57% of Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) respondents reported a severe loss of critical data in their organisation, according to an annual global research study by backup and recovery vendor Arcserve. Of that number, 38% had permanent data loss.

The study surveyed 1,121 IT decision-makers and found that loss of critical data continues to disrupt businesses and remain an issue for organisations

It also found that many ANZ organisations could not maintain business continuity on time once data was lost or compromised.

●  86% of respondents said that 12 hours or less is an acceptable level of downtime for critical systems before there is a measurable negative business impact. Still, only 56% could recover from a severe data loss in 12 hours or less.

●  31% of the businesses surveyed couldn't recover data for one day or more.

The research results also revealed that a new approach to disaster recovery is needed. Organisations should continuously update, test, and document their disaster recovery plan to build data resilience. The importance of protecting and recovering data should also be elevated to all company levels with specific goals.

●  94% of respondents in the survey said their company has a disaster recovery plan. However, only 24% have a mature plan that is well documented, tested, and updated.

●  83% said their organisations include data resilience in their strategies. Still, only 23% have a mature approach with associated goals to track progress. 

David Lenz, Vice President, APAC at Arcserve, said: "Our annual survey reinforces the business imperative for organisations to implement a data resilience strategy that incorporates mature data backup and disaster recovery plans. We live in a world of growing ransomware attacks and frequent natural disasters. Any downtime from data loss can be destructive for a business from impacting sales to losing customer loyalty."