Australia’s modern commercial environment is becoming increasingly data driven, with businesses leveraging company information to increase revenues, improve customer satisfaction and draw strategic insight.

While this provides various opportunities, it also brings a new level of risk. Companies can lose vital business data due to malicious cyber criminals, human error or even natural disasters.

Last year, Ovum Principal Analyst for Software and IT Solutions Andrew Kellett said enterprises face increasingly sophisticated attacks on their data.

“In 2014, cyber espionage and state-sponsored threats will continue to make headlines, but the concerning underlying trend is that similar technology can and will be used against ordinary businesses,” he explained.

Furthermore, Australia is particularly prone to natural disasters, such as cyclones, bushfires and floods. Should a severe weather event hit your area, there is a chance you may suffer a complete IT system shutdown on top of damage to your workplace.

This not only affects productivity and revenues, it also heavily tarnishes company reputation.

In fact, studies have shown that 43 per cent of small businesses that experience catastrophic data loss never re-open after such a disaster. Fifty-one per cent of organisations are said to close within two years.

Clearly, backing up company data and storing it in a safe and secure location offsite is important. This enables organisations to quickly and efficiently retrieve the core business information required to have systems up and running again.

Do you have adequate data storage?

A recent study by FalconStor Solutions revealed that 79 per cent of Australian organisations have a business continuity plan, yet only 21 per cent have an automated disaster recovery system.

Furthermore, only 37 per cent said they tested their backup systems more than twice a year to ensure they reacted properly when emergencies strike.

This was despite IT managers admitting they usually had less than four hours to recover systems before experiencing significant revenue, reputation and productivity losses.

Vic Masi, FalconStor’s country manager for Australia and New Zealand, advised organisations to consider disaster recovery options more carefully.

“Business continuity, data protection and disaster recovery technology is an insurance policy for today’s data centres, which must be able to operate 24/7 without IT downtime,” he explained.

“In part, the delay in adopting these automated service-oriented recovery technologies lies in the lack of education of the market and the executives who must approve these new systems and processes.”

However, as part of a sophisticated disaster recovery plan, businesses should always keep company information safe in a data storage facility. Whether it’s intellectual property or other critical business data, you will need to secure private vaulting services that you can trust.

Guardian Vaults offers extensive data storage facilities that will ensure your information assets are kept offsite where they are protected from cyber threats and natural disasters that could hit your workplace.

Kept in individual safe deposit boxes, your data can only be accessed by your staff when it is needed, with Guardian Vaults guaranteeing its safety against intrusion.

This helps your business to recover from a potentially catastrophic system shutdown with minimal disruption to your normal operational capacity.