Why Most Business Continuity Plans Fail Before a Crisis Even Hits

Most organizations think they have a solid business continuity plan.

They have a Business Impact Analysis, a risk register, and maybe even a crisis playbook. They assume that when disruption strikes, they’ll just follow the steps, recover quickly, and get back to business as usual.

Wrong.

When a real crisis happens (whether it’s a cyberattack, a system outage, a supply chain breakdown, or a critical third-party failure) most plans fall apart.

Teams scramble. Communication breaks down. Leadership hesitates.

But why does this happen? Because most business continuity plans fail before the crisis even begins.

1. The Three Reasons Business Continuity Fails...

It’s Treated as a Compliance Exercise. For many organizations, business continuity planning is something they do to check a box. The plan gets written. The documents get approved. Everyone moves on. No one actually thinks about using it. When continuity planning is driven by compliance instead of real operational needs, it’s detached from reality.

2. It Assumes a Crisis Will Unfold in a Predictable Way...

A lot of business continuity plans are scenario-based. “If a cyberattack happens, follow these steps.” “If there’s a power outage, execute this procedure.” Sounds good in theory. Completely useless in reality. Because when a disruption actually happens, it never unfolds the way the plan predicts.

A real-world example? During the CrowdStrike update failure in 2024, thousands of organizations saw their critical IT systems crash. Many had business continuity plans in place—but most didn’t account for a software update being the root cause or how to coordinate across vendors, IT teams, and business units.

3. It Ignores the Human Factor...

Business continuity planning is about people. It’s about how your people react under pressure. Even the best-designed plan can fail if:

• Leadership panics or delays decision-making.
• Employees don’t know who to contact or what their role is.
• Internal politics and egos get in the way of clear communication.

So what Actually Works?

Business Continuity Must Be Operationalized. Resilience can’t live in a policy document. It needs to be part of how the business operates every day. That means:

• Business continuity professionals need a seat at the table when strategy decisions are made.
• Recovery strategies should be built into daily operations, vendor management, and IT architecture etc.
• Staff should be trained in how to react. Not just once a year, but regularly.
• Scenario Testing Needs to Be Uncomfortable. Too many tabletop exercises are scripted and comfortable. They don’t pressure-test leadership, break assumptions, or create real tension.
• The Plan Should Be a Playbook, not a Script. A rigid plan only works if the crisis follows the script which it never does. Instead, business continuity plans should be designed as a playbook that gives teams guiding principles, priorities, and decision-making structures. That means flexible decision-making frameworks.

To sum up...

A good plan isn’t about predicting the exact crisis. A good plan is about making sure your teams can handle anything. Most companies don’t realize their business continuity plans are broken until they’re in the middle of a disaster. By then, it’s too late.

The real question isn’t: “Do we have business continuity plans?”

It’s: “Will it actually work when it matters?”