SMB: SMBs lack in disaster readiness: Symantec

SMBs lack in disaster readiness: Symantec

A recent study by finds out that though small and medium businesses are sure about their disaster preparedness plans, this confidence is unwarranted

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

CUPERTINO, CA: Symantec Corp., a provider in security solution and services, announced on Monday that their survey report mentioned, there is a large discrepancy between how SMBs perceive their disaster readiness and their actual level of preparedness

According to the Symantec 2009 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey, SMB downtime costs their customers tens of thousands of dollars each year.

As a result, the report findings show that SMBs can -- and often do -- lose business as a direct result of being unprepared for disasters, said a press release.

"The startling part of this research is the fact that SMBs don't realize 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 organizations can take simple steps to protect their data. And, as companies communicate their plans to their customers, they strengthen those relationships and become a trusted partner," he added.

The findings show that SMBs are confident in their disaster preparedness plans. 82 per cent of respondents say they are somewhat/very satisfied with their disaster plans, and a similar number (84 per cent) 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-third (34 per cent) 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 being virus or hacker attacks, power outages or natural disasters. This is alarming as almost half report they do not yet have a plan to deal with such disruptions.

The survey found that only one in five (23 percent) SMBs back up daily and an average SMB backs up only 60 percent of their company and customer data. More than half of the SMBs estimate they would lose 40 percent of their data if their computing systems were wiped out in a fire.

Although 47 per cent of SMBs do not have a formal disaster preparedness plan, of those without plans, nearly 89 per cent say they will create one within the next six months. This is crucial as most SMBs (77 per cent) report they live in a region that is vulnerable to natural disasters (such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes).

As these organizations create plans, Symantec has the following recommendations:

Determine your needs: SMBs should take time to decide what critical information should be secured and protected. Customer, financial and business information, trade secrets and critical documents should be prioritized. In addition, SMBs should monitor industry reports that help to identify and prevent threats that SMBs face.

Engage trusted advisors: With limited time, budget and employees, SMBs can look to a solution provider to help create plans, implement automated protection solutions and monitor for trends and threats that SMBs should protect against. They can also educate employees on retrieving information from backups when needed and suggest offsite storage facilities to protect critical data.

Automate where you can: Automating the backup process ensures that it is not overlooked. SMBs can reduce the costs of downtime by implementing automated tools that minimize human involvement and address other weaknesses in disaster recovery plans.

Test annually: Recovering data is the worst time to learn that critical files were not backed up as planned. Disaster recovery testing is invaluable and SMBs should seek to improve the success of testing by evaluating and implementing testing methods which are non-disruptive.

©CIOL Bureau

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Azar said on 10/5/2009 3:02:21 PM:
What a funny thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

to Azar

Priyanka Gupta said on 9/30/2009 4:47:06 PM:
Disaster readiness is a very crucial aspect for every SMB network...its high time SMBs should realize the benefits and start taking steps towards it

to Priyanka Gupta

ayesha said on 9/29/2009 6:46:38 PM:
There is a disconnect between how SMB view their DR and BCP and the readiness of it. The fact is most Indian SMBs do not have critical networks that would need them to invest in DR type of set-up. I find the Symantec report is quite exggrated...and this is how they sell their report..:)

to ayesha

Abhi said on 9/29/2009 5:22:47 PM:
Every SMB should plan for disaster recovery.

to Abhi

Nandini said on 9/29/2009 5:20:28 PM:
Interesting news item.

to Nandini

Murugan said on 9/29/2009 4:52:34 PM:
Disaster readiness is very vital for the continuity of any business, irrespective of it being a SMB or an Enterprise level organisation. This article would be very useful to SMBs as they would realise the importance of a disaster readiness map and will plan for it.

to Murugan