Disaster Readiness Closely Connected to SMB Adoption of Cloud: Symantec

Disaster preparedness is connected closely with small- and medium-sized businesses’ (SMB) adoption of technologies, including virtualization, cloud computing and mobility, according to the findings from Symantec (News - Alert) Corp.’s 2012 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey.

The survey revealed how willing SMBs are to adopt these services, often with improved disaster preparedness as a goal, according to said Steve Cullen, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for SMB and Cloud at Symantec Corp. (News - Alert)

“Today’s SMBs are in a unique position to embrace new technologies that not only provide a competitive edge, but also allows them to improve their ability to recover from a disaster while protecting the information that their businesses depend on,” Cullen said.

The survey, which queried 2,053 decision makers from organizations worldwide, also found that although large enterprises are already employing these technologies, SMBs are paving the way toward virtualization, cloud and mobility adoption.

More than one-third of SMBs (35 percent) are taking advantage of mobile devices for business use. Virtualization is also on the radar of SMBs, with 34 percent either currently deploying or already benefiting from server virtualization.

Cloud computing is even more popular, with 40 percent deploying public clouds and a similar number (43 percent) implementing private clouds.

“SMBs cannot afford lengthy downtimes so the ability to quickly recover from a disaster is critical,” Cullen added. “Technologies such as virtualization, cloud computing and mobility, combined with a sound plan and comprehensive security and data protection solutions, enable SMBs to better prepare for and quickly recover from potential disasters such as floods or fires, as well as lost or stolen mobile devices and laptops.” 

Other Symantec survey highlights include the following:

Effect of disaster preparedness top of mind for SMBs: In many cases, a desire to improve their disaster preparedness played a part in adopting these emerging technologies. In the case of private cloud computing, 37 percent reported that disaster preparedness influenced their decision, similar to the 34 percent who said it affected their commitment to public cloud adoption and server virtualization. This held true with mobility as well, with disaster preparedness influencing the decision 36 percent of the time.

Early adopters enjoying better disaster preparedness: Whether by design or not, implementing these initiatives has improved the disaster preparedness of most survey respondents, particularly in the case of server virtualization – 71 percent reported that their disaster preparedness improved with virtualization. In the case of private and public cloud they also saw improvement, according to 43 percent and 41 percent, respectively. And mobility increased their disaster preparedness 36 percent of the time.

In order for businesses to best take advantage of this opportunity to improve disaster preparedness, Symantec recommends organizations do a few things:

Start planning…now: Develop a disaster preparedness plan today. Evaluate how strategic technologies such as mobile, virtualization and cloud can help in those efforts.

Implement strategic technologies: Adopt integrated cloud backup for offsite storage and disaster recovery, and automated physical to virtual (P2V) backup conversion so you can recover your physical  system to a virtual machines  in case of a server failure.

Protect your information: Use comprehensive security and backup solutions to protect your physical, virtual and mobile systems. You may even opt to backup to the cloud.

Review and test your disaster preparedness: This should be completed at least once a quarter.