#business-continuity

#business-continuity

Rather than stolen data making headlines, it was business stoppage that triggered attention. Moving into 2026, the board's focus should be on ensuring business continuity and building resilience in the face of emerging risks generated by AI usage and attack vectors, quantum computing and geopolitics.

The breakneck pace of AI deployment across enterprises is creating a monumental challenge for executives and company boards. In contrast to traditional IT systems, AI data and related ecosystems, which encompass everything from LLM models and training data to custom prompt data, have emerged as valuable intellectual property. They often represent millions of dollars in investment and months or even years of engineering effort.

Relocating an office is a complex undertaking that presents a significant operational challenge for any business. The primary concern for leadership and facility managers is invariably the potential for costly business interruption. Unplanned downtime during a move translates directly to lost productivity, disrupted client service, and diminished revenue. Consequently, a meticulously planned relocation strategy focused on minimising operational disruption is essential for business continuity.

For more than a decade, many considered cloud outages a theoretical risk, something to address on a whiteboard and then quietly deprioritize during cost cuts. In 2025, this risk became real. A major Google Cloud outage in June caused hours-long disruptions to popular consumer and enterprise services, with ripple effects into providers that depend on Google's infrastructure. Microsoft 365 and Outlook also faced code failures and notable outages, as did collaboration platforms like Slack and Zoom. Even security platforms and enterprise backbones suffered extended downtime.

Digital sovereignty has outgrown its niche as an IT concern and is now firmly on the boardroom agenda. This has been fueled in no small part by geopolitical concerns. However, while geopolitics may have pushed it into the spotlight, at its core digital sovereignty is about one thing: keeping the business running no matter what happens. When critical systems fail, there is always a cost.

Robust IT systems support uninterrupted operations through resilience, security, and proactive monitoring. CIOs report that 87% of digital-first businesses rely on automated failover systems to reduce service disruption. Continuous monitoring helps detect failures before they impact users. Recovery plans activate system redundancies and restore functions with minimal input. Automated backup schedules and patch management prevent gaps in continuity. IT managers emphasise the role of configuration management and centralised monitoring tools.

As the calendar turns the final pages on 2025, the information technology sector stands at a critical juncture regarding its environmental commitments. This year was not marked by technological breakthroughs solving decarbonisation, but by the decisive maturation of sustainability from a strategic differentiator into an operational and regulatory imperative. This transition involved a painful reckoning with data complexity, supply chain reality, and the sheer energy appetite of modern computing, driven primarily by the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI).

When the first of these platforms went offline in October 2025, the eight-hour disruption potentially cost billions of dollars in lost productivity and halted operations. Days later, a second platform experienced a broad outage that took thousands of services and applications offline worldwide. For organizations dependent on these platforms, the message was clear: the promise of cloud resilience doesn't equal resilience by default.

A third of UK organizations are failing to back up all of their sensitive data, hindering their ability to restore operations and ensure service continuity in the event of a breach. Almost half of those surveyed by security firm Cohesity reported not backing up all their workloads, including virtual machines, applications, and unstructured data, while 38% aren't applying consistent data categorization, backup controls, and policies globally.

Today, we're announcing Amazon Route 53 Accelerated recovery for managing public DNS records, a new Domain Name Service (DNS) business continuity feature that is designed to provide a 60-minute recovery time objective (RTO) during service disruptions in the US East (N. Virginia) AWS Region," said Micah Walter, senior solutions architect, in a post on the .

When a leader walks out, the ripple effects are immediate: strategy stalls, teams lose momentum, and culture wobbles overnight. The bigger problem? Most companies aren't ready when it happens. According to DDI's 2025 HR Insights Report, only 20% of CHROs say they have leaders prepared to step into critical roles, and just 49% of those roles could be filled internally today. That means most organizations are closer to a leadership crisis than they realize. This isn't just an HR issue; it's a business continuity risk.

Google is trying to capitalize on what it calls "frequent and severe" Microsoft 365 outages by offering up services like email, storage, and videoconferencing to businesses in the event of a Microsoft outage. The search giant's new Business Continuity plan runs a Google Workspace in parallel with Microsoft 365, so if there's an outage then businesses just switch over to Gmail and Google Meet instead of Outlook and Microsoft Teams.

Winter brings unique difficulties for commercial property owners in Tunbridge Wells. As temperatures drop and harsh weather sets in, roofing systems face increased stress from rain, snow, and freezing conditions. These seasonal pressures can reveal weaknesses that might go unnoticed during milder months. Smart business owners realise that preventative maintenance is far more cost-effective than emergency repairs. A minor leak left unchecked can quickly escalate into serious structural damage, inventory losses, and business disruption.

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is often something that many professionals do not pay close attention to. History has shown us that even industry giants can be humbled and collapse or lose significant income when they overlook critical vulnerabilities in their preparation for crises. This can range from overconfidence in their abilities and technologies used to geopolitical unawareness. If the blind spots are not managed carefully, severe crises can be escalated, which can even threaten the future of the business.

"Too many organizations assume they're more resilient than they actually are. This research makes clear that real resilience isn't about where your systems live - it's about how well you've prepared to keep them running."

"Disaster recovery must be viewed as more than a compliance checkbox; it's a business viability issue," says Darrel Kent, field CTO for storage and recovery at GigaOm.

"During a period of transition, organizations often struggle to maintain momentum when a vital leadership position is left vacant. This can lead to stagnation and lost results."

A recent study found that 58% of small business owners prioritize business continuity and safeguarding the business's values over financial considerations.

ISO 22301 transforms business continuity from a luxury for large corporations into an essential strategy for SMEs to enhance resilience and ensure long-term viability.

In today's digitally-driven business landscape, maintaining the seamless operation of applications and services is paramount. Even brief downtime can result in significant financial losses.