Contingency and Continuity

I had a speaking engagement client mention when they requested a talk on contingency planning, they were surprised I immediately understood that to be business continuity. How similar/dissimilar are these words?

• Contingency planning is for a future event that might happen which depends on chance and is commonly used for emergencies or unexpected problems.

  
  

• Business continuity is a business's ability to maintain operations at an acceptable level during and after a disruptive event.

  
  

The terms are both similar and dissimilar, mostly when it comes down to what is in the person's head when they speak it...mostly based on their understanding and exposure.

The examples given to me were based on what is essentially succession planning: what happens when a life emergency causes the leader not to be there. To some people succession planning is passing the torch when the leader leaves (define "leaves" as sells, dies, retires). To others it is more aligned with having to step away for a period of time and the business can continue without them during that time. I don't care why or how, I care what: leader is unavailable (define "unavailable" as experiencing a personal emergency, on vacation, sick, dead). The situation is ultimately the same. You need to plan for when that happens, not why.

Naturally from the way contingency planning was defined above, a contingency is a plan for anything that can knock you off balance if you aren't ready for it. Planning for business continuity is a response to an interruption that can end your business if you aren't ready for it. Seems pretty similar when both have you saying, "I planned for that!". You just need a broader perspective so you don't miss the bigger picture and expand what you already know.

Speaking of...I will die on the hill that business continuity is both different from and more encompassing than the risk management, cybersecurity, crisis management and emergency management fields...because all four (and more!) are part of business continuity planning, but not the other way around.

Being ready is just being ready. What contingencies have you created to make your business continuous? That really comes down to how ready you are and how ready you want to be.