How do you work in business continuity tech?

The work required in business continuity (BC) technology is less about dusty binders and more about maintaining the digital heartbeat of an organization when everything goes wrong. To work in this space means embedding yourself where operations, cybersecurity, and information technology intersect to ensure an entity can survive and recover from shocks, whether those are natural disasters or complex cyberattacks. ^[2][3] This field demands professionals who can not only write a good plan but who actively manage the technological dependencies underpinning every critical business function. ^[5]

# Role Spectrum Technology

The business continuity team structure reveals a clear division of technical labor. While roles like the Business Continuity Manager oversee the entire operational resilience program, ensuring strategies are integrated and risks are minimized, the real "tech" work often falls to specialized positions. ^[1][4]

The IT Disaster Recovery Manager is arguably the most technologically focused direct role. They are explicitly charged with the rapid restoration of IT systems, which includes maintaining data backup frameworks and executing contingency measures to slash downtime and prevent data loss. ^[1] A complementary, hands-on position is the Backup and Recovery Engineer, whose entire mandate revolves around designing and maintaining the systems that securely store and retrieve organizational data. ^[1]

Then there is the Business Continuity Specialist. ^[3] While this title can be broad, in a tech-heavy environment, their responsibilities heavily lean on technical understanding. Specialists are tasked with creating and updating plans for disaster recovery and crisis management, which necessitates a deep familiarity with the actual underlying technology stack—from applications to infrastructure. ^[3] Furthermore, planning often involves using specific enterprise resource planning (ERP) software like Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne or managing service-level recovery using platforms like ServiceNow. ^[7][8] A generalist in this field needs to understand not just what needs recovering, but how the technology currently supports those functions. ^[3][7]

Contrasting these technical execution roles with the broader managerial ones is illuminating. A Business Impact Analysis (BIA) Coordinator, for instance, focuses on determining which functions are critical and assessing the potential financial and operational impact of their loss, which sets the recovery targets that the IT DR team must then meet. ^[1] The technical work is the engine, but the BIA provides the necessary destination metrics.

# Core Technical Competencies

Simply possessing the title of a BC professional is insufficient; success hinges on specific technological and analytical abilities. At a baseline, any professional working in continuity must possess strong cybersecurity awareness. ^[2] They need to recognize evolving cyber threats and understand IT security protocols, as modern disruptions are increasingly digital. ^[2][6]

However, the actual required depth of technical knowledge varies significantly based on organizational structure. In smaller organizations, practitioners report that BCP/DR and Cybersecurity roles often blend into one function. ^[5] In these setups, the professional must be the linchpin that connects business need to the underlying technology that supports it. ^[5] They need to speak the language of the network, storage, and application teams fluently.

If you are entering the field or looking to solidify your expertise, pay close attention to modern infrastructure. Advice from seasoned professionals suggests that focusing exclusively on traditional on-premise recovery planning might cause a career to stall. ^[5] Today, a crucial differentiator for a continuity professional is gaining direct, hands-on experience with cloud environments like AWS, Azure, and GCP, particularly concerning testing and recovery procedures within those platforms. ^[5] The shift from mirroring physical data centers to ensuring resilience within distributed, multi-cloud architectures is where current high-value technical work resides. Simply knowing the jargon of cloud migration is not enough; one must understand how cloud-native recovery mechanisms (like cross-region replication or immutable backups) impact the established Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs). This move requires a deeper understanding of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) concepts than was necessary even five years ago, as infrastructure itself is now treated as code that needs to be rapidly redeployed, not just restored from tape. ^[4]

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# Education and Professional Proof

The pathway into this technology-adjacent discipline generally requires a structured approach to education and credentialing. A Bachelor's degree is usually the foundational requirement, with majors in business administration, information technology, or emergency management being most applicable. ^[2][6] For more senior roles, a Master's degree is often preferred. ^[2]

To prove mastery over the subject—especially the technical planning aspects—certifications are vital. Credentials like the Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) are highly regarded and validate core knowledge. ^[2][3][6] Furthermore, familiarity with international standards is non-negotiable for the tech-savvy professional. Understanding the ISO 22301 standard for Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS) is essential, as demonstrated by certifications like the ISO 22301 Certified Business Continuity Manager (CBCM). ^[2] Professionals coming from a cybersecurity or IT audit background might also find that certifications like CISSP provide a competitive edge when bridging the gap to full BC management. ^[4]

Entry-level roles, such as a Business Continuity Analyst or Coordinator, often require 0 to 2 years of experience, providing the initial exposure to drafting and testing plans. ^[2] A specialist role averages around $71,379 annually, with 87.5% of those job postings specifically requiring a Bachelor's degree. ^[3]

# Execution and Tool Mastery

Working in business continuity tech is ultimately about execution under pressure, which is best tested through rigorous, planned exercises. Professionals are tasked with planning, conducting, and thoroughly debriefing mock-disaster exercises to validate plans and staff preparedness. ^[7] This is where the theoretical plan meets the reality of system performance.

The technical execution of testing is often measurable by the recovery metrics established during the BIA: RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective). A successful test means the technology stack allowed the organization to meet these pre-defined targets. For example, if the RTO for the customer-facing sales portal is four hours, the IT DR plan must orchestrate data restoration, system validation, and network failover within that window. The technology specialist’s job is to ensure the actual measured recovery time is less than or equal to the acceptable RTO. This means selecting recovery solutions—be it cold site failover, pilot light deployment, or hot standby—that technologically guarantee compliance with the agreed-upon RTO/RPO figures. If technology choices consistently fail to meet these figures during testing, the technologist must advocate for increased investment or adjusted expectations, making the test results a direct measure of technology effectiveness. ^[1][7]

Beyond testing, day-to-day work involves maintaining documentation, which now frequently includes detailed blueprints of IT applications and network systems. ^[7] Furthermore, certain roles require specific software proficiency. Business Continuity Planners are noted to potentially work with database software like Microsoft SQL Server, presentation tools like Mentimeter, and high-demand platforms like ServiceNow for incident tracking and management workflows. ^[7][8] These tools are the administrative backbone for managing the continuity lifecycle. ^[1]

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# Outlook and Next Steps

The demand for professionals capable of handling the technological complexity of modern resilience is strong. Employment growth in the broader field reflects an increasing need for risk mitigation across industries. ^[2] Career progression typically moves from Analyst or Coordinator roles into a Manager position after gaining significant experience (often 7-10 years). ^[2] Those looking to advance might specialize further, perhaps moving into enterprise risk management or global security roles, capitalizing on their deep understanding of IT infrastructure resilience. ^[2][4] The field requires professionals who not only understand management but also have an aptitude for attention to detail and process that often aligns closely with IT auditing principles, even if the day-to-day differs significantly from traditional auditing. ^[5]

Ultimately, working in business continuity tech means committing to constant education. As standards like ISO 22301 evolve and threats like ransomware become more sophisticated, the required technical toolkit must also change. Success in this essential profession is secured by those who view organizational resilience as a dynamic technical program, not a static document, ensuring the business can keep ticking when disruption inevitably strikes. ^[4][5][6]