Will Artificial Intelligence supersede Human Intelligence in Business Continuity?
Many people are experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to see how these can benefit their business practices including exploring how AI interacts with business continuity planning.
This is an opportune moment for Teed to put the case for why the business continuity management (BCM) discipline still requires experienced practitioners and the “human intelligence” that we provide.
Skilled Facilitation
Through the facilitation of discussions with key managers and stakeholders, an experienced practitioner balances many facets of analysis when assessing business continuity threats and risks to an organisation.
At Teed, we have always been proponents of a strongly facilitated approach; led by an experienced business continuity practitioner during sessions with those in our client organisations who fully understand their own business and technologies. Together we “solve the puzzle” so that business continuity and resilience capabilities are wholly effective.
This is the human approach, not artificially generated data that may only skim the surface of people’s concerns about the effects of a disruptive event on the wellbeing of an organisation’s staff and business.
A skilled business continuity practitioner will know how and when to manage the retrieval of information, putting representatives at ease and engaging with the business culture.
Teed’s approach has been established over decades of facilitation:
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Find out the “real” business priorities and resource requirements to maintain critical activities at acceptable levels – this is a negotiation process, the first answer is not always the right one
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Align with the organisation’s existing protocols and practices where feasible, whilst being able to justify when changes are required
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Focus discussions where they will add most benefit; decide when it is acceptable to make assumptions; show how other organisations have addressed similar challenges
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Motivate participants to devote time and resource necessary for a successful outcome
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Adapt the approach to suit different personalities, organisations and challenges – there is no “one size fits all” solution in business continuity planning
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Introduce anecdotes and case studies, provide confidence that business objectives can be achieved, and even inject a bit of humour to bring BCM alive
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Be pragmatic, only introducing methods, resource requirements and investment needs when appropriate
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Have the confidence to adapt good practice and solutions to suit the organisation’s approach, objectives, resource and budget
Managing the Response to Unexpected Variables
Although AI can help with the production of response plans, procedures and playbooks, these need to be backed up by the effective identification, and implementation, of pre-incident mitigation and improvement actions by people. Otherwise, organisations will remain exposed to unacceptable threats, risks and impacts.
Auditors may be satisfied by AI-generated documentation, but the associated capabilities could be found wanting when responding to actual incidents. Too many organisations follow the questionnaire & template approach; this is not a good use of time and delivers a collection of information that is unable to adapt to unexpected variables, ultimately adding little value to improving preparedness.
Human intelligence is the most valuable tool for effective business continuity.
David Teed
Director & Senior Consultant
- Date: 4th September 2026