Most small businesses in Australia do not protect their data which is held electronically with an effective back up of the information.

A Kroll Ontrack survey of 900 IT managers found that 49% of small businesses had data lost in the last two years. In spite of this most small firms do not correctly back up data on a daily basis which is the normal practice with large companies. 

39% of small firms said that they were happy if it took several days to retrieve their data. There seems to be a lack of appreciation of the real cost of retrieving the data and the superior alternative of ensuring a daily back up. 

Only 51% of small organisations back up daily, compared to 81% of large companies. In addition, only 41% of small firms tested the restored data from their back up system monthly. 

Many small businesses use a USB external hard drive as their back up device which leaves a great deal to be desired regarding the security of the information. 

Large firms have a plan for how to respond in the event that a disaster occurs and they also have procedures for eliminating old data which is no longer needed. Small businesses generally have neither. 

There is a wide range of third party data service providers available to small firms where the data can be stored off site to protect it in the event of a fire, and it can be automatically updated daily. The cost is nominal and the risk exposure is eliminated if this action is effected. 

Small firms have had a difficult time during the economic downturn and loss of critical data is the last thing that they could cope with at this stage. We highly recommend that they look into the benefits of external automatic back up of their data to ensure that this cannot happen. 

We assist small Australian firms by sending them prospects from our Local Search facility in our Business Directory with no expense involved for them. We have 1.2 million businesses listed, most of which are small companies.
 

Monte Huebsch, CEO.