Data Backup Digest

Recent research has shown that many Korean companies have very weak backup plans and are incapable of recovering data during a loss. Data is the lifeblood of business and to hear that companies aren’t properly prepared is worrying news; it’s hoped that this research may wake firms up to the severity of data loss and the importance of backing data up.

The research was carried out through a global market research agency called Vanson Bourne. The news was reported on by EMC Korea, the Seoul branch of the global cloud computing company, who said that the majority of companies are unable to recovery their lost data due to the changing IT environment.

The survey included the participation of the IT divisions of over 3300 companies and government organisations in 24 countries. Of these, 125 were Korean businesses and public agencies with more than 250 employees.

It was found that 77 percent of the Korean companies had suffered data loss or downtime throughout 2014. It was calculated that the average amount of lost data was 1.82 terabytes and downtime was 29 hours per company. This latter figure is 15 percent higher than the worldwide average of 25 hours.

It was estimated that around 14 million won ($13 billion) was spent overall in order to recover lost data. Shockingly, 94 percent of the respondents said they weren’t sure if they’d be able to successfully recover lost data from errors.

Although recovering lost data can be tricky, this shouldn’t be a problem if a reliable backup plan is utilised. There will be no need for actual recovery techniques because the data can be pulled from backup devices and employed directly into the live environment, ensuring no downtime or lost money.

“A dependable plan for data backup and data protection is an essential part for most Korean companies and this will save them from data losses which will affect their profitability negatively,” said Lee Kwang-jae, the data protection and availability division director at EMC Korea.

Around 69 percent of the Korean companies had no plans for data recovery in the cloud, big data and mobile. These are three new IT environments, which shows that the country is lacking behind when it comes to supporting emerging technology. Only 3 percent said that they’d setup countermeasures in order to protect themselves in all three segments.

Of 24 countries surveyed, Korea ranked 20th in terms of maturity in data protection. This needs to be rectified by introducing solid data protection plans – this means not spreading the strategy out too thin. Lee claimed that using too many data protection solution providers will increase the chance of data loss due to the complexity of it.

“It is a normal phenomenon that many companies lack confidence in protecting data amid new changes in the IT environment, including cloud, big data and mobile. These companies are recommended to reconsider their strategy on data protection,” said Kim Kyeong-jin, the EMC Korea CEO. “We will work to provide our clients with evaluation and reinforcement of their data protection in a longer-term perspective.”