Business Continuity in 2025: Lessons from the Last Five Years

In early 2025, businesses around the globe continue refining how they plan for continuity. The disruptions of 2020 through 2022 created lasting change—forcing organisations to rethink not just disaster recovery but operational resilience. For SMEs, especially in New Zealand, business continuity is no longer a “what if” document. It’s a living strategy.

Continuity vs. Recovery: A Shift in Mindset

Traditionally, continuity planning focused on recovery. But events like pandemics, cyberattacks, and geopolitical tension have shown that recovery isn't enough. Businesses now seek resilience—maintaining operations under stress, not just bouncing back afterward.

Five Key Lessons Since 2020

• Remote-readiness is non-negotiable: Whether due to lockdowns or infrastructure failures, location flexibility is now a critical factor in business survival.
• Cloud adoption accelerates continuity: Cloud-based tools have kept SMEs running during disruptions, offering redundancy and remote accessibility.
• Communication channels must be resilient: Businesses must maintain multiple communication paths—internal and external—when primary platforms fail.
• Cybersecurity is intertwined with continuity: Ransomware attacks can shut down operations. Business continuity must include proactive detection, response, and backups.
• People are central to resilience: Mental health, team communication, and cross-training ensure business doesn't grind to a halt when individuals are unavailable.

Where SMEs Still Struggle

Many small and mid-sized businesses still rely on static plans written years ago. They miss quarterly reviews or fail to test their continuity protocols. Worse, some assume insurance is a substitute for continuity. In reality, it’s only one layer of resilience.

Actionable Steps for 2025

1. Conduct a current-state audit: What processes are covered, which aren’t, and who is responsible for what?
2. Test your plan quarterly: Simulate outages, system failures, or absenteeism. Validate both processes and human readiness.
3. Ensure your cloud tools are properly configured: Backups, access control, and integrations all play roles in continuity.
4. Update your vendor continuity insights: If your suppliers are vulnerable, so are you. Assess their preparedness.
5. Document and train: Your plan is only useful if your staff understand it and know their roles during an incident.

Business Continuity Is a Journey

2025 will challenge organisations in new ways—extreme weather, evolving threats, and changing regulations. SMEs that regularly revisit their continuity plans, train their staff, and monitor their tools will navigate these disruptions with confidence.

Eduardo Wnorowski is a Technologist and Director at Virtus Group Ltd.
With over 30 years of experience in IT and consulting, he brings deep expertise in networking, security, infrastructure, and transformation.
Eduardo helps New Zealand businesses navigate change with clarity, security, and trust.
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