Business Resilience Guide: Effective Continuity Planning to Mitigate Disruptions

“Expect the unexpected” is a phrase you often hear. But with enterprises facing such business disruptors as natural disasters, cyberattacks, network or production downtimes, the best advice is “expect and prepare for the unexpected.”

Nine out of 10 organizations experienced operational downtime or outages over the past twelve months. What is the cost of an outage? For large corporations it was as high as $27,750 per minute or more than $1.4 million per hour in 2024.1

Outages from human error, as well as server and hardware failure, may be preventable with training and early detection, respectively. But whatever the potential disruptors may be, you simply can’t afford to ignore the risk of downtime and subsequent lost revenue due to lack of continuity planning.

Prevention is key. Preparing for these occurrences requires a comprehensive business continuity plan that assesses risks, outlines response strategies, ensures timely recovery and maintains business resilience.

Ask questions and set clear objectives during continuity planning.

A business continuity plan (BCP) that mitigates the impacts of an emergency is critical. If you have an existing BCP, you should review it each year to ensure it addresses evolving risks. Five key steps will aid in drafting a plan for recovery from disruptions of any kind.

• EVALUATE. Determine how a disruption would affect operations and stakeholders, including employees, customers, shareholders and vendors. Start with basic, but relevant questions when continuity planning.
  • How will we manage operations if critical systems are down?
  • Depending on the emergency, which departments and employees should be part of the recovery team(s)?
  • Do we have adequate staff to support company needs now and near term?
  • Do we have enough supplies or inventory to meet customer needs?
  • Can partners provide the support needed to swiftly ramp up operations? If we don’t have partners, can we identify and engage them in future incident responses?
  • How can we adapt to any lingering effects of this or subsequent crises to increase business resilience?
    
    
  If you don’t have the resources or inventories to manage customer demands or market fluctuations during a crisis, you should prepare to address supply chain risks in your continuity planning.
  
  
• PROTECT. Fraud prevention is imperative for safeguarding corporate assets. Cyberattacks, particularly ransomware, can completely shut down operations and leave companies without access to systems and data. Build a strong security posture, applying the tools necessary to protect your networks, communications, e-commerce, banking and other systems. Even organizations experiencing disruptions unrelated to security are susceptible to fraudsters who continually seek to exploit any vulnerabilities they can find. When continuity planning, be aware of fraud schemes so you can prevent further damage and increase business resilience.
  
  Securing access to banking systems, enabling uninterrupted payment workflows and strengthening monetary fraud controls is a critical component of continuity planning that ensures operational resilience. Evaluate current financial protocols, identify vulnerabilities and implement safeguards to support uninterrupted financial operations during times of crisis.
  
  
  • Set up systems to automatically back up your data at regular intervals to reduce the risk of human error.
  • Standardize procedures across all departments to ensure clean data is available for quick restoration.
  • Choose cloud services with strong security measures to protect sensitive information and prevent unauthorized access.
  • Ensure that your backup systems allow remote access so employees can retrieve necessary data even while working offsite.
    
    
  Incorporating these practices during continuity planning will help safeguard critical systems, facilitate a swift recovery if a disruption occurs and increase business resilience. Periodically test your backup systems to confirm that data can be successfully restored when needed.
  
  
• INSURE. Insurance helps shield corporations from the financial fallout of unforeseen incidents, providing a safety net to absorb losses. Cybersecurity insurance, for example, offers targeted protection against digital vulnerabilities such as data breaches and ransomware attacks. Comprehensive coverage supports not only the restoration of critical systems but also addresses fraud-related losses so organizations can focus on rebuilding without being overwhelmed by financial setbacks.
  
  
• CAPITALIZE. Timely access to capital is essential when managing through a crisis. Carefully manage cash flow so adequate funds are available to continue operations. What are simple liquidity management strategies to increase business resilience?
  • Cut costs and expenses.
    Reducing expenses can help to preserve capital. From operating overhead to shipping, during continuity planning take a hard look at fixed versus variable costs to determine what can be eliminated. Identify line items that will make a significant impact, as well as low-hanging fruit.
    
    
  • Prioritize and negotiate payables as needed.
    Depending on cash reserves, it might be necessary to reprioritize invoice payments during a crisis. Call vendors to discuss interim payment arrangements.
    
    
  • Step up receivables.
    Accelerating payments brings in much-needed cash faster. Calculate and promptly collect receivables. Can you shorten terms or offer discounts for early payment? Bear in mind, you may be asked to extend the same considerations to your customers as you’re asking vendors to extend to you.
    
    It’s important to know when and how much you’ll be paid to maintain business resilience. Contact customers to ask about their ability to pay. You should also ask your financial institution about tools that can help securely expedite receivables and manage payables during continuity planning.
    
    
  • Identify viable funding options.
    Understand your liquidity and how much you’ll require to move forward, both short- and long-term. Call your lenders to reevaluate your credit risk and understand the financing options — loans, lines of credit, etc. — available to you. If taking a loan isn’t possible, seek investors or sell shares.