A Business Impact Analysis systematically identifies and evaluates the potential effects of disruptions to critical business processes. It determines recovery time objectives (RTO), recovery point objectives (RPO) and the financial, operational and reputational consequences of downtime for each process.
The BIA is a foundational element of business continuity planning and is required by standards such as ISO 22301 and referenced in ISO 27001. By quantifying the impact of disruptions, organisations can prioritise their recovery efforts, allocate resources effectively and justify investments in resilience measures such as redundant systems, backup solutions and disaster recovery sites.