What is the planning and preparation to ensure operations continue after a disruption called?

The concept being described is business continuity, which refers to the strategic planning and preparation necessary to sustain and maintain essential functions during and after a disruption or crisis. This includes identifying critical operations, resources, personnel, and technologies required to ensure that the organization can continue its essential processes despite facing adverse situations, such as natural disasters, cyberattacks, or other unexpected events.

Business continuity encompasses not only the immediate response to a disruption but also the long-term resilience of an organization, allowing it to operate effectively and recover quickly. It involves developing comprehensive plans and routines that can be activated when disruptions occur, typically documented as part of a business continuity plan (BCP).

While terms like disaster recovery and business impact analysis are related concepts, they serve different but complementary purposes. Disaster recovery focuses specifically on restoring IT infrastructure and operations after a disaster, while business impact analysis is the process of determining the effects of a disruption on critical business functions. Risk management involves identifying, assessing, and prioritizing risks but does not specifically ensure the continuity of operations during disruptions.