February 13, 2026 Tapping AI’s Power to Scale Business Continuity

AI transforms business continuity by turning static plans into dynamic data, revealing hidden risks, speeding decisions & scaling resilience.

By: Rich Cooper, SVP of Global Markets Transformation, Fusion Risk Management

Business disruptions are inevitable. From rapid changes in consumer demand during the COVID-19 pandemic to persistent supply chain bottlenecks, manufacturing leaders are rethinking how to prepare for future uncertainties, anticipate disruptions faster and reduce risks while staying competitive.

Traditional planning for disruptions might focus on addressing one challenge at a time; however, most manufacturers now recognize that crises often cascade on top of one another, such as a hurricane in the midst of a pandemic or a technology outage that intersects with a supply chain shortage. With interconnected production lines, global suppliers and a reliance on a vast ecosystem of technology and IoT, planning for disruption means rethinking enterprise resilience and the business continuity planning strategies that support it.

Traditional plans stored in PDFs, Excel sheets and Word documents make business continuity planning and execution a persistent challenge. While these formats initially offer structure, they make it difficult to keep overlapping or related information consistent across documents, leading to inefficiencies and confusion. Consequently, when businesses need to act, they often scramble to piece together information — and despite their best efforts to keep plans current, a surprising number are unsure whether the plans will hold up in a real event.

While software purpose-built for business continuity and resilience addresses these issues, forward-thinking manufacturing businesses are discovering that artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t just an enhancement; it’s a critical aspect of fine-tuning and scaling resilience efforts to reflect the dynamic environment in which manufacturers operate today. 

Reshaping Resilience with Technology

AI is reshaping how manufacturing businesses approach resilience by transforming data collection, analysis and decision-making processes. AI directly addresses common challenges, such as poor data quality, static plans and time-intensive administrative tasks. It also helps fortify resilience by:

Through each of these applications, AI enables a proactive approach to manufacturing resilience, giving businesses the confidence that their data is reliable, their plans will work and they are well-prepared to navigate disruptions and emerge stronger.

Future-Proofing Resilience

Disruption for manufacturing businesses is not a one-time crisis; it is a constant and cascading reality. Most global manufacturing organizations manage multiple incidents and disruptions daily, and traditional methods can’t keep up.

Additionally, real-time situational awareness, driven by AI and data analysis, is the new standard of planning for seemingly endless potential disruptions, from supply chain instability and cyber threats targeting operational technology to interconnected systems and third-party dependencies. 

Manufacturing resilience can’t be confined to a single department; it must be a cross-functional effort embedded into the company’s culture. Suppliers as well as QA and logistics teams must collaborate to facilitate swift decision-making, escalation and resolution. For example, a raw material issue should immediately trigger a cross-functional response and engagement across supply chain, manufacturing, quality, legal and communications teams. Manufacturers must also use consistent tools, playbooks and maturity models across regions to ensure global governance with local execution.

Bringing AI into the resilience workflow amplifies the human ability to guide organizations through uncertainty. It is a force multiplier that accelerates insight, uncovers the unexpected and frees individuals to focus on what they do best: problem-solving, adapting and communicating. Organizations that combine AI with decisive leadership are setting the bar for modern resilience.

About the Author:
Rich Cooper is senior vice president of global markets transformation at Fusion Risk Management, where he focuses on building trusted top-level relationships within the financial services industry by providing thought leadership, market intelligence and best practice insight to support firms with innovation and transformation to address swiftly-changing industry needs. During his more than 20 years in the industry, Rich has consulted with many of the world’s leading global financial institutions and has led practices in the U.S. and Europe across the critical disciplines within operational resilience

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