What Is a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)?

A business continuity plan (BCP) is a documented strategy that helps organizations turn an unexpected crisis into a manageable disruption. Examples of disruptions include cyberattacks, utility outages, supply chain failures, natural disasters, and service outages like the recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) incident. 

Why Business Continuity Planning Matters

A business continuity plan outlines procedures and resources to minimize downtime, recover quickly, and ensure business resilience. Every organization, regardless of size or industry, should have a business continuity plan in place to protect its operations, employees, and customers.

In this blog post, we’ll answer common questions about business continuity plans, provide real-world BCP examples, and show how a BCP can help your business to:

• Minimize downtime
• Attempt to maintain critical operations, including delivering products and services to customers
• Keep employees and others safe from harm
• Maintain communication, trust, and reputation
• Recover

Real-World Examples of Business Continuity Plans in Action

Business Continuity Plan Example 1: E-Commerce Company

The recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage is a perfect example of why a BCP can be so helpful for businesses of all sizes. During the AWS outage, big businesses like Netflix and Venmo were in the headlines for experiencing disruptions. But in reality, more than 1,000 sites and services worldwide were offline (NBC News). Imagine just for a moment that your ecommerce business was offline for a few hours or even a whole day. Would you be prepared?

What’s at stake in this scenario? Lost revenue, customer frustration, abandoned carts, data vulnerabilities, fulfillment, reputational damage, and more.

Business Continuity Plan Example 2: Financial Services Company

Imagine you run a financial services company, where trust, compliance, and uninterrupted access are of utmost importance. Suddenly, something unexpected happens such as an outage experienced by your processor, a strike at your call center, or a ransomware attack demanding payment from your customers.

What’s at stake in this scenario? Data loss, transaction delays, service downtime, mistakes, lost trust and reputational damage, and capital losses.

Business Continuity Plan Example 3: Homebuilder

Supply chain disruptions can affect any company. For example, a homebuilder may experience delays due to a lumber mill closure in the middle of wildfire season. Framing comes to a halt, and the material shortage is driving price increases and project delays.

What’s at stake in this scenario?  Project delays, cost increases, design adjustments, cash flow disruption, risks to reputation, and customer satisfaction.

We provided a few scenarios of who and what’s at stake, and we only scratched the surface. 

What Happens Without a Business Continuity Plan?

Without a BCP, even a short interruption can spiral into major financial losses, data issues, reputational damage, and more. In fact, studies show that 80% of companies without a continuity plan fail within 18 months after a major disruption (ZipDo, 2024).

No company is immune to the unexpected (and if you still think you’re exempt, check out this post on BCP myths debunked!). While a business continuity plan can’t prevent, control or fix a crisis, it can help organizations manage short- and long-term risk.

For example, in the case of the homebuilder, a BCP could include a list of alternative suppliers, revised project schedules, internal communication chains, external communication strategies, and more. Identifying potential threats and responses in advance can mean faster recovery, protected profits, and continuous operational improvements.

What’s in an Effective Business Continuity Plan?

A BCP typically contains several plans, such as:

• Disaster recovery plans
• Crisis management plans
• Emergency response plans

Every business should have a business continuity plan to position themselves as ready and resilient. Our advisory team is ready to provide you with a free Business Continuity Planning Guide and tailored support.

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P.S. - If you're worried about the process being too technical or you simply feel uncomfortable looking at vulnerabilities face-to-face, we completely understand. Considering worst-case scenarios is never fun, but you can find freedom in having a plan for the future.

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Sources:

Zywave, Business Continuity Planning Guide

OpenAI. (2025, November 5). Response to “What's at stake when a homebuilder experiences a supply chain disruption they can't control.” ChatGPT (GPT-5)

OpenAI. (2025, November 5). Response to “What's at stake when an ecommerce site goes down as was the case with aws.” ChatGPT (GPT-5)

OpenAI. (2025, November 5). Response to “Why should a financial services company have a BCP? what's at stake?.” ChatGPT (GPT-5)

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