It has been found that one in three UK companies are putting their business operations are risk by storing their data back-ups on-site, according to new research.

In the study, carried out by Onyx Group and Computing magazine, it was found that less than half of back-up was stored off-site in a secure data centre, despite the risk that on-site back-up storage poses to business continuity.

Just 16 per cent of businesses were found to be confident with their disaster recovery procedures that were currently in place.

Neil Stephenson, CEO at Onyx Group, said: “This research shows a real lack of confidence in existing disaster recovery procedures and an obvious need to review and improve the business continuity plans that many UK SMEs currently in place.

“Our research paints a worrying picture of how UK SMEs would deal with issues such as theft, fire, flooding, hardware failures, power outages or human error that all place business continuity at risk. Just 18 percent of those surveyed thought that they would be able to limit disruption suffered by such an event to a couple of hours, meaning the large majority of companies risk significant damage to both revenue and reputation.”

All respondents said that they invest time in backing up their data, but very few showed confidence in the methods they use to do so. Despite the advantages of off-site data storage, such as cloud storage, 69 per cent of businesses have procedures in place for home working, with just one third using cloud storage facilities.

Neil Stephenson added: “”IT is the lifeblood of most businesses today and so constantly keeping your data safe and secure to maintain business continuity is essential. The research results show that many businesses are taking unnecessary risks with data management and that could prove to be extremely costly.

“The research highlighted obvious gaps in business continuity planning. All businesses should have procedures in place in the event that a workplace is inaccessible due to circumstances such as flooding or fires. The ability to relocate staff to an additional site or having procedures in place to allow staff to work securely from home is key to minimising the impact of a disaster. Off-site data storage and hosting, whether in a data centre or in the cloud, is also an essential element of any business continuity plan. Data that is stored in the cloud is protected against theft, floods or fires and damage that can be caused due to in-house hardware failures or power surges. Quality providers will also monitor data 24/7 and provide leading firewalls to offer greatest security.”