A recent survey of 400 Irish organisations reveals that despite concerns about its reliability, organisations continue to use traditional methods, such as tape to backup their sensitive data.

The IT Force survey, conducted in conjunction with keepITsafe, found that of the data backup methods available, tape remains the most widespread with 65% of respondents indicating this as the preferred method in their organisation. 15% used disk based methods. Only 7% have switched to online data backup services. Despite the continued reliance on traditional methods such as tapes, 2 in 5 organisations (39 %) admitted to a significant data loss incident.

Of those who experienced a data loss incident and had to conduct a restore, 1 in 5 admitted to never getting all the lost data retrieved while 1 in 3 claimed it took more than a day to get all or some of the data back.

In contrast to the widespread occurrence of data loss, the principle of backing up data is still heavily accepted amongst Irish organisations. 100% of respondents confirmed they back up their data. 96% back up data on a daily basis and 74% have a documented disaster recovery plan in the office. The acceptance of the backing up principle was further highlighted with 40% of organisations spending over €1,000 per annum on backup services.

Despite the acceptance of backing up data, the data management arrangements within organisations differ widely. 60% of organisations have data leaving their office in some format on a regular basis. 67% of respondents mentioned that where tapes are used, they are generally kept onsite at all times. Where tapes are employed only 28% believe them to be encrypted. Meanwhile, 28% of respondents wait for two years before replacing a back up tape, while 35% did not know how often tapes where replaced.

When there is a data breech, the survey revealed that it may be hard to pinpoint those responsible. 32% of respondents claimed responsibility is mixed between an IT services provider and an internal employee. 70.4% said that backing up was the responsibility of more than one internal employee. A quarter of all organisations do not have a formal, documented disaster recovery plan and 19% confessed to not knowing what their legal obligations relating to data protection and management where.

"The most significant finding was that while backing up is an accepted principle amongst Irish organisations, traditional methods such as tapes remain popular despite the fact that all too often they simply don’t work", explains Joe Molloy, Managed Services Director with IT Force. Molloy believes Irish organisations need to embrace new technologies such as online backup services that are "without question more effective in terms of reliability and costs".

For each survey participant, a contribution was made to the Dublin Simon Community.