8 reasons why people do not back up

Files in emails, underestimating the value of data and trust in technology among the 8 main reasons why people do not back up

Acronis calculations show that an investment in a backup solution pays for itself with the very first failure

Prague, 9 May 2016 – According to Acronis, a global leader in hybrid cloud data protection solutions, the main reasons for the absence of a backup solution include files stored in emails, excessive trust in the reliability of technology and underestimating the value of one’s own data. However, calculations show that the financial losses resulting from data loss far exceed the costs of a backup solution, which pays for itself during the first failure.

Here are the eight main reasons why people do not back up:

1. Copies of files are in email – Users often rely on having duplicates of all files in email attachments. However, important emails may be deleted, a file structure cannot be restored from an email application, and copying files from emails is very labor-intensive.
2. Backing up takes too long – Users fear that backing up will take up a lot of time. However, incremental backups speed everything up significantly, and current solutions allow users to work normally during automated backups without interruption.
3. Backing up is too complicated – Many people still imagine backing up as being too complicated, but today it only involves connecting backup media and a few clicks to configure it in a simple user interface.
4. A computer cannot fail – When people buy a new computer, they lose their fear of a potential failure. But hard drive failure rates range between 2 and 4%, and even a new PC is not a 100% guarantee of data protection.
5. An old computer can simply be reinstalled – When a computer loses its original speed, it is easy to enter the software serial numbers and simply reinstall it. However, reinstallation does not restore user data, and returning the computer to its original state can take days.
6. Regularly copying important documents – Users copy important files to an external drive or Dropbox, but usually not often enough to avoid losing several days of work in the event of a failure. Copying is not backing up.
7. Immunity to accidents – anyone who does not live in a flood zone, has fire protection equipment, has never experienced an earthquake, uses a home alarm, has antivirus software, is insured, etc., feels safe. However, unfortunate events come from unexpected directions and without warning.
8. Data has little value – Users do not have an accurate idea of the value of data until they lose it and cause financial losses to themselves or their company.

 

According to Acronis calculations, the cost of data recovery after a failure for a typical SMB company with 20 employees that uses a backup solution amounts to approximately CZK 50,000, including the costs of the backup solution, hardware recovery, technician work and company downtime due to a non-functioning IT system. If it does not have a backup solution, costs rise to as much as CZK 120,000 due to longer downtime. The difference between the two amounts may represent a return on the backup investment several times over with the very first failure.

“Few users realize that the value of data is also affected by losses from downtime due to its unavailability, which increase arithmetically over time,” said Zdeněk Bínek, responsible for sales of Acronis solutions in the Czech and Slovak markets. “That is why it is important to have a reliable solution for data backup and rapid recovery that significantly reduces IT infrastructure outages and minimizes the loss of productivity among employees without access to important company data. Every hour of downtime means a loss of many thousands of crowns, and for manufacturing companies, even tens of thousands of crowns.”

Acronis offers Acronis True Image 2016 on the Czech market, the best-selling backup solution in Czech designed for homes and offices, which enables users to create and store backups of the entire computer, files and directories locally and in the cloud. For companies and organizations, it offers Acronis Backup and Acronis Backup Advanced for local and cloud backup of workstations, servers and virtual machines. More at www.acronis.cz.