As much as 90% of organisations in Thailand have experienced data losses or system downtime in the last twelve months, according to a survey.
The figure points to the need to switch from tape-based to disk-based systems to ensure business continuity in the face of natural disasters and IT disruptions.
The 2012 disaster recovery survey conducted by EMC Corporation showed that hardware and software failures, as well as data corruption, were cited as the primary causes of data losses and down time for Thai companies.
The US-based EMC specialises in data storage products and services.
The survey showed that 76% of the 250 companies surveyed were not confident they could fully recover their data if a disaster struck.
Fifty-five percent faced revenue losses during the systems down time. Half of the total also said data losses disrupted production or service development plans, and 44% thought they lost new business opportunities because of them.
The survey said 75% planned to increase their spending on system backup and recovery.
The research also revealed that many Thai companies are not doing enough to protect essential customer data. About 56% did not have a disaster recovery plan for their customer relationship management systems, while only 11% did.
The survey also said local firms failed to take advantage of insurance premium benefits that a comprehensive disaster recovery plan can offer. About 44% were obliged by either insurance policies or regulatory requirements to have a disaster recovery plan in place.
For backup and disaster recovery purposes, 33% still relied on tape-based systems while 66% were using disk-based backup and recovery solutions. Of the companies relying on tape backups, 83% were looking for alternatives.