What the BIA delivers (and why it matters)

A good BIA provides the evidence for setting recovery priorities and timeframes, so you can choose proportionate strategies, allocate resources, and satisfy stakeholders or auditors with a clear rationale. ISO 22301 positions BIA as foundational to a BCMS; ISO/TS 22317 describes how to implement, document and keep it current in practice. [iso.org],

The outcome is practical: a justified set of recovery time and data objectives for critical activities, with mapped dependencies and minimum operational levels that plans and exercises must meet.

 

 

Why Inoni for BIA consulting

  • Consultant‑led, standards‑aligned delivery: ISO 22301 expertise with a time‑efficient process that models dependencies, sets realistic recovery timelines and embeds capability. 
  • Software‑supported outputs: plans and evidence that are consistent, maintainable and easy to access.
  • Point‑of‑view on BIA that avoids complexity for its own sake; we favour value‑stream, dependency‑aware analysis over cumbersome bottom‑up spreadsheets.
  • Integrated with your BCMS build, exercises and ISO 22301 readiness when needed.

What we deliver

BIA scoping and stakeholder alignment

Define objectives, scope, impact categories and time horizons; agree terminology and thresholds so results can be compared across teams. This reflects ISO/TS 22317 guidance to tailor BIA to organisational needs.

Data collection by guided workshops and interviews

We facilitate short, structured sessions to surface real impacts, tolerances and dependencies; this improves data quality versus unguided questionnaires. 

Impact over time, with dependency mapping

We assess the build‑up of impact across financial, operational, legal/regulatory, and reputation dimensions, set MTPD/MAO, and map internal/external dependencies to avoid single points of failure.

Recovery objectives you can use

We set and justify RTO, RPO and minimum business continuity objectives (MBCO), providing the numbers strategy and DR designs must meet.

Management report and prioritised actions

A concise BIA report and dashboard that prioritise activities, highlight gaps, and feed directly into continuity strategy, plan development and exercising.

 

 

What you get, typically

  • Agreed scope, definitions and impact criteria aligned to your environment.
  • BIA documentation: critical services and activities, impact‑over‑time, dependencies.
  • Justified MTPD, RTO, RPO and MBCO values with traceable rationale.
  • Management BIA Report with actions that feed strategy and plans.
  • Optional linkage into ISO 22301 BCMS build, exercising and internal audit.

 

FAQs

Is BIA the same as risk assessment?
No. BIA focuses on the consequences of disruption and sets recovery objectives; risk assessment focuses on causes/likelihood and how to reduce them. You can run a BIA without a risk assessment, but risk prioritisation needs BIA impact data to be meaningful. [inoni.co.uk]

Which standards should our BIA align to?
Use ISO 22301 for the management system framework and ISO/TS 22317 for BIA‑specific guidance; many practitioners also reference the BCI Good Practice Guidelines for current thinking and training approaches. [inoni.co.uk]

Do we need a multi‑level BIA?
BCI’s GPG discusses multiple analysis levels, but ISO/TS 22317 encourages tailoring. We keep it as simple as possible while covering critical services, activities and dependencies—scaling depth only when complexity demands it. [thebci.org], [inoni.co.uk]

Book a consultation

If you want to conduct a review of your current BCP effectiveness, or you’re simply interested in finding out more about our BCP services, please book a consultation now and we can get the ball rolling.