The more your business relies on its IT systems, the more you need to consider how unexpected disruptions would affect your business. These disruptions could come in many forms, from fire and floods to theft or malicious attacks on your systems, such as hacking.

Business continuity planning improves your business' ability to react to such disruptions. It describes how you will restart your operations in order to meet your business-critical requirements.

This guide will explain the importance of business continuity plans to the success of your business, and the stages you need to go through when developing them.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• What is business continuity planning?
• The benefits of business continuity planning
• Risk assessment and impact analysis
• Components of a business continuity plan
• Testing your IT business continuity plan
• Education and training in IT business continuity
• Key steps in developing a business continuity plan