A critical account asks for approval
The only administrator is unavailable—and nobody knows who has company authority.
Access blocked
Executive Diagnostic
Your IT lead drops out tomorrow. How operational is your business?
3-Min Test →
The IT Emergency Playbook:
Run the scenario
Business continuity / before the emergency
The IT Emergency Playbook:
Build the binder before you need it.
A practical business continuity workbook by Frank-Ringo Gutacker. Make your technology understandable, recoverable, and transferable before a key IT person becomes unavailable.
- 36
- structured chapters
- 40
- practical worksheets
- 428
- workbook pages
Ownership ◆ Access ◆ Recovery ◆ Providers ◆ Backups ◆ Authority ◆ Handover ◆
Book / at a glanceOne workbook → documented control
Business continuity for nontechnical leaders
What is
The IT Emergency Playbook?
The IT Emergency Playbook is a 428-page practical workbook for reducing IT key-person risk. It guides business owners and operations leaders through documenting systems, administrators, providers, contracts, backups, recovery paths, authority, and handover responsibilities.
The result is an IT Emergency Binder that another authorized person can understand and use when an employee, consultant, administrator, or provider is unavailable.
- Author
- Frank-Ringo Gutacker
- Published
- Paperback
- 428 pages · 8 × 10 inches
- ISBN
- 979-8193786948
01 / The scenarioNormal outside. Fragile inside.
The dangerous quiet
Nothing looks broken.
Until someone needs control.
The website may still be online and email may still arrive. The real emergency begins when nobody can authorize, restore, verify, or take over.
A backup has to become a recovery
Files exist, but no authorized person can confirm what was tested or how restoration works.
Recovery unknownA provider demands verification
The contract, owner, renewal path, and recovery contact live in one person’s memory.
Ownership unclearDiagnostic / Self-Assessment3 Minutes · Instant Results · No Email Required
Executive Continuity Diagnostic
Your IT lead drops out tomorrow.
How operational is your business?
A free, 3-minute IT self-test for business owners and managing directors. Ten practical questions examine whether critical responsibilities, break-glass access, tested backups, vendor contacts, and recovery plans are documented—or locked in one person’s head.
CHECK—01
Domain & Root Ownership
Are root domains and cloud tenants registered under corporate ownership or an employee’s personal inbox?
CHECK—02
Emergency Break-Glass
Can executives access critical administration portals if your IT lead's personal phone and MFA device are lost?
CHECK—03
Tested Backups
Has an isolated recovery drill been performed in the past 6 months to prove backups can actually rebuild operations?
The operating principle
Your business should not depend on one person’s memory, account, device, or availability.
You do not need to become an IT expert. You need the right questions, verified answers, and clearly assigned responsibility.
02 / The responseAssumptions → evidence
One complete continuity system
Build your own
IT Emergency Binder.
Each chapter creates a useful part of a working record: what exists, why it matters, who controls it, what has been verified, and what still needs action.
- 01
Discover
Identify the technology the business actually depends on.
- 02
Document
Record owners, administrators, providers, contracts, and recovery paths.
- 03
Verify
Replace “we think” with evidence, review dates, and tested recovery.
- 04
Transfer
Confirm another authorized person can understand and take over.
IT / EMERGENCYCONTROLLED COPY
BUSINESS CONTINUITYREV. 01
THEIT EMERGENCY
BINDER
BINDER
- OWNER
- ________________
- LOCATION
- ________________
- LAST VERIFIED
- ____ / ____ / ____
RESTRICTED ACCESS
What you make visible
From hidden dependency
to documented control.
The playbook covers the operational knowledge a business needs to keep acting—without placing passwords or other protected secrets into ordinary documentation.
CONTINUITY CONTROL BOARD
SYSTEM MAPPING ACTIVE
Ownership & authority
Separate technical access from company ownership and the authority to act.
WHO CONTROLS IT?Accounts & recovery
Document administrators, recovery paths, and protected access materials.
CAN ACCESS BE RESTORED?Systems & providers
Map domains, email, cloud services, networks, devices, and suppliers.
WHAT DEPENDS ON WHAT?Contracts & renewals
Record the commercial relationships that keep essential services running.
WHAT MUST NOT LAPSE?Backups & priorities
Verify recoverability and decide what must return first in an emergency.
WHAT GETS RESTORED FIRST?Departure & handover
Prepare for unavailable employees, administrators, consultants, or providers.
CAN SOMEONE ELSE TAKE OVER?Designed to be used
Not another book
that stays on the shelf.
The paperback is a working format with checkboxes, action fields, verification records, review dates, and space for notes. Work through it with employees, consultants, administrators, or managed service providers.
- 40worksheets, registers, checklists, and emergency records
- 8 × 10″paperback format with room to work
- Englishclear enough for nontechnical leaders
03 / Free componentPrint → laminate → file in the binder
A gift for readers of this page
Emergency
break-glass card.
The first component of your binder—free, and yours before you buy anything. A print-ready runbook card for the moment every administrator is locked out, the only key person is unreachable, or the MFA factors are gone. Front and back: qualify the emergency, authorize it with two people, execute it, and seal it back up.
- 01
Qualify the event
Three tests that define a genuine break-glass event—and the abort conditions that rule one out.
- 02
Two-person authority
Decision-makers, package custodian, and authorized operator—named and agreed before the emergency, not during it.
- 03
Execute and re-seal
Five runbook steps, then the mandatory disposition: audit export, rotated secrets, re-keyed authenticators, fresh tamper-evident seal.
- 04
Escalation fallback
Routing references for your managed service provider, identity platform, and ISP for when break-glass itself fails.
References only. The card is built so that no live password, private key, or recovery secret is ever written on it—the same separation the workbook applies throughout.
Want to benchmark your organization's IT key-person risk first?
Take the free 3-minute readiness test →
Who this is for
You own the outcome.
Now own the continuity.
Business owners
who need confidence that the company can keep acting without one key person.
Executives & operations leaders
who are accountable for continuity but do not need another technical textbook.
Professional practices & nonprofits
whose essential technology has grown faster than its documentation.
IT partners & internal teams
who want a shared, structured handover process with clear responsibility.
04 / Practical answersAbout the book
Frequently asked questions
IT continuity,
answered clearly.
Quick answers for readers looking for a business continuity workbook, an IT emergency plan, or a structured handover process.
What is The IT Emergency Playbook about?
It is a practical business continuity workbook for identifying critical technology, documenting ownership and access, verifying backups and recovery, recording providers and contracts, and preparing an IT handover.
Who is The IT Emergency Playbook for?
It is written for business owners, executives, operations leaders, professional practices, nonprofits, internal IT teams, and IT partners that need the organization to keep operating when a key technology person is unavailable.
What is an IT emergency binder?
An IT emergency binder is a controlled operational record of critical systems, owners, administrators, providers, contracts, recovery paths, backup priorities, review dates, and handover responsibilities.
Does the workbook recommend putting passwords in ordinary documentation?
No. The workbook separates operational documentation from protected secrets and focuses on authorized recovery paths, responsibility, verification, and controlled access materials.
Is the paperback or eBook better for this workbook?
The 8 × 10 inch paperback is the recommended working edition because it includes space for checkboxes, action fields, verification records, review dates, and notes. The eBook is available for digital reading.
Is there a free download that goes with the book?
Yes. The Emergency Break-Glass & Account Lockout Card is a free two-page printable A4 runbook card for the moment administrators are locked out, the key person is unreachable, or MFA factors are lost. It covers incident qualification, two-person authority and custody, a step-by-step runbook, mandatory re-sealing and secret rotation, and escalation contacts. No email address is required. Download the free card
How can I test my company's IT emergency readiness right now?
You can take our free, 3-minute IT Emergency Readiness Check. It asks 10 non-technical questions designed specifically for business owners and executives—covering domain ownership, break-glass admin access, tested backups, and vendor contacts. You receive an instant score, a single-point-of-failure analysis, and 3 prioritized next steps with no email required. Start the 3-minute test
Best time to prepare: before access is lostPLAYBOOK / READY
Do not wait for the real test
Build the binder
before you need it.
Replace assumptions with evidence—and make technology responsibility transferable.
Not ready to order the workbook yet? See how vulnerable your business is first:
Take Free 3-Minute Readiness Check Instant score · Single point of failure analysis · No email required