As businesses globally are reminded about the importance of data backup during Backup Awareness Month, Arcserve stresses that recovery can often be the missing part of the successful business continuity equation.

Global research commissioned by Arcserve revealed that most companies will suffer data loss at some point. The findings highlight why having a fast and effective data recovery plan plays an equally important role as data backup. Key findings from the research include:

• 76% of mid-sized companies have experienced data loss in the last five years
• 45% of respondents said that they could not recover all their data after a loss
• Only 24% of respondents have a well-documented, stringently tested, and up-to-date disaster recovery plan
• 77% of mid-sized companies lack a clearly defined data resilience plan

Arcserve recommends businesses adopt the proven 3-2-1-1 data backup strategy. The 3-2-1-1 strategy requires three backup copies of data on two different media, such as disk and tape, with 1 of those copies located offsite for disaster recovery. The final one in the 3-2-1-1 equation is immutable backup - a key element of successful ransomware protection because data is converted to a write-once, read many times format-and cannot be altered.

Said Patrick Tournoy, executive vice president for operations at Arcserve: "Backup Awareness Month was created to help people be more aware of the significance that data plays in our everyday lives and the importance of keeping it safe. Of course, we fully agree with this and believe that robust and tested data recovery planning is critical to any data backup and protection plan."