Half of Indian businesses think about BCDR once every three years, Survey

A survey by Think Teal, a prominent IT analyst firm, shows that many Indian businesses aren’t taking their Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) planning seriously enough, despite the increasing use of digital technology. Almost 50% of these Indian businesses only think about their BCDR strategy once every three years. A bigger worry is that about 40% of companies don’t have a proper BCDR plan at all, and many lack the expertise to manage one effectively.

The report, part of Think Teal’s Tealscope “2024 State of BCDR, India,” focused on enterprises with a minimum of 500 employees across various industries like BFSI, IT, ITeS, manufacturing, government, media, healthcare, and retail.

The survey found that 79% of respondents considered cyberattacks as their top concern when planning a BCDR strategy, surpassing worries about employee negligence, natural disasters, or political unrest.

The survey highlighted that 63% of respondents see protecting data stored in SaaS applications as a key reason for having a BCDR strategy. Additionally, 86% identified mitigating ransomware attacks as their primary motivation.

As businesses shift to the cloud, the survey predicts a decrease in on-premise data storage from 79% to 61% within the next two years. Over 60% of companies developing new applications are doing so on the cloud, with around 80% already having more than 30% of their data stored in the cloud.

The isolated operation of security and backup functions. Approximately 65% of enterprises still keep security and backup functions separate, while more than 85% of ransomware attacks target backup repositories.

Despite initial concerns about high upfront costs, the survey emphasises the long-term benefits of safeguarding data, addressing downtime, and ensuring business continuity, positioning BCDR as a strategic necessity for businesses in India.