Disaster Recovery Plans and Testing Are Lacking | CIO Insight

Disaster Recovery Plans and Testing Are Lacking

Jan 23, 2017
2 minute read

Disaster Recovery Plans and Testing Are Lacking

Disaster Recovery Plans and Testing Are LackingDisaster Recovery Plans and Testing Are Lacking

Forty percent of companies surveyed don’t have a documented disaster recovery plan, and 40 percent of those that do have a DR plan test them only once annually.

DR Planning and Testing LagsDR Planning and Testing Lags

Only 60% of the companies surveyed have a documented disaster recovery plan. 40% test their DR plans annually, 26% test once a quarter, 6% test once a month, 22% test rarely and 6% never test their plans.

Dissatisfaction With DR SolutionsDissatisfaction With DR Solutions

54% of respondents said DR solutions are too expensive, and 37% said they are too difficult to use.

DR Plan Boosts ConfidenceDR Plan Boosts Confidence

78% of respondents who are confident in their DR strategy have a formally documented plan.

Cloud-Based DR HelpsCloud-Based DR Helps

90% of the respondents who use the cloud in their DR solutions expressed confidence in that strategy, whereas just 74% who use only on-premise DR solutions feel confident.

Common Causes of DowntimeCommon Causes of Downtime

Power outage: 75%,
Hardware error: 53%,
Human error: 35%,
Virus or malware attack: 34%,
Data corruption: 26%

More Common Causes of DowntimeMore Common Causes of Downtime

Unexpected updates and patches: 24%,
Natural disaster: 20%,
Expected updates and patches: 20%,
On-site disaster: 11%

Reliability Is CriticalReliability Is Critical

Asked the most important factor in a DR solution, 54% of respondents named reliability, followed by simplicity (16%), cost (16%) and speedy recovery (15%).

The Cost of DowntimeThe Cost of Downtime

67% of the respondents estimated that their business would lose more than with $20,000 as a result of downtime. 27% reported that downtime would cost more than $100,000 per event.

Problems Caused by DowntimeProblems Caused by Downtime

Loss of customers: 65%,
Loss of employee productivity: 29%,
Delayed product and service delivery: 26%,
Loss of revenue: 24%,
Damage to brand and reputation: 11%,
Incurring significant recovery cost: 4%

Re-evaluating DR SolutionsRe-evaluating DR Solutions

After their last downtime incident, 55% of organizations changed their DR strategy, 55% changed or added DR technology, and 39% increased their DR investments.

Karen A. Frenkel

Karen A. Frenkel is a contributor to CIO Insight. She covers cybersecurity topics such as digital transformation, vulnerabilities, phishing, malware, and information governance.

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