When you start a business, more often than not, you have a business plan. The business plan helps bring a business into existence. The business contingency or business continuity plan is as important as a business plan. This plan keeps a business running in the event of a difficult business event - like a protracted outage of service.

The difference between a business contingency plan and a disaster recovery plan is the business contingency plan incorporates business processes - such as supply chain, human resources and corporate communications - into an overall readiness effort. It provides for all the individuals in a company, not just the IT staff, to be prepared. Typically, it costs more, and involves more effort on the part of the business owners.