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6 business continuity plan software providers to know
Business continuity planning software can help organizations create a plan that automates time-consuming processes and accounts for critical aspects such as regulatory compliance.
Developing a business continuity plan can be an overwhelming task, particularly for larger organizations. Business continuity plan software can help ease the process.
Business continuity encompasses the processes that get an organization back to normal operations after a disruption. Depending on the industry, the amount of downtime a business experiences can result in loss of reputation or even legal action from customers. Organizations can manually create business continuity plans, but might not want to risk the possibility of human error in a critical process.
Business continuity software does more than just outline the details that need to be included in an organization's planning effort. It can help identify key risks and existing single points of failure within the organization's operations. A good business continuity plan software package can help the organization maintain regulatory compliance as well as automate some of the more time-consuming tasks associated with the planning process, such as gathering data with a business impact analysis.
The sections below outline some of the more prominent software options for risk management. While some of these options might best be described as full-blown business continuity plan software suites, others focus on specific aspects of the business continuity planning process.
The following list is based on the writer's research and professional insights into the business continuity and disaster recovery market. In choosing featured vendors, the author focused on ease of use and range of features.
This list is unranked and published in alphabetical order.
Agility Recovery
Agility Recovery specializes in helping businesses acquire the resources they need in times of crisis. This might include replacement IT hardware or fuel for generators. In addition to business continuity testing and tabletop exercises, the company also offers Agility Planner.
Agility Planner is designed to be easy to use and helps organizations create a business continuity plan. Where possible, these plans are prepopulated, using the organization's own data, all with an eye toward maintaining compliance. A built-in reporting engine makes it easy to generate reports on the organization's emergency preparedness.
Agility Recovery does not publicly disclose pricing information.
Archer
Archer Engage might best be described as a collaborative platform that is geared toward risk management. The idea is that to be effective, risk management practices must be adopted throughout the organization, and Archer Engage provides a way for stakeholders to participate in the risk management process.
Risk management is all about balancing the potential financial impact of risks against the cost of mitigating those risks. Archer Engage provides decision-makers with information about the potential economic impact of various risks as well as an analysis of risk prevention options.
Archer does not publicly disclose pricing information.
Everbridge
Everbridge provides business continuity planning software, but also focuses on workforce safety, IT-related disruptions, physical security and public safety.
Everbridge provides options for developing business continuity plans, particularly for retail and manufacturing. Everbridge has designed its software so that business continuity plans become part of an end-to-end protective tool revolving around an interactive dashboard that provides risk intelligence. The company also offers a mass messaging feature designed to deliver notifications to employees who are affected by an incident.
Everbridge does not publicly disclose pricing information.
Fusion Risk Management
Fusion Risk Management provides risk management software options, but also focuses on operational resilience, third-party risk management, IT and security risks, crisis and incident management, and business continuity management.
The company's business continuity management software, Fusion Framework System, works by charting all of a business's processes. This helps the software map dependencies and identify business impact tolerances. The software also enables organizations to perform what-if analysis and various exercises as a way of improving operational resiliency. Recently, Fusion Risk Management also integrated generative AI-powered assistants as an additional tool that customers can use in the resilience planning process.
Fusion Risk Management does not publicly disclose pricing information.
LogicManager
LogicManager is designed to act as a comprehensive enterprise risk management suite. Business continuity is only one of the software's core functions. The software also helps with IT governance and cybersecurity, third-party risk management, compliance, internal audit management, financial controls and HR risk management. Users can manage all these areas through a central risk management hub.
Because LogicManager is designed for enterprise use, risks can be defined on a per-location basis; for example, an organization might have one location that is especially prone to flooding. LogicManager also provides native integration with more than 500 business applications, making it easier to work with an organization's existing data.
LogicManager does not publicly disclose pricing information, but the company does offer a 90-day free trial.
Riskonnect
Riskonnect Business Continuity Management software is designed to assist organizations with disaster readiness.
Riskonnect's software is based around a series of KPIs and enables businesses to experiment with various what-if models. Perhaps more importantly, Riskonnect detects hidden vulnerabilities that an organization has not addressed. It also automates the review, update and approval cycle. This process is critical, since without regular reviews, business continuity plans quickly become outdated.
Riskonnect does not publicly disclose pricing information.
Brien Posey is a 22-time Microsoft MVP and a commercial astronaut candidate. In his more than 30 years in IT, he has served as a lead network engineer for the U.S. Department of Defense and a network administrator for some of the largest insurance companies in America.
