Data Backup Digest

While many enterprises and businesses have been able to gain a handle on data loss and system downtime, some retailers, particularly those located throughout Canada, are still struggling with such problems. According to a recent report, which was sponsored by EMC Canada, the country is still below the worldwide average when it comes to awareness and implementation of data protection services. Such problems are even more evident when working with big data analytics, hybrid cloud environments and mobile accessibility.

The Cold Hard Facts

The report, which was released at the end of 2014, provided some very telling data. Per the statistics, Canadian enterprises lost nearly $17 billion between 2012 and 2014 as a result of excessive data loss or system downtime. Moreover, the report unveiled that more than half of IT professionals in Canada are unconfident in their organization's disaster recovery protocol. Approximately 36% of those surveyed indicated that their company doesn't even have a disaster recovery plan in place.

Michael Sharun, current president with EMC Canada, disseminated some more specific stats in a recent report, where he was quoted as saying: "50.4% of organizations are in the evaluation stage. They know they need to do a better job of data protection, but don’t know what the strategy is they want to roll out. I think a year from now, Canada will most likely be up with everyone else."

One particularly troubling statistic seen in the report indicated that only 36% of Canadian retailers believe that data protection is of a critical importance. Given some of the major data breaches we've seen in all corners of the globe as of late, it's unclear why retailers in Canada seem to think that they are somehow immune to the threat.

EMC's report went on to read: "The average number of Canadian organizations who consider data protection to be critical is 65%, which is in line with everywhere else, but in retail, only 36% said it was critical. Since much of retail sells online, you would think their average would be the same as finance, which is 71%," and: "If only 36% of retailers think data protection is critically important, it’s not surprising you get numbers like 14% in retail thinking they are confident they can recover their data."

Despite the negative connotations associated with the numbers published within the report, Sharun remained very optimistic about the future of the Canadian retail market as a whole. He said: "These numbers indicate that we are behind, but I don’t think we are behind by a whole pile. There is typically a six to 12 month lag in Canada both in terms of adoption of a lot of technologies, and in terms of awareness."

Given the facts and figures released in the report, it's obvious that retailers throughout Canada have quite a bit of work ahead of them. With a little bit of determination, due diligence and perseverance, along with people like Michael Sharun on their side, the goal of minimizing data loss and downtime may very well come to fruition sooner rather than later.