The artificial intelligence-supported disaster response and emergency management market is anticipated to increase from $140.96 billion in 2024 to $ 154.22 billion in 2025 at a compound annual growth rate of 9.4%. The technology is used to predict disasters, monitor recovery resources, assess the impact of disasters and manage the distribution of aid and resources. AI-driven tools can reduce organisations' time to assess risk, enabling more effective responses to disruptions. As geopolitical tensions, climactic events and cyber threats intensify, companies need to change their reactive approaches to business continuity management with intelligence that shifts the narrative to proactive and preventative.
“AI should help business continuity management become proactive, efficient and adaptively resilient,” says Augustine Tumi Mogashoa, IT and Business Continuity Management Specialist at ASQE.
AI agents – autonomous or semi-autonomous programs designed to perform specific tasks – are changing how companies predict, prepare for and respond to disruptions. They are particularly valuable for processing vast datasets, identifying patterns and generating actionable recommendations. These add up to immediate and relevant insights that business continuity professionals can use to deliver proactive and collaborative results.
“Currently, most risk assessments are done manually in spreadsheets or using outdated or complex systems,” says Mogashoa. “With AI, it is possible to have predictive analytics capable of detecting and identifying emerging threats in cyber security, operational failures or supply chain disruptions.”
Several different AI tools can be instantly leveraged to become proactive determinants of risk. Microsoft Copilot is a case in point, allowing for collaborative AI agents to impact business impact analysis through access to an organisation’s data within a centralised ecosystem. “If you have SharePoint, you can create an agent with a click. There’s no need for technical expertise,” says Mogashoa. “You can create tools capable of evaluating potential disruptions and their impact across key areas, and then use the data and the AI to suggest mitigation strategies tailored to address your organisation’s specific vulnerabilities.”
ChatGPT can help firms develop draft crisis communication plans by generating key messages for different stakeholders for multiple scenarios. It can also assist with scenario planning and overall response metrics. The benefits of these easily accessible tools and capabilities go beyond speed and efficiency.
“AI brings data-driven accuracy to business continuity, analysing vast datasets to recommend optimal recovery strategies while minimising human error,” says Mogashoa. “AI can assist your business with uncovering patterns and generating actionable insights relevant to your industry, priorities and risks.”
Perhaps AI's most valuable contribution is its ability to bolster operational continuity and agility. It can monitor day-to-day critical systems to detect anomalies such as operational failures or network breaches and trigger early warnings that will minimise downtime, costs and reputational damage. During a disruption, it can aid in resource allocation for recovery and response.
There are challenges, however. “AI requires clean data to provide you with accurate, relevant and unbiased insights,” says Mogashoa. “If your risk assessment data or business impact analysis data isn’t clean, predictions will be unreliable, strategies incorrect and outcomes biased. You also need to prioritise the strategic elements of AI integration. It’s not just technology alone; value creation depends on people and processes. Business strategy must be incorporated with AI strategy. It’s key to assess the robustness of AI service subscriptions, redundancy mechanisms and failover strategies to ensure uninterrupted business continuity (BC) during disruptions.”
Mogashoa’s advice is clear. AI in automated scenario modelling to test resilience strategies against complex threats, climate-related disasters and intensifying geopolitical disruption, as well as in scenario planning, is invaluable and powerful. It can transform a company’s preparedness and give it a critical advantage.
“By embracing AI agents and prompts thoughtfully, business continuity professionals can transform from reactive responders to proactive resilience architects, better equipped to navigate our increasingly unpredictable world,” she says.
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