It was June 2007 and I was working as a corporate loan auditor at Oman International Bank. My desk was buried under files and I was deeply engaged in reviewing one of the bank’s corporate lending portfolios. Like every auditor, I was more concerned with figures than the weather outside. Suddenly, my audit manager walked briskly towards me with an unusual sense of urgency.
“Leave the file and rush home”, he said. I looked at him, slightly surprised. “There is a big storm coming”, he added.
That storm was Cyclone Gonu, the most powerful tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Arabian Sea and one of the most destructive natural disasters in Oman’s modern history.
Roads disappeared beneath floodwaters, entire neighbourhoods were cut off, electricity failed in many areas and daily life came to an abrupt standstill.
Businesses closed their doors, schools suspended classes and families anxiously waited for news while listening to the relentless sound of rain and wind.
Many of you who lived in Oman during those unforgettable days will remember the silence that followed the storm. Not the silence of peace, but the silence of uncertainty. Life suddenly became fragile. One question quickly emerged. What happens when everything stops?
For most people, the immediate concern was not luxury, entertainment, or convenience. It was something much simpler. How do we buy food? How do we obtain cash? How do we continue living when the systems we rely on no longer function?
It was during those difficult days that I truly began to appreciate something that rarely appears in newspaper headlines or television debates: Business Continuity Management (BCM).
Most customers never think about it. They walk into a bank expecting everything to work. The ATM should dispense cash.
The system should process transfers. Debit cards should function. We have become so accustomed to uninterrupted service that we hardly notice the enormous planning taking place behind the scenes. Yet every responsible financial institution knows that one day, something unexpected will happen. It may not be another cyclone. It could be a cyberattack, a nationwide telecommunications failure, a power outage, a fire, a flood, or even a simple system malfunction.
BCM exists for those moments — not when everything goes according to plan, but precisely when nothing does.
I remember how banks activated contingency procedures during Cyclone Gonu. Despite the severe disruption, teams worked tirelessly to restore critical services.
Alternative arrangements were implemented wherever possible and banks focused on ensuring that customers could still access essential banking services.
The objective was not merely to protect the institution; it was to protect people’s lives and livelihoods. After all, a bank is not simply a building filled with computers. It is public trust. This memory returned to me recently when I visited one of our local bank branches.
The atmosphere was entirely different from the calm confidence customers usually associate with banking. Long queues stretched across the banking hall. Employees looked equally frustrated because the systems were unavailable.
Customers waited patiently, hoping the issue would be resolved within minutes. Minutes became hours. Morning turned into afternoon. No cash transactions. No account opening. No customer service. Everything had come to a halt.
Watching the scene reminded me of that conversation with my manager nearly two decades ago. Except this time, there was no cyclone outside. The skies were clear.
The roads were open. Electricity was available. The disruption existed only inside the systems. It made me wonder whether our understanding of business continuity has evolved as quickly as our technology.
Ironically, as banking has become more digital, our dependence on uninterrupted systems has become even greater. A temporary outage today can affect thousands of customers simultaneously. A few hours without service may delay salaries, postpone business transactions, interrupt commercial activities and erode public confidence.
Technology undoubtedly makes banking faster and more efficient. However, every technological advancement should be matched by equally strong contingency planning.
Perhaps the greatest misconception is believing that business continuity belongs solely to the IT department. It does not. It belongs to leadership. It belongs to operations.
It belongs to risk management.
And ultimately, it belongs to every employee whose decisions influence the customer’s experience.
A Business Continuity Plan should never remain a document resting quietly on a shelf until the next audit arrives. It must be tested, challenged, updated and rehearsed regularly.
Just as firefighters conduct drills before a fire occurs, organisations should practise responding to disruptions before customers are affected.
Benjamin Franklin famously observed, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”. Few statements capture the essence of business continuity more accurately.
Cyclone Gonu taught Oman many lessons about resilience, preparedness and national solidarity.
Nearly twenty years later, those lessons remain just as relevant. The threats may have changed — from storms to cyber risks — but the principle remains unchanged: organisations must be ready to continue serving people when unexpected events occur. Customers may forgive a temporary interruption.
They may even understand that technical problems are sometimes unavoidable. But what they will remember is how an organisation responded when everything seemed to stop. Because in the end, resilience is not measured on ordinary days. It is measured on the days when the system sleeps, yet the institution must remain awake.
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