Key Findings:

• U.S. businesses lose over $12 billion per year because of data loss.
• Hardware or system failure accounts for 78% of all data loss.
• Human error accounts for 11% of all data loss.
• Software corruption account for 7% of all data loss.
• Natural disasters account for only 1% of all data loss.
• More vital data is being stored in smaller spaces.
• Instant access to electronic data has become more crucial in day-to-day business.
• Disaster prevention and recovery plans are often overlooked or outdated.
• Backup tools and techniques are not 100% reliable.
• 93% of companies that lost their data center for 10 days or more due to a disaster filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster.
• 50% of businesses that found themselves without data management for this same time period filed for bankruptcy immediately. (Source: National Archives & Records Administration in Washington)
• File corruption and data loss are becoming much more common, although loss of productivity continues to be the major cost associated with a virus disaster. (Source: 7th Annual ICSA Lab's Virus Prevalence Survey, March 2002)
• 30% of all businesses that have a major fire go out of business within a year. 70% fail within five years. (Home Office Computing Magazine)
• 31% of PC users have lost all of their files due to events beyond their control.
• 34% of companies fail to test their tape backups, and of those that do, 77% have found tape back-up failures.
• 60% of companies that lose their data will shut down within 6 months of the disaster.
• American business lost more than $7.6 billion as a result of viruses during first six months of 1999. (Research by Computer Economics)
• Companies that aren’t able to resume operations within ten days (of a disaster hit) are not likely to survive. (Strategic Research Institute)
• Simple drive recovery can cost upwards of $7,500 and success is not guaranteed.