Business Continuity Isn’t a Binder on a Shelf – It’s an Operational Capability
By Russ Henderson, Director of Research
Utility emergency management has long been defined by stabilization, incident command, and restoring service. But as events grow longer, broader, and more complex – and as disruptions increasingly come from cyber incidents, technology failures, workforce constraints, and supply-chain interruptions—another question is taking center stage: can the utility keep core business functions running while response and recovery are underway?
In a February 2026 discussion, the Emergency Management Leadership Council reinforced that business continuity can’t be treated as a standalone planning discipline or a compliance exercise. Emergency management governs activation and operational coordination; business continuity sustains the enterprise’s ability to function – even when an event doesn’t trigger a full emergency activation. And when disruption escalates, crisis management brings executive decision-making, reputation, regulatory exposure, and stakeholder impacts into focus. Mature programs define how (and when) work escalates across all three.
👉 Members can access Guideline No. 11 – Business Continuity
Continuity needs are often less dramatic than downed lines – but no less critical: payroll and billing during extended events, call center surge operations, technology recovery timelines that don’t match business expectations, or facility and supply-chain disruptions unrelated to infrastructure damage. Yet many plans break at execution because they aren’t accessible under pressure, don’t reflect how work is actually performed, or rely on assumptions that don’t hold during real incidents.
What separates strong programs from shelfware? Clear governance and accountability (even if ownership models differ), enterprise standards with distributed execution, and executive visibility into maturity and gaps. Most importantly, utilities emphasized exercises as the primary way to validate plans and surface friction – especially beyond tabletop discussions. As vendor and shared technology reliance grows, continuity risk increasingly sits outside the organization, making contractual requirements, vendor tiering, and joint exercising essential.
The takeaway is simple: engagement and usability matter more than documentation volume. A smaller plan that people can find, trust, and use will outperform a comprehensive document no one can execute. When business continuity is integrated with emergency management and treated as a year-round operational capability, utilities are far better positioned to sustain operations, no matter what kind of disruption shows up next.
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