KUALA LUMPUR, 14 OCTOBER 2009 – There is a significant discrepancy between how Malaysian small and medium businesses (SMBs) view their disaster preparedness and actual level of preparation, according to a new study from security solutions provider Symantec Malaysia.
“The startling part of this research is the fact that SMBs don’t realise the impact their outages have on customers, particularly when they have tools at their fingertips to help them be prepared to deal with disasters,” said Symantec Malaysia technical consultant manager, Ong Kah Wooi, speaking of the findings of the company’s 2009 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey.
Ong said the study also suggests that SMB downtime costs customers tens of thousands of dollars each year. “As a result, the findings show that SMBs can, and often do, lose business as a direct result of being unprepared for disasters.”
“While no one wants a disaster to occur, the reality is that they happen,” he said. “Rather than continuing to be unprepared, small and mid-sized organisations can take simple steps to protect their data. And as companies communicate their plans to their customers, they strengthen those relationships and become a trusted partner.”
Symantec’s survey is the result of research conducted in August and September 2009 by Applied Research, which covered those responsible for computers and technology resources at SMBs. The report was designed to gauge the impact and stage of disaster recovery preparedness, perceptions and practices of these businesses. The study included more than 1,650 respondents from 28 countries in North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Asia Pacific and Latin America.
DR confidence high
“The global aspect of the study shows that SMBs are confident in their disaster preparedness plans,” said Ong. “Eighty-two per cent of respondents say they are somewhat/very satisfied with their disaster plans, and a similar number (84 per cent) say they feel somewhat/very protected in case a disaster strikes.”
“SMBs also believe their customers will be understanding and patient if there is a disruption to their computer or technology resources,” he said. “In case of such an outage, only one-third (34 per cent) of SMB respondents believe their customers will evaluate other options, including looking at competitors.”
"However, this confidence is unwarranted, Ong added. “The average SMB has experienced three outages within the past 12 months, with the leading causes being virus or hacker attacks, power outages or natural disasters. This is alarming as almost half report they do not yet have a plan to deal with such disruptions.”
“The survey found that only one in five [23 per cent] SMBs back up daily and an average SMB backs up only 60 per cent of their company and customer data,” he said. “More than half of the SMBs estimate they would lose 40 per cent of their data if their computing systems were wiped out in a fire.
According to the study, Ong said SMB customers estimated the cost of these outages as being US$15,000 per day on average. “These outages had much impact as well, with 42 per cent lasting eight hours or more. One in four customers [26 per cent] reported losing important data.”
On par with rest of the world
“The 2009 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey data for Malaysia is consistent with the global findings, where SMBs in Malaysia are confident with their disaster preparedness. However, the reality shows disparity in their perceived confidence,” said Ong.
"Specifically, about 94 per cent of respondents from Malaysia are somewhat/very satisfied with the current disaster plans, and also feel somewhat/very protected in the event of a disaster,” he said. “Local SMBs also believe their customers will be understanding and patient if there is a disruption to their computer or technology resources. In case of such an outage, only 12 per cent of SMB respondents believe their customers will evaluate other options, including looking at competitors.”
“However, this confidence is unwarranted,” said Ong. “Seventy per cent of SMB respondents from Malaysia believe that in the event of an outage, their customers would call or wait patiently until the systems resume operation. In reality, more than half of SMB customers have actually switched vendors because they felt their vendor’s computers or technology systems were unreliable.”
