What is Business Continuity ?


Also known as	BC, business continuity planning (BCP), continuity of operations
Category	Risk management, operations, governance
Common in	All industries, especially finance, tech, healthcare, travel, and global enterprises

What Is Business Continuity?

Business continuity is the process of planning and preparing for external or internal events that could disrupt a company’s normal operations so it can keep running with minimal downtime.

These events can be anything from natural disasters and power outages to cyberattacks and supplier failures. Business continuity is about asking, “What if something major goes wrong?” and then putting plans in place so your organization can still serve customers, pay employees, and meet its obligations.

This matters because unexpected disruptions are inevitable. For example, if a key data center goes down, a company with a solid business continuity plan can quickly switch to backups, enable remote work, and keep critical services running. In travel and expense management, that might mean rerouting travelers, enforcing remote work policies, and keeping payment systems online even during a crisis.

Understanding Business Continuity in Detail

Key Components of a Business Continuity Program

A strong business continuity program usually includes:

Business impact analysis (BIA): Identifies critical processes (e.g., payroll, payment processing) and the business impact of interruptions.
Risk assessment: Looks at threats such as natural disasters, cyberattacks, and global events like pandemics.
Business continuity plan (BCP): A documented plan that explains what to do during a disruption, who does what, and how to keep critical processes running.
Disaster recovery (DR): Focuses on restoring IT systems, data, and infrastructure.
Communication plan: Defines how you communicate with employees, customers, and partners during a disruption.
Training and testing: Regular drills and plan reviews to make sure the plans work.

Business Continuity vs. “Crisis Response”

Business continuity is proactive and structured, not just reactive:

➡️ Before an event, you assess risks and design backup processes.

➡️ During an event, you follow the plan instead of improvising.

➡️ After an event, you review what happened, learn, and improve.

Modern platforms that manage travel and expenses, such as Navan, also need their own business continuity plans so customers can still book travel and process expenses if part of the system goes down.

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Why Business Continuity Matters

Companies with strong business continuity often see less downtime, lower financial loss, and stronger trust from customers and employees.

Here is why it matters:

Protecting Revenue and Operations

A disruption that stops you from serving customers can quickly turn into lost revenue. Business continuity keeps core services running.

Protecting People and Data

In crises, employee safety and data security are top priorities. Clear continuity plans help you support employees and secure systems.

Meeting Legal and Regulatory Requirements

Many industries and enterprise customers require suppliers to have tested BCPs.

Maintaining Reputation and Trust

Customers remember how you act in a crisis. If you stay reachable, transparent, and responsive, trust grows.

Resilience in Travel and Expense Operations

Travelers may need rebooking during disruptions, and finance needs to keep paying suppliers and employees. Systems like Navan must stay up to support these core workflows.

How Business Continuity Works in Practice

Setting Up a Business Continuity Lifecycle

Identify critical processes, such as payroll, customer support, and expense processing.
Conduct a business impact analysis (BIA) to determine how long each process can be down before it causes serious damage.
Assess risks and vulnerabilities by identifying likely threats and rating their potential impact.
Design continuity strategies, such as remote work capabilities for people, cloud redundancy for IT, and secondary vendors for suppliers.
Document the business continuity plan (BCP) with step-by-step procedures, clear roles, and escalation paths.
Train, test, and refine the plan through tabletop exercises, simulations, and system failover tests.

Example Scenarios in a Travel & Expense Context

Scenario 1: Regional Flight Disruption

A major storm shuts down a hub airport. The business continuity plan for travel includes rules for rerouting travelers, allowing remote participation in meetings, and using tools like Navan to rebook at scale.

Scenario 2: Core Expense System Outage

Your main expense tool goes offline for 24 hours. The BCP includes activating a backup manual process for critical reimbursements and communicating delay expectations to employees.

Scenario 3: Office Closure/Global Pandemic

Offices close suddenly, and travel is restricted. The BCP includes shifting to full remote work, freezing non-essential travel in the booking platform, and maintaining regular communication with employees.

Common Challenges and Solutions Concerning Business Continuity

Challenge 1: Treating Business Continuity as a One-Time Document
Solution: Make business continuity a recurring program, not a project. Review and update plans at least annually.

Challenge 2: Plans Are Too Generic or Vague
Solution: Write concrete steps, owners, and time targets. Use checklists and specific scenarios.

Challenge 3: Lack of Testing and Training
Solution: Run tabletop exercises involving your real teams (IT, HR, finance, travel) and simulate realistic scenarios.

Challenge 4: Overlooking Dependencies on Third Parties
Solution: Map critical third-party dependencies (e.g., payment processors, travel platforms), ask for their BCP details, and have alternatives where practical.

Challenge 5: Poor Communication During Incident
Solution: Prepare communication templates and channels in advance. Define who communicates what, to whom, and how often.

Aspect	Business Continuity (BC)	Disaster Recovery (DR)	Risk Management
Primary Goal	Maintaining overall business operations during a crisis	Restoring IT infrastructure, data, and technical systems	Identifying and mitigating potential threats before they happen
Focus Area	People, processes, facilities, and third-party suppliers	Servers, networks, applications, and backups	Financial, legal, strategic, and operational risks
Timing	Active during and immediately after a disruption	Reactive (triggered after a technical failure occurs.)	Proactive (ongoing assessment to prevent issues)
Scope	Enterprise-wide (holistic)	Technical/IT-specific (subset of BC)	Strategic and preventative
Core Question	"How do we keep working while the office is closed?"	"How do we get our databases back online?"	"How do we stop this problem from happening?"

Business continuity plan (BCP): The documented procedures that guide how a company continues operations during a disruption.
Disaster recovery (DR): The technical side of recovery, focused on restoring IT systems, networks, and data.
Recovery time objective (RTO): How long a process or system can be down before it causes unacceptable damage.
Recovery point objective (RPO): How much data loss is acceptable, measured in time.
Risk assessment: A systematic look at potential threats and vulnerabilities.
Business impact analysis (BIA): A study of how disruptions affect business functions, used to prioritize what must be recovered first.
Redundancy/failover: Backup systems, data centers, or suppliers that can take over if the primary ones fail.
Duty of care: A company’s responsibility to protect employee safety, especially during emergencies.
Travel management company (TMC)/travel platform: Partners like Navan that manage bookings and need strong continuity capabilities.