Small business ill prepared for disasters

Customers jump ship for more reliable service.

Small businesses in Australia and New Zealand have experienced three network disruptions on average in the past 12 months costing them an estimated $30,000 a day, a Symantec report released today has found.

The survey, conducted by Applied Research, found power outages (79 percent) were the number one cause of disruption in the past 12 months, followed by floods, fire or storm (70 percent) and virus attacks (67 percent).

Of concern, however, was that 93 percent of small businesses said they were "somewhat to very satisfied" with their disaster plans even though almost one third didn't have a plan to deal with such disruptions.

The report also found small businesses were confident their customers would be understanding and patient during a disruption.

Only one in four respondents believed customers will evaluate other options, including competitors.

But Symantec, who surveyed some of the small businesses' customers, found this wasn't necessarily the case.

"It's perception versus reality," Steve Martin, small business director at Symantec Australia and New Zealand said. "It's the first time we interviewed not only small businesses but also their customers.

"93 percent of small businesses said they were satisfied with their disaster recovery plans but when we interviewed their customers' they said they have switched suppliers because their systems were unreliable," said Martin.

In actual terms, two in five small business customers have switched vendors because they "felt their vendor's computers or technology systems were unreliable.