Half of businesses fail to back-up data

More than half of small businesses are failing to back-up their electronic files, and risking a complete loss of data as a result.

Unicom, which specialises in telecoms for the small business sector, surveyed 800 of its customers, with 55% saying they did not have any back-up at all.

The remaining 45% used various methods for their back-up - some more safe than others, said Unicom

Chris Earle, operations director at Unicom, said, "It is quite hair-raising to think that 55% of the businesses we surveyed said they did not back-up their data in any way.

"All it takes is a power surge, a hardware failure, a software glitch, a break-in or even a wrong click of a mouse, and every single piece of information relating to accounts, tax, personnel, sales, customers and stock can be lost for good."

The survey found that 5% of small firms back-up data to tape storage, while 6% back-up online, 14% back-up to a different PC, and 20% to "another method".