Disaster recovery remains a major challenge and priority, but
implementation of best practices varies
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 21, 2011--
Ensuring the recovery of critical information in the wake of a disaster
remains a major obstacle for the majority of organizations, according to
a recent survey by information management company Iron Mountain
Incorporated (NYSE: IRM). Responses from 1,200 individuals responsible
for protecting their organization’s data reveal a divide between
disaster recovery awareness and action, and varying practices for how
and when data is backed up. When asked about their day-to-day data
management challenges and practices, respondents indicated that:
-
Disaster looms large – Sixty-eight percent chose
disaster recovery as their biggest data challenge;
-
When disaster strikes, not everything makes it back – Only 44
percent successfully recovered their information after a recent data
recovery event, largely because it either took too long to recover (27
percent) or they did not have necessary files backed up (15 percent);
-
Half keep it on, others take it off – Less than half (48
percent) of respondents keep their data offsite (either backing it up
to a remote data center or a tape-storage facility) in the event of a
disaster, while an equal number back it up on site, exposing it to
potential loss;
-
“Keep everything” strategy prevails – When it comes to knowing
what to keep and what to destroy, a key best practice for compliant
data management, one-quarter (25 percent) keep all information, while
only 17 percent have a formal, company-wide retention and destruction
policy;
-
Cloud popular with smaller companies with less data – Only 20
percent of organizations surveyed rely on cloud technology, and
companies with more 1,000 employees and/or more than 25TB of data were
less likely to consider backing up to the cloud.
“The amount of information an organization has to manage is growing at
an incredible pace, creating new data challenges every day,” said
Blaine
Rigler
, senior vice president and general manager, Data Backup and
Recovery, Iron Mountain. “At its basic level, controlling data is about
controlling risk, which means being prepared in the event of disaster so
that you can restore your business without losing its most important
asset – information. This survey shows us that organizations are still
struggling to effectively manage and ensure recovery and data access.
The right data practices will help deliver peace of mind, while ensuring
you can reduce costs, protect your organization from unnecessary legal
risks and increase overall confidence in your backup processes.”
In response to these findings, Iron Mountain offers the following tips
to help better manage data and improve disaster recovery practices:
-
When data grows, adapt and overcome – Consider the impact of
information growth on the performance of backup and recovery
processes. Companies of all sizes should make sure key policies for
data retention and destruction can be adapted to help reduce data
management vulnerabilities brought on by growth.
-
Keep what you need, destroy what you don’t – Think
strategically about retention policies. By keeping only the
information you need and destroying what you don’t, the amount of data
you have to back up shrinks and processes run more efficiently.
-
Enforce the rules so everyone knows – Develop a comprehensive
records retention and destruction policy that is applied across all
business units and addresses all records, regardless of media, and
update it every 12 to 18 months to reflect changes in regulations,
industry and the business.
-
Treat backup data as a record – Backup data is discoverable in
a court of law, as it may contain sensitive information governed by
privacy laws and should be considered a record and managed in
accordance with retention schedules.
-
When in doubt, move it out – If you’re unsure that you’re
prepared for the unpredictability – and inevitability – of data loss
from a disaster, moving data offsite is a key step in ensuring that
your critical information is protected and can be available when you
need it most.
To see how your organization measures up against the data management
practices of your peers, take the full survey at www.ironmountain.com/databackupreport.
About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) provides information management
services that help organizations lower the costs, risks and
inefficiencies of managing their physical and digital data. The
Company’s solutions enable customers to protect and better use their
information—regardless of its format, location or lifecycle stage—so
they can optimize their business and ensure proper recovery, compliance
and discovery. Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain manages billions of
information assets, including business records, electronic files,
medical data, emails and more for organizations around the world. Visit www.ironmountain.com
or follow the company on Twitter @IronMountain for more information.
Source: Iron Mountain Incorporated
Iron Mountain
Christian T. Potts, 617-535-8721
christian.potts@ironmountain.com
or
Weber
Shandwick
Kristen Georgian, 617-520-7042
kgeorgian@webershandwick.com