Most organizations compare the cost of a business continuity program by putting one salary next to one consulting quote. That comparison is wrong in both directions. It undercounts what an in-house program costs, and it overcounts what you need to buy from outside.
The real question is not “employee or consultant.” It is who does the work when your BC lead is on vacation, gets promoted, or leaves.
A disclosure before the math: Bryghtpath runs business continuity programs for clients through our Business Continuity as a Service (BCaaS) offering, so we have a stake in this answer. In-house is the right call for some organizations, and this post says which ones.
What an In-House Business Continuity Program Costs
Start with the person. PayScale puts the average base salary for a US business continuity manager at about $108,000, and about $127,000 for an experienced one (PayScale, 2026).
Salary is not cost. In the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) latest employer cost data, benefits made up 31.5 percent of total compensation for full-time private-sector workers (BLS, June 2026). That puts the fully loaded cost at about 1.46 times salary.
An experienced business continuity manager costs about $185,000 a year before they open a single plan.
Then add what the role needs to function:
- Software. Most programs beyond a handful of plans run on a BC platform, and those carry annual subscription fees.
- Training and certification. Continuing education to keep the lead current on ISO 22301, regulator expectations, and exercise design.
- Recruiting and ramp time. Several months to hire, then months more before a new manager knows your dependencies well enough to run a credible Business Impact Analysis (BIA).
- Executive time. Somebody senior still has to sponsor, review, and defend the program.
None of those are exotic. All of them are routinely left out of the budget request.
The Costs That Never Make the Budget
The bigger costs of an in-house program do not show up on an invoice.
One person is a single point of failure. A business continuity program built around one manager has no continuity of its own. Vacation, a promotion, or a resignation stops the program. We hear it constantly: “My champion left. I inherited this program and I don’t know what’s real.”
One person cannot cover the full lifecycle. A complete program runs BIAs, maintains plans across every business unit and site, designs and runs exercises, tracks remediation, and reports to executives. That is not a one-person job at most enterprises. The people running these programs tell us so directly: “I don’t have enough time and hands.” “We are only two persons, me and my associate.”
Thin programs fail quietly. The cost of an under-resourced program shows up later: a BIA that is three years old, plans nobody has touched since the last audit, and an exercise that ends with “we wouldn’t be in a good spot should we have to recover.”
| Old View | New View |
| A BC program costs one salary | A BC program costs a salary, benefits, tools, training, ramp time, and coverage |
| Hiring a manager means we have a program | Hiring a manager means we have one person trying to run a program |
| Outsourcing means losing control | Outsourcing means choosing who does the work while you keep the decisions |
| The cheapest option is the one with the lowest line item | The cheapest option is the one that is still running when your BC lead leaves |
What Outsourced Business Continuity Costs
Outsourcing ranges from a one-time project to a team that runs the program for you every day. The cost depends on which one you buy.
- Project consulting. A firm builds a deliverable, a BIA or a set of plans, and hands it back. Lower upfront cost. The ongoing work stays with you, and that is usually where programs stall.
- Advisory retainers. A firm answers questions and reviews your work. Useful if you have the hands and need judgment. Not useful if hands are the problem.
- Business Continuity as a Service. A senior team runs the program on your behalf: the BIA, plan maintenance, exercises, audit readiness, and executive reporting. You keep governance and decisions. This is the model that replaces headcount rather than advising it.
If continuity is only part of the gap, Resilience as a Service applies the same managed model to crisis management, IT disaster recovery, and exercises, so one team runs the whole resilience program.
Our BCaaS engagements start at $150,000 a year and can run into the high six figures, depending on the size, scope, and complexity of the program: the number of business units, sites, plans, and regulatory frameworks in play. Many clients start with a defined piece, often the BIA, and expand once they see the program running.
The comparison that matters: one fully loaded in-house manager at about $185,000 a year, with no backup, against a team of senior practitioners, starting at $150,000, that does not stop when someone takes a vacation.
When In-House Is the Right Answer
Outsourcing is not always the answer. Build in-house when:
- The program is large and stable. Multiple full-time staff, mature processes, and executive sponsorship that will outlast any one person.
- Business continuity is tightly bound to daily operations. Some organizations, often in critical infrastructure, need the BC function inside the operating rhythm of the business every day.
- You can afford redundancy. A team of two or three trained people solves the single-point-of-failure problem. One person does not.
The hybrid is common and often the best fit: a strong internal lead who owns governance and relationships, with an outside team doing the BIA, plan maintenance, and exercises. Your lead stops drowning in production work and starts leading the program.
How to Make the Decision
Answer four questions before you write the job description or call a firm.
- What does the program need to produce in the next twelve months? A current BIA, updated plans, two exercises, an audit, board reporting? List it. Then estimate the hours honestly.
- What happens to the program if your BC lead leaves? If the answer is “it stops,” you have a resilience problem in your resilience program.
- What is driving the decision now? A compliance deadline (ISO 22301, FFIEC, FINRA, HITRUST), a board directive, a failed exercise, or a lead who just resigned. Deadlines favor the option that can start this quarter.
- Do you need judgment, hands, or both? Judgment alone fits an advisory retainer. Hands, or both, point to BCaaS or a hybrid.
If you want a baseline before you decide, a Resiliency Diagnosis® scores your current program and estimates the work needed to close the gaps, which tells you how much program you actually need to staff. For a deeper look at the outsourcing model itself, see how to outsource your continuity program.
The cheapest business continuity program is the one still running the day your BC lead leaves.
Keep Going
A few ways to go deeper if this was useful.
- Read more. Resilience, crisis management, and continuity writing at Bryghtpath Insights, or the structured Ultimate Guide to Crisis Management.
- See how BCaaS works. Business Continuity as a Service puts your program in the hands of senior practitioners who run it day to day.
- Get a maturity score. Our Resiliency Diagnosis® is a standards-based review that produces a maturity score and a prioritized roadmap.
- Talk to us. Set up a call to think through how to staff your program.
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