Wondering what is a business continuity plan and whether your small business needs one? It’s a written plan that keeps your key operations running, and restores them quickly, when a disaster or other disruption hits.
This guide belongs to a wider series on technology in business, covering the tools and planning that keep a company running.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Steps in Ready.gov’s planning training | Six |
| Suggested plan exercise frequency | Semiannually |
| Business continuity standards available worldwide | Almost two dozen |
| U.S. national standard named in a guide published Aug. 26, 2019 | NFPA 1600 |
| Ready.gov Business Continuity Planning Suite (page updated 03/25/2026) | No longer supported or available for download |
These figures come from Ready.gov’s planning suite page and a TechTarget small-business template guide. They can change, so check the source before you rely on them.
What a business continuity plan actually covers
A business continuity plan should contain the crucial information needed to keep a business operational during an unforeseen event, such as a disaster. That is the description in a TechTarget guide published Aug. 26, 2019. Its goal is to avoid or reduce disruption of mission-critical services while restoring all operations as rapidly and smoothly as possible.
Ready.gov treats it as a team effort. Its planning page tells organizations to organize a business continuity team and compile a plan to manage a business disruption, as of the page’s 03/25/2026 update.
An earlier Ready.gov page puts the value simply: when business is disrupted, a plan is essential to weathering the storm, according to the page last updated 03/23/2020.
Why a plan matters for a small business
The TechTarget guide says organizations need a plan in anticipation of a range of threats. It lists these:
- Natural disasters
- Terrorist attacks
- Infrastructure failures
- Staff disruption
- Work stoppages
- Data corruption
- Theft
- Breaks in the supply chain
Beyond good practice, the same guide notes that companies may need a plan for insurance or compliance reasons. A plan can also improve internal and external communication, reduce downtime, and prepare employees and executives for disaster, per the same guide.
Because data corruption and theft appear on that list, it helps to read about how to create a data backup plan alongside this guide. If staff disruption worries you, look at the best remote work tools for small teams too.
How the planning process works
Ready.gov’s training describes six steps for building a plan. Each step is covered in its own short video on the Ready.gov planning suite page.
- Prepare to create a plan.
- Define the plan’s objectives.
- Identify and prioritize potential risks and impacts.
- Develop continuity strategies.
- Define your teams and tasks.
- Test the plan.
The order matters because each step feeds the next. You can’t pick sensible strategies until you know which risks and impacts matter most.
The TechTarget guide lists a longer set of activities for small businesses: project initiation, risk assessment, business impact assessment, strategy development, plan development, testing and maintenance, emergency communications, awareness and training, and coordination with public authorities. It says the process matches what larger organizations do, but a small business can simplify it to fit its size and complexity, as that guide explains.
Ready.gov’s page says its Business Continuity Planning Suite is no longer supported or available for download, as of the 03/25/2026 update. The training video descriptions remain on the page.
What goes inside the plan
The TechTarget sample template gives a useful picture of a plan’s structure. Its sections include the following:
- Initial data, with emergency notification contacts at the front of the plan
- A revision control page that reflects your change management process
- Purpose and scope, including assumptions, team descriptions and a list of terms
- Instructions for using the plan, such as when it is activated and who declares a disaster
- Policy information, where standards documents can be referenced
- Emergency response and management
- Plan reviews and maintenance
- Checklists and flow diagrams for response and recovery
- Notification of an incident affecting the site
Putting contacts first is deliberate. The guide says it saves you valuable seconds that would otherwise go on searching a lengthy document, per the TechTarget guide.
Keeping your plan useful
A plan only helps if people can use it under pressure. The TechTarget guide says it doesn’t have to be hundreds of pages long, and that a one-page plan with the right information can be more valuable than a voluminous document nobody can use. It also advises keeping content limited to actual disaster response actions.
Standards can give you a starting point. The guide says almost two dozen business continuity standards are available worldwide. Among its U.S. examples, as of its Aug. 26, 2019 publication, were these:
- NFPA 1600, which it called the current U.S. national standard
- BSI BS 25999, the British standard
- The FFIEC Business Continuity Handbook, used by the banking and finance sectors
Once the plan exists, the guide says to exercise it semiannually so the documented procedures make sense in the sequence indicated. It also says to stay flexible, because a single template may not suit every department or location. You can verify these points in the original guide.
For small teams short on time, the guide suggests templates, checklists, and BCP tools and software as ways to get something done quickly.
Frequently asked questions
Is a business continuity plan the same as a business resumption plan?
Show answer
Not quite. According to the TechTarget guide, a resumption plan does not focus on keeping a business up and running during an interruption. It addresses preventive measures and resuming operations.
How often should you test a business continuity plan?
Show answer
The TechTarget guide recommends exercising the plan semiannually. The aim is to confirm the documented procedures make sense in the sequence indicated, as the guide states.
Does a plan have to be long?
Show answer
No. The same guide says a plan doesn’t need hundreds of pages and that a one-page plan with the right, current and accurate information can beat a voluminous document nobody can use.
Can you still download Ready.gov’s planning suite?
Show answer
Not any more. Ready.gov’s suite page, updated 03/25/2026, marks the package as unsupported and unavailable to download. If you want its guidance, the same page still describes training videos on what a plan is, why it matters and the six-step process.
