Today’s business continuity statistics reveal that small businesses are increasingly aware of the risks of costly operational disruptions, but many are still unprepared for today’s sophisticated cyber threats.
Below, we highlight the most telling statistics to illustrate why preparing for a crisis is so vital for every company – and how to do it properly.
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Schedule a Consultation →1. The cost of continuity breaks ranges from $427 to $15,000 per minute
Global 2000 companies lose $600 billion per year due to downtime, according to a 2026 report by Techradar One study found that smaller businesses lose an average of $427 per minute. For the largest companies, these losses skyrocket up to $15,000 per minute. In high-risk industries, such as government, finance, and healthcare, the cost of downtime can exceed $5 million per hour.
Why this stat matters: The risks of closure are greater for smaller companies, which is why they must take business continuity planning seriously and implement stronger technologies to prevent and mitigate costly interruptions. |
2. Over two-thirds of industrial businesses experience downtime at least once a month
Outages have become frustratingly common for industrial organizations, with the majority suffering from downtime once a month or more. A typical business in this sector loses close to $125,000 per hour during a continuity break. That means an outage that persists through an 8-hour work shift would cost $1 million or more.
Why this stat matters: Lost productivity can have a major impact on a company’s bottom line, particularly in areas like manufacturing, where every minute of downtime equates to lower revenue. |
3. 84% of businesses say network outages are increasing
Unexpected network outages are extremely common, affecting 91% of businesses at least once per quarter. And unfortunately, these outages are occurring more frequently than ever. According to 2025 statistics from Opengear, 84% of surveyed companies experienced an increase in network outages over the past two years.
Why this stat matters: Since outages are virtually guaranteed, building robust network resilience is now an operational necessity. |
4. Cyberattacks cost small businesses up to $1.24M in business continuity issues
One of the most common (and costly) causes of business continuity issues for small companies today is cyberattacks. Despite what news headlines might suggest, attackers don’t just target the big guys. Many of them aim to intentionally disrupt SMBs, which tend to have weaker cybersecurity measures. According to a report highlighted by Mastercard, the average cost of a cyberattack on small businesses ranges from $120,000 to $1.24 million per incident.
Why this stat matters: A 7-figure cyberattack can permanently close your doors, proving that investing in a robust continuity plan is drastically cheaper than paying for a disaster. |
5. 54% of data centers lost more than $100,000 to an outage in 2024
Outages at data centers are especially concerning because they handle such immense quantities of data, often for numerous businesses around the globe. As a result, the cost of downtime can quickly skyrocket when incidents occur. More than half of respondents to the 2024 Uptime Institute data center survey said their most recent significant, serious, or severe outage cost more than $100,000. One in 5 said their most recent outage cost more than $1 million.
Why this stat matters: If the external data centers housing your critical applications go down, your business absorbs the financial blow, making independent failover capabilities essential. |
6. Nearly half of small businesses never reopen after a disaster
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 43% of small businesses affected by a disaster never reopen and another 29% go out of business within 2 years. The longer recovery takes, the more likely a business will have to permanently shutter its doors.
Why this stat matters: A break in continuity isn’t just costly. It can literally end a business if operations can’t be restarted quickly enough. |
7. 1 in 5 businesses fails within its first year
More than 20% of businesses fail within their first year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data from Lending Tree also found that around one-fourth of businesses fail before their first year is up, and that number skyrockets as time passes. Almost half fail within the first five years, and more than 60% close within 10 years.
Why this stat matters: New businesses operate with very little margin for error, making a solid continuity plan the difference between surviving your first major disruption or permanently closing your doors. |
8. Approximately 700,000 businesses closed due to COVID-19
The rate of business closures can be massively exacerbated by unexpected health crises, as was the case during the COVID-19 pandemic, which presented one of the most challenging continuity challenges in living memory. Among the most shocking business continuity statistics is that around 700,000 businesses closed in the second quarter of 2020 alone (though some reopened their doors in the following quarters).
Why this stat matters: Recent business continuity statistics have revealed that the pandemic disproportionately affected small businesses, highlighting a key lesson for business continuity: expect the unexpected. While it is impossible to forecast events like global pandemics, you can plan for their potential risks and impact. |
9. External actors make up 88% of data breach threats
According to Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigation Report, external actors account for 88% of data breaches. That means around 12% are due to internal actors and business partners, but don’t assume that your colleagues are all out to sabotage your company. Nearly 65% of breaches caused by internal parties were due to errors, not malicious intent.
Why this stat matters: Every company should conduct routine employee training, making sure to factor in the risk of internal threats when creating cybersecurity protocols and business continuity plans. |
10. 76% of logistics companies have suffered supply chain disruptions
According to the 2025 J.S. Held Global Risk Report, 76% of European shipping companies experienced some or substantial supply chain disruptions over the past year. These incidents can have long-lasting impacts on organizations across the supply chain, including manufacturing, shipping and retail.
Why this stat matters: Whether it’s new tariffs, a ransomware attack or an electrical grid failure, businesses must plan for workarounds to maintain continuity even if they rely on other organizations throughout the supply chain. |
11. 90% of organizations have sensitive files exposed to all employees
Sometimes, all it takes is one compromised folder—or even a single file—to cause a break in continuity. And the latest business continuity statistics suggest that businesses are not being careful enough with their file restrictions.
According to recent research by Varonis, 90% of organizations have sensitive files exposed to all employees. This is especially dangerous for organizations within sectors like financial services, which handle some of the most sensitive customer information available.
Why this stat matters: Not everyone in an organization needs the same access and permissions, and being too liberal with access control significantly increases the risk that a user will create, edit, update or delete business-critical data. Folder access should be configured on an “as needed” basis (i.e. the principle of “least privilege”). |
12. 56% of web app hacking attacks involve stolen credentials
Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigation report revealed that 56% of web application attacks are the result of stolen credentials. Around 19% occur due to brute force attacks, often when people use easily guessable passwords.
Businesses that don’t plan or put due diligence into protecting sensitive data could suffer massive losses. In industries such as healthcare and financial services, which face stringent data regulations like HIPAA, organizations can also face steep fines and penalties.
Why this stat matters: Businesses that don’t plan or put due diligence into protecting sensitive data could suffer massive losses. In industries such as healthcare and financial services, which face stringent data regulations like HIPAA, organizations can also face steep fines and penalties. |
13. Around 60% of corporate data is stored in the cloud
Businesses of all sizes continue to adopt cloud technology in various ways to support their business continuity objectives. Nearly two-thirds of corporate data is now stored using a public or private cloud solution, double the amount from 2015. Employee and customer data are the most common types of data stored in the cloud.
Why this stat matters: With the majority of your critical data now living off-site, securing and backing up your cloud environments is just as vital to your survival as protecting your physical servers. |
14. 45% of data breaches are cloud-based
Cloud storage is convenient and beneficial in many ways, but it’s also an increasingly popular target for hackers. Almost half of all data breaches now occur in the cloud. In addition, 80% of companies experienced at least one cloud security incident in the last year, and 27% experienced a public cloud security incident.
Why this stat matters: Implementing cloud backup solutions, including SaaS backup for solutions like M365, in conjunction with traditional disaster recovery systems, is the best way to prevent this type of attack from wreaking havoc on your business. |
15. Hard drive failure rates are increasing
Hard drives can and do fail. When they do, they can cause a massive operational disruption. In 2024, the failure rate for hard drives was 1.57%, down slightly from 1.7% in 2023, 1.37% in 2022 and 1.01% in 2021. This is largely due to aging devices that companies have been reluctant to replace. While 1.57% might not sound like a lot, for a small business that relies heavily on its hard drives, even a single crash can be disastrous.
Why this stat matters: SMBs must create business continuity plans that include reliable data backup solutions and regular hardware replacement schedules to mitigate the risk of sudden drive failure and data loss. Datto backup solutions like Datto SIRIS provide robust protection, and since Datto SIRIS pricing is based on a fully integrated, all-in-one solution, SMBs can find affordable options that ensure both data security and quick recovery, preventing catastrophic downtime. |
16. Power issues cause 54% of data center outages
An unexpected power failure can bring your most critical operations to a screeching halt. According to the Uptime Institute, power outages were responsible for 54% of data center outages in 2024. Other common causes of downtime in data centers include hardware and software failures (11%) and network failures (12%).
Why this stat matters: Power disruptions are often outside of your control, but you can maintain and replace your servers, network devices and other components to minimize the risk of failure. |
17. Ransomware attacks cause 24 days of downtime
Ransomware has become one of the leading causes of operational downtime, affecting businesses around the globe. As of 2022, the average amount of downtime experienced following a ransomware attack was more than three weeks. That represents a significant increase from two years prior when the average length of downtime was 16 days.
Pair the length of downtime with costly ransom demands and payments, which averaged $1 million in 2025, and you’ve got plenty of reason to worry about what might happen if a ransomware attack hits your system.
Why this stat matters: As with most disaster scenarios, data backup remains the single greatest protection against ransomware because it allows businesses to quickly recover lost data and restore systems to their pre-infected state. For smaller businesses, Datto ALTO provides an affordable yet powerful backup and recovery system. Explore Datto ALTO pricing to see how it can fit into your disaster recovery plan. |
18. Malware attacks expected to reach 6.5 billion in 2025
Malware is a persistent and ongoing problem that causes significant disruption for businesses. A malware infection can corrupt data, crash applications or cause other disruptions. In 2025, security researchers projected more than 6.5 billion malware infections, according to DeepStrike, driven increasingly by adaptive AI and deepfake technologies. In recent years, 88% of such attacks have been carried out via email. Experts estimate that 73% of companies are at risk of a material cyberattack—an event that’s significant enough to affect a company’s financial condition, operations or market valuation.
Why this stat matters: Since nearly 90% of these billions of attacks target your employees’ inboxes, deploying advanced email security such as INKY, alongside your continuity plan, is non-negotiable. (Check INKY email security pricing) |
19. AI and zero-day attacks are among the top security concerns in 2025
In recent years, phishing emails have been a top security concern among IT managers. But the rise of AI has ushered in a new era of sophisticated threats that can exploit vulnerabilities faster than ever, often without user deception at all.
Why this stat matters: To combat zero-day attacks, organizations must deploy advanced cybersecurity tools that stop these threats in their tracks. Zero-trust solutions like Threatlocker Ringfencing and managed-detection and response platforms like RocketCyber MDR provide the multilayered security strategy that today’s small businesses require. |
20. 62% of data breaches involved the human element
Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Report, which analyzed 31,000 real-world security incidents, revealed that nearly 2 in 3 breaches involved the human element, including social engineering attacks or human error. This business continuity statistic shows that organizations can’t let their guard down against social engineering attacks like phishing, even as other threat trends are on the rise.
Why this stat matters: The most expensive cybersecurity technology in the world cannot protect your business if an employee simply hands over the keys—making security awareness training a critical first line of defense. |
21. Only 26% of companies have a disaster recovery plan
With so many red flags flying, you might assume that every company has a rock-solid business continuity plan in place. Unfortunately, that’s far from the truth. A business continuity survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation found that 94% of businesses believe their companies would recover from a disaster – but only 26% have an actual disaster plan in place. Not surprisingly, businesses that were actually hit by a disaster faced a harsh reality. 34% took six months or more to recover, with some taking over a year.
Why this stat matters: False confidence is often your biggest vulnerability. Believing your business will survive a disaster means nothing without a documented, actionable plan to guarantee it. |
22. 16% of SMB executives don’t know their Recovery Time Objectives
A survey by Infrascale found that 16% of SMB executives don’t know their recovery time objectives (RTOs), and 24% of those surveyed expect their data to be recovered in under 10 minutes after a disaster. One-third said they expect recovery within an hour, and 17% said one day.
Not surprisingly, these estimates often do not align with the actual recovery timelines that are possible with their implemented IT systems. Typically, the less insight that executives have about those systems, the greater the gap between their recovery estimates and the realistic outcomes.
Why this stat matters: If leadership doesn’t know their actual Recovery Time Objectives, the business is flying blind into the next disaster, virtually guaranteeing devastating, unplanned downtime. |
23. 30% of IT managers say their companies don’t have adequate backups
A 2025 BCDR report by Datto revealed that nearly 1 in 3 IT managers lack confidence in their backup systems’ ability to protect critical data in the event of a crisis. In a survey of more than 3,000 IT professionals and MSPs, 30% said they worry that their companies do not have adequate backup and recovery solutions. Additionally, 30% of respondents said they’re so concerned about it, they’ve had nightmares.
Why this stat matters: The people closest to your infrastructure know exactly how vulnerable it is. If your own IT team is losing sleep over your backup strategy, then a devastating outage is only a matter of time. |
24. Companies only allocate 9% of their IT budget to security
The business continuity management program solutions market is booming, with a 2023 valuation of $1.478 billion. As the market has grown and become more competitive, it has helped bring down business continuity pricing and make it more accessible to smaller organizations.
However, for business continuity to truly make a difference, companies must be willing to invest in their security. According to a recent survey, 21% of businesses downsized their IT staff over the prior year, and 62% reduced their IT budgets. Experts suggest taking the opposite approach, increasing security spending to 10 to 15% of the total IT budget to cover security programs, compliance and business continuity. The money companies spend on those efforts pales in comparison to the cost of not having a business continuity plan in the first place.
Why this stat matters: Slashing IT budgets and downsizing staff leaves your organization critically exposed just as cyber threats and operational risks are reaching an all-time high. |
25. 69% of IT decision-makers are increasing cybersecurity spending
Now for some good news amongst all these dire statistics: in 2024, nearly 70% of IT leaders planned to increase cybersecurity spending by between 10 to 100%, while around 20% expected to raise budgets by 30 to 49%. Only 4% expected to see no change to their budget.
Taking a closer look at those numbers reveals where organizations’ priorities lie. About 44% of IT leaders are willing to invest up to 20% of their budget in education, and 41% are considering allocating the same amount to AI-enabled cyber tools.
Why this stat matters: Both training and advanced cybersecurity solutions like RocketCyber can make the difference between suffering or succeeding during a cyberattack. By exploring RocketCyber pricing, businesses can find scalable, AI-driven protection that fits their budget, ensuring both employee awareness and comprehensive threat defense. |
How to Prioritize Business Continuity
The business continuity statistics above make it clear that operational disruptions come from all sides, from vendor supply chain failures to internal employee errors. However, the right planning can significantly reduce risk and help your operations recover faster when disruptions occur. Here’s how to approach it.
Start with a Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis
Effective business continuity planning begins with understanding which risks pose the greatest threat to operations and what the consequences of downtime would actually look like across the organization.
This typically starts with two foundational exercises:
- Risk assessment: identifies potential threats that could disrupt operations, including cyberattacks, hardware failures, power loss and so on.
- Business impact analysis (BIA): evaluates how those disruptions would affect the business over time. This includes measuring:
- Financial losses
- customer impact
- Compliance exposure
- Reputational damage
- Productivity loss
The goal is to determine which systems and processes are most critical, how long the business can tolerate downtime and which recovery objectives should receive the highest priority. This documentation forms the basis of your business continuity plan. Without these analyses, organizations often make continuity decisions based on assumptions rather than actual business risk.
Identify Your Most Critical Operations First
Not every system or application requires the same level of protection. Businesses should begin by identifying the operations that would cause the greatest disruption if they became unavailable.
This often includes:
- Customer-facing systems
- Communication platforms
- Financial and payroll systems
- Cloud applications
- Production environments
- Remote work infrastructure
- Core databases and file servers
The goal is to determine which systems are truly mission-critical and which can tolerate longer downtime windows. Without clear prioritization, organizations often waste resources protecting low-impact systems while underestimating the importance of critical operational dependencies.
Prioritize Operational Impact, Not Perceived Importance
Systems that create the biggest operational disruptions are not always the most expensive, visible or frequently discussed. A temporary communication outage, for example, may create far greater business interruption than the loss of a less critical internal platform.
Important considerations:
- Effective continuity planning focuses on operational impact first, as guided by the findings of your BIA.
- Organizations should evaluate how downtime affects productivity and revenue for each type of disruption or potential outage. Every scenario is different.
- Never rely on assumptions. Effective continuity planning is highly data-based: it should be prioritized around the real numbers you’ve identified in your impact analysis.
Build a Plan to Prevent, Mitigate & Recover from Disruptions
True business continuity requires a multifaceted approach to preventing, mitigating and recovering quickly when they occur. As such, your BCP must outline the specific actions your organization will take at each of these phases: before, during and following a crisis.
An effective plan typically includes three core components:
- Prevention measures: safeguards designed to reduce the likelihood of outages and operational disruptions before they occur.
- Examples: cybersecurity protections, employee training, infrastructure redundancy, backup power systems, vendor diversification and proactive system monitoring.
- Mitigation strategies: procedures that help maintain operations while a disruption is actively occurring.
- Examples: failover systems, cloud continuity solutions, alternative communication methods and manual operational workarounds
- Recovery procedures: clearly documented steps for restoring systems, applications, data and business operations after an outage.
- Examples: Recovery priorities, assigned responsibilities, communication protocols, backup restoration procedures and recovery time objectives (RTOs).
Finally, remember that business continuity planning is not only about the documentation. It is an ongoing operational strategy designed to help your organization continue functioning during disruptions and recover faster when outages inevitably occur.
The Cost of Complacency: Reactive vs. Proactive Business Continuity
Let’s look at some operational differences between a reactive, “wait and see” approach and a proactive business continuity strategy that addresses real vulnerability in critical operational areas.
Operational Area | Reactive IT Management (“Wait and See”) | Proactive Business Continuity (True Resilience) |
Data Protection | Relying on basic, daily on-site backups that are rarely tested and vulnerable to threats. | Utilizing hybrid-cloud BCDR appliances with automated, daily backup verification and immutability. |
Security & Access Control | Granting broad file access to all employees, increasing the risk of accidental deletion or internal breaches. | Enforcing the “Principle of Least Privilege” and conducting regular security awareness training. |
Vendor/Supply Chain | Assuming third-party cloud vendors (like Microsoft or Google) are responsible for protecting your data. | Deploying independent SaaS backup solutions to ensure cloud data is recoverable regardless of vendor status. |
Crisis Response | Scrambling to figure out who is in charge and what to do while downtime costs mount by the minute. | Executing a practiced, documented plan where every team member knows their exact role in maintaining operations. |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. What are the statistics for backup and recovery?
Around 91% of organizations used some form of data backup. On average, today’s businesses use more than three types of backup solutions, according to a 2025 report by Datto. Nearly half of the surveyed companies back up copies of their data to a public cloud.
2. How many organizations have a business continuity plan?
An estimated 61% of businesses globally have a business continuity plan, according to a survey conducted by AvidXchange. Just under 20% of organizations in the United States have an incomplete plan, and 14% have no plan at all.
3. How often should a BCP be reviewed?
A business continuity plan should be reviewed at least once a year to ensure that the information within the plan is still accurate and up to date. It is also good practice to review the plan whenever there are significant changes to the business’s operations, systems or processes.
4. What are the three branches of business continuity?
Business continuity consists of three primary branches of planning: 1) disaster prevention, 2) response and 3) recovery. Together, these branches help businesses better understand their risks for operational disruptions and the steps to minimize them.
5. How many businesses close each year?
Nearly 600,000 businesses in the United States close each year. This figure represents closures due to numerous factors, including general business failure, lack of profitability, natural disasters, cyberattacks and owner retirement.
6. Why do so many business continuity plans fail during an actual crisis?
Most plans fail due to a lack of routine testing and unrealistic recovery expectations. If a company doesn’t regularly verify its backups or practice its response protocols, executives often discover their planned Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) are impossible to meet.
Conclusion
The most recent business continuity statistics show a troubling ongoing trend. Threats like ransomware, AI-powered threats and other cyberattacks continue to disrupt operations for organizations in every industry, and they’re becoming costlier and more difficult to resolve. SMBs are especially vulnerable because they typically have fewer resources. All of this underscores the importance of implementing a strong business continuity plan and dependable BC/DR technologies that can prevent data loss.
Want to Avoid Costly Business Continuity Issues?
Business continuity issues can make or break your organization, but Invenio IT is ready to help. Schedule a call with one of our data protection specialists to get expert guidance on deploying robust data backup and other business continuity technologies. You can also reach us by calling (646) 395-1170 or emailing success@invenioIT.com.
