Organizational Resilience in the Digital Age: Business Continuity Management Practices Across Croatian Public and Private Sectors

Digital transformation is reshaping organizational risk and exposing gaps in business continuity management (BCM). This paper presents a mixed-methods study of 80 private and public Croatian organizations conducted from March to July 2025. Using questionnaires and interviews with 16 senior managers, it examines BCM maturity and sector differences. The key finding is clear: 58% of private organizations have fully implemented BCM, compared with 32% in the public sector. Private firms adopt BCM changes 43% faster and use cloud backup and automation about twice as often. Organizations that integrate digital technology into BCM achieve 40% stronger crisis response. COVID-19 marked a turning point, with three-quarters of organizations expanding BCM after 2020. The study highlights top management support and regular stress testing as the strongest predictors of success within Croatia’s evolving EU regulatory environment, including the NIS2 Directive.