Independent Global Research Shows Mission-Critical Business Information Is Still Being Lost

At Arcserve, we make sure we’ve got our finger on the pulse of the industry and understand our customers’ challenges by conducting an annual independent global research study. This year’s survey of the experiences and attitudes of IT decision makers (ITDMs) showed that the loss of critical data continues to disrupt businesses and remains an issue for organizations.

Severe Data Loss: More Common Than You Might Think

Of the ITDMs surveyed, 76 percent reported a severe loss of critical data in their organization. Of that number, 45 percent had permanent data loss. With data a priceless commodity, these findings underscore the importance of building data resilience with a robust data backup and disaster recovery plan focused on data integrity to prevent severe business disruptions.

The research also found that many couldn’t maintain business continuity once data was lost or compromised. Businesses need to recover data quickly, especially in today’s always-on world.   

• 83% 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 52% could recover from a severe data loss in 12 hours or less.
• 29% of the businesses surveyed couldn't recover data for one day or more.

Disaster Recovery: A New Approach Is Needed

The research results clarified that most organizations aren’t prepared for disaster recovery. It’s essential that organizations continually update, test, and document their disaster recovery plan to build data resilience. And protecting and recovering data should also be elevated across all company levels with specific goals.

• 95% 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 organizations include data resilience in their strategies. Still, only 23% have a mature approach with associated goals to track progress. 

"Our annual survey reinforces the business imperative for organizations to implement a data resilience strategy that incorporates mature data backup and disaster recovery plans,” said David Lenz, Vice President, Asia Pacific at Arcserve. “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." He continued: "Arcserve aims to help businesses avoid costly business disasters and reputational damage from data loss with our best-in-class unified data resilience solutions suite. Our backup and recovery solutions, and immutable storage offering, ensure a near-zero impact on businesses."

Learn more about Arcserve data resilience solutions. Or find an Arcserve technology partner for expert advice and guidance.