Companies not 'archiving the right way`

US companies are more proficient at archiving data than firms in the UK, a study by BridgeHead Software revealed this week. The survey, part of a larger study called "The ILM Audit," polled 165 respondents in North America, mostly comprised of senior IT directors and managers from a range of business sectors. It also polled more than 300 IT managers and directors from medium to large organisations in the UK, SC Magazine reports.

Twenty-three percent of US companies do not archive data, a slight improvement over the 28% of British firms that do not do so, the survey said. One-quarter of UK respondents who said they do archive use an automated tool, while 32% of US companies said they do the same. Of British companies, 22% said compliance or corporate governance was a factor driving them towards archiving, a sentiment shared by 15% of US companies. However, when asked if compliance was a factor at all in their businesses, nearly half (48%) of UK companies said no, as did 42% in the US.

Tony Cotterill, CEO of BridgeHead software, said the figures show too few companies are archiving the right way. "Too many respondents in both countries are using backup software to create archives, which just isn`t appropriate. An archive involves indexing content so it can be retrieved later using a keyword search, anything else is just back-up. The fact that business continuity and disaster recovery heads the list of drivers for archiving in both countries reinforces the conclusion that many people are confused," he says.

More than 83% of companies have developed business continuity management programs, compared with only 30% of companies just six years ago, according to a new survey by Deloitte & Touche and CPM Group, reports Web site CFO.

According to Deloitte and CPM, the heightened attention for business continuity efforts "show that executive management remains primarily concerned with regulatory compliance, and with fulfilling fiduciary responsibilities by addressing operational resilience in response to a broad array of disruptive events.``

The 273 survey respondents, mainly from North America, represented a large variety of industries. Nearly 50% have executive or managerial titles in business continuity or disaster recovery management; other management functions enjoy broad representation.