It's not always the "big bang" scenario that causes the problem

Statistics

What you maybe don’t want to know :

(source : Chartered Management Institute)

• Despite the fact that more than three quarters of all businesses regard continuity as being important, less than half report having specific business continuity plans
• In 2007, 43% of companies were disrupted by loss of critical IT systems; 30% experienced disruption through loss of telecommunications. 35% experienced disruption due to unavailability of critical personnel.  29% of companies were adversely affected by extreme weather, or its aftermath.
• Less than half of organisations with business continuity plans actually exercise their processes, although more than three quarters of the plans that were tested or rehearsed their plans showed them to be needing change or improvement.  Ten percent of companies who have tested their plans do not make the changes that exercising them have highlighted.
• More than sixty percent of companies with business continuity plans do not include this subject in their staff induction programmes.  Less than forty percent do not have any staff training on the subject. 
• For companies with Business Continuity Management planning, loss of IT is the most commonly perceived potential risk, followed by denial of access, loss of telecommunications, fire, weather and loss of utilites (electricity, water, etc).  Many other, more probable risks, such as supply chain problems, industrial action, product / service issues and reputational / brand / image damage, are considered in less than fifty percent of plans.
  
  In 2007 in the UK, the most disruptive incidents were considered to be industrial action (postal service) and flooding (this was a regional issue)
  
  

• Over fifty percent of business continuity plan programmes are driven by IT, while fewer than thirty percent of organisations hold the responsibility for BCM at board level.

Dire Statistics

(sources shown per item)

• 80% of businesses affected by a major incident close within twelve months (Source :www.bcs.org)
• 90% of businesses suffering major loss of data as a result of an incident are forced to close within two years (Source : www.bcs.org)
• The Twin Towers incident (September 11th, 2001) affected 58% of UK organisations, with 12 percent reporting “serious impact” (Source : Sandwell Metropolitan Council)
• Major disruptions affect approximately 20% of businesses in any one year. (Source : Sandwell Metropolitan Council)
• One in five businesses can expect to be affected by major disruption in the next five years. Of these, sixty percent will be out of business within two years. (Source : www.londonprepared.gov.uk)
• Less than forty percent of sole traders have a procedure to deal with major disruption (disaster), although more than half recognise that such an event could put them out of business. About thirty percent are optimistic enough to say that “it will never happen to them” and about ten percent have never given the matter any thought. (Source : D. Thomas, former MD NDR – attributed)
• Following the Buncefield oil storage terminal explosion and fire in 2005, 650 businesses in the locality were disrupted.
• Twenty businesses, employing 500 people, suffered total loss of their premises. Sixty businesses, employing 3,500 people, needed major repairs to their premises. (Source : Sandwell Metropolitan Council)