# Business Continuity

An organization's planning and processes for keeping essential operations running during and after a disruptive event.

**Business continuity[↗](/business-continuity)** refers to an organization's planning and processes for keeping essential operations running during and after a disruptive event, whether that's a cyberattack[↗](/cyberattack), natural disaster, power outage, or pandemic. A business continuity plan identifies critical functions, backup[↗](/backup) resources, and step-by-step procedures for maintaining service.

Business continuity is closely related to, but broader than, disaster recovery[↗](/disaster-recovery), which focuses specifically on restoring IT systems. A well-tested business continuity plan can be the difference between a brief disruption and a threat to the organization's survival.