ISO 27031 ICT readiness for business continuity: A guide
A cyberattack, cloud outage, hardware failure, or natural disaster can interrupt business operations within minutes. For organizations that depend on digital systems, even a short disruption can affect customer services, financial transactions, employee productivity, and business reputation.
Many organizations invest heavily in cybersecurity controls to prevent incidents. However, preventing every disruption is not realistic. Technology failures, supplier outages, human errors, and unexpected events can still affect critical systems.
The real challenge is determining whether your organization can maintain essential operations and restore important technology services when something goes wrong.
ISO/IEC 27031 provides guidance on preparing information and communication technology (ICT) to support business continuity. It helps organizations understand critical technology dependencies, establish recovery objectives, develop ICT continuity capabilities, and improve their ability to respond to disruptions.
The standard connects technology resilience with broader business continuity planning. Rather than treating disaster recovery as an isolated IT responsibility, it encourages organizations to align ICT readiness with business needs, operational priorities, and risk management.
In this guide, we explain what ISO 27031 is, how it supports business continuity, its key principles, implementation steps, recovery metrics, and best practices for improving ICT resilience.
We also explore how organizations can use governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) processes to manage continuity risks, maintain documentation, and monitor recovery readiness.
- What is ISO 27031?
- Why ISO 27031 matters for business continuity
- Key objectives of ISO 27031
- ISO 27031 and the relationship between ICT readiness, disaster recovery, and business continuity
- Key components of ISO 27031 ICT readiness
- Understanding RTO, RPO, and other ICT recovery metrics
- How to implement ISO 27031: A step-by-step guide
- Step 1: Define ICT readiness scope and governance
- Step 2: Identify critical business activities and ICT dependencies
- Step 3: Conduct ICT continuity risk assessments
- Step 4: Establish recovery requirements
- Step 5: Select ICT continuity and recovery strategies
- Step 6: Develop ICT continuity and recovery plans
- Step 7: Implement supporting technical and organizational controls
- Step 8: Test and exercise recovery arrangements
- Step 9: Track findings and remediation activities
- Step 10: Review and improve ICT readiness
- ISO 27031 vs. ISO 22301 vs. ISO 27001: Key differences
- ISO 27031 implementation checklist
- How to measure ICT readiness for business continuity
- Common ISO 27031 implementation challenges
- How CyberArrow GRC supports ISO 27031 ICT readiness
- Conclusion: Strengthen ICT readiness with CyberArrow GRC
- FAQs
What is ISO 27031?
ISO 27031 is an international standard that provides guidance for improving information and communication technology readiness for business continuity.
Its full title is ISO/IEC 27031, Information technology — Cybersecurity — Information and communication technology readiness for business continuity.
The standard focuses on helping organizations prepare their ICT systems, infrastructure, applications, information, and supporting services to meet business continuity needs.
ICT readiness involves more than maintaining backup copies or preparing a disaster recovery document. It requires organizations to understand which technology services support critical business activities and establish appropriate capabilities to maintain or restore those services during disruptions.
For example, an online retailer may depend on payment processing systems, cloud infrastructure, inventory applications, and customer communication platforms.
If one of these systems becomes unavailable, the organization needs to understand how the disruption affects operations, which services must be restored first, and what resources are required for recovery.
ISO 27031 provides guidance for developing and maintaining that readiness.
What does ICT readiness for business continuity mean?
ICT readiness for business continuity, often referred to as IRBC, describes an organization’s ability to prepare its technology services to support business operations during and after disruptive events.
This includes identifying critical ICT dependencies, evaluating risks, defining recovery needs, implementing continuity arrangements, and testing whether recovery capabilities work as expected.
The objective is to ensure that technology recovery plans support the actual needs of the business.
For example, restoring a database may not be enough if the applications, network connections, identity systems, or external services needed to use that database remain unavailable.
An effective ICT readiness program considers these dependencies together.
What is the latest version of ISO 27031?
ISO/IEC 27031 was originally published in 2011 and subsequently revised.
Organizations should use the applicable current edition, ISO/IEC 27031:2025, when developing or reviewing their ICT readiness practices.
The revised standard continues to address ICT readiness for business continuity and provides guidance that organizations can adapt to their operational needs.
Because standards are updated over time, organizations should verify the edition referenced in their internal policies, contracts, and applicable requirements.
Is ISO 27031 mandatory?
ISO 27031 is a guidance standard and is not automatically mandatory for every organization.
However, ICT continuity obligations may arise from industry regulations, customer contracts, service agreements, or internal governance requirements.
Organizations can also adopt the guidance voluntarily to strengthen operational resilience and improve their ability to recover from technology disruptions.
ISO 27031 is not a standalone accredited management system certification standard in the same way as ISO 22301 or ISO/IEC 27001.
Organizations can use it to improve their ICT readiness practices without treating implementation as a separate certification process.
Why ISO 27031 matters for business continuity
Business continuity depends on more than having documented emergency procedures.
Modern organizations rely on interconnected technology systems to deliver products, serve customers, communicate with employees, and manage essential operations.
A disruption affecting one critical ICT service can create consequences across multiple departments.
Cybersecurity incidents can disrupt essential services
Ransomware, destructive malware, compromised credentials, and other cyber incidents can make critical systems unavailable.
Even organizations with strong preventive security measures need recovery arrangements for incidents that bypass existing defenses.
ISO 27031 supports planning for ICT disruptions so organizations can prepare appropriate recovery capabilities before an incident occurs.
Cloud and third-party dependencies create additional risks
Organizations increasingly depend on external cloud platforms, software providers, data centers, and managed service providers.
These services can improve operational flexibility, but they also introduce dependencies outside the organization’s direct control.
For example, a business may maintain backups of its application data while still depending on an external identity provider to restore user access.
ICT readiness planning should account for such dependencies and evaluate how supplier disruptions could affect recovery.
Recovery expectations must match business needs
Technology teams may establish recovery procedures without fully understanding how long business operations can tolerate an outage.
ISO 27031 encourages alignment between ICT recovery capabilities and business continuity requirements.
This helps organizations prioritize resources according to operational importance rather than restoring systems in an arbitrary order.
Testing improves confidence in recovery capabilities
A disaster recovery plan may appear complete on paper but fail during an actual incident.
Backups may be unavailable, restoration procedures may be outdated, or critical dependencies may have been overlooked.
Regular exercises and testing help organizations identify these weaknesses before they cause serious operational problems.
Key objectives of ISO 27031
ISO 27031 supports several important ICT readiness objectives.
| Objective | What it means | Business benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Identify critical ICT services | Understand which systems support essential operations | Improves recovery prioritization |
| Evaluate ICT continuity risks | Identify threats, vulnerabilities, and dependencies | Supports informed risk treatment |
| Define recovery requirements | Establish business-driven recovery objectives | Aligns IT recovery with operational needs |
| Develop ICT continuity capabilities | Prepare appropriate technology recovery arrangements | Reduces exposure to prolonged disruptions |
| Coordinate incident and recovery activities | Establish responsibilities and communication procedures | Improves response coordination |
| Exercise and test recovery capabilities | Verify that arrangements can meet recovery expectations | Identifies gaps before actual incidents |
| Maintain ICT readiness | Review changes, findings, and recovery performance | Supports continuous improvement |
These objectives should be adapted to the organization’s size, technology environment, business requirements, and risk tolerance.
ISO 27031 and the relationship between ICT readiness, disaster recovery, and business continuity
ICT readiness, disaster recovery, and business continuity are closely connected, but they are not identical.
Understanding their differences helps organizations assign responsibilities and develop more effective resilience programs.
Business continuity management
Business continuity management focuses on maintaining or restoring the delivery of important products and services during disruptive events.
It considers people, facilities, suppliers, processes, communications, and technology.
For example, a hospital’s business continuity arrangements may address patient care, staffing, medical equipment, facilities, and supporting technology services.
ICT readiness for business continuity
ICT readiness focuses specifically on preparing technology services to support business continuity needs.
This includes applications, networks, infrastructure, information, communications, and related ICT dependencies.
For example, the hospital may need recovery arrangements for electronic health records, network connectivity, and systems supporting medical operations.
IT disaster recovery
IT disaster recovery focuses on restoring technology systems and services following disruptions.
It often includes backup restoration, infrastructure recovery, failover, system rebuilding, and technical validation.
Disaster recovery is an important part of ICT readiness, but ICT readiness also includes planning, governance, risk evaluation, dependency management, and ongoing assurance.
Comparison table
| Area | Business continuity | ICT readiness | IT disaster recovery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Maintaining essential business activities | Preparing ICT services to support continuity | Restoring technology after disruption |
| Scope | People, processes, facilities, suppliers, and technology | ICT systems, services, information, and dependencies | Technical restoration procedures |
| Key activities | Business impact analysis, continuity strategies, exercises | ICT risk assessment, recovery planning, testing, monitoring | Backup restoration, failover, rebuilding |
| Main stakeholders | Business leadership and continuity teams | ICT, cybersecurity, risk, and business teams | IT operations and recovery teams |
| Relevant guidance | ISO 22301 | ISO 27031 | ISO 27031 and applicable technical guidance |
An effective resilience program connects all three areas rather than treating them as independent activities.
Key components of ISO 27031 ICT readiness
Organizations need several connected capabilities to establish effective ICT readiness for business continuity.
1. ICT governance and accountability
ICT readiness should have clear management oversight and assigned responsibilities.
Organizations need to define who approves recovery objectives, manages ICT continuity risks, maintains recovery arrangements, and coordinates recovery activities.
The governance structure should connect technology teams with business continuity, cybersecurity, risk management, and executive leadership.
For example, the IT department may be responsible for restoring infrastructure, while business owners determine which services require priority recovery.
2. Business impact analysis
A business impact analysis (BIA) helps organizations understand how disruptions affect important business activities over time.
The analysis identifies critical processes, dependencies, potential consequences, and recovery priorities.
For ICT readiness, BIA findings help determine which technology services are required to support important business functions.
For example, a financial institution may identify transaction processing, customer authentication, and payment services as critical activities.
The ICT team can then determine which applications, databases, networks, and external providers support those activities.
3. ICT risk assessment
ICT risk assessments identify threats and vulnerabilities that could interrupt important technology services.
Relevant scenarios may include ransomware, power failures, data center outages, cloud disruptions, network failures, human error, and supplier incidents.
Organizations should evaluate both the likelihood and potential consequences of these events using their established risk criteria.
For example, a company relying on one internet connection for critical operations may identify network availability as a significant continuity risk.
4. ICT continuity strategies
ICT continuity strategies describe how organizations will maintain or restore technology capabilities when disruptions occur.
Possible strategies include redundant infrastructure, alternative service providers, data replication, backup systems, alternate recovery locations, and manual workarounds.
The selected approach should reflect business recovery requirements, technical feasibility, cost, and risk tolerance.
For example, a critical customer-facing application may require a more resilient recovery arrangement than an internal reporting system that can tolerate a longer outage.
5. ICT recovery plans and procedures
Recovery plans translate continuity strategies into practical activities.
They should describe the systems involved, responsibilities, recovery sequence, technical procedures, dependencies, and validation steps.
Plans should also identify the conditions that trigger recovery actions and the process for communicating progress.
For example, a recovery plan for a critical application may include restoring infrastructure, validating database integrity, reconnecting required services, testing functionality, and obtaining business approval before returning to normal operations.
6. Testing and exercising
Testing helps organizations determine whether recovery capabilities can meet defined objectives.
Different exercises may evaluate communication procedures, team coordination, backup restoration, application failover, or complete service recovery.
Testing should reflect realistic scenarios and include relevant business and technical stakeholders.
Findings should be documented and used to improve recovery arrangements.
7. Monitoring and continuous improvement
ICT readiness must evolve as business operations and technology environments change.
New applications, cloud migrations, supplier relationships, infrastructure updates, and cybersecurity threats can affect recovery requirements.
Organizations should periodically review their ICT continuity risks, recovery plans, and testing results.
This helps ensure that recovery capabilities remain aligned with business needs.
Understanding RTO, RPO, and other ICT recovery metrics
Recovery objectives are central to ICT readiness because they help organizations define acceptable disruption and data loss.
Two of the most important metrics are Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO).
Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
RTO is the target period within which a product, service, or activity, including supporting ICT capabilities, must be resumed following a disruption.
For ICT planning, RTO helps determine how quickly a technology service must be restored to support business continuity requirements.
For example, if a critical application has an RTO of two hours, the recovery strategy should be designed and tested to support restoration within that target.
The RTO is a planning objective, not a guarantee that recovery will always be completed within the specified period.
Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
RPO is the point in time to which information must be recovered following a disruption.
It helps organizations determine how much recent data loss may be tolerable for a particular system or business activity.
For example, an RPO of 15 minutes means the recovery design should support restoring data to a point no more than 15 minutes before the disruption, under the defined recovery scenario.
This may require frequent backups, replication, or other data protection capabilities.
Maximum Tolerable Period of Disruption (MTPD)
MTPD describes the period after which the effects of a disruption become unacceptable to the organization.
It helps establish the business context for recovery priorities.
An ICT recovery objective should support the relevant business activity’s continuity requirements, rather than being chosen only according to technical convenience.
Example ICT recovery objectives
| ICT service | Illustrative RTO | Illustrative RPO | Business priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payment processing system | 1 hour | 15 minutes | Critical |
| Customer-facing application | 2 hours | 30 minutes | High |
| Internal collaboration platform | 8 hours | 4 hours | Moderate |
| Noncritical reporting system | 24 hours | 12 hours | Lower |
These values are illustrative and are not prescribed by ISO 27031.
Actual recovery objectives should be established through business impact analysis, risk assessment, stakeholder consultation, and technical feasibility evaluation.
How to implement ISO 27031: A step-by-step guide
Organizations can use the following implementation approach to establish and improve ICT readiness for business continuity.
The steps provide a practical roadmap aligned with the standard’s purpose rather than a mandatory sequence or certification checklist.
Step 1: Define ICT readiness scope and governance
Start by identifying which business functions, technology services, systems, and organizational units will be covered.
Establish management oversight and assign responsibilities for ICT continuity planning, risk assessment, recovery implementation, and testing.
The scope should reflect critical business needs and relevant operational dependencies.
Expected outcome: A documented ICT readiness scope, governance structure, and assigned responsibilities.
Step 2: Identify critical business activities and ICT dependencies
Use business impact analysis results to identify the processes and services that require continuity support.
Map the technology systems, applications, infrastructure, information, networks, and suppliers supporting those activities.
Include important dependencies between systems.
For example, a customer application may depend on a database, identity provider, cloud infrastructure, and external payment gateway.
Expected outcome: An inventory of critical ICT services and documented business dependencies.
Step 3: Conduct ICT continuity risk assessments
Identify threats and vulnerabilities that could interrupt critical ICT services.
Assess potential consequences, existing safeguards, and relevant risk treatment options.
Consider cybersecurity incidents, infrastructure failures, supplier disruptions, environmental events, and operational errors.
Expected outcome: A documented ICT continuity risk assessment with prioritized findings.
Step 4: Establish recovery requirements
Work with business owners to define appropriate recovery objectives.
These may include RTO, RPO, service restoration priorities, and other operational requirements.
Confirm that recovery targets reflect business needs and are technically achievable with the available or planned capabilities.
Expected outcome: Approved recovery requirements for critical ICT services.
Step 5: Select ICT continuity and recovery strategies
Evaluate possible recovery approaches based on the defined requirements.
Options may include redundant infrastructure, backup and restoration, alternate processing arrangements, cloud resilience capabilities, and supplier contingency plans.
Consider the costs, dependencies, security implications, and expected effectiveness of each option.
Expected outcome: Approved ICT continuity strategies aligned with business recovery objectives.
Step 6: Develop ICT continuity and recovery plans
Document the procedures required to activate recovery arrangements and restore critical services.
Plans should include responsibilities, communication channels, recovery sequences, technical instructions, dependencies, and validation activities.
Ensure that authorized personnel can access the required procedures during an incident.
Expected outcome: Documented and maintained ICT continuity and recovery plans.
Step 7: Implement supporting technical and organizational controls
Deploy the capabilities required by the selected recovery strategies.
These may include backup systems, secure recovery environments, redundant connections, access controls, monitoring capabilities, and supplier coordination arrangements.
Ensure that recovery systems and backup data receive appropriate cybersecurity protection.
For example, backup copies should be protected against unauthorized modification and deletion, particularly when ransomware is a relevant threat.
Expected outcome: Implemented ICT continuity capabilities supported by appropriate security safeguards.
Step 8: Test and exercise recovery arrangements
Conduct exercises to determine whether the organization can activate and execute recovery procedures.
Testing may involve restoring data, failing over services, validating application functionality, or coordinating a simulated disruption.
Compare actual performance with established recovery objectives.
Expected outcome: Test reports documenting results, identified weaknesses, and required improvements.
Step 9: Track findings and remediation activities
Review testing results, incidents, audits, and risk assessments to identify areas requiring improvement.
Assign owners and deadlines to corrective actions.
Track whether identified weaknesses have been addressed and whether additional testing is necessary.
Expected outcome: A maintained remediation plan with clear ownership and progress tracking.
Step 10: Review and improve ICT readiness
Periodically evaluate whether ICT continuity capabilities remain appropriate.
Review changes to business requirements, technology systems, suppliers, recovery objectives, and threat exposure.
Update plans, safeguards, and testing activities as needed.
Expected outcome: An ICT readiness program that evolves with organizational risks and business needs.
ISO 27031 vs. ISO 22301 vs. ISO 27001: Key differences
Organizations often use ISO 27031 alongside other international standards for business continuity and information security.
Although these standards address related risks, they have different purposes.
ISO 27031 vs. ISO 22301
ISO 22301 establishes requirements for a business continuity management system (BCMS).
It addresses the organization’s ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptions affecting products and services.
ISO 27031 focuses more specifically on preparing ICT capabilities to support those business continuity objectives.
For example, ISO 22301 may help an organization establish continuity requirements for customer service operations, while ISO 27031 helps its technology teams plan how the applications and infrastructure supporting those operations can be maintained or recovered.
ISO 27031 vs. ISO 27001
ISO/IEC 27001 establishes requirements for an information security management system (ISMS).
It focuses on managing information security risks and protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.
ISO 27031 addresses ICT readiness for business continuity, with particular attention to technology disruptions and recovery capabilities.
For example, ISO 27001 may support controls for protecting information systems against unauthorized access, while ISO 27031 provides guidance for preparing ICT services to support business continuity when disruptions occur.
Comparison of the three standards
| Feature | ISO 27031 | ISO 22301 | ISO 27001 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | ICT readiness for business continuity | Business continuity management | Information security management |
| Main objective | Prepare ICT services to support continuity and recovery | Maintain and recover important business activities | Manage information security risks |
| Key activities | ICT dependency analysis, recovery planning, testing | BIA, continuity strategies, exercises | Risk assessments, security controls, monitoring |
| Main stakeholders | IT, cybersecurity, continuity, and risk teams | Business leadership and continuity teams | Information security and risk teams |
| Standalone certification | Not a standalone accredited certification standard | Certification available | Certification available |
Organizations can use these standards together to develop a more coordinated approach to cybersecurity, technology resilience, and business continuity. ISO also recognizes the relationship between ISO 27031, ISO 27001, and ISO 22301.
ISO 27031 implementation checklist
The following checklist helps organizations evaluate the main activities needed to establish an ICT readiness program.
| ICT readiness activity | Recommended documentation |
|---|---|
| Establish ICT readiness governance | Policies, roles, and responsibilities |
| Identify critical business functions | Business impact analysis |
| Map critical ICT dependencies | System inventory and dependency diagrams |
| Conduct ICT continuity risk assessments | Risk register and assessment reports |
| Define recovery requirements | Approved RTO, RPO, and minimum continuity objectives |
| Select ICT recovery strategies | Recovery strategy documentation |
| Develop ICT continuity plans | Recovery procedures and communication plans |
| Protect recovery systems and backups | Security control evidence |
| Evaluate third-party dependencies | Supplier assessments and continuity arrangements |
| Conduct recovery exercises | Test plans and results |
| Track identified weaknesses | Remediation records |
| Review program effectiveness | Management reports and improvement plans |
This is a practical implementation checklist, not an official ISO 27031 certification checklist.
How to measure ICT readiness for business continuity
An ICT readiness program should be measured through evidence of recovery capability rather than the number of plans completed.
Organizations need to determine whether their recovery arrangements are realistic, maintained, and capable of supporting business requirements.
Important ICT readiness KPIs
| KPI | What it measures | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Recovery test success rate | Percentage of recovery exercises meeting defined acceptance criteria | Helps evaluate recovery capability |
| RTO achievement rate | Percentage of tested recoveries completed within the defined RTO | Indicates whether recovery time objectives are being met |
| RPO achievement rate | Percentage of recovery tests meeting defined data recovery objectives | Evaluates data recovery capability |
| Critical ICT service coverage | Percentage of critical services covered by approved recovery plans | Identifies planning gaps |
| Backup restoration success rate | Percentage of backup restoration tests completed successfully | Helps verify backup usability |
| Overdue recovery findings | Number of unresolved recovery weaknesses past their deadlines | Highlights remediation delays |
| Third-party continuity coverage | Percentage of critical suppliers with assessed continuity arrangements | Improves visibility into external dependencies |
Organizations should also assess whether recovery arrangements can support their minimum business continuity objective (MBCO).
MBCO represents the minimum acceptable level of products or services that an organization needs to maintain or restore during a disruption. ISO/IEC 27031:2025 explicitly addresses MBCO, RPO, and RTO as important ICT business continuity planning objectives.
For example, a financial services organization may not need every reporting feature restored immediately, but it may need essential payment services operating at an agreed minimum capacity.
Technology recovery plans should therefore support both restoration timelines and the minimum level of service the business requires.
Common ISO 27031 implementation challenges
Even organizations with established disaster recovery processes can experience difficulties when improving ICT readiness.
Incomplete visibility into ICT dependencies
A recovery plan may focus on restoring a primary application without accounting for supporting databases, identity systems, network services, or external providers.
This can delay recovery even when the main application infrastructure is available.
Organizations should map critical dependencies and validate them during recovery exercises.
Recovery objectives that do not reflect business needs
Technology teams sometimes define recovery targets based on existing infrastructure capabilities rather than business requirements.
This can create a gap between what the organization needs and what its recovery arrangements can deliver.
Recovery objectives should be developed with business stakeholders and validated against technical capabilities.
Untested recovery procedures
A documented recovery plan does not demonstrate that systems can be restored successfully.
Organizations should conduct appropriate exercises, document results, and address identified weaknesses.
Poor coordination between teams
ICT recovery may involve infrastructure, cybersecurity, application owners, business continuity teams, and external service providers.
Without clear responsibilities, recovery activities can become delayed or duplicated.
Documented escalation procedures and coordinated exercises can improve readiness.
Fragmented risk and compliance documentation
ICT continuity risks, recovery plans, testing results, and remediation activities may be managed through separate systems.
This can make it difficult for management to understand whether important recovery risks are being addressed.
Centralized GRC processes can help organizations improve oversight and accountability.
How CyberArrow GRC supports ISO 27031 ICT readiness
Implementing ISO 27031 requires organizations to coordinate ICT risk assessments, recovery planning, governance policies, control monitoring, testing evidence, and corrective actions.
As technology environments become more complex, managing these activities manually can make it difficult to maintain consistent oversight.
At CyberArrow, we help organizations simplify governance, risk management, and compliance through our integrated CyberArrow GRC platform.
Our platform supports the governance and risk management processes organizations need to strengthen ICT readiness and maintain better visibility into business continuity risks.
Centralize ICT continuity risk assessments
CyberArrow GRC helps organizations document and manage risks through centralized risk assessment processes.
Teams can identify ICT continuity risks, assess potential consequences, assign ownership, and monitor risk treatment activities.
This helps organizations connect technology resilience concerns with broader enterprise risk management.
Manage policies and controls
ISO 27031 implementation benefits from documented responsibilities, consistent procedures, and appropriate safeguards.
CyberArrow GRC helps organizations manage policies, track controls, and coordinate compliance activities through structured workflows.
These capabilities support accountability and help teams maintain relevant governance documentation.
Track recovery findings and remediation
Recovery exercises and risk assessments often identify weaknesses that require corrective action.
CyberArrow GRC helps organizations manage remediation activities, assign responsibilities, and track progress.
This makes it easier to maintain visibility into unresolved ICT continuity risks and follow up on important findings.
Streamline evidence collection and audit preparation
Organizations may need to maintain evidence of risk assessments, recovery planning activities, control reviews, and corrective actions.
CyberArrow GRC supports evidence collection and compliance workflow automation, helping teams organize relevant documentation.
This reduces repetitive administrative work and supports internal reviews and audit readiness.
Improve management reporting
Leadership needs visibility into significant ICT continuity risks, outstanding remediation activities, and the effectiveness of governance processes.
CyberArrow GRC supports centralized reporting and risk monitoring, helping organizations make more informed decisions about resilience priorities.
While CyberArrow GRC supports governance, risk management, and compliance activities, organizations must still implement and test their actual ICT recovery capabilities using appropriate technical systems and procedures.
Conclusion: Strengthen ICT readiness with CyberArrow GRC
Technology disruptions are no longer limited to isolated IT failures. Cyberattacks, cloud outages, supplier incidents, and infrastructure problems can affect critical business operations and customer services.
Organizations need more than backup systems and recovery documents. They need a structured approach to understanding ICT dependencies, managing continuity risks, defining recovery objectives, and validating recovery capabilities.
ISO 27031 provides valuable guidance for building ICT readiness that supports business continuity and strengthens operational resilience.
By aligning technology recovery capabilities with business requirements, organizations can improve their preparedness for disruptions and make more informed decisions about continuity investments.
However, maintaining effective ICT readiness also requires strong governance, clear accountability, consistent risk assessments, and ongoing monitoring.
At CyberArrow, we help organizations simplify these activities through our integrated CyberArrow GRC platform.
Our platform helps organizations centralize risk assessments, manage policies and controls, automate compliance workflows, organize evidence, track remediation activities, and improve visibility into governance and risk management processes.
This enables teams to spend less time managing disconnected documentation and more time addressing the risks that matter to their business.
CyberArrow is trusted by the world’s biggest brands across the US, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. We help organizations strengthen governance, simplify compliance, and build more effective risk management programs.
Whether your organization is beginning its ISO 27031 journey or improving existing ICT continuity practices, we can help you manage the governance and risk activities that support stronger business resilience.
FAQs
What is ISO 27031?
ISO 27031 is an international standard providing guidance on information and communication technology readiness for business continuity. It helps organizations prepare ICT services, infrastructure, and supporting capabilities to maintain or restore important business operations during disruptions.
What is the latest version of ISO 27031?
The latest international edition is ISO/IEC 27031:2025, published in May 2025. It replaced ISO/IEC 27031:2011 and provides guidance for organizations of different sizes and sectors.
What is the purpose of ISO 27031?
The purpose of ISO 27031 is to help organizations prepare their ICT capabilities to support business continuity objectives. It addresses readiness planning, technology dependencies, recovery requirements, and the ability to respond to and recover from ICT-related disruptions.
Is ISO 27031 certifiable?
ISO 27031 is a guidance standard rather than a standalone accredited management system certification standard. Organizations seeking formal certification for related management systems may consider ISO 22301 for business continuity or ISO/IEC 27001 for information security, depending on their objectives.
What is the difference between ISO 27031 and ISO 22301?
ISO 22301 provides requirements for a business continuity management system covering the broader organization. ISO 27031 focuses specifically on preparing ICT services and capabilities to support business continuity requirements.
What are RTO and RPO in ISO 27031?
RTO defines the target time for resuming a service or activity after a disruption. RPO defines the point in time to which information must be recovered. Both help organizations establish appropriate ICT recovery capabilities based on business requirements.
Can GRC software support ISO 27031 implementation?
Yes. GRC software can help organizations manage ICT continuity risk assessments, policies, controls, evidence, remediation activities, and management reporting. It supports the governance and oversight aspects of ICT readiness, while technical recovery systems and testing remain essential.