A cyberattack can bring down critical applications, a cloud outage can interrupt customer services, and a natural disaster can make an entire office unavailable. When these events occur, organizations need more than an emergency response plan. They need a clear strategy for keeping essential business operations running and restoring the technology that supports them.

Two international standards that organizations often compare are ISO 27031 and ISO 22301. Both help organizations prepare for disruptions and improve operational resilience, but they address different parts of business continuity.

ISO 22301 focuses on establishing a business continuity management system (BCMS) across the organization. ISO 27031 focuses on information and communication technology (ICT) readiness, helping organizations prepare their technology services to support business continuity objectives.

Understanding the differences between these standards is important for business leaders, IT managers, cybersecurity professionals, risk managers, and compliance teams.

Organizations that rely on digital systems need to understand not only how business operations will continue during a disruption, but also how the supporting applications, networks, data, infrastructure, and third-party services will be recovered.

In this guide, we explain ISO 27031 vs ISO 22301, their key differences, requirements, implementation approaches, and how organizations can use both standards together to strengthen business continuity and ICT resilience.

What is ISO 27031?

ISO/IEC 27031 is an international standard that provides guidance on information and communication technology readiness for business continuity.

Its official title is ISO/IEC 27031:2025, Cybersecurity — Information and communication technology readiness for business continuity.

The standard helps organizations prepare their ICT services, systems, infrastructure, and supporting technology resources to meet business continuity needs.

ICT readiness for business continuity is often called IRBC. ISO 27031 provides guidance for identifying critical technology dependencies, evaluating ICT continuity risks, establishing recovery objectives, and developing capabilities that support business operations during disruptions.

For example, an online banking platform may depend on databases, payment gateways, cloud infrastructure, network connectivity, and identity management services.

If one of these components becomes unavailable, the bank needs recovery arrangements that account for the entire service rather than only the affected system.

ISO 27031 helps organizations connect these technology recovery requirements with broader business continuity objectives.

What is the latest version of ISO 27031?

The current edition is ISO/IEC 27031:2025, published in May 2025. It replaced ISO/IEC 27031:2011.

The 2025 edition provides guidance on ICT readiness for business continuity and addresses important recovery objectives, including:

• Minimum Business Continuity Objective (MBCO)
• Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
• Recovery Time Objective (RTO)

These objectives help organizations determine the level of ICT service required during disruptions, the acceptable amount of data loss, and the time available to restore important technology services.

What is the main purpose of ISO 27031?

The primary purpose of ISO 27031 is to help organizations prepare ICT capabilities to support business continuity.

It focuses on the technology services that business operations depend on, including applications, infrastructure, information, communications, and relevant third-party providers.

ISO 27031 is a guidance standard rather than a standalone management system certification standard.

Organizations can adopt its recommendations to improve ICT resilience without pursuing a separate ISO 27031 certification.

What is ISO 22301?

ISO 22301 is an international standard that specifies requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving a business continuity management system (BCMS).

Its official title is ISO 22301:2019, Security and resilience — Business continuity management systems — Requirements.

ISO 22301 takes a broader organizational approach to business continuity. It helps organizations prepare for disruptions that may affect employees, facilities, technology, suppliers, operational processes, and the delivery of products and services.

The standard emphasizes the importance of understanding business priorities, evaluating disruption risks, developing continuity strategies, and testing whether the organization can maintain essential activities.

For example, a healthcare organization may use ISO 22301 to establish continuity arrangements for patient services, medical facilities, staff availability, emergency communications, and supporting technology systems.

The objective is not limited to restoring IT infrastructure. It is to ensure that important business activities can continue or resume at an acceptable level.

What is the latest version of ISO 22301?

The published edition is ISO 22301:2019, with Amendment 1:2024 addressing climate action considerations within the management system context.

The amendment does not replace the complete 2019 standard. Organizations implementing ISO 22301 should consider the applicable edition and amendments when establishing or reviewing their business continuity management system.

What is the main purpose of ISO 22301?

The main purpose of ISO 22301 is to help organizations establish a structured business continuity management system.

It addresses leadership responsibilities, business continuity policies, risk assessment, business impact analysis, continuity strategies, operational planning, exercises, performance evaluation, and continual improvement.

Unlike ISO 27031, ISO 22301 contains management system requirements against which organizations can seek accredited certification.

However, certification is voluntary unless required by applicable laws, regulations, contracts, or other obligations.

ISO 27031 vs ISO 22301: Key differences at a glance

Although ISO 27031 and ISO 22301 support organizational resilience, they differ in scope, purpose, implementation, and certification.

The following comparison summarizes the most important differences.

Comparison area	ISO 27031	ISO 22301
Full name	Information and communication technology readiness for business continuity	Business continuity management systems
Current edition	ISO/IEC 27031:2025	ISO 22301:2019 with Amendment 1:2024
Primary focus	ICT readiness and technology resilience	Organization-wide business continuity
Main objective	Prepare ICT services to support business continuity requirements	Maintain or restore important business activities during disruptions
Scope	Applications, networks, infrastructure, data, ICT services, and technology dependencies	People, processes, facilities, suppliers, technology, and business operations
Standard type	Guidance standard	Management system requirements standard
Certification	No standalone accredited ISO 27031 certification	Accredited certification available
Main stakeholders	IT, cybersecurity, ICT operations, and continuity teams	Business leadership, continuity teams, risk managers, and operational departments
Key activities	ICT dependency analysis, recovery planning, technical readiness, and testing	Business impact analysis, continuity strategies, business continuity plans, and exercises
Recovery objectives	Strong focus on MBCO, RTO, and RPO for ICT	Defines business continuity needs that inform supporting recovery objectives
Third-party considerations	ICT and technology service dependencies	Wider supplier and business process dependencies
Relationship	Supports technology readiness within broader continuity planning	Provides the broader business continuity management framework

The most important difference is that ISO 22301 focuses on business continuity across the organization, while ISO 27031 focuses on ensuring ICT services can support that continuity.

7 Key differences between ISO 27031 and ISO 22301

Understanding the practical differences between these standards helps organizations determine how to apply them effectively.

1. Scope: Technology readiness vs. organization-wide continuity

ISO 27031 concentrates on the technology capabilities needed to support business operations.

Its scope includes ICT infrastructure, applications, networks, information systems, communications, and related service dependencies.

ISO 22301 covers a broader range of organizational resources and activities. It considers employees, physical facilities, suppliers, operational processes, communication arrangements, and technology.

For example, a manufacturing company may need a business continuity plan for maintaining production during a facility disruption.

ISO 22301 helps the organization address staffing, production alternatives, supplier arrangements, and operational priorities.

ISO 27031 helps the technology team prepare the manufacturing systems, network infrastructure, production applications, and data recovery arrangements that support those operations.

2. Purpose: ICT resilience vs. business continuity management

ISO 27031 helps organizations improve their ability to prevent, respond to, and recover from ICT-related disruptions.

It supports technology readiness through recovery planning, risk evaluation, dependency management, and appropriate technical arrangements.

ISO 22301 focuses on establishing a management system that helps the organization prepare for and manage disruptive events.

It provides a structured approach to business continuity governance, planning, implementation, performance evaluation, and improvement.

An organization may have effective technical disaster recovery capabilities but still struggle to maintain operations if employees, suppliers, or facilities are unavailable.

Similarly, a business continuity plan may be ineffective if the technology systems needed to support critical activities cannot be recovered.

Both perspectives are necessary for comprehensive resilience.

3. Requirements: Guidance vs. management system requirements

One of the most important differences between ISO 27031 and ISO 22301 is how the standards are structured.

ISO 27031 provides guidance that organizations can adapt to their technology environments and business continuity needs.

It does not establish a standalone accredited certification scheme. ISO 22301 specifies requirements for a business continuity management system.

Organizations seeking ISO 22301 certification must demonstrate conformity with applicable requirements through an independent certification audit.

These requirements address management responsibilities, planning, operational controls, performance evaluation, and continual improvement.

Organizations should not treat ISO 27031 guidance as a mandatory certification checklist.

Instead, they can use it to support the ICT-related activities needed within their broader continuity programs.

4. Risk assessment: ICT disruption risks vs. business disruption risks

Both standards support risk management, but they examine different aspects of disruption.

ISO 27031 focuses on risks affecting technology availability and recovery. These may include ransomware, infrastructure failure, cloud outages, network disruptions, corrupted backups, and failures involving critical ICT providers.

ISO 22301 addresses risks that could disrupt the organization’s ability to deliver important products and services.

These may include technology incidents, natural disasters, supply chain failures, workforce shortages, facility outages, and other operational disruptions.

For example, a retail organization may identify a prolonged payment system outage as a significant business continuity risk.

ISO 22301 helps assess the effect on customer transactions and business operations. ISO 27031 helps identify the underlying technology dependencies and establish appropriate recovery arrangements.

5. Recovery planning: Technical recovery vs. business service continuity

ISO 27031 emphasizes the readiness of ICT services and the ability to restore them within business-defined recovery objectives.

This may involve backup systems, redundant infrastructure, alternate processing environments, data replication, and recovery procedures.

ISO 22301 focuses on maintaining or restoring business activities to an acceptable predefined capacity.

Business continuity strategies may involve alternate workplaces, staffing arrangements, manual procedures, alternative suppliers, and technology recovery.

For example, a logistics company may need to continue processing urgent shipments during a system outage.

ISO 22301 helps determine how shipment operations should continue. ISO 27031 supports the recovery of the applications, databases, and communications services needed to restore normal processing.

6. Testing: ICT recovery exercises vs. business continuity exercises

Both standards recognize the importance of testing and exercises. However, their testing activities often address different capabilities.

ISO 27031-related exercises may include backup restoration, application failover, network recovery, infrastructure recovery, and technical service validation.

ISO 22301 exercises may evaluate organizational response procedures, communication plans, alternative operating arrangements, and the ability to maintain critical business activities.

For example, an organization may successfully restore a database during a technical recovery test.

However, a broader business continuity exercise may reveal that employees cannot access the application because the identity management service remains unavailable.

Testing both technical recovery and business continuity helps organizations identify these gaps.

7. Certification and compliance

ISO 22301 is a certifiable management system standard. Organizations can pursue certification to demonstrate that their business continuity management system conforms to the standard’s requirements.

ISO 27031 is not a standalone accredited certification standard. Organizations can use its guidance to improve ICT readiness, support internal governance, and strengthen technology continuity practices.

A company certified to ISO 22301 is not automatically demonstrating that every recommendation in ISO 27031 has been implemented.

Likewise, applying ISO 27031 guidance does not automatically establish conformity with ISO 22301.

Organizations should evaluate each standard according to its intended purpose.

How ISO 27031 and ISO 22301 work together

ISO 27031 and ISO 22301 are complementary standards. Rather than choosing one standard over the other, organizations can use both to connect business continuity management with ICT readiness.

ISO 22301 helps determine what the business needs to maintain or recover during a disruption.

ISO 27031 helps the technology function prepare the ICT capabilities needed to support those requirements.

Step 1: Identify critical business activities through ISO 22301

Start by identifying the business activities that are essential to delivering products and services.

A business impact analysis helps determine how disruptions affect these activities over time.

It also helps organizations establish recovery priorities and understand the resources required to maintain operations.

For example, an insurance company may identify claims processing, customer communications, and payment operations as critical activities.

These business priorities become important inputs for ICT readiness planning.

Step 2: Map supporting ICT dependencies using ISO 27031

Once critical business activities are identified, determine which technology services support them.

These may include applications, databases, networks, cloud platforms, communication systems, and external service providers.

Dependency mapping is important because restoring one system may not restore the complete business service.

For example, an insurance claims application may depend on a customer database, document storage platform, identity provider, and external payment service.

All relevant dependencies should be considered when developing recovery arrangements.

Step 3: Align business recovery needs with ICT recovery objectives

Business continuity planning establishes the level of service the organization needs during a disruption.

ICT readiness planning translates these needs into technology recovery objectives.

Three important concepts are:

Recovery Time Objective (RTO): The target time within which an activity or service must be resumed after a disruption.

Recovery Point Objective (RPO): The point in time to which information must be recovered following a disruption.

Minimum Business Continuity Objective (MBCO): The minimum acceptable level of products or services that the organization needs to maintain or restore during a disruption.

These objectives should be aligned so technology recovery arrangements can support the business’s actual continuity requirements.

Step 4: Develop coordinated business and ICT continuity strategies

ISO 22301 supports the development of strategies for maintaining important business activities.

ISO 27031 supports the preparation of ICT capabilities needed for those strategies.

For example, a financial services company may establish an alternative customer service process for use during an outage.

The ICT continuity strategy may include restoring essential applications, maintaining access to customer information, and providing alternative communication channels.

The business and technology strategies should be developed together to avoid conflicting assumptions.

Step 5: Test business and technology recovery together

Separate testing is useful, but organizations should also conduct coordinated exercises.

A technical recovery test may confirm that infrastructure can be restored. A business continuity exercise should confirm that the restored technology supports the required business activities.

For example, restoring an e-commerce platform should include verifying that customers can log in, place orders, and complete payments.

Successful infrastructure restoration alone does not demonstrate that the entire business service is operating correctly.

Step 6: Monitor risks and improve continuity capabilities

Both standards support ongoing review and improvement. Organizations should use risk assessments, exercise results, incident findings, and operational changes to identify areas requiring attention.

Significant findings should have assigned owners, appropriate treatment plans, and documented follow-up activities.

Connecting business continuity risks with ICT recovery findings helps organizations maintain better oversight and prioritize improvements.

Practical example: ISO 27031 and ISO 22301 in a financial institution

Consider a financial institution that provides online banking and payment services.

The organization relies on customer-facing applications, databases, payment networks, cloud infrastructure, and third-party technology providers.

A ransomware incident affects an important application environment and interrupts customer transactions.

How ISO 22301 supports the organization

The business continuity management system helps the organization identify which services must be maintained or restored first.

Business leaders assess the operational impact, activate relevant continuity arrangements, coordinate internal communications, and determine acceptable service levels during the disruption.

The organization may prioritize essential payment services and customer account access while temporarily delaying less critical activities.

How ISO 27031 supports the organization

ICT readiness arrangements support the technical recovery of the affected services. Technology teams assess the incident, verify the integrity of recovery resources, activate approved recovery procedures, and restore critical applications and supporting infrastructure.

They also validate the restored systems and confirm that recovery objectives have been met.

How both standards deliver better results

The combined approach helps the organization align business priorities with technical recovery activities.

Recovery activity	ISO 22301 contribution	ISO 27031 contribution
Identify critical services	Determines essential banking activities	Identifies supporting ICT systems
Assess disruption impact	Evaluates business and customer consequences	Evaluates technology dependencies and recovery risks
Establish recovery priorities	Defines business service requirements	Establishes supporting ICT recovery objectives
Activate continuity arrangements	Coordinates business response	Coordinates ICT recovery procedures
Restore operations	Validates acceptable business service delivery	Restores and validates technology services
Review performance	Evaluates business continuity effectiveness	Evaluates ICT recovery effectiveness

This example illustrates how the two standards can work together. It does not represent a specific organization’s implementation or an official ISO case study.

ISO 27031 vs ISO 22301: Which standard should your organization implement?

The right approach depends on your organization’s objectives, operational environment, and existing management systems.

Choose ISO 22301 when business continuity governance is the priority

ISO 22301 is particularly relevant when an organization needs to establish a formal business continuity management system.

It is also appropriate when customers, regulators, or business partners expect evidence of structured continuity management.

Organizations pursuing accredited business continuity certification should evaluate ISO 22301.

Use ISO 27031 when ICT readiness needs improvement

ISO 27031 is particularly useful when an organization needs to strengthen technology continuity planning, evaluate ICT dependencies, establish recovery objectives, or improve technical recovery capabilities.

It can help organizations connect disaster recovery planning with business continuity requirements.

Use both standards for a more complete resilience program

Organizations with significant technology dependencies can benefit from using both standards.

ISO 22301 provides the broader business continuity management structure, while ISO 27031 supports the technology readiness needed to achieve continuity objectives.

This combination is especially relevant for financial institutions, healthcare organizations, cloud service providers, technology companies, manufacturers, and critical infrastructure operators.

However, the standards are applicable beyond these industries, and organizations should determine their approach based on business needs and risks.

ISO 27031 and ISO 22301 implementation checklist

Organizations can use the following checklist to coordinate business continuity management and ICT readiness activities.

Implementation activity	Relevant standard	Recommended evidence
Establish business continuity governance	ISO 22301	BCMS policy, scope, and responsibilities
Conduct business impact analysis	ISO 22301	Approved BIA results
Identify critical business activities	ISO 22301	Business process priorities
Map supporting ICT dependencies	ISO 27031	ICT service inventory and dependency maps
Assess business disruption risks	ISO 22301	Business continuity risk assessments
Assess ICT continuity risks	ISO 27031	ICT risk register and findings
Define business recovery requirements	ISO 22301	Approved continuity objectives
Establish ICT recovery objectives	ISO 27031	RTO, RPO, and relevant service requirements
Develop business continuity strategies	ISO 22301	Continuity strategy documentation
Prepare ICT recovery arrangements	ISO 27031	ICT recovery plans and procedures
Conduct business continuity exercises	ISO 22301	Exercise plans and results
Test ICT recovery capabilities	ISO 27031	Restoration and recovery test results
Track findings and corrective actions	Both	Remediation plans and ownership records
Review continuity effectiveness	Both	Performance reports and management reviews

This checklist is a practical implementation aid rather than a complete reproduction of either standard.

Organizations should consult the official publications when determining applicable requirements and guidance.

Common mistakes when using ISO 27031 and ISO 22301 together

Organizations may adopt both standards but still experience gaps in continuity planning.

Several common mistakes can reduce the effectiveness of an integrated approach.

Treating business continuity as an IT-only responsibility

Technology is essential to many business operations, but continuity planning also involves people, facilities, suppliers, communications, and business processes.

Business leaders should define continuity priorities, while technology teams prepare the ICT capabilities needed to support them.

Developing recovery objectives without business input

An IT department may select recovery targets based on available technology rather than the organization’s actual operational needs.

This can result in recovery arrangements that are either insufficient or unnecessarily expensive.

Recovery objectives should reflect business impact analysis findings and be reviewed with relevant stakeholders.

Ignoring third-party technology dependencies

Cloud platforms, managed service providers, software vendors, and telecommunications providers may be essential to recovery.

Organizations should understand how these dependencies affect continuity and evaluate appropriate supplier arrangements.

Testing systems without testing business services

A successful backup restoration does not necessarily mean a business process can resume.

Testing should confirm that restored technology supports the required business activities.

Maintaining separate risk registers without coordination

Business continuity and ICT teams may document related risks in disconnected systems.

This can make it difficult to understand the full consequences of a disruption or track corrective actions.

Coordinated risk management processes help organizations maintain visibility across business and technology risks.

Best practices for integrating ISO 27031 and ISO 22301

Organizations can improve implementation by treating ICT readiness as part of a broader continuity program.

Establish shared governance

Define responsibilities across business continuity, ICT operations, cybersecurity, risk management, and executive leadership.

Ensure that important continuity decisions are reviewed by the appropriate business and technical stakeholders.

Use a consistent risk assessment approach

Apply established risk criteria when evaluating business disruption and ICT continuity risks.

This helps organizations compare findings, prioritize treatment activities, and communicate important risks to leadership.

Maintain clear documentation and evidence

Document relevant policies, recovery objectives, continuity plans, testing activities, and corrective actions.

Evidence should demonstrate that activities have been performed and that important findings are being addressed.

Connect testing with corrective action

Every significant exercise finding should be evaluated and assigned an appropriate response.

Organizations should track remediation activities and verify that corrective actions improve readiness.

Review changes in technology and business operations

Business continuity requirements can change when organizations introduce new services, migrate systems, expand operations, or depend on new suppliers.

Review continuity arrangements after significant changes to ensure they remain appropriate.

How CyberArrow GRC supports business continuity and ICT risk management

Implementing ISO 27031 and ISO 22301 together involves coordinating business continuity risks, ICT dependencies, governance policies, control evidence, assessment findings, and corrective actions.

Managing these activities through disconnected spreadsheets and manual processes 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 activities that help organizations strengthen business continuity oversight and manage ICT-related risks.

Centralize business continuity and ICT risk assessments

CyberArrow GRC helps organizations manage risk assessments and maintain centralized risk information.

Teams can document identified risks, evaluate findings, assign responsibilities, and track risk treatment activities.

This supports better coordination between business continuity, cybersecurity, compliance, and technology teams.

Manage policies and controls

ISO 22301 requires structured business continuity management, while ISO 27031 provides guidance for ICT readiness.

CyberArrow GRC helps organizations manage policies, controls, and related compliance workflows.

These capabilities support accountability and make it easier to organize governance activities across different standards.

Track remediation and corrective actions

Business continuity exercises, ICT recovery tests, and risk assessments may identify weaknesses requiring attention.

CyberArrow GRC helps organizations track remediation activities, assign ownership, and monitor progress.

This supports a more consistent approach to addressing identified risks.

Streamline evidence collection and audit readiness

Organizations implementing management system standards need reliable documentation to support reviews and assessments.

CyberArrow GRC helps streamline evidence collection and organize compliance records.

These capabilities reduce repetitive administrative work and support internal audits and management oversight.

Improve visibility through centralized reporting

Business leaders need to understand significant risks, outstanding findings, and the status of risk treatment activities.

CyberArrow GRC supports centralized reporting and risk monitoring, helping organizations make more informed governance decisions.

Our platform supports the governance and compliance processes associated with continuity management. Organizations remain responsible for implementing their actual business continuity arrangements, technical recovery capabilities, and required testing.

Conclusion: Strengthen business continuity and ICT resilience with CyberArrow GRC

Organizations face a growing range of disruptions that can affect technology systems, employees, suppliers, and critical business operations.

Preparing for these events requires a coordinated approach that connects business continuity management with technology readiness.

The key difference between ISO 27031 and ISO 22301 is that ISO 22301 establishes the broader business continuity management framework, while ISO 27031 provides guidance for preparing ICT services to support continuity objectives.

Both standards play an important role in helping organizations understand disruption risks, establish recovery priorities, develop continuity arrangements, and improve operational resilience.

However, implementing these practices effectively requires clear governance, reliable risk assessments, appropriate controls, documented responsibilities, 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 programs.

By connecting risk information with compliance activities and management reporting, we help organizations reduce manual work and strengthen accountability across their teams.

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 establishing a business continuity management system, improving ICT recovery readiness, or aligning multiple ISO standards, we can help you manage the governance, risk, and compliance activities that support stronger operational resilience.

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