SMB's lack disaster strategy says Symantec

September 30, 2009:The lack of preparedness of most small and media businesses for an IT disaster is drummed home again by a new survey conducted by Symantec.

The 2009 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey shows a large discrepancy between how SMBs perceive their disaster readiness and their actual level of preparedness.

“The startling part of this research is the fact that SMBs don’t realise the impact their outages have on customers, particularly when they have tools at their fingertips to help them be prepared to deal with disasters,” said Pat Hanavan, vice president, Backup Exec product management, Symantec.

“While no one wants a disaster to occur, the reality is that they happen. Rather than continuing to be unprepared, small and mid-sized organisations can take simple steps to protect their data. And, as companies communicate their plans to their customers, they strengthen those relationships and become trusted partners.”

The findings show that SMBs are confident in their disaster preparedness plans. Ninety-three percent (82 percent globally) of respondents in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) say they are somewhat/very satisfied with their disaster plans, and a similar number (88 percent in ANZ and 84 percent globally) say they feel somewhat/very protected in case a disaster strikes.

SMBs also believe their customers will be understanding and patient if there is a disruption to their computer or technology resources. In case of such an outage, only one-quarter (25 percent in ANZ and 34 percent globally) of SMB respondents believe their customers will evaluate other options, including looking at competitors.

However, the practices of SMBs reveal that this confidence is unwarranted. The average SMB has experienced three outages within the past 12 months, with the leading causes in Australia and New Zealand being a disaster, a power outage, virus or hacker attacks and an employee accidentally deleting data, while globally the causes are virus or hacker attacks, power outages or natural disasters. 30 percent of respondents in ANZ and 47 percent globally report they do not yet have a plan to deal with such disruptions.

The survey found that 33 percent of (23 percent globally) SMBs in Australia and New Zealand back up daily and an average SMB backs up 60 percent of their company and customer data. Fifty percent (55 percent globally) of the ANZ respondents estimate they would lose 40 percent of their data if their computing systems were wiped out in a fire.

SMB customers surveyed estimated the cost of these outages as being $30,000 for Australian respondents and $15,000 for New Zealand respondents per day on average. These outages were impactful as well, with 40 percent (42 percent globally) lasting eight hours or more.

Symantec conclude that SMBs should review their systems for critical information, engage an adviser to recommend a strategy, automate wherever possible and test annually.

The study included more than 1,650 respondents from 28 countries in North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Asia Pacific and Latin America.