ISO 22301
ISO 22301 provides a structured management framework for business continuity. It is relevant where clients or buyers want evidence that an organisation can identify critical activities, prepare for disruption, recover in a controlled way and review its resilience arrangements over time.
What continuity means in practice
Business continuity is not simply about having a backup folder. A credible continuity system usually includes understanding critical services, disruption scenarios, dependencies, communications, response priorities, recovery planning and a method for testing and review.
Typical review points
- Context, critical activities and continuity priorities
- Business impact understanding and disruption scenarios
- Continuity strategies, plans and communications
- Testing, exercising and learning
- Supplier and dependency awareness
- Document control, review and continual improvement
How it becomes more advanced
At a more advanced level, ISO 22301 moves from plan ownership to organisational resilience discipline. It becomes a governance tool that links risk awareness, continuity planning, exercise outputs, escalation controls and management review.
Best fit
This standard is particularly useful for support services, managed service providers, business-process outsourcers, facilities helpdesks, IT businesses and organisations with time-sensitive customer commitments.