I am often asked the purpose and value of a Business Impact Analysis (BIA). The purpose of a BIA is to quantify the impact to the business (in dollars and cents) that the loss of a service would have. It is a valuable source of input when trying to ascertain the business needs, impacts and risks that the organization may face in the delivery of services. The BIA is an essential element of the overall business continuity process. It identifies the most important services to the organization and therefore will help to define the overall strategy for risk reduction and disaster recovery. At a more granular level this analysis enables the mapping of critical service applications and technology components to critical business processes. It is an invaluable input for Continuity, Strategy, Availability, Design, and Capacity Management and can have a significant impact on the cost of designing, delivering and maintaining these ...