Embedding Business Continuity Awareness into Everyday Practice

Introduction

Business continuity (BC) is often framed as a technical discipline: plans, failover systems, and recovery protocols. The traditional objective is to embed business continuity into Business As Usual – ensuring resilience is part of the working environment. But resilience doesn’t stop at the office door. At Tapping Frog, our ambition is broader: to embed BC into Life As Usual, where people apply continuity principles both inside and outside of work. This shift transforms resilience from an organisational function into a societal capability.

Business As Usual vs. Life As Usual

Business As Usual (BAU): The conventional goal of business continuity embedding. Employees are trained to follow continuity procedures in the workplace, ensuring operations can withstand disruption.

Life As Usual (LAU): Our expanded vision. Employees internalise resilience practices so they prepare at home as well as at work. Continuity becomes cultural, not just procedural.

Beyond Disaster Recovery

The product we designed in Cayman took BC to its heart. It wasn’t just about improving disaster recovery (DR) – though failover times were reduced to under five seconds. It became a critical tool in our BC armoury, supporting communications, pre-defined instructions, and notifications. Unlike many products that serve a narrow function, ours was utilised by 100% of employees, touching every department and supporting HR functions and the ITSM service desk.

Lesson: When products are designed with BC in mind, they can become platforms for resilience, not just technical tools.

Embedding Awareness Through Everyday Features

Case Study: Annual Hurricane Survey

Because the product was universally adopted, we could design features that reinforced BC awareness. One example was an annual survey that asked employees to detail:

How close they lived to a coastline
Their elevation above sea level
The highest storey they had access to
Where they would stay during hurricanes of varying categories
Whether they intended to use a designated shelter, and which one

This survey gave us a clear picture of the risks our people faced and where they were likely to be found in any aftermath. But more importantly, the act of completing the survey reminded employees that hurricane season was approaching, and that they needed to prepare – not just at work, but at home.

Resilience as Life as Usual

This approach turned BC from an abstract plan into a lived practice. Employees weren’t just aware of continuity measures; they were actively participating in them. The survey became a cultural touchpoint, embedding resilience into everyday life.

And resilience is symbiotic. Someone who is resilience-aware in their private life will naturally expand that mindset into their work environment. Preparing at home – knowing where to shelter, how to protect family, or how to respond to disruption – reinforces their ability to act at work. Likewise, resilient organisations provide the stability and resources that become a cornerstone of employees’ personal continuity. Work itself is often a foundation of resilience, providing the means to prepare and recover.

Personal Example: Hurricane Paloma

After two near misses in Cayman, including a very near miss from Category 4 Hurricane Paloma, I moved my family into a complex designed to withstand the strongest hurricanes – hurricane glass, shelters of last resort, and elevation above flood risk. This gave me confidence that my family was safe. I could then focus on two things:

Preparatory supplies – always maintained, but boosted ahead of hurricane season.
Work – with home preparations secure, I didn’t need to scramble for shutters or supplies. I could dedicate my energy to ensuring continuity at work.

This balance – securing resilience at home to enable focus at work – is the essence of Life As Usual.

The Broader Implication

Not every product will go to the extent we did – supporting BC communications, notifications, and surveys. Organisations may have other tools in play. But the principle remains: when BC awareness is embedded into systems that employees already use, resilience becomes cultural. And when employees carry that awareness into their homes and communities, resilience becomes societal.

Lesson: Embedding BC into everyday practice transforms continuity from a technical discipline into a shared responsibility. And when employees carry that awareness into their homes and communities, resilience becomes societal.

Conclusion

Typical BC aims to embed resilience into Business As Usual. Our consultancy goes further: embedding resilience into Life As Usual. By designing systems and processes that remind, engage, and empower employees both inside and outside of work, organisations can strengthen not only their operations, but the resilience of society itself.

At Tapping Frog, we help organisations improve their resilience within the workplace, while pursuing the larger ambition of resilience throughout society.