Acronis, a provider of backup, recovery and security solutions for
physical, virtual and cloud environments, released research that
suggests consumers are generally aware of the need for backup and
recovery, even if they are not carrying it out regularly enough.
Eighty-three percent of consumers surveyed stated that they understand
the need to back up, indicating that awareness of the technology is
increasing and is catching up with other more established consumer
technologies such as antivirus software.
However, despite the awareness of the technology, the survey indicated
much of the data on PCs and laptops is not being protected. Almost
one-third (29 percent) of consumers do not back up the files, photos
and
music on their machines at all, while one-quarter (25 percent) state
that
they only back up when they remember. In fact, only 15 percent back up
on a regular basis (once a week or more), according to survey results.
The research revealed that people are well educated about backup and
recovery, with only a small minority of consumers stating that they do
not back up because they do not think that their data is at risk or
because they are ignorant about the subject matter. The report
suggested apathy is the main barrier, with almost half of consumers (48
percent) stating that they know they should back up but they do not do
it or do not do it correctly.
While consumer attitudes to backup and recovery may be complacent, the
survey indicated that people do fear the prospect of losing all their
data and the consequences of not backing up. For instance, 62 percent
of consumers fear the prospect of their PC or laptop crashing, losing
their machine or it being stolen, as opposed to just under one-third of
consumers who fear virus attack (31 percent).
“It is encouraging to see that more and more people are becoming aware
about backup and recovery,” David Blackman, general manager, Northern
Europe at Acronis, explained. “However, consumer backup practices are
still sloppy and many of us are putting months’ worth of data at risk.
While awareness of backup is creeping up behind antivirus, we’re still
not at the stage that security products are at. What is needed is
backup software similar to antivirus solutions, which is easy to use
and backs up data without the consumer even having to think about it.”
A summary of the Acronis research methods noted the company surveyed
440 consumers both face-to-face and online in August. Respondents
were questioned in France, Germany, UK, APAC, Sweden and Spain.
Forty-six percent were female and 54 percent were male.