Carbonite Study Reveals Flaws In Backup Procedures For SMBs

17 March 2012

Carbonite recently published the results of a survey centered on the backup procedures of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The survey addressed the businesses' approach to backing up, their readiness to deal with disaster and their level of confidence in their procedures.

Considering the range of inexpensive tools available in the modern era to make backup a foolproof procedure, the survey has found that a surprising number of small businesses still rely on outdated technology for this most important of tasks. Equally surprising is the number of business owners who persist in using the older methods even though they are aware of the limitations and pitfalls when using these procedures.

The survey reveals that among the most popular backup methods are backups to:

(1) External hard disks. Of those surveyed, 50% chose this method as the preferred backup option, even though in 20% of cases the prime motivation for starting to backup was the failure of a hard disk.

(2) USB/Flash drives. Forty-two percent (42%) used USB/flash drives for their backups, even though an incredible 94% of these thought that the method was unreliable.

(3) CD's/DVD's. While over 33% relied on CD's/DVD's for their backups, 62% of them felt that the method was both risky and inconvenient.

Carbonite's vice president for small business, Peter Lawson, points out that these methods are antiquated, unreliable and inefficient. While using these methods for backing up data is initially easy and inexpensive to set up, they do require constant monitoring and implementation and are therefore eating into time that could be spent on other, more productive, tasks. It's also difficult to prevent gaps in backed-up data and all three methods are vulnerable to failure (e.g. the backup device itself may fail).

Lamson stresses that there are now mainstream, low cost, automated systems available that make it unnecessary for small businesses to waste valuable time making backups, enabling them instead to focus on the actual business.

While he recognizes the need for small businesses to keep costs to a minimum, Lamson points out the risks inherent in using free services to handle data backup. The Carbonite survey revealed that, of those businesses who do use online backup services, 21% opted for free providers. This type of service usually caps the amount of storage at a fairly small level, possibly leaving customers vulnerable.

The Carbonite study also found that 20% of SMBs surveyed were unaware of exactly how much data they actually had stored. Lamson concludes that, if they do not know how much data they have, then it is unlikely their backup procedures will be effective. And, if they are using free online services or out of date physical backup methods, the chances are that not all their important data is being backed up. He stresses that it is vital for small businesses to ensure they have the resources to protect all of their data.

This Carbonite study indicates that far too many small to medium businesses adopt a rather cavalier approach to the importance of reliable data backup. The study should serve as a warning to any business owner who is not using a reliable, online, automated backup service and as an encouragement to immediately take action to protect the business against data loss.

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