25 February 2008

Three-quarters of UK firms have no contingency plans for data loss

Antony Savvas , Computer Weekly

Three-quarters of UK companies have no contingency plans for data loss, even though 90% had to recover data in the past year, according to research from Kroll Ontrack.

The data recovery specialist surveyed a cross-section of more than 100 UK IT professionals and discovered that 65% of UK firms have no dedicated budget available for data recovery.

This suggests many companies may be left financially unprepared in the event that data recovery services are required, said Kroll Ontrack.

Tape remains the preferred method of backing up legacy data (69% of respondents), but backup media and processes are left untested and unchecked by 62% of IT professionals, revealed the survey.

In addition, almost a third of those questioned also find it extremely difficult to extract archived e-mails from offline servers, severely hindering e-mail discovery and compliance requests.

A lack of data recovery planning can mean that costs soar and staff panic needlessly, said Kroll Ontrack.

This article first appeared on the web-site of Computer Weekly, at http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/02/25/229552/three-quarters-of-uk-firms-have-no-contingency-plans-for-data.htm. © Reed Business Information 2008.

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