Business Continuity Consultants for Australian Organisations
Business continuity consultants help an organisation keep its critical operations running through a disruption and recover them within a time it can tolerate. Agilient’s business continuity consulting covers the business impact analysis, the continuity strategies, role-based plans and the exercises that test them, aligned with ISO 22301:2019 and, for APRA-regulated entities, CPS 230. The cause might be severe weather, an IT outage or the loss of a key supplier. The aim is the same each time: people know what to do, and the organisation stays inside the disruption it can tolerate.
What is Business Continuity Management?
BCM is the structured discipline of ensuring that essential business activities continue during and after a crisis, whether it is a cyberattack, natural disaster or supplier failure. Business continuity consulting services complement risk management, focusing on maintaining service delivery rather than just preventing threats. Agilient develops customised BCM frameworks that are uniquely aligned to each client’s structure, culture, and risk profile, ensuring that each recovery priority has an owner and a process to return to normal.
In Australia, business continuity is increasingly treated as a governance obligation rather than an optional safeguard. The international standard ISO 22301:2019 sets out the requirements for a business continuity management system, and APRA-regulated entities must also meet the operational risk requirements of CPS 230. Agilient aligns each program to the relevant standard and to the organisation’s own risk appetite, and coordinates it with related disciplines such as IT disaster recovery planning, pandemic planning and broader business resilience.
For a step-by-step method, see Agilient’s guide on how to create a business continuity plan.
why choose us
Why Choose Agilient for Business Continuity Services?
Customised Continuity Solutions
Every plan is tailored to the organisation’s unique risks, processes and people, not a generic template.
Deep Sector Expertise
Our business continuity consultants have delivered programs for government, finance, healthcare and other critical industries, bringing nuanced insight to each engagement.
Integrated Risk Perspective
We incorporate BCM into broader security and enterprise risk strategies, so that continuity measures complement existing controls and governance.
The Cost of Not Being Prepared
If you do not have a tested continuity plan, even a short outage can have a significant financial impact, fail to meet contract obligations or cause long-term damage to your reputation. Data may be lost, customers may leave, and regulators may intervene. A tested plan shortens the disruption and gives leaders a clear record of what was decided and why.
Agilient is an independent, vendor-neutral security consultancy: it does not sell or install equipment, so its advice serves only the client’s risk. Its founder, Mark Bezzina, has more than 20 years’ experience running security and resilience companies and has led over 300 projects, and every consultant has at least 20 years’ experience, typically as security managers within large organisations, including former senior Australian Defence, intelligence and police personnel. Agilient is licensed to operate in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, has delivered more than 300 projects for Australian organisations, and is appointed to multiple Australian Government procurement panels. Contact Agilient to discuss your requirements.
Examples of this work include a business continuity uplift for a national cultural institution, a continuity program built from the ground up for an ASX-listed technology company and a multi-year crisis exercise program for a Commonwealth agency.
See all business continuity case studies.
What you receive, how long it takes and what affects the fee
What you receive. A business impact analysis, business continuity plans for the functions that matter most, a framework aligned with ISO 22301, and an exercise to test the plans with the people who will use them.
How long it takes. A business impact analysis and plan set for one organisation usually takes several weeks, depending on how many business units are involved and how quickly staff are available for workshops. Agilient confirms a realistic timeframe in the proposal before work starts.
What affects the fee. The number of business units and sites in scope, whether existing plans are being reviewed or new ones written, and whether exercising and training are included. Agilient scopes the work in a short conversation at no cost and then provides a fixed-fee proposal.
services offered
Our Approach to Business Continuity
Comprehensive Risk Assessment
We identify internal and external hazards that could disrupt critical services.
Business Impact Analysis
We assess the operational, financial and reputational impact of losing each activity to set the recovery priorities.
Strategy & Plan Development
We create practical, role-based playbooks and checklists to ensure continuity and recovery.
Training & Awareness
Agilient delivers workshops and briefings to ensure that staff understand their responsibilities and can act decisively.
Simulation & Testing
We conduct tabletop and live exercises to assess plans and identify gaps prior to a real event.
Many clients now run an annual exercise program rather than a one-off test: two to four tabletop or scenario exercises a year, each building on the last, with a short lessons-learned report after every session and a record of how capability improves over time. Programs can be supported by Resix, Agilient’s resilience exercise platform.
Continuous Improvement
We help you commit to re-assessing plans periodically as operations, regulations, and threats evolve.
Reviews follow ISO 22301:2019, which expects an organisation to exercise and test its business continuity arrangements at planned intervals and to act on what it learns.
When should an organisation engage business continuity consultants?
Most organisations bring in business continuity consultants at a trigger point rather than in a quiet year. The common ones are:
- a regulator, auditor or insurer has asked for evidence that critical operations can be maintained through a disruption;
- the organisation is an APRA-regulated entity working to CPS 230, or a responsible entity under the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 whose risk management program must address disruption;
- the board wants a business continuity management system aligned to ISO 22301:2019;
- existing plans have grown up department by department and no longer fit together;
- a real incident, such as an IT outage, a flood or the loss of a key supplier, has shown that the plan did not work as written.
In each case the question is the same: if this happened tomorrow, which services would stop, for how long, and who would decide what to do first?
What does a business continuity engagement deliver?
A business continuity engagement with Agilient usually produces the following, scaled to the size of the organisation:
- Business impact analysis. The critical activities, the maximum tolerable period of disruption for each, and the recovery time and recovery point objectives that follow from it.
- Continuity strategies. Practical options for people, premises, technology, information and suppliers, costed and agreed with the owners of each activity.
- Business continuity plan. Role-based plans and checklists that a manager can use at 2 am, with clear activation triggers and a communications plan. The guide to creating a business continuity plan sets out the method, and a free business continuity plan template gives a starting point.
- Crisis and ICT alignment. Links to the crisis management arrangements and to IT disaster recovery planning, so recovery priorities and technical recovery times match.
- Exercise program. Tabletop and scenario exercises that test the plan, each followed by a short report on what worked and what to fix.
- Maintenance and reporting. A review cycle and a simple report for the executive or board on the state of continuity capability.
How does business continuity work for APRA-regulated entities?
APRA Prudential Standard CPS 230 Operational Risk Management requires banks, insurers and superannuation trustees to identify their critical operations and set tolerance levels for each: the maximum period of disruption, the maximum data loss and the minimum service levels while operating under alternative arrangements. The business continuity plan must hold the register of critical operations, the triggers for activating the plan, the actions to stay within tolerance and a communications strategy. The plan is approved by the board and tested through a systematic program that includes an annual business continuity exercise.1
Agilient helps regulated entities build the business impact analysis, tolerance levels and plans that CPS 230 expects, and designs and facilitates the annual exercise. The APRA CPS 230 and CPS 234 guide explains how the standard fits with information security obligations, and the CPS 230 business continuity guide covers tolerance levels, the plan and the annual exercise in detail.
Business continuity case studies
Agilient’s business continuity work spans government, utilities, technology, property and community services. Examples include:
- a business continuity management system uplift that took a national cultural institution from foundational plans to a tested system aligned with ISO 22301;
- an integrated business continuity program for an ASX-listed technology company, tested with its leadership team;
- a standards-aligned business continuity framework for a regional water utilities alliance;
- an embedded business continuity practitioner who rationalised an energy company’s fragmented program.
See all business continuity case studies, or read the ISO 22301 business continuity guide.
1. Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, Prudential Standard CPS 230 Operational Risk Management, apra.gov.au.
Secure Your Business Continuity Today
Agilient’s business continuity consultants can review existing plans, run a business impact analysis, or design an annual exercise program. Contact Agilient to discuss your organisation’s continuity arrangements, or call 1300 341 692.
Access Business Continuity Wherever You Are
Agilient partners with organisations nationwide to strengthen resilience in the face of uncertainty. Serving both metropolitan hubs and regional communities, we deliver bespoke solutions in business continuity, crisis response, and risk management. With our expertise, your operations remain protected, adaptable, and prepared to meet challenges—no matter your location.
faqs
Frequently Asked Questions
While BCM focuses on maintaining critical operations during disruptions, business resilience takes a broader view by emphasising an organisation’s ability to adapt and recover. At Agilient, we see the two as interconnected. A strong BCM framework forms the foundation of resilience, and together they ensure stability in the short term and adaptability in the long term.
Any organisation that relies on uninterrupted operations, especially those in regulated, high‑trust or customer‑facing sectors, benefits from BCM.
Agilient recommends reviewing the plan at least once a year and after any significant change to the organisation, its technology, its suppliers or its regulatory obligations. Exercises should also run at least annually. APRA-regulated entities must include an annual business continuity exercise in their testing program under CPS 230, and ISO 22301:2019 expects exercises at planned intervals.
The international standard for business continuity is ISO 22301:2019, Security and resilience — Business continuity management systems — Requirements. It defines how an organisation should plan for, respond to and recover from disruption. For ICT continuity the companion guidance is ISO/IEC 27031, and APRA-regulated entities must also meet the operational risk requirements of CPS 230. Agilient builds continuity programs that align to the standard relevant to each client.
A business continuity plan keeps the whole organisation operating through a disruption, covering people, premises, suppliers and critical processes. Disaster recovery is the narrower discipline of restoring IT systems and data after an outage. The two work together: the continuity plan sets the recovery priorities and timeframes, and IT disaster recovery planning delivers the technical means to meet them.
The cost depends on the number of business units and sites, how mature the existing arrangements are, and whether the work covers a full business continuity management system or a single plan and exercise. Agilient scopes the work in a short conversation and then provides a fixed-fee proposal, often in stages so the business impact analysis informs the rest.
Agilient designs and implements business continuity management systems aligned to ISO 22301:2019 and prepares organisations for an external audit. Certification itself is issued by an accredited certification body, so Agilient works alongside the organisation and its chosen certifier rather than certifying the system itself.
