Complexity and data growth key challenges for SMBs: Acronis

  • 65% are using cloud-based storage for remote location disaster recovery
  • Nearly 80% estimate downtime costs them at least US$20,000/ hour or more

COMPLEXITY and data growth are key data protection challenges for small-and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), according to new IDC research cited by data protection specialist Acronis.
 
The IDC findings show that more and more organisations are dealing with simultaneously needing to back up physical, virtual and cloud environments, Acronis said in a statement.
 
They also reveal varying levels of cloud backup adoption across different geographies, and bring to light the cost of downtime for SMBs, the company said.
 
The findings are based on a worldwide, cross-industry survey of SMBs (fewer than 1,000 employees) concerning their evolving data protection and disaster recovery needs.
 
Respondents were from eight countries: France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the United States.
 
Global findings include:
 
International adoption lags behind US
 
While 93% of US SMBs back up some portion of their data to the cloud, this figure is just 65% globally. This includes 57% of SMBs in Asia Pacific and 63% in Western Europe.
 
Of the organisations not backing up to the cloud, companies in Western Europe and Asia Pacific were far more likely to cite security as a concern than US companies.
 
Specifically, 33% of respondents from the United States cited security as the reason they are not backing up to the cloud, while 59% of Western European companies and 45% of Asia Pacific countries noted the same concerns.
 
Downtime is a killer
 
Nearly 80% of companies estimate downtime costs them at least US$20,000 per hour or more, and more than 20% estimate it costs them at least US$100,000.
 
Backup complexity with heterogeneous environments
 
Almost 37% of organisations have to simultaneously back up virtual, physical and cloud-based servers.
 
Of those that are managing virtual infrastructures, 54% have to manage two or more different hypervisors. Within these figures, the United States (77.8%), the United Kingdom (74.2%) and Singaporean (78.1%) IT infrastructures are far more complex than those of Germany (38.7%), France (48.3%) and Japan (45.5%).
 
Need to meet strict RTOs
 
About 87% of companies retain their most recent cloud-based backup on-premises as well.

Complexity and data growth key challenges for SMBs: Acronis

“The findings released today are clear –it’s a different world for IT managers today, and data backup for an SMB is more complex than ever,” said Eric Burgener, research director, Storage at IDC.
 
Data sizes and types continue to evolve, as does the number of servers and operating systems each company uses. This leads to a host of new challenges IT managers face to make sure they can back up and protect their data and restore operations quickly.”
 
Survey respondents were all IT personnel with responsibility for purchase decisions and overall management; on the team that had responsibility for these areas; or that influenced purchase decisions in these areas.
 
Complexity and data growth key challenges for SMBs: Acronis“Data is more plentiful, complex, and valuable than ever before,” said Acronis chief executive officer Serguei Beloussov (pic).
 
“That’s why we pioneered the Acronis AnyData Engine, so organisations of all sizes can easily protect their data and ensure their systems can be restored smoothly, quickly and completely.
 
“With downtime costing hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars for some companies, every IT manager should make sure he or she has a plan in place to restore operations and avoid data loss,” he added.
 
To request a copy of the Acronis-sponsored IDC White Paper Complexity and Data Growth Driving Small and Medium Environments Toward A New Generation of Data Protection, click here.
 
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