EVault’s Annual Cloud-Connected Backup and Recovery Survey Discovers IT Challenged with Managing More and More Data, Turning to Hybrid Environments for Relief
In its second-annual survey released today, EVault,
Inc., a Seagate Company (NASDAQ:STX), revealed that half of all
organizations surveyed in the USA, UK, France, Germany, and the
Netherlands say they are managing more data now than they were a year
ago, and 70 percent of those same organizations expect that the volumes
of data they manage will only continue to climb. Faced with these
realities, the survey found that within the group of IT leaders not
currently benefiting from a hybrid (onsite and offsite) data
protection environment, more than 60 percent are either planning or
considering one. Cloud
backup and storage, a key component of hybrid environments, is now
seen as an important way to manage the ever-increasing volumes of data.
66 percent of IT people surveyed said their organizations will increase
the amount of data they store in the cloud by 2015. The US is most
bullish about storing data in the cloud, with 85 percent of American IT
leaders responding they would increase cloud usage in the next few years.
Within organizations already benefiting from a hybrid data protection
environment, 74 percent report they needed the increased flexibility a
hybrid approach brings to their data management infrastructure, which
becomes more and more important as data volumes increase. Improved data
security was why 66 percent moved from their old backup
and recovery tools to an onsite and offsite data protection
solution. 57 percent of all IT leaders surveyed prefer their hybrid
solution because their rapidly growing business critical data requires
protection against natural disaster and theft.
“The EVault community leads the industry in embracing and promoting
onsite, cloud, and cloud-connected – also known as hybrid – data
protection solutions to help organizations protect and access their
critical data. EVault’s uniquely integrated ecosystem of EVault
software, SaaS, managed services, and appliances help ensure customers
maintain business continuity in multi-platform, multi-site
environments,” said Terry Cunningham, president and general manager of
EVault. “This year’s survey demonstrates that data protection, disaster
recovery, and other storage services optimized to perform in a
distributed environment, supported by a secure, reliable cloud storage
infrastructure is what customers want as they look to strategies to
manage volumes of data that will only continue to climb.”
IT Decision-Makers Under Stress with the Data Management Burden
EVault’s 2011 survey revealed some startling admissions from IT
decision-makers. Chief among these were the 17 percent who would rather
have their teeth pulled without using painkillers than have to inform
their bosses of a critical data loss. A year later, it’s apparent that
IT teams are still anxious when it comes to sharing bad news with
company leadership.
24 percent of respondents in the survey admitted to not telling their
CEOs they are not backing up all files, especially those on mobile
devices. The stress of data management continues to burden IT
decision-makers; 38 percent admit they worry about their data not being
saved securely or whether any work has been backed up at all. This worry
is well-founded. In 2011, 31 percent of organizations had experienced
data loss within the last 12 months — on average twice, but in 2012 this
has increased to 53 percent experiencing a loss.
“The IT insight section of our annual survey always reveals fascinating
details about the personalities inside the IT department, and the
pressures they are under. They continue to struggle with data loss,
management of data growth, keeping up-to-date with new technologies, and
are now grappling with the reality of employees using personal devices
at work, and how that further impacts their data growth and management
issues,” Cunningham said.
Mobile Devices—A Growing Concern
While year-over-year and country-by-country figures of employees storing
company data on their phones held steady at 22 percent (in the US it is
up to 32 percent), an overwhelming majority of IT leaders — 94 percent —
have concerns about the mix of personal and corporate data used by
employees on their own mobile devices. 67 percent of IT leaders surveyed
expressed concerns about the retention and security of their data, and
its possible deletion from a mobile device. Meanwhile, an additional 57
percent highlighted worries about the legal issues that could stem from
the BYOD
(bring your own device) trend.
IT leaders in this study are just starting to address the issue. While
almost all of the organizations surveyed – 96 percent – have at least
some employees who have mobile devices they use for work, and 24 percent
of IT leaders themselves admit to having lost data from a mobile device,
only 28 percent of organizations surveyed currently have a disaster
recovery plan which includes mobile devices. IT appears ready to start
addressing this problem, with a large number of respondents believing
they would benefit from implementing some policy controls. For example,
55 percent of those surveyed believe their organization would benefit
from administrative controls enabling the ability to delete data from
any mobile device possessing company data.
”As the proliferation of devices and their functionality increases so
does the likelihood that employees will become more reliant on them for
company use. Without a conscious plan for protecting data on mobile
devices, companies’ data management strategies will have more holes than
Swiss cheese,” Cunningham said. “It is great news that 32 percent of the
IT leaders surveyed are planning to implement a strategy to manage data
loss from mobile devices including laptops, smartphones and tablets, and
that 43 percent are planning or considering a disaster recovery plan for
2013. We predict that this percentage will be even greater in the next
three years.”
For a visual representation of the survey, see the accompanying
infographic.
More Survey Analysis to Come
Over the coming weeks and months EVault will release further insights
and analysis from its second-annual cloud-connected backup and recovery
survey. EVault anticipates a more detailed view of each country
including a comparing and contrasting of leaders and laggards across key
areas like disaster recovery and data backup, BYOD and CIO insights.
EVault will also break down responses from the survey’s SMB and large
enterprise organizations as well as some vertical industries highlighted
in the research.
This analysis will be found on EVault’s blog, which can be subscribed to
at http://blogs.evault.com/.
Survey Methodology
EVault commissioned Vanson Bourne, an independent research company, to
conduct this study of trends in data storage and related services.
Between October and November of 2012, Vanson Bourne interviewed 650 IT
decision-makers from companies ranging in size from 100 to 3,000+
employees. Respondents represented a range of industries (financial
services, retail, healthcare, legal, education, and government) in
multiple countries (USA, UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands).
About EVault
More than 38,000 companies rely on EVault cloud-connected backup and
recovery services. Delivered by a team of data
recovery experts and using the very
best cloud-connected technology, EVault
backup solutions seamlessly integrate on-premises and online backup data
protection for fast, local data access and ensured cloud
disaster recovery. Optimized for distributed environments and backed
by an ironclad cloud, EVault technology also powers the offerings of cloud
services providers, data centers, telcos, ISVs, and many others.
EVault is a Seagate Company.
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