Unlike disaster recovery which pertains to actions taken after a crisis, business continuity refers to those activities performed on a daily basis to maintain service, consistency, and recoverability. Thus business continuity is the activity performed by an organization to ensure that critical business functions will be available to customers, suppliers, regulators, and other entities that must have access to those functions.

These activities include many daily chores such as project management, system backups, change control, and help desk.

Business Continuity is the ability of a business to continue its operations with minimal disruption or downtime in the advent of natural or intentional disasters. Basically, it begins with a plan that addresses all risks and secures systems that are vital to business operations.

Brian Pereira reports, "when business is heavily dependent on IT infrastructure, all risks and threats need to be considered. A well documented Business Continuity Plan ensures that your data and infrastructure are covered."

According to the META Group, 80 percent of Global 2000 organizations have some form of disaster recovery or business continuity plan in place, but only 60 percent of these plans are complete and actionable.

That's why it is necessary for companies that are heavily dependent on IT infrastructure to design and implement a Business Continuity Plan that works under all circumstances.

[Business Continuity]