Business
impact analysis (BIA) is a systematic process for determining and
evaluating the potential effects of an interruption to critical business
operations as a result of a disaster, accident or emergency.
A BIA is an essential component of an organization's business
continuance plan. It includes an exploratory component to reveal vulnerabilities
as well as a planning component to develop strategies for minimizing risk. The
end result is a business impact analysis report, which describes the potential
risks specific to the organization studied.
One of the basic assumptions behind conducting a BIA is
that while every component of an organization is reliant upon the continued
functioning of every other component, some components are more crucial than
others and require a greater allocation of funds in the wake of a disaster. For
example, a business may be able to continue more or less normally if the
cafeteria had to close, but would stumble if the information system crashed.
The analysis quantifies the importance of business components
and suggests appropriate funding to protect them in the event of a disaster.
The possibilities of failures are likely to be assessed in terms of their
impacts in areas such as safety, finances, marketing, business reputation,
legal compliance and quality assurance.
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