Sage Survey Finds That While the Majority of Canadian Small Businesses Back Up Data as a Precautionary Measure, Many May Not Be Prepared for a Crisis

RICHMOND, BC--(Marketwire - Jun 19, 2012) - Sage North America announced today the findings of its Small Business Disaster Preparedness Study, a survey aimed to examine how Canadian small businesses back up important financial data and prepare for potential emergencies. The study found that although nearly all small businesses back up critical financial data, most have not developed a formal emergency preparedness plan. Sage, a leading provider of business management software and services to more than 6 million small and midsized businesses worldwide, conducted the study among 167 small businesses across Canada.

Canadian SMBs at risk of losing financial data at hands of an emergency or natural disaster

"An overwhelming 98 per cent of Canadian small businesses are backing up their financial data, but only 28 per cent are doing it exclusively off-site or via a web-based application, while 72 per cent report backing up on-site. While any backup is better than none, copies of critical information kept on-site could easily be lost in the event of a natural disaster or even fire, theft or a hardware failure," said Nancy Harris, vice president and general manager at Sage Simply Accounting. "Such loss could severely delay operations and hinder a full recovery. It's important for small businesses to consider this in the development of any preparedness plan. It may seem insignificant now, but if that data is safe off-site when a crisis hits, the owner will be able to focus on getting their business up and running again instead of worrying about its survival."

Of those small business owners who back up their financial data, 12 per cent of small businesses are using both on-site and off-site methods to back up their critical financial data.

The Sage study also found that 71 per cent of surveyed small businesses do not have a formal emergency or disaster preparedness plan in place, citing as reasons that they haven't had any issues in the past that influenced the decision to develop it (41%), they hadn't thought about it (33%) or they don't think it's important for their business. However, of the 29 per cent of small businesses that do have a formal emergency or disaster preparedness plan developed, 83 per cent reported that data backup was built into it.

Other findings

• 39% of those small businesses that back up their financial data do so "daily," and 20% do so "a few times a week."
• 61% of small businesses with a formal emergency or disaster preparedness plan put it in place as a "precautionary measure," while 57% stated "it's the smart thing to do," and 26% said "the nature of their business requires a level of preparedness at all times."
• Only 21% of small businesses have a formal technology plan for their business.

The survey was conducted in February 2012 among Sage customers who are small business owners and has a margin of error of +/- 7% with a confidence level of 95 per cent.

About Sage
Sage is a leading global supplier of business management software and services for small and midsized businesses. The Sage Group plc, formed in 1981, was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and now employs more than 12,600 people and supports more than 6 million customers worldwide. For more information about Sage in North America, please visit the company website at: NA.Sage.com. Follow on Facebook, facebook.com/SageNorthAmerica, and Twitter, twitter.com/SageNAmerica.

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