BUSINESS IMPACT ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A Business Impact Analysis, or BIA, estimates the possible consequences to your company of a sudden, unplanned, severe interruption for any reason. Impact can be measured in dollars or numbers of customers affected, if you can estimate those numbers. Measures can also be relative, such as "high" "medium" or "low." A BIA asks questions like: 

• How much would we lose if our office were closed unexpectedly for 3 days?
• How would our customers react if they couldn't reach us by telephone?
• How would our business reputation be affected?