Digital systems are now the backbone of business, and when they fail, the costs are immediate.
The State of Resilience 2025 report by Cockroach Labs found that every company surveyed experienced revenue losses from outages in the past year, with per-incident costs ranging from $10,000 to over $1 million.
After 14 years, ISO/IEC 27031 has been updated to reflect this reality. The guidance focuses on ICT readiness, providing organizations with practical direction to prepare for, respond to, and recover from digital disruptions. While it is not a certifiable standard, it complements ISO 22301 on business continuity and ISO/IEC 27001 on information security, creating a stronger foundation for resilience.
When used alongside frameworks like the FFIEC IT Handbook, the UK’s operational resilience rules, DORA, and NIS 2, ISO/IEC 27031 helps organizations align ICT resilience with rising compliance and supervisory expectations. Let’s break down what’s new in the 2025 update, why it matters, and how you can apply its guidance in practice.
In This Post, We'll Explore
What’s New in ISO/IEC 27031:2025?
The second edition of ISO/IEC 27031 was released in May 2025, marking the first major update since the original guidance was published in 2011. This long-anticipated revision reflects how much technology, business operations, and resilience expectations have evolved over the past decade and a half.
Several important changes stand out:
- Clearer structure: The framework has been reorganized to follow a more logical flow, moving from governance and planning through to monitoring and review.
- Sharper focus: The scope now highlights the central role ICT teams play in resilience strategies, ensuring technical readiness is directly linked to business outcomes.
- Expanded guidance: The update adds greater detail on risk management, incident response, business continuity integration, and strategic recovery options — bringing it in line with modern resilience practices.
- Cloud and third-party services: Recognizing today’s reliance on cloud infrastructure and external providers, the guidance explicitly addresses how to manage risks and continuity across extended digital ecosystems.
Together, these updates make ISO/IEC 27031 more relevant to today’s digital-first enterprises and provide a stronger bridge between technical resilience and organizational continuity.
ISO 27031: 2011 vs. 2025 at a Glance
Why the 2025 Update Matters for ICT Resilience
The 2025 revision of ISO/IEC 27031 is more than a refresh of technical language. It reflects a fundamental shift in how organizations are expected to approach resilience in a digital-first economy.
From IT to Boardroom
ICT continuity is no longer seen as a purely technical issue managed within IT departments. The updated guidance elevates resilience planning to a board-level concern, making it a core element of enterprise risk management and strategic decision-making.
Breaking Down Silos
Earlier approaches often treated ICT continuity as separate from broader business continuity and security programs. The 2025 edition emphasizes integration, ensuring ICT readiness is directly tied to frameworks like ISO/IEC 27001 for information security and ISO 22301 for business continuity. This alignment supports a more unified, end-to-end continuity strategy.
A Sharper Focus on the Cloud
One of the most significant updates is the explicit attention to cloud-based and third-party services. In 2011, reliance on external providers was far less widespread. Today, hybrid infrastructure and SaaS ecosystems are the norm, and disruptions at a vendor can cascade quickly across the business. The new guidance acknowledges these realities and provides direction for managing resilience in increasingly complex digital supply chains.
By expanding its scope and relevance, the 2025 edition positions ISO/IEC 27031 as a critical guide for organizations that need to balance technical recovery capabilities with regulatory expectations and business imperatives.
Benefits of Embracing ISO 27031
The 2025 update strengthens ICT readiness where it matters most. It enables faster recovery and less downtime, protecting both revenue and reputation. Recognized practices also build confidence with regulators and partners, showing that resilience is managed, not improvised. Most importantly, it bridges IT, security, and continuity into one cohesive strategy for better organizational stability.
So, how can you bring this guidance to life inside your business?
Putting ISO 27031 Into Practice
Adopting ISO/IEC 27031 is about more than awareness. It requires a structured approach that connects strategy with execution. Here are six practical steps to guide implementation:
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Build Strong Governance
Create a robust governance framework that defines clear roles, responsibilities, and oversight for ICT continuity. This ensures accountability and alignment with business objectives.
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Identify Risks and Impacts
Conduct ICT-specific risk assessments and business impact analyses to uncover vulnerabilities, dependencies, and the consequences of disruptions. This forms the foundation for informed decision-making.
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Design Continuity Strategies
Develop realistic, documented strategies that support recovery within agreed recovery time and recovery point objectives. Strategies should be tested and adaptable to evolving risks.
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Put Plans Into Action
Translate strategies into day-to-day practice. Provide training, raise awareness, document procedures, and run exercises so teams are ready to respond when disruptions occur.
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Monitor and Measure Performance
Track the effectiveness of continuity measures through regular reviews, metrics, and audits. Update plans as systems, vendors, or risks change.
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Commit to Continuous Improvement
Capture lessons from incidents and tests, then refine strategies to keep pace with business needs and technology shifts. Resilience is strengthened by an ongoing cycle of improvement.
Digital disruptions are inevitable. What sets resilient organizations apart is how they prepare, respond, and recover. The 2025 update to ISO/IEC 27031 provides a stronger foundation for transforming ICT continuity from a reactive process into a strategic capability.
For organizations looking to align with the latest guidance and understand how ISO standards connect across continuity planning, our white paper on ISO compliance offers a deeper dive.
