Data protection should be top priority of SMEs: Survey

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SME Times News Bureau | 22 Aug, 2012
In order to preserve the existing customers and prevent revenue loss, expenses and brand damage - data protection should be a top priority for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in India, said a survey relieved by Symantec Corp.

Symantec Corp. Tuesday announced the India findings of its first ever State of Information Survey. According to the survey, SMEs in India are dealing with enormous amounts of data, on average have 563 terabytes of information data and it is expected to grow 178 percent over the next year for SMEs.

Losing information data could lead to decreased revenues, customers, increased expenses and brand damage, it said.

"Our survey shows that only 15 percent of businesses in India can confidently use their business information without being either too permissive or too restrictive about its access," said Anand Naik, managing director- sales, India and SAARC, Symantec.

Adding, "Without the ability to properly protect their information assets, this data can become a liability. To counter this, businesses in India need to put in place a plan to manage their data assets so they can have a true competitive advantage."

The total size of information stored today by all businesses globally is 2.2 zettabytes. SMEs on average have 563 terabytes of data, compared with the average enterprise that has 100,000 terabytes. The survey also reveals that information is expected to grow 67 percent over the next year for enterprises and 178 percent for SMEs.

The survey found that a huge 89 percent of Indian firms have lost information in the past year.

Globally, on average, enterprises spend USD 38 million annually on information, while SMEs spend USD 332,000.

However, the yearly cost per employee for SMEs globally is a lot higher at USD 3,670, versus USD 3,297 for enterprise. For example, a typical 50-employee small business spends USD 183,500 on information management, whereas a typical large enterprise with 2,500 employees would spend USD 8.2 million.

With so much at stake, protecting information should be a top priority, yet businesses are still struggling. In the last year, besides 89 percent of organisations losing information, 94 percent of businesses in India have had confidential information exposed outside of the company, and 31 percent have experienced compliance failures related to information.

Another challenge is the amount of duplicate information businesses are storing – an average of 38 percent of data is duplicated. Storage utilization is also low, at only 23 percent within the firewall and 20 percent outside.

All these risks and inefficiencies result in businesses spending more than necessary on storing and protecting their information. A key issue identified by 30 percent of businesses in India is information sprawl – the overwhelming growth of information that is unorganized, difficult to access and often duplicated elsewhere, the survey said.