The essential contents of a business continuity plan template
- Steve Dance
- Oct 21, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 16
Sometimes it's helpful to understand what specific content you should have in your business continuity plan template so that you know you are starting your business continuity plan development on a firm foundation. In this blog post we provide a checklist of the essentials that ANY business continuity plan should cover.
All of this content is covered below is contained in our business continuity plan template which has tailor-made document templates for each step in the business continuity plan development process - and you get online help if you ever need a nudge in right direction.
A cross-functional crisis team that can run without one or two key people. so you have capability in depth.
An accessible emergency contact list that’s up to date. For both internal and external contacts. It does not have to be in one repository, but each response team should be confident that their contact lists can be relied upon and will be accessible when they need them.
The capability communicate when our main IT systems are unavailable.
Essential data can be restored from a confirmed clean, ideally immutable backup
The minimum set of systems and people needed to keep the business alive has been defined and proven by testing.
Run books that schedule and prioritise the order in which processes and apps are restored
Legal, compliance, and regulators are part of the incident management plan
A defined strategy for communicating with media, customers and investors.
Can we pivot fast if one of our most critical suppliers goes dark
Proven confidence in any external recovery partners on retainer who we know will respond 24/7
Arrangements for keeping our people safe, informed, and supported.
A means of providing assurance to third parties that the plan is fit for purpose, compliant with recognised standards and good practice and an organisation and processes in place to keep it that way
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