Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to make sure they have a tested business continuity plan in place, in addition to commercial insurance - as a most smaller companies don't have the reserves necessary to pick up their operations after a disaster.

This is the opinion of Steve Murphy, UK managing director at Hitachi Data Systems.

"Key elements of this plan as far as data is concerned should include taking daily and weekly backups of data, perhaps considering outsourced data management and keeping backups, disks, original software license agreements, important documents and copies of these in a secure offsite location." he stated.

"It is also extremely important that all individuals in the company are aware of the disaster recovery plan and what they must do in the event of a disaster," he went on.

According to data from the London Chamber of Commerce, 90 per cent of businesses that lose data from a disaster are forced to close within two years - while 80 per cent of businesses without a well-structured recovery plan are forced to close within 12 months of a flood or fire.

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