According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics 20% of small to medium size businesses suffer a major disaster every five years? Physical media and electronic data must be protected and easily retrieved in the case of a natural disaster, equipment failure, or many other unexpected events that can occur for the continuation of business.

Not having data backup and media storage can dramatically compromise the survival of a company if calamity strikes. In fact 43% of company’s that experience a disaster never reopen after a disaster and 29% close within the next xx years due to their failure to have a disaster recovery plan that includes the off-site storage of mission critical data. Information losses can happen because of natural disasters, theft, equipment failure, employee wrongdoing, file corruption and more. If information is lost, business cannot continue as usual without the data. Financial losses occur, and compliance with regulations may be broken. If legal action occurs, data cannot be recovered for subpoena including documents, email, electronic messages.

All businesses must plan for the unexpected, and many are not prepared in the case of a calamity to restore critical data. To protect against the unexpected it is imperative that a company, regardless of size, have a disaster recovery plan that provides for professional media storage and data backup to insure business continuity and to meet regulatory demands in the event of the unexpected. Further it is not sufficient to simply have data copied. Additionally, the data must be stored offsite in an environment that protects the media from theft and damage and there must be a plan that makes the necessary equipment available so the data and applications can be restored and the company can continue to operate.

Data needs to be protected by an expert disaster recovery plan with a company that can guarantee the recovery if the unexpected happens. All types of physical media including tapes, disks, reels, and CD-ROMS should be stored in state of the art facilities, such as a Firelock Vault that meets or exceeds all of the ANSI standards for the protection of company critical data.

There are many companies who recognize the importance of proper media storage and data backup and reduce risk in innovative and secure ways for their clients. They increase operational efficiency and enhance safety and security through their records management and retrieval systems, including storage for both physical media and electronic file vaults.

Grace Enderlein is a freelance writer and editor. “The Importance of Professional Media Storage and Data Backup in Boston, MA" notes that business records need to be stored properly in case of the unexpected, and must also be able to be retrieved. Retrievex.com is an industry leader in records management services.