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

Swetha Amaresan

Published: December 30, 2022

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

executives discussing business continuity plan

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.

Free Download: Crisis Management Plan & Communication Templates

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 plan simple template

Crisis Communication and Management Kit

Manage, plan for, and communicate during your corporate crises with these crisis management plan templates.

  • Free Crisis Management Plan Template
  • 12 Crisis Communication Templates
  • Post-Crisis Performance Grading Template
  • Additional Crisis Best Management Practices

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

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.

Business Continuity Plan

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16 Business Continuity Plan Templates For Every Business

Download our free Business Continuity Plan Template Download this template

As a business leader, you know that unforeseen events can disrupt your business operations and impact your bottom line. That's why having a solid business continuity plan in place is essential.

But where do you start? That's where we come in. This article provides you with 16 free, customizable business continuity plan templates that are prefilled with examples, making it easy to create a plan that meets your unique needs. Whether you're a small business or a large enterprise, our templates are designed to help you prepare for any contingency.

In addition to the templates, we've included a step-by-step guide on how to create an effective business continuity plan. From identifying risks and critical functions to testing and updating your plan, our guide covers everything you need to know.

Free Template Download our free Business Continuity Plan Template Download this template

General Business Continuity Plan Template

business continuity plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

New to business continuity planning? No worries! Our general BCP Template is like a friendly guide—perfect for both newcomers and veterans. Use it to get the ball rolling on your continuity planning initiative and create robust strategies that will keep your business operational in times of crisis.

How to use this template? 👀

1. Sign up to get instant access to your chosen template. (Yes, it’s 100% free.) 

2. Customize the template to fit your needs: 

  • Define your focus areas or strategic priorities 
  • Set strategic objectives  
  • Assign KPIs and owners 
  • Create action plans and projects to achieve your desired outcomes 

3. Integrate all business data in one place for a comprehensive view of performance. 

4. Use reports and dashboards to monitor progress and identify risks before they escalate. 

5. Invite your team members to collaborate and ensure everyone is working toward the same goals. 

👉 Click here to get your FREE Business Continuity Plan Template

💡All templates below follow the same structure. The only difference lies in the pre-filled sample data, making them customized for specific industries and use cases.

Industry-Specific Business Continuity Plan Templates

Hospitality bcp template.

hospitality business continuity plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

Craft a resilience plan for your hospitality business, including hotels, restaurants, or travel services. This BCP template for Hospitality will help you establish measures to handle potential emergency situations and ensure customer satisfaction.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Hospitality Continuity Plan Template

Manufacturing BCP Template

manufacturing business continuity plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

Ensure uninterrupted production and operations with this Manufacturing Continuity Plan Template . Use this template to keep your business partner relationships, supply chains, and production lines strong, even when surprises pop up.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Manufacturing Continuity Plan Template

Transportation BCP Template

transportation business continuity plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

Need a solid game plan for spotting risks early and building strong strategies to manage disruptions in your transportation business? Create your own with the BCP Template for Transportation to maintain timely deliveries and operations.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Transportation Continuity Plan Template

Healthcare BCP Template

healthcare business continuity plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

In an industry where lives depend on service reliability, the Healthcare Business Continuity Plan Template helps you build and execute contingency plans to ensure uninterrupted care and handle emergencies effectively.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Healthcare Continuity Plan Template

Retail BCP Template

retail business continuity plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

Strengthen your retail business's resilience to unforeseen events like global pandemics, supply chain disruptions, or surges in demand. With this Retail BCP Template , establish plans for inventory management, customer service, and store operations.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Retail Business Continuity Plan Template

Pharmaceuticals BCP Template

pharmaceutical business continuity plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

Keep vital manufacturing and supply chain operations running like clockwork with our Pharmaceuticals BCP Template . This template has everything you need to hit the ground running on your continuity planning. Use it to ensure your business doesn’t miss a beat because of trade disputes, regulations, and recalls.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Pharmaceutical Business Continuity Plan Template

Financial Services BCP Template

financial services business continuity plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

The BCP Template for Financial Services is designed to assist financial professionals concerned about their continuity and resilience. Use it to identify and plan strategies to keep your business sailing steady and navigate business continuity management like a seasoned professional.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Financial Business Continuity Plan Template

Telecommunications BCP Template

telecommunications business continuity plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

Our Business Continuity Plan Template for Telecommunications is ideal for internet service providers, telcos, and MSPs that want to keep their telecommunication services humming along, no matter what. Use it to outline strategies to reduce the risk of disruptions such as new technology, regulatory changes, and cyber-attacks.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Telecommunications Business Continuity Plan Template

IT BCP Template

it business continuity plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

Create a comprehensive continuity plan for your information technology business with the IT Business Continuity Plan Template . This template will help you formulate and execute strategies for data center security, network downtime planning, and maintaining service levels. 

👉 Click here to get your FREE IT Business Continuity Plan Template

Nonprofits BCP Template

nonprofit business continuity plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

Ensure that your nonprofit's mission endures through unexpected events and map out your organization's preparedness with the Business Continuity Plan Template for Nonprofits . This template guides nonprofits in developing strategies for funding, communication, and service delivery during crises such as natural disasters. 

👉 Click here to get your FREE Nonprofit Continuity Plan Template

Small Business BCP Template

small business continuity plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

Build resilience and safeguard your small business to weather uncertainties with the Small Business Continuity Plan Template . With this prefilled template, you’ll be able to kickstart the strategic planning process to build effective recovery procedures and disaster mitigation strategies.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Small Business Continuity Plan Template

Special Focus Templates 

Supply chain continuity template.

supply chain business continuity plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

Strengthen the resilience of your supply chain with this Supply Chain Business Continuity Plan Template . Use it to create and track strategies to mitigate risks such as supplier failures, transportation disruptions, and inventory shortages, ensuring a steady flow of goods and services.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Supply Chain Continuity Plan Template

Operational Continuity Plan Template

operational continuity plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

Keep your business operations running smoothly, irrespective of unforeseen challenges, with the Operational Continuity Plan Template . With it, you can quickly create an actionable Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) that guarantees your business’s preparedness when disaster strikes.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Operational Continuity Plan Template

Risk Assessment Plan Template

risk assessment plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

Risk management is at the heart of any successful continuity planning strategy. Why? Because knowing the risks your organization faces is the first step to preparing for, and effectively navigating unforeseen circumstances. 

If you're ready to start building your BCP, begin with the Risk Assessment Plan Template . This framework is designed to help you pinpoint potential risks, measure their impact, and craft proactive strategies to dodge business disruptions.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Risk Assessment Plan Template

Crisis Communications Plan Template

crisis communications plan template in cascade strategy execution platform

Effectively manage internal and external communications during a crisis with this Crisis Communications Plan Template . Ensure the right messages reach your stakeholders, employees, and customers on time. This will contribute to a well-coordinated response and support your human resources team in managing crisis-related communications effectively.

👉 Click here to get your FREE Communications Plan Template

How To Write A Business Continuity Plan 

A clear business continuity plan helps teams act quickly and effectively, minimizing disruptions to operations. If you want to build a resilient business continuity plan, here's a true-and-tried approach:

1. Identify critical business processes and types of threats

First, figure out which parts of your business are the most important. Why is this so crucial? When things go wrong, you can't keep every part of your business going—it's just not practical.

But, many senior management teams stumble at this stage because they:

  • Take a siloed approach to continuity planning.
  • Misidentify the core processes integral to business success.
  • Exclude critical stakeholders when trying to understand what drives the business.
  • Rely on outdated risk assessments and information for planning.
As PwC puts it, " Businesses struggle to do this well because it’s complex and can involve multiple departments and players. It’s not the usual approach in which business continuity is looked at solely within the siloed functions. ”

To build a resilient BCP, thoroughly examine your business, engage all stakeholders, and really understand your key business functions and processes.

2. Perform a risk assessment

Risk assessments help companies understand potential threats, their severity, and their likelihood. This crucial step aids in prioritizing planning, encourages strategic thinking, and empowers problem-solving abilities.

💡 Check out our article Risk Matrix: How To Use It In Strategic Planning for guidance . 

3. Conduct a Business Impact Analysis and prioritize strategies

A Business Impact Analysis evaluates the possible consequences of risks on your crucial business operations . It’s vital for gathering information, developing appropriate recovery strategies, and setting strategic priorities.

Consider impact such as:

  • Lost or delayed sales and income
  • Increased expenses
  • Regulatory fines
  • Loss of business opportunities
  • Operational setbacks
  • Reputation damage
  • Loss of shareholder confidence
  • Supply chain disruption

4. Build your business continuity plan

Finally, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and turn your research, risk assessment, and business impact analysis into a fully-fledged business continuity plan. 

Your continuity plan should act as a roadmap. It should outline how your organization will keep the gears turning in the face of disruptions.

Here are the key elements: 

  • 🎯 Objectives
  • ⏳ Timelines
  • 🏆 Priorities
  • 👥 Team members
  • 📝 Projects and action plans

If you’re using Cascade strategy templates , you’ll have these vital elements ready and waiting to help you plan faster and better.

💡Don't spend too much time on analysis and planning. There is no such thing as a perfect plan. Instead, focus on the execution and adapt your plan as you go. 

Tips For Writing And Executing Your Business Continuity Plan

Want to create a business that can ride the wave of any disruption? You'll need a fresh take on strategic risk management and continuity planning. The real magic happens when you blend centralized observability and fast execution . 

Creating your plan shouldn't be a one-and-done deal. You need to keep an eye on things and tweak your strategies as needed. This is where Cascade strategy execution platform shines.

Cascade’s customizable dashboards give you real-time insights into your business operations. See the big picture or drill down to team-specific details, all in one place. This helps in identifying issues early and implementing your continuity plan effectively.

example of a dashboard in cascade strategy execution platform

Time is of the essence when a crisis hits. Decision-makers need information fast. Cascade's Reports lets you create concise strategy reports with up-to-date data and charts with a click. No more wasting time on manual reporting.

Continuity planning is an ongoing, iterative process. Risks change, and your strategies should evolve accordingly. With Cascade, you can continuously monitor performance and make necessary adjustments to your business continuity plan in one place.

“Cascade provides our organization with a level of transparency we've never experienced before. Traditionally siloed teams have insight into what other groups are working on, facilitating a new level of engagement and cross-team collaboration.” - Katie B, G2

📚 Recommended reads for more tips and best practices: 

6 Steps To Successful Strategy Execution

Strategic Control Simplified: A 6-Step Process And Tools  

Get Faster Insights And Make Better Decisions With Cascade 🚀

As the world’s #1 strategy execution platform, Cascade cuts through the chaos of running business operations and paves a clear path forward.

Build continuity plans that are data-driven and aligned with your long-term vision.

Cascade helps you diagnose where you stand today and understand the factors affecting your performance, leading to informed and confident decisions.

What’s more, Cascade centralizes visibility over your execution process. This means you can swiftly identify dependencies and potential risks, and act proactively to mitigate them.

Ready to take control? Sign up for a free forever account today or book a 1:1 product tour with one of Cascade’s in-house strategy execution experts.

Business Continuity FAQs

What are the 4 ps of business continuity .

The 4 Ps of business continuity is a way of measuring the impact of disruptions on an organization. They stand for People (the impact on the lives of workers), Processes (the effect on operations), Profits (the impact on revenue generation), and Partnerships (the impact on the enabling business environment).

What is the difference between a business continuity plan and a disaster recovery plan? 

The main difference between a business continuity plan and a disaster recovery plan is its purpose. A business continuity plan aims to sustain the critical functions of an organization during disruptions, while a disaster recovery plan outlines the strategy for restoring normal business operations after major disruptions.

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Business Continuity Plan Template

Used 4,890 times

In order to prevent going out of business if you ever find yourself in a precarious scenario, a Business Continuity Plan Template will help you identify the most susceptible areas of your company and develop a plan to recover them.

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Created by:

​ [Sender.FirstName] [Sender.LastName]

​ [Sender.Title] [Sender.Company] ​

​ [Sender.Phone] ​

​ [Sender.Email] ​

Business description

Mission and vision statement.

(Insert here)

Current Leadership/Management

(Add the names of the CEO, COO, President, or whoever leads the company at the moment)

Roles and responsibilities

In the event of an emergency, the emergency response team will be the only one with the authority to make determining decisions on how to proceed, such as:

Declare the start and end of an incident or emergency

Evacuate staff

Order immediate interruption of activities

Communicate with the media and craft press releases

Make decisions that can affect the company workflow

(Add any other that may apply)

The emergency response team is conformed by:

If for any reason, one or more of these individuals is not available, the backup members are:, natural disaster emergency facilities.

(Insert information about the natural disaster facilities in your building and how they should be used)

Risks and potential business impact

To prepare for business interruption, here is our BIA (business impact analysis) to identify our risks and vulnerabilities and their impact on the business. The BIA needs to be updated yearly if any changes occur.

Response plan

Response plan for (add threat), communication.

Employees should report an emergency first to [Sender.Phone] . In case this person is unavailable, please immediately contact (phone number).

Notification system

During an emergency, the following announcements will be used by the emergency response team for internal communication purposes through text messages:

If evacuation is not needed: “Due to a developing emergency, we ask you to await the emergency response team's indications before continuing any work-related activities. Please pause any communications with clients, partners, or vendors until further notice.

If evacuation is needed: “Due to a developing emergency, we ask you to calmly exit the building and head to our designated response location (add preferred location, e.g., a specific street outside your building). Gather only necessary items such as medication, wallets, keys, phones, or laptops, as long as you don’t have to deviate from the exit to get them. We will inform you as soon as we have more information”.

Outside communications

Please follow (Team Member name) indications for emergencies that need to be shared with the press and members of our community.

All our social media platforms will be used as communication channels during this time, and any other online activity will be paused until further notice, including marketing campaigns.

If press releases are necessary, this is a list of reliable media outlets with whom we already have a relationship: (add media outlets and contacts).

We kindly ask you not to share company information with outside sources without consulting our emergency response team. In case you can’t contact them and need to know how to reply or respond to an exterior message, here is a quick guide to ensure proper communication:

Avoid speaking to the media or our independent journalists.

Do not share information about the current situation with our clients unless indicated otherwise.

Avoid sharing information about the current situation on your social media.

Contact emergency services and/or law enforcement immediately if the situation is life-threatening. (Add contact number, e.g., 911).

(Add any other relevant indications).

Testing and training

To ensure the proper execution of our continuity plan, the company will have (number of drills, e.g., 2) drills over the year on (add dates). Each one will be carried out by our emergency response team during work hours. Employees will receive a reminder email a week before the drill to prepare.

During each drill, we will review the fundamentals of our continuity plan and update our risks and vulnerability information if needed. We will also train our staff and team members on how to respond to an emergency, including evacuation and designated emergency gathering locations.

During the (first, second, etc.) drills we will cover (describe the risk and plan you will test).

​ [Client.FirstName] [Client.LastName] ​

​ [Sender.FirstName] [Sender.LastName] ​

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Your rating will help others.

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Business continuity plan template

Creating a fail-safe for your business is a great way to mitigate risk. Establish your backup strategy with a business continuity plan template.

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It’s not always fun thinking about things that could go wrong. But when you’re creating a business, taking the time to think about these things can help prevent risk. Creating a solid backup plan for your business can help ensure success—even if something bad happens. That’s where a business continuity plan can help.

What is a business continuity plan?

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a long-term strategy to help your business overcome and recover from major roadblocks. Creating a BCP ensures that, even if something goes wrong, your business still has a strategy in place to overcome that issue.

What’s the difference between a business continuity plan and a contingency plan?

What is a business continuity plan template.

A business continuity plan template is the basic framework of a continuity plan, which you can easily duplicate whenever you need to create a new plan.It’s intended to be used as a skeleton, so your team can fill it with the important information needed to establish a strong business continuity plan.

Using a business continuity plan template ensures that every single BCP you create has all the necessary information your team needs to make the plan successful. When there’s a repeatable framework, your team becomes more familiar with what information goes into a BCP. As a result, they’ll be more comfortable using the plan, should the situation arise. 

What components does a business continuity plan template have?

The goal of a business continuity plan template is to help everyone on your team understand what to do after an emergency happens. That means your BCP template should organize key information into the following categories. That way, your team can fill out the correct information when you build your strategy.

Directly responsible individuals (DRIs) or important tiger teams : These are the individual points of contact you would go to in case of an emergency. You’ll find contact information for the DRIs, plus the best way to reach them in this section.

Risk assessment: This includes risk analysis documents such as a risk register , which analyzes potential setbacks a project or your business may encounter. 

Action plan : The step-by-step plan your team will follow if an emergency happens.

Recovery procedures: This section details the steps your team should take to recover from any major business interruptions.

Crucial business functions: The key aspects of the business that are necessary to keep things functioning. These are the bare minimum operations that your business needs running smoothly if you want to stay functional. It’s important to highlight these functions so your team knows which areas to focus on should an emergency arise. 

Succession plan : In the event that leaders or DRIs are unable to fill a role, a succession plan provides a back-up person to take their place. 

Internal communication strategy: It’s important to develop a communication plan for how you share information with your entire team. Developing a communication strategy beforehand can help prevent misinformation and confusing messaging from going out to your team during emergency situations.

Alternate business processes (aka backup plans): This section details alternate ways your business can still function even if a part of it fails. This can include alternate vendors or suppliers, or manual workarounds for automated tasks. 

Why you should use a business continuity plan template

Using a business continuity plan template can help your team in a few different ways. Here’s how.

Faster recovery: When disaster happens, you want to be able to recover quickly to minimize the amount of downtime your company faces. Having a BCP template prepared can help minimize the amount of time it takes to develop a full BCP strategy.

Create multiple fail-safes: Sometimes one BCP is not enough. A BCP template can help you create multiple plans so you have more than one way to recover should an emergency occur. 

Insurance doesn’t cover everything: While insuring your business is a smart move, it won’t be able to help you in all situations, such as an economic downturn. Using a BCP template means your business is ready to develop a strategy before any external environments begin to change, so your team can start planning as soon as you catch wind of something on the horizon. 

Integrated features

List View . List View is a grid-style view that makes it easy to see all of your project’s information at a glance. Like a to-do list or a spreadsheet, List View displays all of your tasks at once so you can not only see task titles and due dates, but also view any relevant custom fields like Priority, Status, or more. Unlock effortless collaboration by giving your entire team visibility into who’s doing what by when.

Subtasks . Sometimes a to-do is too big to capture in one task. If a task has more than one contributor, a broad due date, or stakeholders that need to review and approve before it can go live, subtasks can help. Subtasks are a powerful way to distribute work and split tasks into individual components—while keeping the small to-dos connected to the overarching context of the parent task. Break tasks into smaller components or capture the individual components of a multi-step process with subtasks. 

Custom fields . Custom fields are the best way to tag, sort, and filter work. Create unique custom fields for any information you need to track—from priority and status to email or phone number. Use custom fields to sort and schedule your to-dos so you know what to work on first. Plus, share custom fields across tasks and projects to ensure consistency across your organization. 

Messaging . Need to share information that isn’t actionable? Try Messages in Asana. Messages enable you to communicate within Asana about non-actionable work. You can send messages to any combination of individuals, teams, and projects, so everyone is on the same page. Link to tasks, projects, and Goals in Asana to make it easy for your message recipients to gain context and drill down into the details.

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Microsoft Teams . With the Microsoft Teams + Asana integration, you can search for and share the information you need without leaving Teams. Easily connect your Teams conversations to actionable items in Asana. Plus, create, assign, and view tasks during a Teams Meeting without needing to switch to your browser.

Slack . Turn ideas, work requests, and action items from Slack into trackable tasks and comments in Asana. Go from quick questions and action items to tasks with assignees and due dates. Easily capture work so requests and to-dos don’t get lost in Slack. 

Google Workplace . Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Google Workplace file chooser, which is built into the Asana task pane. Easily attach any My Drive file with just a few clicks.

Zoom . Asana and Zoom are partnering up to help teams have more purposeful and focused meetings. The Zoom + Asana integration makes it easy to prepare for meetings, hold actionable conversations, and access information once the call is over. Meetings begin in Asana, where shared meeting agendas provide visibility and context about what will be discussed. During the meeting, team members can quickly create tasks within Zoom, so details and action items don’t get lost. And once the meeting is over, the Zoom + Asana integration pulls meeting transcripts and recordings into Asana, so all collaborators and stakeholders can review the meeting as needed.

How do you write a business continuity plan template?

Creating a business continuity plan template is simple. Start by using collaborative work management software like Asana so that your entire team can access the template. From there, create sections for all of the key components of a BCP template—like directly responsible individuals (DRIs), risk assessments, action plans, recovery procedures, crucial business functions, succession plans, internal communication strategies, and alternate business processes.

What are the four P’s of business continuity planning?

When you start filling out the key information in a business continuity plan template, there are four segments that you should consider: people (meaning your employees and potential customers), processes (the steps you need to take to run your business), premises (the physical location or locations of your business), and providers (business partners like suppliers and vendors).

What is a business continuity plan checklist?

A business continuity plan checklist is a list of tasks your team should complete when experiencing an emergency or potential risk. It helps by minimizing the amount of disruptions your business experiences when encountering issues or roadblocks.The easiest way to create this checklist is by using a business continuity plan template. That way, you have the same checklist for every strategy you create.

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Where can I find a business continuity plan template?

A business continuity plan is a written document outlining how a business will operate during an emergency. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provides employers with a business continuity plan template . The following instructions and resources from DHS can be helpful in completing this template.

When business is disrupted, it can cost money. Lost revenues plus extra expenses means reduced profits. Insurance does not cover all costs and cannot replace customers that defect to the competition. A business continuity plan to continue business is essential. Development of a business continuity plan includes four steps:

  • Conduct a  business impact analysis  to identify time-sensitive or critical business functions and processes and the resources that support them.
  • Identify, document and implement to recover critical business functions and processes.
  • Organize a business continuity team and compile a  business continuity plan  to manage a business disruption.
  • Conduct  training  for the business continuity team and  testing and exercises  to evaluate recovery strategies and the plan.

Information technology (IT) includes many components such as networks, servers, desktop and laptop computers and wireless devices. The ability to run both office productivity and enterprise software is critical. Therefore,  recovery strategies for information technology  should be developed so technology can be restored in time to meet the needs of the business. Manual workarounds should be part of the IT plan so business can continue while computer systems are being restored.

Business Continuity Impact Analysis

Business continuity impact analysis identifies the effects resulting from disruption of business functions and processes. It also uses information to make decisions about recovery priorities and strategies.

The Operational & Financial Impacts worksheet  can be used to capture this information as discussed in  Business Impact Analysis . The worksheet should be completed by business function and process managers with sufficient knowledge of the business. Once all worksheets are completed, the worksheets can be tabulated to summarize:

  • the operational and financial impacts resulting from the loss of individual business functions and process
  • the point in time when loss of a function or process would result in the identified business impacts

Those functions or processes with the highest potential operational and financial impacts become priorities for restoration. The point in time when a function or process must be recovered, before unacceptable consequences could occur, is often referred to as the "recovery time objective."

Resource Required to Support Recovery Strategies

Following an incident that disrupts business operations, resources will be needed to carry out recovery strategies and to restore normal business operations. Resources can come from within the business or be provided by third parties. Resources include:

  • Office space, furniture and equipment.
  • Technology (computers, peripherals, communication equipment, software and data).
  • Vital records (electronic and hard copy).
  • Production facilities, machinery and equipment.
  • Inventory including raw materials, finished goods and goods in production.
  • Utilities (power, natural gas, water, sewer, telephone, internet, wireless).
  • Third party services.

Since all resources cannot be replaced immediately following a loss, managers should estimate the resources that will be needed in the hours, days and weeks following an incident.

Conducting the Business Continuity Impact Analysis

The worksheets Operational and Financial Impacts and Business Continuity Resource Requirements should be distributed to business process managers along with instructions about the process and how the information will be used. After all managers have completed their worksheets, information should be reviewed. Gaps or inconsistencies should be identified. Meetings with individual managers should be held to clarify information and obtain missing information.

After all worksheets have been completed and validated, the priorities for restoration of business processes should be identified. Primary and dependent resource requirements should also be identified. This information will be used to develop recovery strategies.

Recovery Strategies

If a facility is damaged, production machinery breaks down, a supplier fails to deliver or information technology is disrupted, business is impacted and the financial losses can begin to grow. Recovery strategies are alternate means to restore business operations to a minimum acceptable level following a business disruption and are prioritized by the recovery time objectives (RTO) developed during the business impact analysis.

Recovery strategies require resources including people, facilities, equipment, materials and information technology. An analysis of the resources required to execute recovery strategies should be conducted to identify gaps. For example, if a machine fails but other machines are readily available to make up lost production, then there is no resource gap. However, if all machines are lost due to a flood, and insufficient undamaged inventory is available to meet customer demand until production is restored, production might be made up by machines at another facility—whether owned or contracted.

Strategies may involve contracting with third parties, entering into partnership or reciprocal agreements or displacing other activities within the company. Staff with in-depth knowledge of business functions and processes are in the best position to determine what will work. Possible alternatives should be explored and presented to management for approval and to decide how much to spend.

Depending upon the size of the company and resources available, there may be many recovery strategies that can be explored.

Utilization of other owned or controlled facilities performing similar work is one option. Operations may be relocated to an alternate site - assuming both are not impacted by the same incident. This strategy also assumes that the surviving site has the resources and capacity to assume the work of the impacted site. Prioritization of production or service levels, providing additional staff and resources and other action would be needed if capacity at the second site is inadequate.

Telecommuting is a strategy employed when staff can work from home through remote connectivity. It can be used in combination with other strategies to reduce alternate site requirements. This strategy requires ensuring telecommuters have a suitable home work environment and are equipped with or have access to a computer with required applications and data, peripherals, and a secure broadband connection.

In an emergency, space at another facility can be put to use. Cafeterias, conference rooms and training rooms can be converted to office space or to other uses when needed. Equipping converted space with furnishings, equipment, power, connectivity and other resources would be required to meet the needs of workers.

Partnership or reciprocal agreements can be arranged with other businesses or organizations that can support each other in the event of a disaster. Assuming space is available, issues such as the capacity and connectivity of telecommunications and information technology, protection of privacy and intellectual property, the impacts to each other's operation and allocating expenses must be addressed. Agreements should be negotiated in writing and documented in the business continuity plan. Periodic review of the agreement is needed to determine if there is a change in the ability of each party to support the other.

There are many vendors that support business continuity and information technology recovery strategies. External suppliers can provide a full business environment including office space and live data centers ready to be occupied. Other options include provision of technology equipped office trailers, replacement machinery and other equipment. The availability and cost of these options can be affected when a regional disaster results in competition for these resources.

There are multiple strategies for recovery of manufacturing operations. Many of these strategies include use of existing owned or leased facilities. Manufacturing strategies include:

  • Shifting production from one facility to another
  • Increasing manufacturing output at operational facilities
  • Retooling production from one item to another
  • Prioritization of production—by profit margin or customer relationship
  • Maintaining higher raw materials or finished goods inventory
  • Reallocating existing inventory, repurchase or buyback of inventory
  • Limiting orders (e.g., maximum order size or unit quantity)
  • Contracting with third parties
  • Purchasing business interruption insurance

There are many factors to consider in manufacturing recovery strategies:

  • Will a facility be available when needed?
  • How much time will it take to shift production from one product to another?
  • How much will it cost to shift production from one product to another?
  • How much revenue would be lost when displacing other production?
  • How much extra time will it take to receive raw materials or ship finished goods to customers? Will the extra time impact customer relationships?
  • Are there any regulations that would restrict shifting production?
  • What quality issues could arise if production is shifted or outsourced?
  • Are there any long-term consequences associated with a strategy?

Manual Workarounds

Telephones are ringing and customer service staff is busy talking with customers and keying orders into the computer system. The electronic order entry system checks available inventory, processes payments and routes orders to the distribution center for fulfillment. Suddenly the order entry system goes down. What should the customer service staff do now? If the staff is equipped with paper order forms, order processing can continue until the electronic system comes back up and no phone orders will be lost.

The order forms and procedures for using them are examples of "manual workarounds." These workarounds are recovery strategies for use when information technology resources are not available.

Developing Manual Workarounds

Identify the steps in the automated process - creating a diagram of the process can help. Consider the following aspects of information and work flow:

Internal Interfaces (department, person, activity and resource requirements)

  • External Interfaces (company, contact person, activity and resource requirements)
  • Tasks (in sequential order)
  • Manual intervention points

Create data collection forms to capture information and define processes for manual handling of the information collected. Establish control logs to document transactions and track their progress through the manual system.

Manual workarounds require manual labor, so you may need to reassign staff or bring in temporary assistance.

Source: https://www.ready.gov/business-continuity-plan

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Business Continuity Plan Template

Use a business continuity plan to outline how your business will continue to operate in a range of disaster scenarios.

Business Continuity Plan Template

Updated December 18, 2023 Written by Sara Hostelley | Reviewed by Brooke Davis

A business continuity plan outlines the instructions and procedures a business should follow after a natural disaster or disruptive event so it can resume its operations. Events like floods and fires can interrupt your business practices, so it’s essential to have a plan in place to handle these situations and effectively get back to work.

What Is a Business Continuity Plan?

When to use a business continuity plan, benefits of a business continuity plan, elements of a business continuity plan, different types of business continuity plans, activities to complete before writing a business continuity plan, how to write a business continuity plan, business continuity plan sample.

A business continuity plan is a document establishing your organization’s strategies for dealing with a disaster. These procedures help you resume business quickly and reduce downtime and lost revenue.

It covers essential processes like protecting assets, handling human resources issues, and dealing with business partners.

Business Continuity Planning vs. Disaster Recovery Planning

An effective business continuity plan helps a company continue its overall operations after a catastrophe, while a disaster recovery plan focuses on reviving a business’s IT-related functions.

Creating a business continuity plan before you need it can help you prepare for the unexpected. It helps you be proactive so you don’t have to devise a plan amidst a disaster.

Once your continuity plan is in place, you may need to implement it during disasters like:

  • Cyberattacks
  • Natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, and floods
  • Major IT or internet disruptions
  • Pandemics or health crises
  • Supply chain disruptions
  • Man-made disasters or times of social unrest

While a business plan guides your company’s everyday operations, a business continuity plan helps you resume company activities after severe disturbances.

Explore the benefits of a business continuity plan for your company:

Better Decision-Making

A BCP offers a structured framework for employees to make decisions during high-stress situations. Clear protocols and communication methods help your business continuity management team make rational decisions, which can promote confidence and encourage action among employees.

A More Efficient Return to Normal Business Operations

A BCP could make the difference between continued operations and further turmoil in an emergency. Returning to business operations quickly can prevent customers from seeking out competing businesses.

A business continuity plan template makes planning for contingencies in various scenarios easy and addresses the most critical roles and responsibilities necessary for keeping your company running.

Above all, a BCP limits confusion during critical situations and orients employees to the primary focus.

Increased Employee Safety

BCPs prioritize employees’ safety and well-being during emergencies. These plans include guidelines for remote work so employees don’t have to be near the disaster site. They also contain protocols for communicating with one another and evacuating plans in case a disaster happens during work hours.

A Reduction in Lost Time and Revenue

Unmitigated disruptions can financially weaken an organization quickly. Business continuity plans account for all factors necessary for continued operations. The more effort you put into planning, the more time and money you can save.

So, ensure a reliable backup plan for essential systems and enable remote access to customer, product, and company data to keep the revenue stream flowing.

Ability to Quickly Implement IT Fixes

Natural and manufactured disasters typically involve system disruptions. To remain functional, build redundancy into your critical systems. This proactivity will allow you to implement essential fixes to hardware and software assets.

Increased Organizational Resilience

A BCP prepares a company to encounter any challenges it may face. It lets the company’s employees adapt strategies as necessary and work towards continuous improvements, allowing the company to experience long-term success no matter the obstacles it encounters.

Explore some essential elements in a business continuity plan:

  • Business Impact Analysis: Determine how a disaster would impact your business’s operations.
  • Risk Assessment: Identify the risks that may disrupt your business’s processes.
  • Business Continuity Strategy: Detail the steps you’ll take to keep your company running if an interruption occurs. Tailor this strategy to your business’s needs.
  • Recovery Team: Include members from across key departments in your recovery team.
  • Training: Define training procedures to ensure all members have sufficient knowledge relating to emergency protocols.
  • Business Continuity Exercises: Create simulations to practice how your business continuity team would react in an emergency.
  • Communication: Establish methods for distributing information internally and externally.
  • Backup Locations and Physical Assets: List backup locations for conducting business operations if the primary location isn’t usable. Summarize the equipment you’ll need to continue operations.
  • Periodic Review and Recommendations: Include policies for reviewing and updating your plan. Accept recommendations from employees to improve the plan’s efficiency.
  • Technology: Describe the processes for retaining access to technology systems. Detail the importance of having emergency power and data backup procedures in place.

While a business continuity plan can cover various recovery strategies for specific events, it prioritizes one event. Explore some of the types of business continuity plans:

  • Scope: Emphasize the restoration of normal business activities.
  • Objective: To prepare for an unforeseen emergency.
  • Scope: Focus on the recovery of IT data, systems, and infrastructure.
  • Objective: To reduce downtime and data loss by quickly restoring IT services if they go down.
  • Scope: Address communication methods and strategies after a crisis.
  • Objective: To provide clear and timely communication to internal and external stakeholders, ensuring the accurate sharing of information.
  • Scope: Involve the supply chain’s continuity, including procurement, manufacturing, and distribution.
  • Objective: To limit supply chain disruptions and maintain the availability of services and goods.
  • Scope: Address the continuity of physical facilities, including warehouses, manufacturing plants, and offices.
  • Objective: To ensure the availability of operational facilities or other locations during critical events.
  • Scope: Focus on employees’ well-being and safety.
  • Objective: To maintain workforce availability and set up guidelines for remote work if possible.
  • Scope: Involve continuity plans for key third-party parties, including partners, suppliers, and vendors.
  • Objective: To account for the company’s dependencies on external parties and minimize associated disruptions.
  • Scope: Address regulatory requirements relating to business continuity.
  • Objective: To ensure compliance with industry standards and legal regulations.

Explore some activities to complete before writing a business continuity plan so you can create a more effective document:

1. Decide on a Writing Team

Decide on a team to write the plan. Find employees knowledgeable about various business processes so they can assign tasks accordingly.

Ask for employees’ input to create control and command teams. Appoint several people to be in charge during a crisis so they can have one another’s support. Establish a clear chain of command to minimize arguments and promote efficiency.

Nominate a team leader and a backup team leader for each department within your company. Consider recruiting third-party representatives to assist with coordinating specific activities during disasters.

2. Conduct Critical Function Analysis

Analyze your company’s critical business functions. Determine which functions it can and can’t exist without. This way, you can more easily determine what to prioritize in an emergency.

Determine how losing these functions across different departments might impact external and internal operations.

3. Analyze Potential Risks

Analyze potential risks depending on the nature of your business. Specific threats might be more imminent than others, so you can create visual representations, such as risk maps, to show the relationship between the impact and likelihood of your proposed risks.

From here, you can pinpoint high-priority risks that will require immediate attention.

4. Determine the Plan’s Scope

Determine whether the plan applies to specific departments, one location, or your entire company. Figure out what resources and critical functions you must maintain to successfully implement the plan.

5. Brainstorm Recovery Procedures

Use your risk assessment and critical function analysis to brainstorm how your team should react to a business disruption. Think about the timing for what must occur before, during, and after the business continuity planning process.

Step 1 – Write Your Company’s Information

Write your company’s information, including its name, address, and phone number. Include the name of the person writing the plan and the date you last revised it.

Company Information business continuity template

Step 2 – Define the Document’s Purpose

Define the document’s purpose, restating that the document is to establish procedures for the execution and recovery of business activities for your specific company. Check off the specific events you want to plan for.

Purpose business continuity plan template

Step 3 – Outline the Applicability

Clarify the applicability of the document. State which operations the document applies to, including the operation’s name, description, and impact on the business.

Applicability business continuity plan template

Step 4 – Define the Recovery Strategies

Define the recovery strategies for all the events you’ve outlined. Explain the recovery procedure and resource requirements for each event, such as a natural disaster, fire, epidemic, pandemic, technical issue, cyberattack, supply chain disruption, business site disruption, labor strike, or civil unrest.

Recovery business continuity plan template

Step 5 – Name Your Recovery Team

Name your recovery team, including a team and an alternate team lead. These individuals will restore and maintain business continuity and ensure the document’s compliant execution. Include each member’s name, role, email, phone number, and responsibilities.

Recovery team business continuity plan template

Step 6 – Detail Processes for Vendor Communication

Designate a person who will be responsible for contacting vendors and partners. This way, external parties key to the business’s functions will know what’s going on and the plan for continued operation.

External Vendors business continuity plan template

Step 7 – Name an Internal Communicator

Name an internal communicator, providing their name, email, phone number, and roles within the organization. This person will provide all employees with business-wide updates as the appropriate teams implement the continuity plan.

Internal Communicator business continuity plan template

Step 8 – Describe Relocation Procedures

Describe relocation procedures, including backup offices and methods for obtaining equipment and assets for relevant business activities. Provide an estimated timeline for a transition back to normal operations.

Relocation business continuity plan template

Step 9 – Write Testing Procedures

Write testing procedures to occasionally examine the BCP’s effectiveness. This way, the company can make updates to improve the plan’s effectiveness.

Testing business continuity plan template

Step 10 – Outline Deactivation Procedures

Outline deactivation procedures so your team knows when your company has officially restored its normal operations.

Deactivation business continuity plan template

Step 11 – Provide Exceptions

Write exceptions so your team knows when the business continuity plan doesn’t apply. For example, the plan might not apply if business operations can restore themselves within a certain number of hours.

Exceptions business continuity plan template

Download a business continuity plan template below in PDF or Word format:

Business Continuity Plan Template

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Business Continuity Plan Template

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Blog Business

7 Business Continuity Plan Examples

By Danesh Ramuthi , Nov 28, 2023

Business Continuity Plan Examples

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a strategic framework that prepares businesses to maintain or swiftly resume their critical functions in the face of disruptions, whether they stem from natural disasters, technological failures, human error, or other unforeseen events.

In today’s fast-paced world, businesses face an array of potential disruptions ranging from cyberattacks and ransomware to severe weather events and global pandemics. By having a well-crafted BCP, businesses can mitigate these risks, ensuring the safety and continuity of their critical services and operations.

Responsibility for business continuity planning typically lies with top management and dedicated planning teams within an organization. It is a cross-functional effort that involves input and coordination across various departments, ensuring that all aspects of the business are considered.

For businesses looking to develop or refine their business continuity strategies, there are numerous resources available. Tools like Venngage’s business plan maker and their business continuity plan templates offer practical assistance, streamlining the process of creating a robust and effective BCP. 

Click to jump ahead: 

7 business continuity plan examples

Business continuity types, how to write a business continuity plan, how often should a business continuity plan be reviewed, business continuity plan vs. disaster recovery plan, final thoughts.

In business, unpredictability is the only certainty. This is where business continuity plans (BCPs) come into play. These plans are not just documents; they are a testament to a company’s preparedness and commitment to sustained operations under adverse conditions. To illustrate the practicality and necessity of these plans, let’s delve into some compelling examples.

Business continuity plan example for small business

Imagine a small business specializing in digital marketing services, with a significant portion of its operations reliant on continuous internet connectivity and digital communication tools. This business, although small, caters to a global clientele, making its online presence and prompt service delivery crucial.

Business Consultant Continuity Plan Template

Scope and objective:

This Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is designed to ensure the continuity of digital marketing services and client communications in the event of an unforeseen and prolonged internet outage. Such an outage could be caused by a variety of factors, including cyberattacks, technical failures or service provider issues. The plan aims to minimize disruption to these critical services, ensuring that client projects are delivered on time and communication lines remain open and effective.

Operations at risk:

Operation: Digital Marketing Services Operation Description: A team dedicated to creating and managing digital marketing campaigns for clients across various time zones. Business Impact: High Impact Description: The team manages all client communications, campaign designs, and real-time online marketing strategies. An internet outage would halt all ongoing campaigns and client communications, leading to potential loss of business and client trust.

Recovery strategy:

The BCP should include immediate measures like switching to a backup internet service provider or using mobile data as a temporary solution. The IT team should be prepared to deploy these alternatives swiftly. Additionally, the company should have a protocol for informing clients about the situation via alternative communication channels like mobile phones.

Roles and responsibilities:

Representative: Alex Martinez Role: IT Manager Description of Responsibilities:

  • Oversee the implementation of the backup internet connectivity plan.
  • Coordinate with the digital marketing team to ensure minimal disruption in campaign management.
  • Communicate with the service provider for updates and resolution timelines.

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan Template

Business continuity plan example for software company

In the landscape of software development, a well-structured Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is vital. This example illustrates a BCP for a software company, focusing on a different kind of disruption: a critical data breach.

Business Continuity Plan Template

Scope and objectives:

This BCP is designed to ensure the continuity of software development and client data security in the event of a significant data breach. Such a breach could be due to cyberattacks, internal security lapses, or third-party service vulnerabilities. The plan prioritizes the rapid response to secure data, assess the impact on software development projects and maintain client trust and communication.

Operation: Software Development and Data Security Operation Description: The software development team is responsible for creating and maintaining software products, which involves handling sensitive client data. In the realm of software development, where the creation and maintenance of products involve handling sensitive client data, prioritizing security is crucial. Strengthen your software development team’s capabilities by incorporating the best antivirus with VPN features, offering a robust defense to protect client information and maintain a secure operational environment. The integrity and security of this data are paramount.

Business Impact: Critical Impact Description: A data breach could compromise client data, leading to loss of trust, legal consequences and potential financial penalties. It could also disrupt ongoing development projects and delay product releases.

The IT security team should immediately isolate the breached systems to prevent further data loss. They should then work on identifying the breach’s source and extent. Simultaneously, the client relations team should inform affected clients about the breach and the steps being taken. The company should also engage a third-party cybersecurity firm for an independent investigation and recovery assistance.

Representative: Sarah Lopez Role: Head of IT Security Contact Details: [email protected] Description of Responsibilities:

  • Lead the initial response to the data breach, including system isolation and assessment.
  • Coordinate with external cybersecurity experts for breach analysis and mitigation.
  • Work with the legal team to understand and comply with data breach notification laws.
  • Communicate with the software development team leaders about the impact on ongoing projects.

Business Continuity Plan Templates

Related: 7 Best Business Plan Software for 2023

Business continuity plan example for manufacturing

In the manufacturing sector, disruptions can significantly impact production lines, supply chains, and customer commitments. This example of a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for a manufacturing company addresses a specific scenario: a major supply chain disruption.

Business Continuity Plan Template

This BCP is formulated to ensure the continuity of manufacturing operations in the event of a significant supply chain disruption. Such disruptions could be caused by geopolitical events, natural disasters affecting key suppliers or transportation network failures. The plan focuses on maintaining production capabilities and fulfilling customer orders by managing and mitigating supply chain risks.

Operation: Production Line Operation Description: The production line is dependent on a steady supply of raw materials and components from various suppliers to manufacture products. Business Impact: High Impact Description: A disruption in the supply chain can lead to a halt in production, resulting in delayed order fulfillment, loss of revenue and potential damage to customer relationships.

The company should establish relationships with alternative suppliers to ensure a diversified supply chain. In the event of a disruption, the procurement team should be able to quickly switch to these alternative sources. Additionally, maintaining a strategic reserve of critical materials can buffer short-term disruptions. The logistics team should also develop flexible transportation plans to adapt to changing scenarios.

Representative: Michael Johnson Role: Head of Supply Chain Management Contact Details: [email protected] Description of Responsibilities:

  • Monitor global supply chain trends and identify potential risks.
  • Develop and maintain relationships with alternative suppliers.
  • Coordinate with logistics to ensure flexible transportation solutions.
  • Communicate with production managers about supply chain status and potential impacts on production schedules.

Related: 15+ Business Plan Templates for Strategic Planning

BCPs are essential for ensuring that a business can continue operating during crises. Here’s a summary of the different types of business continuity plans that are common:

  • Operational : Involves ensuring that critical systems and processes continue functioning without disruption. It’s vital to have a plan to minimize revenue loss in case of disruptions.
  • Technological : For businesses heavily reliant on technology, this type of continuity plan focuses on maintaining and securing internal systems, like having offline storage for important documents.
  • Economic continuity : This type ensures that the business remains profitable during disruptions. It involves future-proofing the organization against scenarios that could negatively impact the bottom line.
  • Workforce continuity : Focuses on maintaining adequate and appropriate staffing levels, especially during crises, ensuring that the workforce is capable of handling incoming work.
  • Safety : Beyond staffing, safety continuity involves creating a comfortable and secure work environment where employees feel supported, especially during crises.
  • Environmental : It addresses the ability of the team to operate effectively and safely in their physical work environment, considering threats to physical office spaces and planning accordingly.
  • Security : Means prioritizing the safety and security of employees and business assets, planning for potential security breaches and safeguarding important business information.
  • Reputation : Focuses on maintaining customer satisfaction and a good reputation, monitoring conversations about the brand and having action plans for reputation management.

Business Continuity Planning Templates

As I have explained so far, a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is invaluable. Writing an effective BCP involves a series of strategic steps, each crucial to ensuring that your business can withstand and recover from unexpected events. Here’s a guide on how to craft a robust business continuity plan:

Business Continuity And Disaster Recovery Plan Template

1. Choose your business continuity team

Assemble a dedicated team responsible for the development and implementation of the BCP. The team should include members from various departments with a deep understanding of the business operations.

2. Outline your plan objectives

Clearly articulate what the plan aims to achieve. Objectives may include minimizing financial loss, ensuring the safety of employees, maintaining critical business operations, and protecting the company’s reputation.

3. Meet with key players in your departments

Engage with department heads and key personnel to gain insights into the specific needs and processes of each department. This helps in identifying critical functions and resources.

4. Identify critical functions and types of threats

Determine which functions are vital to the business’s survival and identify potential threats that could impact these areas. 

5. Carry on risk assessments across different areas

Evaluate the likelihood and impact of identified threats on each critical function. This assessment helps in prioritizing the risks and planning accordingly.

6. Conduct a business impact analysis (BIA)

Perform a BIA to understand the potential consequences of disruption to critical business functions. It has to be done in determining the maximum acceptable downtime and the resources needed for business continuity.

7. Start drafting the plan

Compile the information gathered into a structured document. The plan should include emergency contact information, recovery strategies and detailed action steps for different scenarios.

8. Test the plan for any gaps

Conduct simulations or tabletop exercises to test the plan’s effectiveness. This testing can reveal unforeseen gaps or weaknesses in the plan.

9. Review & revise your plan

Use the insights gained from testing to refine and update the plan. Continual revision ensures the plan remains relevant and effective in the face of changing business conditions and emerging threats.

Read Also: How to Write a Business Plan Outline [Examples + Templates]

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) should ideally be reviewed and updated at least annually. 

The annual review ensures that the plan remains relevant and effective in the face of new challenges and changes within the business, such as shifts in business strategy, introduction of new technology or changes in operational processes. 

Additionally, it’s crucial to reassess the BCP following any significant business changes, such as mergers, acquisitions or entry into new markets, as well as after the occurrence of any major incident that tested the plan’s effectiveness. 

However, in rapidly changing industries or in businesses that face a high degree of uncertainty or frequent changes, more frequent reviews – such as bi-annually or quarterly – may be necessary. 

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) are two crucial components of organizational preparedness, yet they serve different functions. The BCP is aimed at preventing interruptions to business operations and maintaining regular activities. 

It focuses on aspects such as the location of operations during a crisis (like a temporary office or remote work), how staff will communicate and which functions are prioritized. In essence, a BCP details how a business can continue operating during and after a disruption​​​​.

On the other hand, a DRP is more specific to restoring data access and IT infrastructure after a disaster. It describes the steps that employees must follow during and after a disaster to ensure minimal function necessary for the organization to continue. 

Essentially, while a BCP is about maintaining operations, a DRP is about restoring critical functions, particularly IT-related, after a disruption has occurred​

It’s clear that having a robust and adaptable business continuity plan (BCP) is not just a strategic advantage but a fundamental necessity for businesses of all sizes and sectors. 

From small businesses to large corporations, the principles of effective business continuity planning remain consistent: identify potential threats, assess the impact on critical functions, and develop a comprehensive strategy to maintain operations during and after a disruption.

The process of writing a BCP, as detailed in this article, underscores the importance of a thorough and thoughtful approach. It’s about more than just drafting a document; it’s about creating a living framework that evolves with your business and the changing landscape of risks.

To assist in this crucial task, you can use Venngage’s business plan maker & their business continuity plan templates . These tools streamline the process of creating a BCP, ensuring that it is not only comprehensive but also clear, accessible and easy to implement. 

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. 

Alex Fullick

“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 . 

Mike Semel

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

Simple Business Continuity Policy Template

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:

business continuity plan simple template

  • 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.

Manage Your Business Continuity Policy Statement and Collect Relevant Documents with Smartsheet

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When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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Business Continuity Planning

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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.

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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. View on YouTube

Last Updated: 12/21/2023

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12 Best Business Continuity Plan Templates

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Business continuity managers and IT teams use a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) document to lay out plans for operating enterprises in the face of calamities like severe weather, forced building evacuations, power outages, etc. It identifies operational areas, resources, and recovery plans with assigned individuals that have a significant business effect.

To make your own, use the free business continuity plan template . You can never be too prepared for a crisis, so provide your business with the resources it needs to function well despite any setbacks.

When Should You Use a Business Continuity Plan Template?

Writing a business continuity strategy is critical to ensure your organization remains a going concern in spite of disruptions. You should have a strategy in place before responding to a calamity. Planning for business continuity is essential for a successful disaster recovery plan when dealing with emergency situations such as:

  • Data breaches
  • Internet or major IT outage due to an earthquake
  • Equipment failure
  • Injury, death, or sudden exit of key staff

Your organization needs a business continuity plan as much as a business strategy for normal operations.

These business continuity plan templates may offer a little more motivation to get going, depending on your requirements. If you’re having a problem writing an effective BCP, you can use any of the following templates depending on your business vertical.

12 Business Continuity Plan Templates

We are sharing with you 12 business continuity templates to reduce your time and effort in writing one. Here these are:

1. IT Service Business Continuity Plan Template

This IT Service Business Continuity Plan Template is suitable for IT companies such as software houses and design agencies. It highlights essential steps to undertake and ensure IT processes running in the event of a major disruption. Use the template to record all aspects of the continuity plan required for an IT team by identifying recovery objectives, teams, and tactics.

A good IT service business continuity plan template ensures that critical network systems remain operational despite outages. As we live in a digital-first world, businesses cannot survive without an IT service continuity plan template.

2. School Business Continuity Plan Template

With the aid of a useful template, have a solid backup plan for routine school activities and operations in case of emergency or crisis. You may prioritize responses, and operations, identify crucial recovery stages and create a restoration plan using the BCP template.

When a crisis happens, the most important asset that any school must safeguard against rapid loss is its critical data. We have seen how educational institutes have been a victim of ransomware attacks wiping out important data from different departments.

In any case, schools must be able to continue operating, regardless of any disruption. Schools may improve their degree of preparation by developing a business continuity plan.

3. Small Business Continuity Plan Template

With the help of this continuity plan for small businesses, you may list your goals for company recovery, select alternative site locations for operations, form recovery teams, and designate recovery duties to certain team members.

The provides a framework and guidance of operations for small businesses to restore their critical functions in the event of unforeseen events. This template includes work processes and lays out clear responsibilities of recovery teams and essential staff members. This is a FEMA-approved business continuity plan template that lists continuity plans to business disruptions due to three primary reasons:

  • Fire, a sudden storm, or flooding
  • Reduction in workforce
  • System failure such as IT or electricity grid

In order for your organization to continue to grow, be sure you can maintain crucial procedures and reduce downtime.

4. SaaS Business Continuity Plan Template

To maintain productivity and efficiency throughout any unanticipated events or disruptions, use the SaaS (Software as a Business) business continuity plan template.

Unlike any other BCP, the SaaS continuity plan focuses more on systems and IT infrastructure than HR and other departments. That’s because SaaS businesses have a cloud-based business model such as selling subscriptions to a web or mobile app. Since these businesses sell software as a service, there is a recurring free every month or year.

In the event of a disaster, the critical functions of a SaaS business are equipment and systems. Some prominent SaaS are Google Drive and Dropbox.

The main emphasis is on getting the IT systems back online as soon as possible following a major disruption that could happen for loss of internet connectivity, floods, fire, or a cyberattack.

5. Healthcare Business Continuity Plan Template

Healthcare businesses like clinics and hospitals cannot afford disruption as it can be life-threatening for staff and patients.

These templates are great resources to assist healthcare facilities in developing their continuity plans and ensuring an effective and efficient return to normalcy.

With the help of a comprehensive business continuity plan template, you can identify risk strategies for certain business areas like clinical, finance, operations, and IT, specify disaster recovery plans and rank the most crucial processes for your medical practice.

To sustain productivity and ensure the safety of both patients and employees, healthcare institutions depend on essential processes and procedures. This template will help healthcare providers to identify all possible risks, design mitigation measures, and allocate duties to important team members. During the business disruption, this template will act as your Hospital Preparedness Program.

6. Law Firm Business Continuity Plan Template

A robust business continuity plan for legal firms involves more than data backups. Every law firm has clients with sensitive and confidential data. Ongoing cases and litigation support will not be possible when the law firm ceases to function.

Law firms can put in place corporate-wide procedures to equip your whole team for a variety of crises. Avoiding liabilities that can occur as a result of an obsolete or insufficient continuity plan is the goal.

7. Construction Company Business Continuity Plan Template

There are additional situations than major disasters that might endanger your business operations.

Your business’s essential machinery, tools, and technology might malfunction or get infected with dangerous ransomware. Or, essential employees may quit your business, leaving you rushing to hire extra staff since they lack the specialized abilities needed to finish the project.

These are common scenarios among construction companies. Construction equipment is quite costly and often upwards of millions of dollars. Without a backup disaster recovery plan, construction companies may not be able to complete their clients’ work on time.

This template is excellent for architects and construction firms regarding business continuity. It outlines in detail how the construction company will continue its normal business operations in different scenarios:

  • Premises incidents including flood, fire, or storm
  • Infrastructure incidents including power failure, loss of computers, and equipment, and internet outage
  • Staff incidents such as sudden injury or death

8. Bank Business Continuity Plan Template

We live in an interconnected world where the provision of services such as finance and banking are now digital. Other than the developed nations, many emerging economies are now digitizing their financial institutions.

A Business Continuity Plan for financial institutions ensures swift recovery of operations, including services to customers, occurring as a result of natural disasters, power outages, cyberattacks, or human error.

The objectives of a BCP are to minimize financial loss, continue to serve customers, and mitigate disruptions on reputation, operations, liquidity, credit quality, and compliance with federal laws and regulations.

For financial institutions such as banks, a business continuity plan is an essential part of their strategic planning process. Governments around the world regulate financial institutions, and any disruptions can have far-reaching consequences for the company, its customers, and the economy as a whole.

As such, a financial institution’s business continuity plan must be comprehensive and well-researched. It should address everything from how the company will maintain customer confidence in the event of a major disruption to how it will keep critical systems up and running. Millions of people rely on mobile apps to transfer funds, pay bills and make online purchases.

9. Business Continuity Plan Template For Manufacturing Industry

Given the importance of manufacturing to the economy, any significant disruption to production can have severe consequences. A business continuity plan is therefore essential. We have already seen how supply chain bottlenecks have hampered growth and increased prices of essential items in most countries around the world.

The plan should outline how the business will continue to operate in the event of an interruption and should cover everything from alternative sources of raw materials to new manufacturing locations. You can use this template to minize the risks of disruptions and ensure that the business can continue to meet customer demand. In today’s global market, a business continuity plan is essential for any manufacturing company that wants to stay competitive.

Tech giants and enterprises always have business disaster recovery plans to ensure incidents such as supply chain bottlenecks, equipment failure, injury, or loss of human life have minimum impact on the business.

Critical events pose a threat to financial loss for individuals in the manufacturing sector because of unanticipated downtime, lower plant utilization rates, lost income, and even personnel who are in danger.

For the manufacturing sector, having a business continuity strategy is crucial to both mitigating a catastrophic event as it occurs and maintaining operations for networks dependent on the manufacturer’s company.

10. Cloud Computing Business Continuity Plan Template

By switching to cloud-based solutions, your company may become more productive, flexible, and lucrative. Planning is essential before taking this action, especially when considering business continuity in the cloud.

SaaS and IaaS models are, in many respects, victims of their own success since it is far too simple for companies to ignore their offerings. Cloud service companies compete in a very crowded industry. Because of this, suppliers promise to handle every facet of the system and data administration at a minimal cost.

It seems sensible that this might cause companies to overlook important components of their business continuity planning and assume their cloud provider would take care of them.

68 percent of businesses outline cloud misconfiguration as their top concern about the security of their infrastructure and data. You need the finest security procedures for dealing with cloud systems since 52 percent of firms ranked disasters.

A business continuity plan is to safeguard your application’s uptime in case anything happens to one of the data centers. You can always fall back on running a clone in AWS, for example.

11. Business Continuity Plan Template For Warehouse

Unfortunate occurrences like a global pandemic may result due to planned or unexpected reasons. Any effective Business Continuity Plan must include preparations for such a disaster.

Any crisis may have devastating repercussions on businesses with warehouses since they are an essential part of their infrastructure and necessary to provide customer service.

This is true with companies relying on rapid commerce or quick commerce, where the need to set up and manage multiple warehouses close to customers’ locations is vital.

By using this template, you can perform risk assessment, test out emergency situations and come up with viable solutions to ensure your warehouse continues operating as a normal business operation.

Planning entails collaborating with professionals and third parties to provide a suitable answer. To promote a speedy recovery from the crisis, a contingency plan should be well thought out.

With business continuity planning, you gain a thorough understanding of the security of your assets, operations, facilities, and personnel. Priority hazards and the assessment of the appropriate course of action in response to recognized risks are both included in the detection of warehouse contamination. Planning can proceed with the knowledge that an adequate response is already in place.

12. Business Continuity Plan Template for Oil and Gas Companies

For every hour of IT downtime, oil and gas companies lose $1 million. In the unfortunate event of power failure, it can go as high as $10 million in lost production and possible equipment damage.

A well-crafted plan will take into account all potential hazards and establish procedures for dealing with them, including evacuation plans, communication protocols, and backup power supplies.

Oil and gas companies attribute their success to insulating themselves from business interruption risk. With ongoing price fluctuation, companies strive to convert effective risk management into business opportunities. This in turn helps them in gaining a competitive edge in the global markets.

The price for not assessing risk is operational downtime. Profitability in the oil and gas field is proportional to large upfront investments alongside calculations of oil and gas prices, oil field output, and configuration of refineries. Oil and gas is a high-risk business and not having a BCP will lead to severe financial losses.

You can use this template to minimize your losses and ensure your oil and gas company remains a going concern despite major setbacks.

Write a Business Continuity Plan with Your New Template

It is imperative for companies to prepare business continuity plans with well-documented recovery strategies and a complete business impact analysis. There are more benefits than costs in implementing a BCP. The strategy challenges you to consider the potential dangers to your company from new angles. You can then adjust your route as appropriate, improving your prospects of long-term survival.

Analyzing your company’s existing situation and level of readiness for unforeseen dangers is the main goal of business continuity plan templates. With it, senior management may locate any areas of the company that need improvement and discover answers to issues that can impede your progress toward your objectives.

With a strong BCP template, minimize the impact of potential disruptions to your business. These templates serve as a guide to developing your own plans, which will vary depending on the type and size of the company.

Leverage any business continuity plan template that fits your requirements and makes your business successful.

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As a small business owner you may have been alarmed by the events and uncertainty of the past few years. Since COVID first hit, a barrage of tough trading conditions has seen countless businesses forced into administration or even company liquidation .

With a background of Brexit, pandemics, lockdowns, the Great Resignation, an in-and-out-and-in-again recession, and other current stressors – you will need a clear plan in place to keep operations running smoothly in these uncertain times – one that focuses on the continuity, survival and durability of your small business. That's where a Business Continuity Plan can be essential.

You may have heard about Business Continuity Plans (BCPs), but don't know exactly what they are or how to go about creating one. Whilst many small businesses have insurances in place, far less know they need a BCP or some kind of framework to deal with unexpected or unpredictable events.

We’ll guide you through the process here, explaining the key considerations and elements. By the end of this article you’ll know how to write a thorough and workable BCP, using the free template provided to get started .

In this article, we will cover:

What is a business continuity plan, why is a business continuity plan important.

  • How to Create A Business Continuity Plan

Next Steps: Testing and Reviewing Your Plan

Our below guide will give you detailed advice on how to write a quality BCP.

But first, you need to know what to include – and that's where a high quality template can help.

We recommend using the free clickup.com BCP template to ensure nothing gets missed. Every step involved in the business continuity plan – coordinating your emergency response, forming your strategy to get back up and running and communicating with your customers – is already mapped out for you, ready to be filled in with your details.

We recommend creating an account with Clickup to use this free template – doing so means you may be able to keep your business protected financially and otherwise in the event of an emergency. You can see the template below, or click to try it for yourself by signing up to Clickup.

business continuity plan simple template

Business continuity is the ability of an organisation to continue production and delivery to an acceptable standard following a disruptive incident. A Business Continuity Plan details the steps and strategies to how you intend to do that.

Your Business Continuity Plan can take many different forms – a paper document that you could store away in a filing cabinet, or a digital document that you store on your computer (or multiple if you want to be really safe).

Ultimately it is the emergency strategy you use if you want to get your business on track in terms of regaining customers (and to avoid losing them to competitors) from supply chain issues, for example, to fixing physical damage to products or property, recovering from any losses of particularly significant people, and keeping the business from fully having to close down due to significant negative events.

You would normally use it as soon as you possibly can after said negative events to mitigate as much damage (whether physical or representational) as you can. This would also inspire confidence about you to your team and show the leadership needed to deal with stressful situations when it’s most needed.

The state of the world leaves much to be desired right now. We are seeing such unprecedented upheavals in almost every sector of everyday life – from the cost of living, to post-pandemic effects, to rising electricity prices and other forms of inflation – that Collins Dictionary chose “Permacrisis” as their 2022 word of the year.

“Permacrisis” perfectly encapsulates the ‘survival mode’ most small business owners are in right now . But having a Business Continuity Plan ensures that your company and its assets are protected and are able to function quickly in the event of a disaster – so that the business survives with as little damage as possible (financial or otherwise).

Your business continuity plan should detail such important aspects such as:

  • Coordinating an emergency response
  • Dealing with damaged infrastructure
  • Timescales for getting systems back up and running
  • Strategies for reassuring customers

How to Create a Business Continuity Plan

We know you already have a lot on your plate right now, and creating a new plan may seem like a lot of work with multiple considerations and factors – but not to worry. A solid plan is worth it, as it can be an essential asset for years to come, and we’re here to walk you through making one.

(We’re also assuming you already have your business plan in place, but if not, we also have a guide that will give you detailed advice on how to write a quality business plan here.)

Step 1: What are your potential risks and impact?

  • Consider all the potential risks to your company. There are external risks (for example power cuts, natural disasters, cyber attacks and other things that are out of your control for the most part), and internal risks (for example sudden cash-flow issues, tough sales months or losing key staff).
  • What parts of the business could they affect? The issues could affect anything from your premises, people, stock and equipment, operations and processes, to technology.
  • What could the impact be? You could for example experience a loss of sales and income, increased expenses, decreased customer satisfaction and loyalty, delayed service delivery, poor product quality, or regulatory fines.

Let’s put it together: If you owned a hair salon and a competitor opened up next door .(potential risk), it would affect the volume of potential customers (part of business affected) and there may be a loss of sales (business impact).

Step 2: What are your critical business functions?

  • A critical business function is a process that must be restored in the event of a disruption to protect the business and keep meeting expectations (up to the standards of shareholders, for example). A good Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system would help with this process, and you can find some of the best CRM for small businesses here .
  • A few different business functions that exist are paperwork, employees, and production for example .
  • Using paperwork that was at risk of a fire as an example, a way to mitigate this potential risk would be to have multiple backups , in different locations and the responsibility of different people in the business.

Step 3: Who holds the key roles and responsibilities?

It’s important to consider the key roles and responsibilities in your business because that way, the right information can get to the right people in a streamlined way and issues can be resolved by the right people quickly.

These may include:

  • Internal staff (sales leaders, accountants, client managers etc)
  • External key players (contractors and service providers, suppliers and distributors, IT consultants, utility companies etc)
  • It’s important to have a list of key people (with their documented roles), and other important contacts, as well as clear instructions that clarify their responsibilities in an emergency situation.

Let’s put it together: If there was a security breach in a tech company, the customer service department (internal staff) would need to be alerted who could send out a reassuring email to customers. Next, a call would need to be made to an IT consultant to fix the issue (external key players). At the same time, a senior manager for example (key people) could also send out a message to shareholders to clear up and clarify any incorrect information showing on systems.

Step 4: What is your communication plan?

  • Who needs to be contacted: in the event of a disruption or emergency? Some examples may include employees, customers, clients, or suppliers.
  • How will you communicate with them: Depending on the severity of the situation and also taking into consideration the tone of your company brand and the mediums your customer base use most, you could use social media, press releases, or an email newsletter for example.
  • What will the tone be? The tone can be serious, reassuring, optimistic or anything else you feel most accurately serves the situation, and that would be on brand for your company.
  • Test your plan. It is extremely important to make sure your plan works BEFORE it's put into action. There would be nothing worse than to feel you have a good plan but when something serious actually happens, it all falls apart because it wasn’t properly tested or viable in actual practice.
  • The various components of testing may involve training staff, practice drills where you can receive feedback on areas of improvement, and allowing yourself time to make adjustments where necessary. Project management software would be useful in organising all of this with the many different people involved – we have an article on some of the best free project management software here.

When Should You Review Your Plan?

A Business Continuity Plan should be a living, breathing entity just as your company is. As life’s natural changes occur, and shifts in your business infrastructure inevitably occur over different periods of time, you will need to ensure that your plan is regularly updated so it’s the best it can be.

Key factors that should trigger a review include:

  • Changes to staff: New staff will need to be informed about the practices of your plans, and sometimes the plan may need to be adjusted to accommodate new staff, if they have specific needs for example.
  • Changes to premises: Your plan should include emergency procedures for every physical premise you have, so if there is a change there make sure your plan reflects that to ensure it’s as optimal as possible.
  • Changes to processes: If there are changes to your processes, your plan should reflect these changes so that everyone can stay updated and there is as little confusion as possible in the event of anything unexpected.

How Often Should You Review Your Plan?

  • Timeframe: An annual review is good practice to review and update your business continuity plan, because usually in that amount of time a business, the environment of the business and the world would have naturally changed and evolved to some extent.
  • Who to update: You should inform anyone within your company that the changes will affect, such as staff and employees, who will need to know in order to adjust their behaviours and processes and move forward safely. (You can use your list of key people for this).
  • How / where to store your BCP: As mentioned above in the ‘critical business section’, it’s important that your BCP is stored in a few different locations, and accessible to the people who may need it.

Your business continuity plan should not just be something you create then never intend to action. You never know when an emergency event will come into play that could potentially break your business in some way or another, and you can use the free template provided by Clickup to rectify that.

Hopefully you’ll never need to use your plan, but in the worst case scenario, you can rest assured that you have yourself and your business covered.

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Business continuity is essential for any organization. The right plan ensures that your team can continue to operate in the event of an unexpected disruption, such as a natural disaster, an equipment failure, or a pandemic.

ClickUp's Business Continuity Plan Template provides you with the essential tools and visualizations needed to create a comprehensive plan that covers:

  • Risk assessment and evaluation
  • Recovery strategies and solutions
  • Testing & review processes

Whether you're adapting to new regulations or creating a plan for future incidents, this template will help ensure your team can stay on track no matter what happens.

Having a business continuity plan in place can help your organization weather any storm. Benefits of using a business continuity plan template include:

  • Quickly identifying potential risks and outlining preventative measures
  • Ensuring that all teams and departments are aware of the plan and their roles in it
  • Providing guidance on how to respond to any potential disruptions
  • Enabling organizations to minimize downtime and maintain business operations during a crisis

ClickUp's Business Continuity Plan Template is designed to help you create a clear plan for any situation. This List template includes:

  • Custom Statuses: Mark task status such as Complete, In Progress and To Do to keep track of progress and performance
  • Custom Fields: Use 2 different custom attributes such as Business Plan Category, Details to save vital information about the plan and easily visualize progress
  • Custom Views: Open 4 different views in different ClickUp configurations, such as the Priorities, Board, List, and Getting Started Guide so that all the information is easy to access and organized
  • Project Management: Improve business continuity plan tracking with time tracking capabilities, tags, dependency warning, emails, and more

Creating a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) requires careful thought and planning. By following the steps outlined below, you can create a comprehensive plan that will help keep your business running during and after an emergency.

The first step in creating a BCP is to identify potential risks that your business may face. This includes natural disasters, power outages, cyber attacks, data breaches, and other scenarios that could disrupt your operations.

Use Docs in ClickUp to map out the various potential risks to your business.

Once you’ve identified the risks, you need to assess the potential impact they could have on your business. This includes examining how the risk could affect your operations, employees, finances, and other critical assets.

Use Automations in ClickUp to assess the impact of each risk.

Once you’ve assessed the potential impact of each risk, you need to develop response strategies to mitigate the damage. This includes developing plans for emergency response, business continuity, and recovery.

Create tasks in ClickUp to develop response strategies for each risk.

Now that you’ve identified the risks and developed response strategies, it’s time to create a BCP document. This document should include all of the information you’ve gathered, including response strategies and contact information for key personnel.

Use the Table view in ClickUp to create a customized BCP document.

Once the BCP document is complete, it’s important to test the plan and make any necessary revisions. This includes running regular drills to ensure that all response strategies are effective and up-to-date.

Set a recurring task in ClickUp to test and revise your BCP plan.

Business owners can use this Business Continuity Plan Template to help everyone stay on the same page when it comes to developing strategies for mitigating risks and preparing for unexpected events.

First, hit “Add Template” to sign up for ClickUp and add the template to your Workspace. Make sure you designate which Space or location in your Workspace you’d like this template applied.

Next, invite relevant members or guests to your Workspace to start collaborating.

add new template customization

Now you can take advantage of the full potential of this template to create a comprehensive business continuity plan:

  • Use the Priorities View to prioritize tasks and make sure the most important tasks are completed first
  • The Board View will help you visualize the progress of your plan and keep track of what needs to be done
  • Use the List View to organize tasks into different categories and keep track of progress
  • The Getting Started Guide View will provide you with step-by-step instructions to get started quickly
  • Organize tasks into three different statuses: Complete, In Progress, To Do, to keep track of progress
  • Update statuses as you progress through tasks to keep stakeholders informed of progress
  • Monitor and analyze tasks to ensure maximum productivity

Get Started with Our Business Continuity Plan Template Today

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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

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.

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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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