82 per cent of Middle East companies suffer unplanned downtime, yet IT managers still failing to protect their data

More than a quarter (26%) of IT managers do not test their plans and 12% of the medium- to large-sized companies surveyed had never reviewed their DR plan since it was created. Just under half (44%) review their plans every 12 months or less frequently, making their plans potentially redundant. With just 26% of Middle East companies creating DR plans that are influenced by regulatory compliance, VERITAS warns DR planning shortfalls could not only put data at risk, but also leave companies exposed to legal risks.

Thirty six percent of Middle East companies didn't know how long outages lasted -- suggesting that they don't calculate the risk and cost to the business of unplanned downtime. When DR plans are implemented, significantly, 23% of Middle East IT managers subsequently made changes to the plan - suggesting that with the right testing, these measures could have already been in place. Furthermore, they sited the top negative consequences of unplanned downtime to their businesses as:

Major data loss 77%
Major unplanned system downtime 31%
Reduction in profits 31%
Reduction in revenue 31%

When asked where DR plans were located, only 22% of the respondents kept their plans at a remote/secure 3rd party location. Seventy four percent keep their plans at their main DataCentre and 8% keep their plans off-site in an ad-hoc location, including an employee's home, car or laptop.

Yet there is a divided view amongst those companies in Middle East who do not currently have a DR plan. Research reveals that 25% are currently compiling a plan, 50% believe a backup process is all that's needed, 13% feel that they don't have a high enough level of risk to warrant the expense of a DR plan, and a further 13% state that the company is too small to be investing in such a plan.

Mike Hynes, Regional Manager, VERITAS Software Middle East explains: "Disaster recovery planning is fundamental to any regional organisation that is serious about its survival. By not reviewing and testing the DR plan each time the IT infrastructure is significantly changed, Middle East-based IT mangers are not only putting their systems at risk, but could be potentially putting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of business on the line, and effectively leaving their data uninsured."