Would you pay $1 million to fix what $100,000 could have prevented?
That’s not a hypothetical, it’s reality for organizations that skip business continuity planning. For many executives, business continuity (BC) programs are seen as a compliance checkbox or a line item to shave down during budgeting. But the financial evidence tells a different story: business continuity is one of the best risk management investments you can make.
Let’s break down the numbers.
When a disruption hits, every second counts and costs. Today, downtime averages $9,000 per minute. For larger organizations, this can quickly exceed $1 million per hour in lost revenue, productivity, and service disruption. Yet most companies are severely underprepared: according to the Business Continuity Resources Benchmarking Report, 77% of organizations invest less than $100,000 annually in business continuity.
That gap between risk exposure and investment is financially unsound. Business leaders often treat continuity planning as a low-priority line item, but it can be what saves companies during a crisis. Business continuity programs consistently deliver an 8:1 return on investment. In other words, every dollar invested in preparation can save multiple dollars in recovery.
Discover the direct and indirect ROI of BC programs.
Recovery is always more expensive than prevention. But more importantly, it’s slower, riskier, and far more disruptive to customers, compliance, and credibility.
It’s easy to underestimate the ripple effects of a disruption until you're in the middle of one.
Data from IBM shows the average cost of a data breach in 2024 reached $4.9 million. Ransomware response costs have exploded by over 500%, averaging $5.13 million per incident. But the financial losses are only the start.
When systems go down, operations stall, and the real damage begins: customer frustration, missed obligations, regulatory scrutiny, and erosion of the brand. According to FEMA, one in four businesses never reopens after a major disaster. And for those without a continuity plan, 75% fail within three years.
These outcomes are strongly correlated with one factor: whether or not an organization has a functioning business continuity management program. Organizations with documented, tested, and regularly maintained continuity plans recover more quickly, incur less financial loss, and avoid long-term consequences. Those without a plan have higher costs and are more likely to close their doors.
Continuity and crisis management programs reduce ongoing costs. Three costs that normally go down when you have a robust business continuity plan are:
These gains come before anything goes wrong.
Justifying business continuity investment starts with quantifying risk. One simple calculation can help: divide your annual revenue by 8,760 (the number of hours in a year) to estimate how much revenue is at risk for every hour of downtime. This figure often surprises leadership and reframes the conversation from “spend” to “exposure.”
It also helps to ground the conversation in expectations. According to PwC, 32% of customers will leave a brand after just one bad experience. When systems fail and communication breaks down, the damage isn’t limited to the balance sheet. It’s loyalty, reputation, and trust, none of which are easily recovered.
Finally, remind stakeholders that this isn’t a matter of if, but when. According to industry data, 82% of organizations have experienced unplanned downtime in the past three years. Waiting until it happens only increases costs and makes recovery more difficult.
At the end of the day, you have to consider: Is $100,000 too much to protect a $100 million business?
You don’t need more fear. You need a clear way forward, and that’s what BCMMetrics delivers.
Built by the experts at MHA Consulting, one of the most trusted names in business continuity for over 25 years, BCMMetrics is software developed to support real-world continuity programs. It’s the same platform MHA consultants use with hospitals, insurers, financial institutions, and other high-stakes environments.
BCMMetrics strips away the complexity that slows teams down. No bloated features. No steep learning curve. Just the tools your organization actually needs: from building BIAs and recovery plans to tracking compliance and managing updates. Everything is in one place, for a fraction of the cost.
If you're leading a continuity program or are responsible for funding one, BCMMetrics enables you to control costs, satisfy auditors, protect your operations, and give your team a fighting chance when something goes wrong.
Book a demo today to see how it works.