Veritas Software warns that most organisations are inadequately prepared for a data centre disaster.
Veritas released the results of its third annual disaster recovery survey, undertaken by UK-based Dynamic Markets, in Sandton yesterday.
The survey revealed that 97% organisations in the EMEA region would be unable to continue business following a data centre fire, despite having disaster recovery plans in place.
"Compared to last year`s 33%, the frequency of disaster recovery execution increased significantly in 2004, with 51% of the EMEA region organisations surveyed indicating they had to carry out their disaster recovery plans," said Chris Boorman, Veritas VP for the EMEA region.
"The survey also found that over two-fifths of the organisations are unable to predict how long it would take to restore operations, following a data centre fire.
"The findings should be a warning to organisations that having a disaster recovery plan in place does not guarantee adequate business protection," said Boorman.
"In 86% of organisations, basic backup systems are in place, restoration software is employed by 45% of the EMEA sample, and 42% have off-site backup facilities.
"Despite technological, practical systems and preparations, there`s a lack of business strategy to coordinate a speedy recovery in the event of a fire disaster.
[VIDEO]"Preparation of disaster recovery plans and implementation of backup technologies are critical steps for organisations when faced with a disaster like data centre fire. If you can only manage what you know about, then regular tests and reviews are fundamental," he said.
"The research also found that 56% of organisations have fireproof backup and 64% have their disaster recovery plans in main data.
"The fact that over half of organisations keep their disaster recovery plans in the main data could be detrimental," said Boorman.
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