89% of organisations have confidence in their DR plans

Peter Groucutt, Managing Director of Databarracks, said: “It’s been a year of unprecedented disruption.

“The coronavirus outbreak caught organisations by surprise, with the majority not having a specific pandemic response plan in place. Despite this, most moved quickly to enable some form of remote working and stay productive. There are also positive signs from this year’s survey in terms of improved business continuity practices, cyber skills and disaster recovery capabilities.

“On the cyber front, companies continue to show steady progress in terms of defences and ability to recover lost data, which is encouraging with hackers circling ominously during a time of such upheaval.”

Key findings from the Data Health Check include:

• 61% have an up-to-date business continuity plan in place, a marked increase from 54% last year
• 66% did not have a dedicated pandemic response plan in place prior to the Covid-19 outbreak
• However, 85% have an IT disaster recovery plan within their BC plan, with 65% having tested this in the last 12 months (up from 50% last year)
• 89% of participants have confidence in their DR plan

Groucutt continued: “Half of organisations have suffered loss of revenue as a result of the pandemic, but decision-makers are optimistic that they could deal with a similar situation in future, which bodes well.

“Disaster recovery testing also continues to increase both in general and against cyber threats specifically, which is good to see and is reflective of the confidence businesses now have in their DR plans.

“While remote working has generally functioned well, the methods of accessing applications are far from standard. The majority of staff can access all systems, but 14% are forced to use applications locally and later transfer data. This works in a pinch but reducing this reliance on manual processes is essential in preparing for future disruptive events.”