A consulting firm recently surveyed 412 technology and business professionals responsible for the technology needs of small (99 or fewer employees) and small mid-market (100 to 250 employees) organizations in North America.

In addition to general IT and data storage environments, respondents were asked about their organizations, data availability requirements, as well as the subsequent steps taken to protect data and meet those requirements. Here is a brief summary of the results.

The survey data shows that most SMB organizations “get it” with regard to protecting their data and many even have a specific backup policy. The reality, counterintuitive though it may seem, is that SMB organizations arguably need data protection as much as — if not more than — their enterprise and midmarket counterparts. However, the unfortunate truth is that far too many SMBs still settle for less protection than they should because of their incorrect presumption about its complexity, a lack of awareness of product capabilities, and a staffing situation that limits the time necessary to evaluate and — more importantly — manage technology.  This represents an opportunity for vendors and channel partners to address these misconceptions and challenges through a combination of education, and services, whether that takes the form of an audit assessing the use – or lack – of product features in order to optimize utilization and maximize availability or a managed service that provides data protection expertise to those organizations with limited IT resources. 

For the complete survey results, click here.