// Free download
Business continuity plan template, free and no email required.
A fill-in-the-blanks continuity plan built for Australian small business. Ten sections, ten tables, and every field is a square bracket you type over. No form, no drip sequence, no "book a call to receive your copy". The download button is right below this paragraph.
Most continuity templates are written for organisations with a risk committee. This one is written for a business where the owner is also the person who rings the internet provider. It assumes an hour of your time, not a project.
- Critical business functions. What must keep running, and how long it can realistically stop.
- Key contacts. Internal and supplier, including personal email addresses, because if the outage is your email you cannot use work addresses to coordinate.
- Systems and data inventory. Where the data actually lives, who provides it, where the backup is, and how long a restore really takes.
- Eight disruption scenarios. Internet down, power out, premises inaccessible, ransomware, email compromise and invoice fraud, key person unavailable, hardware failure, supplier failure. Each with first-hour actions.
- A first hour checklist. One printable page that applies whatever went wrong.
- Backup and restore. The 3-2-1 rule, plus a last-verified-restore column that quietly exposes the backups nobody has ever tested.
- Access and credentials. Where things are kept, never the passwords themselves.
- Testing log. Because an untested plan is a document, not a capability.
// If you only do two
The two sections that earn their hour.
Continuity plans fail in predictable places. These are the two we see cause real losses, and they are both in the template.
- The systems inventory, because "it is in the cloud" is not a backup answer. Cloud email and cloud file storage protect you against the provider's hardware failing. They do not generally protect you against a staff member deleting a folder, or ransomware encrypting files that then cheerfully sync the encrypted versions up to the cloud. If your inventory says "cloud" in the backup column, treat that as an unanswered question rather than a tick.
- The last-verified-restore column, because an untested backup is a rumour. Backup software reporting success tells you the job ran, not that the data is usable. Restore one real file from each system, write the date in the column, and repeat every six months. This is the single cheapest thing on the entire list and it is the one most often skipped.
There is a third, quieter one in section 9: a domain name registered under a former IT provider's personal account, and a Microsoft 365 tenancy where nobody at the business holds the global administrator login. Neither causes a problem until the day it causes a very large one. Both take ten minutes to check and are covered in business email setup.
// Questions
About the template.
Is the template really free?
Yes, and there is no email form in front of it. Click the button and the Word document downloads. We would rather you had a plan than a lead-capture form stood between you and one. If it turns out you want help filling it in, the number is on this page.
What format is it in?
A Microsoft Word .docx file, which also opens in Google Docs, LibreOffice and Pages. It is built to be typed into rather than admired, so every field is a square bracket you replace with your own detail.
How long does it take to fill in?
About an hour for a small business if you have your supplier details to hand. If you only have twenty minutes, do section 4, the systems and data inventory, and section 8, backup and restore. Those two carry most of the value.
Do we actually need a business continuity plan?
If you have insurance, a landlord, or customers with contracts, you may already be expected to have one. Beyond the paperwork, the real reason is simpler: the decisions in this document are much harder to make well at 7am with your systems down and staff ringing. Making them now costs an hour.
Is this legal or insurance advice?
No. It is a general template written from practical IT experience, and it does not replace advice from your insurer, accountant or lawyer. Check it fits your obligations before relying on it.
Can we share it with our accountant or another business?
Yes. Use it, change it, rebrand it, send it to whoever you like. There are no conditions attached.
// Pairs well with
Filled it in and found gaps? That is the point.
Most people finish the template with two or three uncomfortable blanks. Tell me which ones and I will give you a straight read on what they cost to close.
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