What does the ability to continue making payments during a system failure refer to?

The ability to continue making payments during a system failure is a key aspect of business continuity plans. These plans are designed to ensure that an organization can maintain essential functions during and after a disaster or system failure. In the context of payment systems, this means having strategies and protocols in place to minimize disruptions, allowing transactions to be processed even when primary systems are down.

Business continuity plans encompass a wide variety of measures, including data backup protocols, alternative processing arrangements, crisis communication plans, and physical site considerations to ensure that services can remain available. This is critical in the payments industry, where disruptions can lead to significant financial loss and erosion of trust among consumers and businesses.

In contrast, while payment processing efficiency relates to how quickly and smoothly transactions are processed, it does not directly address how to function during a failure. Operational risk management focuses on the identification and mitigation of risks that could affect operations, but may not provide the specific focus on continuity during failures. Transaction success rates measure how many payments are completed successfully, which is a performance metric not directly tied to the handling of system failures.