SMBs lacking in disaster recovery and business continuity

Often, it's the smaller businesses that are unprepared for disaster, just because they lack the resources and manpower to have a thorough plan. According to a recent survey, small and midsized businesses tend to be unprepared for disasters. It’s an unfortunate statistic, since in the face of a major disaster, SMBs are the ones most vulnerable—and the ones that often are unable to come through the disaster unscathed.

According to the survey, which was conducted by Agility Recovery Solutions through Hughes Marketing Group, having data backup plans—which most companies do, even small ones—creates a sense of false security when it comes to disasters. While 94 percent of companies surveyed have data backup plans, far fewer have actually paid attention to the other issues relating to business continuity, such as the infrastructure requirements they would face after a disaster. Only 28 percent have alternate office space plans, 41 percent have access to mobile office space, 54 percent are able to get temporary office equipment, and 57 percent have power generators. The larger companies are a lot more likely to include personnel strategies in their business continuity plan to allow employees to get back to work after an interruption.

The survey says 82 percent say they have a business continuity plan in place, but in reality, the majority of those plans are incomplete. The survey also speaks to the need to continuously re-evaluate the business continuity plan. Twelve percent hadn’t updated their plans in the past 12 months, and only 33 percent did general updates.