Requests for data recovery are on the up, and according to a leading data recovery provider, human error is responsible for the increasing demand.And while these incidents may just be accidents, the cost of human error can be significant says Kroll Ontrack General Manager Adrian Briscoe.“The impact of data loss can be significant,” he says. “Businesses must consider not only the cost of lost productivity, but also the potential reputational damage that losing customer information can cause. The risk of litigation arising from incidents involving data loss cannot be ignored.”Briscoe says the rising trend in human error incidents is linked to more complex storage systems coupled with depleted resources to replace equipment, train IT staff and maintain optimal staffing levels.“While advanced storage options such as virtualisation and cloud computing offer corporations storage optimization, human processes are still at the root of these solutions, instructing the technology as to how to perform,” he says. “The complexity of these systems often require a steep learning curve. Human error is increasingly common.”Preventing the impact of human error is a matter of applying good practices, he says.“Having a backup that is tested and verified regularly and stored off site is the best way to avoid data disasters,” he says. “Research indicates that many businesses still do not backup regularly enough, and even fewer actually test that the backup works.“Waiting until after a disaster to attempt to access a backup for the first time is potentially very risky.”With the potential costs of a data disaster running “into the hundreds of thousands”, Briscoe says bad backup practices aren’t worth the trouble.