of the business.

Without a plan for dealing with roadblocks, your business’s growth can be stunted, or worse, screech to a halt. All it takes is a few missteps or misguided risks to steer your company off course. 90% of small businesses fail within a single year if they can’t resume full operations following an unexpected disaster.

Don’t confuse a BCP with a disaster recovery plan. A BCP doesn’t just outline what to do in case of emergencies, but it presents ideas for recovering full functionality within the business to minimize the impact on growth.

Take your company’s sensitive data as an example. Relying solely on backups to external servers or hard drives could be risky. In your BCP template, you’ll want to detail how you can protect and manage your data in the event of a breach or severe weather conditions. For instance, a hybrid approach, using both a cloud-based solution and a private server, could afford you extra data security and safety.

There were 3,950 confirmed data breaches in 2020 alone, which highlights the dangers of ignoring your data security. The faster you can get back on your feet and recover from cyberthreats or unforeseen events, the easier it’ll be to hold onto your cutting edge and stay a step ahead of the competition.

Those are the benefits in theory, but let’s take a look at specific cases where BCP templates can help.

What are examples of business continuity plan templates?

Depending on your needs, these business continuity templates can provide a little extra inspiration to get started.

Risk assessment template for business continuity

Use a risk assessment table to calculate whether various weather conditions or other events could impact your day-to-day operations. Your business continuity management team could use resources such as this to identify potential threats—however unlikely —to make sure that the company isn’t caught off guard.

( Image Source )

While nobody could have predicted the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Katrina, a rigorous risk assessment system ensures that you have most bases covered, including natural disasters.

Even if your headquarters is sheltered from severe weather conditions, there may be secondary offices or physical data servers in high-risk areas. As such, it’s important to factor in all of your infrastructure to avoid getting blindsided.

Alternate site evaluation template

If you have employees working from home or away from your primary place of work, you can use an alternate site evaluation table to evaluate the possible risks. Have your employees fill out a table like this one so that you have all the relevant contact information on your books in case of an emergency.

This information can help you better understand your employees’ work arrangements and troubleshoot any issues should they come up.

BCP committee table template

Use a simple BCP committee table to determine member’s roles and responsibilities. For each member, you can fill out contact information, along with a list of the main duties they are required to carry out.

This will make it easy for the committee members to coordinate for meetings and have a clear action plan for what to do next.

Want a template that lets you do all of this in one document? monday.com has just what the doctor ordered.

monday.com’s business continuity plan template

On the monday.com business continuity plan template, you’ll be able to enter data such as committee member contact details, disaster recovery action plans, and evacuation information.

The template covers all bases regarding potential threats you could encounter as you grow your business. With it, you’ll be able to keep all the information in a single place and enter it in an easy-to-digest way to share with your employees.

And that’s not all. With monday.com Work OS, your employees can easily share and collaborate on tables and forms, so you can ask for input regarding secondary places of work and contact information. Plus, managers can access this information from anywhere, allowing them to see crucial details at a glance for better preparation.

Part of business continuity planning is ensuring your sensitive data is secure, so you’ll appreciate that monday.com protects your information with permission-based access. Only those in the BCP committee will be privy to the plans unless you wish to grant access to other employees.

If you want to expand beyond the BCP and really detail how you’ll deal with potential disasters and risks, we’ve got a few templates for you.

Related templates from monday.com

Let’s take a look at a few templates that are related to a business continuity plan template.

Disaster recovery template

A Disaster Recovery Template falls under the scope of the business continuity plan committee. It’s just what it sounds like: a comprehensive plan for necessary actions if disaster strikes. More specifically, the plan should inform your approach for getting systems back online when they go down.

In this disaster recovery template, you can include everything from cyber-attacks and data breaches to worldwide pandemics or natural disasters. You can integrate these reports into your overall BCP to get a comprehensive overview of your recovery plans.

Operating functions template

An operating functions template gives you an idea of how you can cut costs in various processes and workflows. It can also inform how you can implement more sustainable business practices and initiatives.

Check out these different operations templates from monday.com that can be used with the BCP template to outline potential risks associated with new initiatives and suggested changes to work processes.

Program risk register

The Program Risk Register Template is for the early-stage process of identifying and evaluating potential risks to your business. It complements the business continuity plan template well — you can focus on valid, severe, likely risks in your BCP, and have a separate table for risks of all likelihoods and potential levels of impact.

FAQs about business continuity plan templates

How do you write a business continuity plan.

You can write a business continuity plan by first listing the various departments of your company and what risks or threats they might face. From there, you can assess the likelihood of these threats coming to fruition. Once you have an idea of the probability of the various threats to your company, you can prioritize them.

With a prioritized list, you can start with the most pressing threat and proactively brainstorm what actions you could take if it were to arise. The purpose of the BCP is to shield your company against anything that could hinder your progress. Coming up with potential solutions for addressing hypothetical problems can prepare you for real ones in the future.

What is a small business continuity plan?

A small business continuity plan is a document that details potential risks and threats to a small business. It’s well worth creating such a document as a small business owner, as it can save you from disaster as you strive to scale the company.

For small businesses, any hitch can prove disastrous. 38.8% of US-based small businesses were affected by supply chain issues in 2021, which, for some, would have impeded growth significantly. Over-reliance on foreign suppliers could be an example of an unnecessary risk that, without being addressed, could spell disaster for a small business.

With the business continuity plan in place, you can protect your business in its most vulnerable state of growth. The plan forces you to think laterally about the threats that could sink your business. That way, you can make necessary course corrections and increase your chances of long-term survival.

What is an example of a business continuity plan?

An example of a business continuity plan is to plan out how you’ll protect your app’s uptime in the event something happens to one data center: for example, running a clone in AWS you can always fall back on.

What are the 3 elements of business continuity?

The three most vital elements within business continuity are resilience, recovery, and contingency.

• Resilience: how you’ll make it as hard as possible for critical functions to fail.
• Recovery: how you’ll get back to normal operations if disaster strikes.
• Contingency: what you’ll do if plan A for recovery fails.
• Project risk management

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How to Write a Business Continuity Plan + Template

The goal of risk management is not to eliminate all risks but to effectively reduce their likelihood and impact. One way to do that is through business continuity planning. 

Having a business continuity plan in place can help your organization keep operating at some capacity during a disaster. 

Below, get straightforward answers to what a business continuity plan includes, why it’s important, and how to write one. You’ll also find a business continuity template to simplify the process.

What is a business continuity plan?

A business continuity plan is a document containing a predetermined set of procedures that describe how an organization will sustain its business operations during and after a significant disruption.

This disruption may be caused by a broad range of threats, including natural disasters, technical failures, and cyberattacks .

What is business continuity management?

A business continuity plan is one part of business continuity management (BCM). BCM includes risk assessment, response planning, recovery, and long-term maintenance of the policies and procedures developed, tested, and used when a crisis occurs.

What is the primary goal of business continuity planning?

The primary goal of business continuity planning is to identify preparations and recovery actions that can assist an organization in resuming operations and services as quickly as possible during and after a crisis.

For example, most business operations depend heavily on technology and automated systems, and the disruption of these systems for even a few hours may cause severe problems. Consider a Zoom outage. This may impact meetings with colleagues, customers, and prospects and important projects and deals as a result. A company with a business continuity plan that has identified a substitute tool for video meetings will be able to recover faster than a company without one. 

To ensure your business runs as smoothly as possible even when faced with system failures, cyber attacks, natural disasters, and other major disruptions, there must be an awareness of potential crises that could impact critical systems, tools, and skills of your organization and a plan to deal with them.

Business continuity planning is also important for getting and staying compliant with some privacy and security standards, including SOC 2®. Let’s take a look at this other reason for creating a BCP and keeping it up to date.

Recommended reading

SOC 2 Compliance: Requirements, Audit Process, and Benefits for Business Growth

Why is a business continuity plan important for SOC 2 compliance?

A business continuity plan is part of the documentation that a SOC 2 auditor will likely review, along with your systems and security controls, to determine your level of compliance with the Trust Services Criteria (TSC) you’ve selected. This plan is especially important if you include Availability as a TSC in your SOC 2 audit . 

The Availability controls in SOC 2 focus on minimizing downtime. Risk assessment is therefore essential.

A SOC 2 auditor will most likely review whether your company has identified and thought of ways to mitigate environmental threats that could impact system availability, like hurricanes, tornados, and wildfires. The same process should be applied to “man made” threats, like theft and cyber attacks.

A SOC 2 auditor will also likely review whether your business continuity plan can be applied to unforeseen events that could impact your system availability and capacity, like a global pandemic. 

An auditor will also likely review if you’ve tested your BCP within the last year (at least).

Who is responsible for business continuity planning?

Business continuity planning must be a top-down effort. Meaning, it must have the support and willing participation of a director or senior manager at the company. While they will act as the executive sponsor, another individual should be appointed as the BCP coordinator. Depending on the size of the organization, a planning team representing all major areas of operations may also need to be appointed to assist the BCP coordinator.

This coordinator and/or team should be appropriately announced and empowered to execute on a range of responsibilities, including uncovering your business’s weaknesses and making plans to mitigate them, testing those plans to make sure they’re effective for different types of crises, and updating them as new threats emerge.

What’s the difference between business continuity, disaster recovery, and incident response plans?

There are several contingency and continuity plans that can help minimize the impact of catastrophic events. Let’s take a look at the three most common plans and how they differ from each other below.

Business continuity plan vs disaster recovery plan

The key difference between a business continuity and disaster recovery plan is that a BCP provides procedures for sustaining business operations while recovering from a significant disruption, whereas a DRP provides procedures for recovering information systems operations after a significant system disruption like a major software failure or a natural disaster by relocating them to an alternate location. 

Many organizations choose to combine their business continuity and disaster recovery plans into a single document. However, some choose to create them as standalone documents.

Business continuity plan vs incident response

The key difference between a business continuity plan and incident response plan is that a BCP provides procedures for sustaining business operations while recovering from a significant disruption, whereas an IRP provides procedures for mitigating and correcting a system after a security incident, like a virus or Trojan horse.

An IRP plan should detail a recovery process for when security incidents do happen.

This is another crucial document that a SOC 2 auditor will likely review to determine your level of compliance with the TSC you’ve selected.

What does a business continuity plan typically include?

A business continuity plan typically includes the following:

• Mission critical services, processes, and resources: Every BCP should include a list of mission critical services, processes, and resources. These need to be recovered first when a BCP event occurs to minimize downtime.
• Alternative location considerations: During a significant BCP event, an organization may need to use back-up data centers, back-up sites for operations, remote locations, or other alternative locations. These are typically documented in the BCP along with considerations like the accessibility of these alternative sites, transportation alternatives to these sites, the number of staff necessary to perform critical activities at these sites, and other resources that will be required. 
• Vendor relationships: Organizations may categorize vendors into risk levels and evaluate the risk in their BCP plans. 
• Telecommunications services and technology considerations: Organizations  typically detail strategies for maintaining operations during communications disruptions  in their BCP. This may include using multiple telecommunication providers, secondary phone lines, cloud technology, temporary phone lines, mobile telecom units and Wi-Fi for staff without power, as well as back-up mobile phone services with different carriers. 
• Communication plans: Organizations typically establish communications plans with staff, customers, and other external third parties, including regulators, exchanges, and emergency officials, in their BCP as well. 
• Regulatory and compliance considerations: Organizations typically include regulatory requirements in their BCPs and should regularly update them to include any new requirements. 
• Review and testing methods: Organizations should include how their BCP is reviewed and tested and how often. For example, they may conduct full BCP tests at least annually or sooner if significant changes are made. They may also conduct employee training or require employees to review their BCP annually to ensure all personnel are familiar with the plan and their responsibilities. 
• Recovery objectives: A BCP will typically include key recovery objectives that help organizations plan how quickly they need to recover data and systems in order to minimize disruptions and maintain smooth operations during unexpected events. These are defined below:  - RPO (Recovery Point Objective): RPO sets the limit for how much data loss a business can tolerate after a disruption. It defines the latest acceptable point in time to recover data, minimizing potential losses. - RTO (Recovery Time Objective): RTO is the maximum acceptable downtime for systems or processes. It indicates how quickly a business needs to recover and resume normal operations after a disruption.

Business continuity plan example

This business continuity plan example from Santa Cruz Health is designed for different facilities to customize to ensure measures are taken to prepare and pre-position resources to ensure continuity of mission critical services and processes in an event that disrupts normal operations and impacts essential operations of the facility. It is broken down into several sections, including: 

• General : Describes the purpose of the BCP, as stated above.
• Activation : Briefly describes when the plan should be activated. 
• Overview : Briefly describes what the plan is, how it was developed, what steps need to be taken to ensure it’s effective, and what’s included. 
• Continuity requirements : Lists the facility’s mission critical services, processes, equipment and supplies, IT applications, records, and business continuity personnel.
• Continuity and recovery actions : Lists procedures following the occurrence of different BCP events, including loss of power, loss of HVAC, and relocation of departmental services to an alternate location.  

How to write a business continuity plan

Now it’s time to start formulating and building out your business continuity plan. To guide you through the process, we’ve broken the process down into six key steps. We’ve also provided a template below to help get you started.

1. Identify and assess your risks.

The first major task of writing a BCP is identifying the risks or threats in your environment and determining how they might impact your operations. For example, some environmental threats may be likely to cause physical damage to your building. Other types of threats may have an impact on your staff and their families. 

The risks that are most threatening to your operations should be prioritized. 

2. Identify critical elements of your organization.

The next major task is identifying the tools, systems, and skills that are essential to your operations and how critical they are to recover. You can kick off brainstorming by posing the question, how do we achieve our goals? 

For example, let’s say one of your mission critical services is fundraising. In that case, a critical asset might be pledge cards. The vendor that prints your pledge cards would also be considered critical. 

When identifying these systems, tools, and skills, you’ll also want to determine what resources would be required to restore them and therefore resume the mission critical services and processes they are part of. Examples of resource requirements are facilities, personnel, equipment, software, data files, system components, and vital records.

This will help determine priority levels for sequencing recovery activities. In other words, what needs to be restored first in order to get back to work as quickly as possible during and after a crisis?

3. Identify ways to mitigate risks.

Now that you understand your organization’s unique risks and critical elements, you’re ready to create a plan of action. 

Start by identifying strategies that will eliminate the risks you identified in step 1 entirely. If that’s not possible, identify strategies that will lessen their impact. For example, it’s impossible to eliminate the threat of environmental threats like snowstorms entirely. Instead, you can create a procedure to have your employees and contractors work remotely if a snowstorm makes it impossible or difficult to get to the office. This will require that all employees and contractors have the appropriate supplies and equipment and receive the same communications. 

These mitigation strategies are designed to eliminate or lessen the impact of a threat before a crisis and should therefore be implemented as quickly as possible. 

4. Identify ways to prepare for and recover from the loss of any critical elements. 

Since it is impossible to eliminate all threats facing your organization, your next step is to identify as many strategies as possible for dealing with the loss of each critical element identified in step 2.  

For example, installing protective systems like a security system, fire alarm system, and antivirus software can all be considered strategies to prepare for and recover from the loss of critical elements caused by theft, vandalism, environmental hazards, cyber attacks, and other threats.

The goal is to come up with as many preparedness strategies as possible in order to best prepare and recover from the loss of mission critical assets during and after a crisis.

During the review or testing stage, you can remove any strategies that are too time-consuming or expensive.

5. Prepare for how you will respond after a crisis. 

Now that plans and strategies are in place, you can take steps to improve the efficiency and quality of your organization’s response to a crisis to help you get back to work as quickly as possible. 

Consider creating a recovery team that can assess your losses and initiate recovery actions after a crisis. The roles and responsibilities of this team can be documented in your BCP. 

6. Update and test your business continuity plan.

Your business continuity plan is a living document. It should be updated to reflect the evolving risks and needs of your business. Whether you’re integrating new software that suddenly crashes or bringing on a new management team member, your BCP should reflect these changes.

If there are no major changes impacting your business, you should still test your business continuity plan once a year at a minimum. This is a best practice and compliance requirement. You can use a variety of testing methods, including tabletop exercises and simulation tests. 

Testing and keeping documentation like this up to date is an important part of continuous compliance .

What Is Continuous Compliance + How To Achieve It

Business continuity plan template.

Use this template to begin identifying the risks, critical elements, mitigation actions, and preparedness strategies that will make up the basic components of your business continuity plan.

What are the benefits of a business continuity plan?

Implementing and maintaining an effective business continuity plan offers a range of benefits, including:

• reduced costs and impact on business performance when a disruption occurs
• a consistent, organization-wide approach to respond and recover from a significant disruption
• assurance for clients, suppliers, regulators, and other stakeholders that the organization has systems and processes in place for business continuity
• improved business performance and organizational resilience
• a better understanding of the business, its critical issues, and areas of vulnerability

What are the 5 components of a business continuity plan?

While every business continuity plan is unique, five key components are: 

• Risks and their potential business impact and likelihood of occurrence
• Mission critical services, processes, and resources
• Risk mitigation actions
• Preparedness strategies to prepare for and recover from the loss of any critical elements
• Training, testing, and plan maintenance

What are the 4 P’s of business continuity?

The four P's of business continuity are people, processes, premises, and providers. Below are definitions of each:

• People : This includes your employees and customers.
• Processes : This includes the technology and processes your business uses to keep everything running.
• Premises : This includes the buildings and spaces from which your business operates.
• Providers : This includes partners, vendors, and suppliers that your business relies on for resources. 

What is a real-life example of business continuity?

A real-life example of business continuity is the response to the Cape Town water crisis, which began in 2015.  During a period of severe drought, Cape Town implemented several response and recovery strategies which averted the catastrophe of running out of water — also known as “Day Zero.” This included the introduction of innovative pressure reduction methodologies to curb water losses, sustained reduction in water use, and effective public communication and awareness programs to avoid “Day Zero.” 

How do I write a BCM plan?

Below is a step-by-step process for writing a BCM plan:

• Identify and assess risks (can use the 4 P’s)
• Identify mission critical products, services, or functions
• Evaluate the potential impact of risks and disruptions to critical elements
• List actions to mitigate these risks
• List strategies to prepare for and recover from the loss of any critical elements 
• Maintain, review, and continuously update the business continuity plan

Why do business continuity plans fail?

Business continuity plans fail for a variety of reasons, with the most common being a lack of buy-in from top management. Other reasons are that no one is appointed to take ownership of business continuity planning, or the plan isn’t tested and updated regularly to keep up with changes affecting the business.

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Home » Organizational Change » An Easy-to-Use Business Continuity Plan Sample and Template

An Easy-to-Use Business Continuity Plan Sample and Template

A business continuity plan sample template is a must-have tool for anyone developing a business continuity plan. 

In this article, we’ll provide a detailed sample template that can be used and modified as needed, regardless of the type of disruption being addressed.

Having a template on hand can greatly simplify the creation of new business continuity plans, as well as emergency response plans, disaster recovery plans, and other continuity plans.

An Easy-to-Use Business Continuity Plan Sample Template

Continuity plans will vary in length and complexity, depending on the organization’s scale, its industry, and its needs. 

However, the following outline can be customized and applied to a wide variety of circumstances. Each section covered below includes a short description of the section, as well as a list of specific points to address.

General Information

Every business continuity plan should include a section detailing general information about the plan and its purpose. 

Here are a few items to cover:

• General recovery information, such as contact information for continuity coordinators, recovery site information, and critical dependencies affected by disruptions
• Types of disruptions, disasters, or emergencies that the continuity plan would address
• General recovery strategies, which should first aim to protect people, then business processes and assets
• Which business functions should be recovered, recovery sites, and recovery time frames

This section should only aim to provide a brief summary of the plan, without exploring any of the actual processes or procedures. 

Training and Exercises

A business continuity team will be responsible for the execution of the plan. But change readiness is essential – in order to implement the plan properly, they will need to receive the proper training.

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This section will describe that training in detail, including:

• The specific goals of the training efforts
• The types of training that teams will receive
• Which team members will receive which training
• When training should be conducted and updated
• Exercises, drills, and simulations that will offer hands-on practice

Training should occur on a regular basis, in order to ensure that business continuity team members can respond competently and effectively if the plan is executed. Live exercises and drills can be used to simulate disruptions and give team members the chance to demonstrate their abilities. 

Plan Activation Process

This section outlines the actual sequence of actions that will occur at the outset of the continuity plan. 

In this section, it is useful to include:

• Notification checklists that describe a series of parties to contact at the outset of a response
• Business continuity team members’ responsibilities 
• Declaration policies and procedures that describe guidelines for how disruptions will be communicated, the content of those communications, and so forth

Once these items have been completed and the plan has been activated, it is time to begin the core activities associated with this particular continuity plan. 

Recovery and Restoration Procedures

Not every business continuity plan will have the same aim or purpose, though many revolve around disaster mitigation and recovery. 

In such cases, restoration and recovery would be the primary aim of the continuity plan, which would include activities such as:

• General recovery activities and tasks, as well as the sequence of these tasks and who will be performing them
• Data retrieval procedures that will be conducted during certain types of IT disruptions
• Restoration and reconstruction procedures that will aim to rebuild systems and processes
• Relocation or remote working procedures that can be implemented during natural disasters or other disruptions that impact a workplace

Since these actions are the primary effort that will drive every business continuity effort, it may be tempting to create plans that consist only of these procedures. 

However, it is important to realize that every other section of the continuity plan is equally important – without the proper training, for instance, business continuity teams won’t actually be able to implement the plan successfully. 

Contact Lists

Since business continuity plans should be implemented rapidly, it is important to have contact lists and details on hand. 

These lists can include telephone numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, and other contact details for…

• Business continuity team members
• Government agencies
• Vendors and business partners

Having all of this information will save valuable time and ensure that business teams spend time only on the most important recovery and restoration activities, rather than spending that time searching for and compiling contact details.

Additional Information

An appendix can include other relevant information, such as:

• Other related business continuity plans, such as emergency response plans and continuity plans that cover other types of disruptions
• Documents and resources required for the successful implementation of the plan
• Required forms and reports, such as status reports, communication templates, and expense logs

The proper implementation of recovery and restoration plans can make a big difference in the outcomes and the effectiveness of those efforts. Therefore, the more detail that can be included, the better. 

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Business Continuity Planning

Organize a business continuity team and compile a  business continuity plan  to manage a business disruption. Learn more about how to put together and test a business continuity plan with the videos below.

Business Continuity Plan Supporting Resources

• Business Continuity Plan Situation Manual
• Business Continuity Plan Test Exercise Planner Instructions
• Business Continuity Plan Test Facilitator and Evaluator Handbook

Business Continuity Training Videos

The Business Continuity Planning Suite is no longer supported or available for download.

Business Continuity Training Introduction

An overview of the concepts detailed within this training. Also, included is a humorous, short video that introduces viewers to the concept of business continuity planning and highlights the benefits of having a plan. Two men in an elevator experience a spectrum of disasters from a loss of power, to rain, fire, and a human threat. One man is prepared for each disaster and the other is not.

View on YouTube

Business Continuity Training Part 1: What is Business Continuity Planning?

An explanation of what business continuity planning means and what it entails to create a business continuity plan. This segment also incorporates an interview with a company that has successfully implemented a business continuity plan and includes a discussion about what business continuity planning means to them.

Business Continuity Training Part 2: Why is Business Continuity Planning Important?

An examination of the value a business continuity plan can bring to an organization. This segment also incorporates an interview with a company that has successfully implemented a business continuity plan and includes a discussion about how business continuity planning has been valuable to them.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: What's the Business Continuity Planning Process?

An overview of the business continuity planning process. This segment also incorporates an interview with a company about its process of successfully implementing a business continuity plan.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 1

The first of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “prepare” to create a business continuity plan.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 2

The second of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “define” their business continuity plan objectives.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 3

The third of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “identify” and prioritize potential risks and impacts.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 4

The fourth of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “develop” business continuity strategies.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 5

The fifth of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should define their “teams” and tasks.

Business Continuity Training Part 3: Planning Process Step 6

The sixth of six steps addressed in this Business Continuity Training, which detail the process of building a business continuity plan. This step addresses how organizations should “test” their business continuity plans.

Last Updated: 11/08/2023

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Free Business Continuity Policy Samples and Template

By Andy Marker | February 11, 2021 (updated August 2, 2021)

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Business continuity planning is essential for organizations preparing for a crisis, using a business continuity policy document as a guide. Find steps on how to write a business continuity policy, a free template, and expert advice. 

Included on this page, you’ll learn what a business continuity policy is and how a business continuity policy applies in a pandemic . Find policy statement samples and a simple downloadable business continuity template .

What Is a Business Continuity Policy?

A business continuity policy provides high-level guidelines a company uses to ensure it can run in a crisis and keep addressing new risks. Each company’s policy is unique. To be successful, a policy needs the support of top leadership. 

“The policy sets out that a company knows it cannot just sail through the good times,” explains Alex Fullick, General Manager of business continuity consultancy Stone Road Inc . “It knows it has to be able to respond to the bad times to maintain client satisfaction. A policy outlines that, first of all, a company is dedicated to ensuring employee safety and protecting shareholders, stakeholders, and partners. A policy shows that a company will prepare for, respond to, and recover from any adverse situations that it encounters to ensure public safety and employee safety.”

Top leadership and the business continuity planning committee shape the policy. The policy writers specify the business continuity plan's purpose. They also describe what facilities and processes the business continuity plan will cover. 

The policy specifies key personnel who will administer the plan and outlines the role of staff in the continuity system. A business continuity policy also notes any legal, regulatory, or contractual obligations, as well as exclusions, such as service level agreements, that a company must maintain in all circumstances. Learn more about business continuity management from our article on business continuity planning . 

The document defines how the company communicates to staff that the organization is implementing a business continuity management system and has the endorsement of the C-level. 

Today, in the era of social media, reputation is everything. “If you're not protecting your brand, it's very easy for someone to suddenly start sending off messages in social media saying, no, they're not doing this, they're not doing that. It comes down to the brand. If you do things right, the policy protects the brand,” says Fullick.

The procedures in the business continuity plan puts the policy into action. Together both documents emphasize these elements:

• Contingency Planning: A company makes a proactive effort to foresee possible events and plan how to deal with them. This planning mostly addresses events that are negative but can also be positive. Contingency planning is different from crisis management , which is how a company reacts to an incident. 
• Recovery: This step describes the efforts of a company to save and restart critical processes after an incident. A recovery approach also dictates acceptable levels of service after a disruption.
• Resilience: This concept refers to a company’s ability to provide critical products and services during and after a crisis. Resilience includes protecting staff, other resources, and the brand. 

Large companies usually have a business continuity policy; small companies often don’t. “I've worked for a medium-sized company, and there wasn't a documented policy,” says Fullick. “I worked for a large company that had a documented policy that the president looked at every year. In reality, he probably just signed it and added a new date.” 

A written policy is mandatory for any business pursuing ISO 22301 certification. For Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 compliance, which governs how service providers manage data to ensure privacy, you need documented business continuity and disaster recovery plans. See our article to learn more about ISO 22301 . 

Policy also does not exist on its own. “I use the image of a three-legged stool,” explains Mike Semel, President and Chief Compliance Officer of Semel Consulting . “A three-legged stool can't stand without all of its legs. Take away a leg, it's going to fall. If you have a policy, then you have to back it up with procedures and back the procedures up with evidence that you're following them. That’s the hardest and most expensive part.” Learn more about writing procedures and work instructions in our article.

Business Continuity Policy in a Pandemic

Business continuity policy templates can save you time when writing a policy. Editing an existing document takes less effort than formatting a new one and serves as a reminder to add key information. 

Use our free downloadable business continuity policy template available in Microsoft Word and Google Docs formats. The document contains all the sections you might need for a policy document, along with a customizable header block and confidentiality label.

Download Simple Business Continuity Policy Template

Microsoft Word | Google Docs | Smartsheet

For other most useful free, downloadable business continuity plan (BCP) templates please read our  "Free Business Continuity Plan Templates"  article.

How to Write a Business Continuity Policy

When drafting a business continuity plan , a company must write a business continuity policy document. The policy document outlines requirements for developing the business continuity plan.

Use concise, simple words when writing a business continuity policy. Write in the third person using “he,” “she,” and “it.” If possible, avoid adding information that may quickly go out of date. Consult good examples of straightforward policies for reference. (We provide examples of policy statements later in this article).

Step by Step: Writing a Business Continuity Policy

Follow this procedure to prepare your business continuity policy:

• Write the Policy Statement The statement describes the aim of the policy. Directors or managers often sign the document. “In most cases I’ve been associated with [for any type of policy document], about 80 percent of the statement is written at the beginning,” says Cox. “After there’s been some discussion, often after completing a risk analysis, there are some modifications and expansions on the original statement.” Learn more about business continuity policy statements later in this article.
• Conduct the Risk Assessment and BIA A business impact analysis (BIA) determines the financial and functional impact of disruption and reveals key processes and information about recovery time objectives. Conduct a risk assessment to determine and rank threats and risks. Read our guide to learn how to write a BIA. A business continuity policy is a tactical tool, but it must be grounded in company strategy, which comes from senior management (senior management could be an executive in a corporation or the owner in a small business). Mike Semel gives the example of an accounting firm with employees who thought their recovery time objective (RTO) was eight business hours. The managing partner said the company couldn’t possibly afford to recover so quickly and determined it was cheaper to pay any fees clients incurred from late filings. Thus, it’s management’s job to determine risk tolerance. Semel explains further that companies often guess at RTO without a full understanding of what the number really means. For example, if power goes out, unless you can fire up a generator, your recovery must wait on power being restored. Thus, an eight-hour RTO clock doesn’t begin until power is restored. “The problem with RTO is that it's usually like a hope or a wish or a guess,” he says. “The biggest flaw when it comes to recovering systems is that nobody tests them adequately. They do the backups. Every day, they get the message that the backup is successful. But they don't test recovering from the backup and trying to operate the business. Then they go to recover in a disaster, and instead of eight hours, let's say it takes 14 hours. If the policy says it should take eight hours, they either have to change the policy to say 14 hours, or they have to change the process to get it down to eight hours.” When describing scope and recovery parameters in a policy, also consider that the timing of a disruption makes a difference. “A disaster the day before payday is completely different from a disaster the day after payday. In accounting firms, a disaster a week before tax day is different from a disaster the week after. Those are the things that people don't always think through,” shares Semel.
• Determine Your Strategy for Business Continuity A business continuity strategy provides a high-level view of what recovery and continuity mean for a company. Consider the scope, approaches, and recovery timelines.
• Write the Policy Document the scope, key business areas and functions as determined by the BIA, key roles, and the general approach to continuity. 
• Secure Stakeholders’ Review for Both the Policy Statement and the Document If you haven’t included them already on your writing team, be sure to get input from the CISO, CTO, and CIO, as well as comments from important third parties.
• Get Executive Endorsement of the Policy Statement Obtaining senior sponsorship will set your business continuity planning on the path to success. 
• Promote the Policy Share the policy with employees and interested third parties. Promotion can be as simple as posting the statement on bulletin boards where people gather frequently.

Finally, although every business has unique needs, brevity is indeed the soul of wit for business continuity policies. “If a policy is 20, 30 pages, that means nothing, because that’s too much detail, which means too much fluff,” explains Fullick. “Policies must be short and simple: This is what it is, this is why we're doing it, and this is everyone's part in it.”

Common Structure of a Business Continuity Policy

Knowing the typical format of a policy frees you to focus on the content of the document. Here is an example of a business continuity policy format:

Header Block: Depending on your company’s style, you might need to include a header block on the policy. A header block includes the policy holder, policy signatory, policy date, review cycle, and version control details.

Introduction: Policy documents might or might not include an introduction. The introduction explains why a business continuity policy is important to the organization and the fundamental reasons for the policy.

Policy Statement: The policy statement might be one paragraph or an entire page. The statement describes the purpose and aims of the business continuity policy. The statement might also be called an aim or the purpose. In some organizations, the managing director or another officer signs and dates the statement page.

Definitions: Your industry might use specialized terminology that needs clarification. Definitions can also help explain the business continuity system’s scope. 

Purpose and Scope: The scope section describes the facilities, processes, and activities the policy covers. “The scope tells you what to worry about. For example, ‘We’re only worrying about our main office in Mississauga. That’s the one we have to make sure is always running 24/7,’” Fullick explains.

Policy Personnel: This section lists the individuals or roles who review, approve, and enact the policy. Those responsible for policy administration are also responsible for ensuring compliance.

Compliance: The compliance area describes the requirement for testing to verify that the business continuity plans and activities adhere to the policy. 

Consequences for Non-Compliance: Detail the results of not conforming to the policy. 

Confidentiality Level: The confidentiality level describes who may see the document. This label usually appears in the header or footer of each page of the policy. Outside of government, businesses typically use three confidentiality levels: confidential, wherein only management can read it; restricted, wherein only company employees can read it; and public, when anyone can read it. 

References and Resources: When your business continuity planning is complex, you might have a suite of policies and plans. You might also refer to legal or regulatory documents that affect business continuity policy. 

Appendixes: In some cases, it makes sense to attach documents, charts, or drawings to a policy.

Business Continuity Management Policy Statement Examples

A business continuity policy statement outlines the broad goals of a company’s business continuity management program. The statement sets out the scope of efforts and outlines staff roles and duties for carrying out the continuity plan.

Top leadership should sign and endorse the statement, and you should communicate the policy to all employees. A statement might include the following:

• Details on the purpose and scope of the policy.
• A clear explanation of the framework of the organization’s business continuity management program.
• Details on who within the organization is responsible for implementing the policy.
• Details on how the organization will monitor its compliance with the policy.

In these examples of real policy statements, note the different formats and locations of the statement within the policy document:

Healthcare Providers

This healthcare business continuity policy example calls the statement an aim , but it serves the same purpose as a policy statement. Here’s an example: 

Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

Commercial Company

Business continuity policy statements for commercial organizations tend to specify an expected time to resume service. Here’s an example: 

Compass Disability Services

Universities

These business continuity management policy statements might begin with a purpose, which can help you to understand business continuity systems. Universities might incorporate objectives and scope. See these examples:

• Monash University
• Sheffield University

City Government

A statement for a city’s business continuity policy outlines what continuity planning aims to accomplish for the city. Here’s an example:

Leicester, UK City Government

Business Continuity Policy Best Practices

Keep your policy simple and remember to focus on creating attainable continuity goals. Follow these best practices to enhance your business continuity policy preparation experience:

• Bring in expert help when needed. Creating a policy and business continuity system requires a concerted level of effort.
• Understand your key assets and processes.
• Recognize the difference between disaster recovery and business continuity. 
• Consider third-party risks. Knowledge of third-party risks is especially important for regulated industries because you are liable, even if your data is stored offsite on infrastructure you don’t own.
• Promote transparency and visibility. “Once you have a policy, make it visible to all staff. Be sure to communicate the policy — a detailed policy with extensive resources is useless if staff don’t know it exists,” advises Alex Fullick.

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10 Free Continuity Plan Templates in Word & ClickUp

ClickUp Contributor

October 12, 2023

Does your business have a plan when disaster strikes? Whether it’s a natural disaster or a PR crisis, having a ready-made playbook on hand will help you come out stronger on the other side of any emergency. 💪

While few businesses can predict a big disaster like the pandemic, companies with a recovery procedure in place can be better positioned to act faster in the future. When you invest in a business continuity plan (BCP), you can keep your team safe, avoid business disruptions, and protect your brand image. 

A business continuity plan covers all the potential emergency situations that could impact your business. But it takes time to create a solid continuity plan—and you need to focus your energy on the meat of the plan, not on formatting. 

Fortunately, BCP templates make it a breeze to quickly create contingency plans that leave no stone unturned. 🔍

In this guide, we’ll explain what a continuity plan template is, explain the key components of a BCP template, and share our top 10 free business continuity plan templates.

What Is a Continuity Plan Template?

What are the key components of a business continuity plan template, 1. clickup business continuity plan template, 2. clickup contingency plan template, 3. clickup probability and impact matrix template, 4. clickup business impact analysis template, 5. clickup priority matrix whiteboard template, 6. clickup emergency plan template, 7. clickup workplace emergency action plan template, 8. word business continuity plan template by disaster recovery plan template, 9. word small firm business continuity plan template by finra.org, 10. word business continuity plan template by legaltemplates.

A continuity plan template is a structured document that helps your business continue operating even during an emergency. 

At its core, a continuity plan template is all about preparedness. Whether you’re facing a natural disaster like a tornado or a human-made outage from a cyberattack, a BCP template gives you a roadmap to minimize business disruption and downtime. 

This isn’t just for big enterprises, either. Small businesses are more susceptible to disasters because they have fewer resources, so it’s extra important for small businesses to create a continuity plan.

The downside is that creating a BCP takes time and resources, which is why so many businesses don’t have one. Luckily, following a ready-made template can shave hours off the BCP creation process. It also helps you look at several facets of disaster preparedness so you’re less likely to overlook something important.

Every business has a different definition of what constitutes an “emergency.” The good news is that you’ll still be able to follow the same emergency management formula with the right template. A solid business continuity plan should include these components at a minimum:

• Table of contents : List all sections in the template—with jump links—for easy access
• Introduction: Introduce the BCP’s purpose and scope. It’s also important to distinguish when you need to use this plan and when it’s time to contact emergency services instead
• Risk assessment : This section should identify potential threats that could affect your business. It should include a business impact analysis to measure how damaging that particular risk would be to your company
• Recovery strategies: Once you understand the potential risks, you can create a strategic plan for recovery. Check with your legal team to see if there are regulatory requirements for this step
• Stakeholder roles and contact information : List all team members and their emergency contact phone numbers. Include relevant contacts in human resources (HR), information technology (IT), and the management team. The plan should also specify which stakeholders are in charge of each part of the plan
• Communication plan : Specify how you’ll share information with staff members, senior management, business partners, and the public

10 Free Continuity Plan Templates

A business continuity plan keeps your business running even when the going gets tough. Creating a plan takes time, but with the right template, you can streamline formatting and get straight to the good stuff. Check out these 10 free continuity plan templates to speed up the continuity plan creation process. ⚡

Equipment failures, pandemics, and natural disasters wreak havoc on any business. You need a flexible business plan that works even when the worst happens. That might mean you’re only performing critical business functions, but that’s better than nothing, right?

You can’t predict every potential disaster, but the ClickUp Business Continuity Plan Template is the next best thing to a magic crystal ball. 🔮

It includes several helpful sections for:

• Risk assessment
• Recovery strategies
• Process testing and reviews

This template even includes pretty visualizations and colors to draw your attention to the right places. Create custom statuses, fields, and views to make the template your own. 

The ClickUp Business Continuity Plan Template also integrates with your ClickUp project management tools so you can generate tasks, track time, create dependencies, and more without leaving your BCP template. 🤩

A contingency plan is different from a continuity plan. This type of BCP template identifies potential risks, lists possible solutions, and gives your team a strategic plan to respond to the most likely disruptions. 

The ClickUp Contingency Plan Template gives your team an expert framework for:

• Analyzing risks
• Setting goals and desired outcomes
• Finding resources and personnel for executing a contingency plan
• Testing all alternative scenarios

The great thing about this template is that it provides a process for creating a unique contingency plan tailored to the risks you care about the most. It also identifies team members’ responsibilities and tasks for every scenario, making your next steps crystal clear. 

We saw firsthand how easily a pandemic can cause massive business disruptions. But some disasters are more (and less) likely to have an impact on your business. 

For example, if you’re in the Midwest, hurricanes probably aren’t on your radar. However, if your supply chain relies on materials brought in from the coast, you’re probably going to care a lot about hurricanes. 🌀

The ClickUp Probability and Impact Matrix Template will help you sort through which risks are most likely to disrupt your business. It even ranks these risks in terms of potential damage to help you prioritize your time and resources. This way, you prep for the most damaging (and likely) emergencies first. 

This template is a must-have if your team struggles to make informed decisions or prioritize tasks. This business continuity plan template even includes a simple visualization you can share with other team members to make informed group decisions in less time. 🙌

A business impact analysis (BIA) identifies potential risks to your company. Once you identify the risks, the BIA logs all of the action plans you can activate in case of an emergency.

For starters, log every potential emergency in an issue tracking template . From there, use the ClickUp Business Impact Analysis Template to quickly plug in criteria like financial impact, brand reputation, customer experience, and more. ✨

This continuity plan template helps teams get out of unproductive cycles of anxiety by focusing on plan activation. Instead of going with your gut in a crisis, this rubric-style template supports calm, objective decisions using quantified data.

Once you know the higher-priority emergencies that could affect your business, you might still need help prioritizing which ones to address first. Use the ClickUp Priority Matrix Whiteboard Template to get clarity on which disaster plans and tasks you should execute first. 

You can use this template during the planning phase of creating a continuity plan or even when a disaster strikes. The Priority Matrix gets your team on the same page, ranks the urgency of various tasks, and visualizes everything for your group in a pretty graph. 📊

Every business continuity plan template should contain an emergency plan of some kind. The ClickUp Emergency Plan Template is useful not only for your continuity plan, but also for emergency signage throughout your building. 

You’re free to customize the plan to your liking, but out of the box, the template includes:

• Evacuation plans
• Escape routes
• Assembly points
• Roles of key personnel
• Step-by-step procedures for different emergencies

Some businesses make a single emergency plan while others will need to create multiples. For example, you can create an emergency plan for fires and a separate one for tornadoes. 🌪️

Keep in mind that local, state, or federal laws will apply to emergency signs. Check with your legal team to ensure you display these signs per those requirements. 

Some business continuity plan templates are designed for protecting business operations or the public, but it’s important to have a plan for protecting your employees too. The ClickUp Workplace Emergency Action Plan Template helps you do just that. 

This is a more in-depth emergency plan that helps you:

• Communicate quickly and clearly with employees during all types of emergencies
• Define who is in charge of what in an emergency—before the emergency actually happens
• Store all emergency plans in one secure place

An emergency plan is great because it equips your employees with the skills and knowledge required to rise above an emergency. Some insurance carriers require businesses to have a documented emergency plan, so this can also help you secure coverage. 🌻

ClickUp is an all-in-one workplace solution, so storing your emergency action plan in the same platform as your tasks and chats makes it more accessible for the entire team.

Are you a Microsoft company? Then you’ll love the Word Business Continuity Plan Template by Disaster Recovery Plan Template. It’s a publicly available version of MIT’s Business Continuity Plan, so you can trust that it covers all your bases. 

This free continuity plan template includes sections for:

• Introduction
• Design of the plan
• Organization of disaster response and recovery
• Business continuity plan
• Team management procedures
• Recovery procedures, including a notification list

Downloads are available for Word and Adobe PDF, but the template’s text is available on the website if you don’t want to download it.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) regulates the investment industry. Investments are all about risk management, so it’s no surprise that FINRA released a free Small Firm Business Continuity Plan Template .

A continuity plan is required if you’re a small brokerage firm or if you’re otherwise required to follow FINRA guidelines. Instead of wondering whether you’re compliant, follow FINRA’s continuity plan template for more peace of mind. 🧘

It includes sections for:

• Emergency contact personnel
• Office locations and alternate sites
• Firm policies
• Financial and operational assessments
• Mission critical systems
• Regulatory reporting
• Updates and annual reviews

You should still tailor the template to your unique needs, but the template will help you save a lot of time.

LegalTemplate’s Word Business Continuity Plan Template is no-frills, but it includes all the information you need to create your own business continuity plan.

We like that the site actually takes you through a structured process to create an incident response plan (IRP), emergency response plan (ERP), supply chain continuity plan, and other types of continuity plans that you might need.

LegalTemplates also throws in a few helpful tips for tracking your continuity plan goals over time . They say you need to review the checklist twice a year, practice implementing everything once a year, and do a formal revamp of your continuity plan every other year.

Improve Business Processes With ClickUp

Business continuity management is a must-have for businesses of all sizes. Whether it’s a natural disaster or other emergency, you need a plan long before the worst happens. 

Rely on this list of free continuity plan templates to create a disaster recovery plan that helps you get back to normal business operations more quickly. 👔

Templates are helpful, but wouldn’t it be better if you could store your templates alongside your Tasks, Projects, Docs, Whiteboards, and more?

ClickUp combines all your work into one platform to save time and eliminate the hassles of switching platforms. See the ClickUp difference for yourself: Create your free ClickUp Workspace now.

Questions? Comments? Visit our Help Center for support.

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Business continuity plan and how to create one

PayPal Editorial Staff

March 31, 2023

Many times, things can be out of our control. However, though it may feel impossible, those are the best periods to stay proactive, productive, and resourceful — and to focus on all that is still in your control. That’s where a business continuity plan (BCP) comes in.

By developing a clear picture of how different types of problems and stages of crisis can affect your business — whether it be a recession or a natural disaster — and putting a realistic Plan B in place for each of them, you’ll keep your confidence up and business operating through anything you’re faced with.

Read on for everything you should know about a business recovery plan, plus an easy-to-follow template to help you get started.

What is a business continuity plan?

A business continuity plan is a document that lists essential business information needed to maintain operations and financial viability through an unforeseen or unexpected event. In other words, it’s your professional lifeline.

A BCP typically includes emergency response communication details, critical business activities, and the procedures and resources required to sustain basic functioning through a disruption.

Why is a business continuity plan important?

A BCP is one of the most critical components of risk management . Think of it as the central hub for your operation’s vital information during an emergency, outlining all business processes needed for your company to function as well as the logistics required to avoid, or at least manage, the risk of failure through the crises or unplanned event.

Remember: When disaster strikes, you don’t know how your team will react — and even the best members of your team may struggle to keep the lights on. With a BCP with clear instructions and well-documented information, everyone in your organization will have an easier time staying on the same page.

Here are a few instances where a BCP could help:

• Cyber attack
• Flood, fire, or other natural disasters
• IT outage or malfunction
• Widespread power outage
• Human error

How to create a business continuity plan

Not sure how to get started with your BCP? Our business continuity plan template can help. It includes:

• Emergency contact information:  A list of your key contacts, both internal (employees, IT, payroll, office manager) and external (key customers, vendors, suppliers, accountant, banking representatives).
• Business impact analysis:  Helps you determine and evaluate the consequences of interruptions to your business and its activities.
• Recovery:  This includes the measures you’re already taking to prevent, control, or manage risk, plus alternative procedures and resources your business could take should it need it.
• Training:  Make sure your employees are aware of your BCP as well as the steps they would need to take in the event of an emergency.

Perform a business impact analysis (BIA)

Completing a quick business impact analysis lets you prioritize the key processes in your business and then estimate the potential impact of them not occurring. There are four elements that go into a BIA — here’s a quick step-by-step breakdown:

• Identify critical business processes needed for your business to function.  For example, sales operations, inventory, payrolling processing, or a store closure.
• Run through scenarios using various lengths of disruption.  Does the impact on your business change over 14 days, 30 days, 45 days, 60 days, or more?
• Estimate the impact on your daily operations , from lost sales revenue and decreased cash flow to increased expenses or employee health and safety concerns.
• Review customer and financial impacts , which will give you a better understanding of what the long-term effects may be.

Create an ongoing emergency response communication strategy

With a BCP, you want to make sure you’re armed with the necessary information to help keep your team members safe. So first, make sure your emergency contact list is up to date. Include all your key contacts, such as employees, technical support, suppliers, emergency assistance, and your banking relationship manager. Then, establish a communication plan for updates and identify who’s responsible for keeping communications going.

Identify critical business activity

Every business has must-haves and nice-to-haves. The must-haves are the necessary processes and resources you need to run your business. This part of the exercise helps you identify them and then rank them in order of importance. Here’s what it may include:

Example: Let’s take the example of a physical store closure. If your store closes, then it has a crucial impact on your ability to sell products and services.

Determine your maximum acceptable length of time activities can be disrupted

Getting back to normal may take several weeks or more, so you’ll want to look at how the length of downtime impacts your business. For each critical business activity you identified above, estimate its impact on your business over different lengths of time. That’ll help you figure out the maximum acceptable period an activity can be “offline” before critical failure. For example:

Example: Continuing the example from above, a store closure lasting 14 days will have a much different impact on your business than a closure for 60+ days.

Consider potential impacts from the activity being disrupted

For each critical business activity, think about the specific effects a disruption might have on your business. For example:

• Loss of critical staff or store/office locations
• Lost revenue sales and income
• Decreased cash flow
• Increased expenses (e.g., overtime pay, outsourcing, drop-shipping, etc.)

Example: If your store is closed, you’ll take a hit to sales revenue. Also, you might start selling more from your website, which incurs shipping costs and might raise expenses.

Think about the impacts in terms of your customers and your finances

The downtime from your critical business activities might impact customers, finances, and your ability to meet regulatory requirements (if applicable). Estimate as many of these impacts as you can. For example:

• Customer:  Delayed orders or longer shipping times can cause higher phone volume from upset customers.
• Financial:  How much would disruption cost in terms of a loss in sales revenue or increased expenses?

Example: If your store is closed, you might not be able to deliver the products or services your customers ordered, causing customer dissatisfaction. The loss in sales revenue would be $X.

Recovery strategies

Another essential component of a BCP is your designated recovery strategies. These are the alternative measures you and your business could take to recover and restore operations during an unexpected event.

With recovery strategies, you should:

• List out the current processes you already have in place to prevent or minimize the impact of the disruption.
• Brainstorm alternative processes or resources you could put in place quickly to restart or maintain operations.
• Identify someone to implement each recovery strategy.

Disaster recovery plan vs. business continuity plan

While a business continuity plan is focused on maintaining operations and financial viability, a disaster recovery plan is specific to IT infrastructure, such as restoring technological systems and data access.

More resources to help you plan

Check out these additional resources to help you plan for the unexpected:

• FFIEC Business continuity management (BCM) Handbook
• The Small Business Administration’s Guide: Prepare for Emergencies
• Department of Homeland Security’s Ready Website

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How To Create a Business Continuity Plan Template

By Wrike Team , May 14, 2023 - 10 min read

Modern businesses face countless risks and challenges, and it is critical to have a business continuity plan (BCP) in place. A BCP helps an organization prepare for disasters, respond to disruptions, and recover in an efficient manner. In this article, we will walk you through a step-by-step guide on crafting the perfect business continuity plan template. Grab your notebook, and let’s dive in!

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Understanding the importance of a business continuity plan template

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a preventive and proactive plan that helps an organization manage its operations during emergencies and disasters. It involves identifying and assessing potential threats and hazards that may disrupt a business’s operations. The purpose of a BCP is to minimize the impact of unexpected incidents. The goal is to ensure the company can maintain its essential operations with little interruption.

Defining business continuity

Business continuity refers to a business’s ability to continue its critical functions during a disruption, whether natural or human-made. This type of plan is a holistic approach that encompasses people, processes, and technology.

Identifying potential risks and disruptions

The initial stage in BCP development is assessing risks to identify potential threats that could affect the business’s operations. Organizations can categorize risks into internal or external factors, such as cyber threats, natural disasters, power outages, or supply chain disruptions. Once the organization has identified the risks, it needs to evaluate them to determine their potential impact.

It’s crucial to assess both the likelihood of these risks happening and the potential consequences of not having a BCP. If a company heavily depends on its computers, a cyberattack or computer failure could be expensive and damage its reputation. A BCP can help mitigate these risks and ensure that the company can continue to operate with minimal disruption.

The benefits of having a business continuity plan

A BCP helps a company by reducing downtime, cutting financial losses, keeping employees safe, and protecting the brand’s reputation. It enables the organization to respond quickly and effectively to a disruption, resulting in minimal business interruption. Having a BCP in place can also increase customer trust and confidence in the companies ability to handle crises.

Another advantage of having a BCP is that it helps spot areas for improvement in how the organization works. These changes allow for making processes more efficient, saving money, and becoming more resilient for the business as a whole.

Lastly, BCPs hold organizations accountable, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. Failure to comply with certain regulations can result in fines and reputation damage, along with endangering employees and customers.

Key components of a business continuity plan template

A BCP template has the following key parts: analyzing business impact, recovery plans, incident responses, crisis communication, and training. A BCP template is an essential tool for ensuring business continuity. In addition to the key parts mentioned, it should also include clear roles and responsibilities for employees during a crisis.

These roles can help streamline decision making and ensure a swift response to any disruptions. Furthermore, the template should incorporate regular testing and revision of the plan to adapt to evolving threats and changing business needs. Good business continuity planning is an ongoing process that protects your organization and makes it stronger when facing challenges. 

Let’s take a closer look at each of these components:

Business impact analysis

A business impact analysis (BIA) consists of two main parts. The first part involves identifying important functions within the organization. The second part involves determining how a disruption could impact the business’s finances, reputation, and compliance. Keep doing this analysis regularly to make sure it stays current and helpful for the business’s present operations.

Recovery strategies

Recovery strategies are what a company does to fix important things when something bad happens, using info from the BIA. These strategies include recovering data and systems, relocating staff, or seeking assistance from another company until things are back to normal.

Remember to document the recovery strategies in detail and have them regularly reviewed and updated. Regularly test them to ensure they function well and you can use them quickly if there’s an issue.

Communication and crisis management

A communication and crisis management plan tells you how to talk to employees, suppliers, regulators, and customers when something goes wrong. The plan should ensure everyone understands the company’s response to the problem and its impact on the business.

Training and awareness

Make sure employees understand the BCP through education and regular training so they know what to do during disruptions. This preparation helps the organization respond effectively and minimize disruptions to its operations.

Overall, your program should include training on the BIA, recovery strategies, incident response plan, and communication and crisis management plan. 

Step-by-step guide to creating a business continuity plan template

Business continuity planning is a critical process for any organization. Here is your step-by-step approach to creating a BCP template.

Step 1: Assemble a business continuity team

Assemble a business continuity team consisting of employees from various departments and functions, such as IT, operations, finance, and human resources. These staff members, who know the organization’s important tasks, will create and put the BCP template into action.

Also, it is important that the team members have the necessary resources and support to carry out their responsibilities effectively. This may involve giving the team training, making sure they have the right tools and technology.

Step 2: Conduct a risk assessment

Next, conduct a comprehensive risk assessment to identify internal and external risks that may impact the organization’s operations. The assessment should consider a range of scenarios, including natural disasters, cyberattacks, and other potential disruptions. It should also take into account the potential impact of these risks on the organization’s critical functions. 

Step 3: Identify critical business functions

After assessing risks, determine which essential tasks must continue during a disruption. Critical functions are the top tasks the organization needs to prioritize, such as assisting customers, handling orders, and managing finances. Remember to involve key stakeholders in the identification of critical functions. 

Step 4: Develop recovery strategies

Next, develop recovery strategies that outline the procedures for restoring each function in the event of a critical disruption.

Make sure you test and validate your strategies for effectiveness so you can implement them quickly and efficiently. This testing may involve conducting simulations or other exercises to identify any gaps or weaknesses in your recovery strategies.

Step 5: Create an incident response plan

Craft a plan that provides details on how the organization will respond to an incident. Ensure the procedures detail how to reach the crisis management team, evaluate the situation, and talk to stakeholders, employees, and customers.

Make sure the plan explains how to use recovery strategies from Step 4 quickly and effectively when there’s a problem.

Step 6: Establish a communication plan

Develop a communication plan that outlines how to approach all stakeholders, employees, and customers regarding the disruption and the organization’s response. This plan needs a crisis management team, and their job is to organize how the organization deals with the problem. Establish this team in advance, and have their contact information readily available.

Step 7: Train and educate employees

Train and educate employees on the BCP and their responsibilities so that they know what to do during a disruption. Do practice runs often to make the plan work better. Everyone, including those not in the business continuity team, should take part.

Step 8: Regularly review and update the plan

Every year, go and update the BCP template to ensure accuracy. This will make sure it still works and fits any changes in the company’s operations, risks, and threats.

It is also important to review the BCP following any significant changes to the organization’s operations or infrastructure. This may include changes to key personnel, IT systems, or the business’s physical location.

Business continuity plan example

In this business continuity plan example, we’ll explore the key components of a robust strategy to ensure an organization can weather unexpected disruptions. L et’s consider a manufacturing company.

Its BCP might include strategies for relocating production to alternate facilities in case of a natural disaster or supply chain interruption. It may also detail communication protocols to keep employees, customers, and stakeholders informed during such events.

Additionally, the plan could address data backup and recovery procedures to ensure critical information remains accessible. With a good business continuity plan, organizations can avoid long disruptions. They can keep a good reputation and hold on to trust from customers and partners, even in tough times.

How Wrike can help with a business continuity plan template

Wrike helps organizations create and maintain a good business continuity plan by being a flexible project management and collaboration platform. By leveraging Wrike, businesses can streamline their continuity planning efforts in several ways.

Wrike helps team members communicate and work together easily, with real-time updates and task assignments — especially important during crises. Secondly, the platform supports comprehensive document management, making it easy to store and access critical documents, such as emergency response protocols and contact lists.

Moreover, Wrike’s customizable workflow automation guarantees that it meets crucial tasks and deadlines without fail. This enhances the speed and efficiency of responding to disruptions, ensuring that the business can recover quickly and minimize downtime. 

In summary, Wrike provides a robust framework for designing, implementing, and maintaining a business continuity plan, helping organizations safeguard their operations and respond effectively to unforeseen challenges.

A BCP is essential for any organization that wants to ensure business continuity during a disruption. You can create a BCP template by following the steps in this article. This template will assist your organization in managing risks and recovering from disruptions. Remember to review and update your plan regularly and educate your employees to ensure its effectiveness.

Ensure your organization’s resilience by crafting an effective business continuity plan template with Wrike. Start your free trial today and safeguard your business from unforeseen risks and disruptions.

Note: This article was created with the assistance of an AI engine. It has been reviewed and revised by our team of experts to ensure accuracy and quality.

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