Occupation

Business Continuity Planners

Human Advantage 74%

Significant human skills needed

AI Automation Risk Low Risk
2.7 / 10

This occupation requires complex human judgment, social interaction, and creative problem-solving that are difficult to automate.

Develop, maintain, or implement business continuity and disaster recovery strategies and solutions, including risk assessments, business impact analyses, strategy selection, and documentation of business continuity and disaster recovery procedures. Plan, conduct, and debrief regular mock-disaster exercises to test the adequacy of existing plans and strategies, updating procedures and plans regularly. Act as a coordinator for continuity efforts after a disruption event.

Also Known As: Business Change Advisor, Business Consultant, Business Continuity Administrator, Business Continuity Analyst, Business Continuity And Disaster Recovery Specialist, Business Continuity Consultant, Business Continuity Coordinator, Business Continuity Planner +17 more

Core Tasks

  1. Develop emergency management plans for recovery decision making and communications, continuity of critical departmental processes, or temporary shut-down of non-critical departments to ensure continuity of operation and governance.
  2. Develop disaster recovery plans for physical locations with critical assets, such as data centers.
  3. Test documented disaster recovery strategies and plans.
  4. Analyze impact on, and risk to, essential business functions or information systems to identify acceptable recovery time periods and resource requirements.
  5. Write reports to summarize testing activities, including descriptions of goals, planning, scheduling, execution, results, analysis, conclusions, and recommendations.
  6. Review existing disaster recovery, crisis management, or business continuity plans.
  7. Create scenarios to reestablish operations from various types of business disruptions.
  8. Establish, maintain, or test call trees to ensure appropriate communication during disaster.
  9. Conduct or oversee contingency plan integration and operation.
  10. Identify opportunities for strategic improvement or mitigation of business interruption and other risks caused by business, regulatory, or industry-specific change initiatives.
  11. Interpret government regulations and applicable codes to ensure compliance.
  12. Create or administer training and awareness presentations or materials.
  13. Prepare reports summarizing operational results, financial performance, or accomplishments of specified objectives, goals, or plans.
  14. Attend professional meetings, read literature, and participate in training or other educational offerings to keep abreast of new developments and technologies related to disaster recovery and business continuity.
  15. Recommend or implement methods to monitor, evaluate, or enable resolution of safety, operations, or compliance interruptions.
  16. Create business continuity and disaster recovery budgets.
  17. Maintain and update organization information technology applications and network systems blueprints.
  18. Design or implement products and services to mitigate risk or facilitate use of technology-based tools and methods.
  19. Analyze corporate intelligence data to identify trends, patterns, or warnings indicating threats to security of people, assets, information, or infrastructure.
  20. Conduct or oversee collection of corporate intelligence to avoid fraud, financial crime, cyber attack, terrorism, and infrastructure failure.

Supplemental Tasks (1)

  1. Identify individual or transaction targets to direct intelligence collection.

Education & Training

Job Zone 4 Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Education: Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Experience: A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
On-the-Job Training: Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Education Level Distribution

Percentage of workers in this occupation with each education level.

Bachelor's Degree
68%
Some College Courses
9%
Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree)
9%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.
9%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)
5%

Technology & Tools

Hot Technologies

  • Adobe Acrobat
  • Atlassian Confluence
  • Atlassian JIRA
  • Microsoft Access
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Project
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • Microsoft SharePoint
  • Microsoft Visio
  • Microsoft Word
  • Oracle Primavera Enterprise Project Portfolio Management
  • Structured query language SQL
  • Teradata Database

Software (37)

  • Actuate BIRT
  • Business continuity software
  • CA Clarity PPM
  • COOP Systems myCOOP
  • Computer operating systems
  • EMC RSA Archer Business Continuity Management
  • Emergency notification system software
  • Enterprise backup systems
  • Jaspersoft Business Intelligence Suite
  • Local area network LAN software
  • MIR3 Intelligent Notification
  • Mentimeter
  • Microsoft Office SharePoint Server MOSS
  • Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne
  • RecoveryPlanner RPX
  • SAP Crystal Reports
  • Strategic BCP ResilienceONE
  • SunGard NotiFind
  • Sungard Assurance
  • Virtual Corporation Sustainable Planner
  • Web browser software

Tools & Equipment (9)

  • Computer laser printers
  • Computer server equipment
  • Desktop computers
  • Mainframe computers
  • Multiline telephone systems
  • Personal computers
  • Storage area network equipment
  • Tablet computers
  • Teleconferencing systems

Where This Career Leads

Career progression organized by specialty track and experience level.

Business Information Management Advanced Manufacturing

Zone 4
Business Continuity Planners You are here
Zone 5

Leadership & Operations Advanced Manufacturing

Zone 2
Zone 3
Zone 4
Business Continuity Planners You are here
Zone 5

Entrepreneurship & Small Business Construction

Zone 3
Zone 4
Business Continuity Planners You are here
Zone 5

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