As the value of data increases and losing critical information can be very costly for a business, ensuring data protection is more important than ever.

Organisations can protect themselves against losses that could run into the millions by implementing an effective backup framework to secure and retrieve their data, according to Acronis.

In 2014 Acronis and IDC completed a survey on complexity and data growth driving small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) toward a new generation of data protection.

Of those surveyed, 80% of the SMBs surveyed estimated that data recovery costs $20,000 per hour. The remaining 20% put that figure at more than $100,000 per hour.

For large companies, the potential losses can be devastating, Acronis says.

Lincoln Goldsmith, Acronis general manager ANZ, says, “The threat of financial damages stemming from data loss becomes more acute when you realise that around 40% of small businesses don't backup their data and 60% do not survive a data disaster.

“It can cost a lot of time, money and effort in the event of a disaster to re-generate data that is not backed up.

“Not only can the loss of data result in lengthy recovery times if digital systems go down, leading to potential economic trauma for an organisation, it can also seriously damage a company's reputation.

Goldsmith says, “Companies need a comprehensive data protection plan, so that at least one copy of data will always survive.

Data loss is easily preventable with the so-called 3-2-1 rule of backup, according to Acronis. This refers to the three simple steps that can help ensure the protection of data:

1. Make three copies of every piece of important data.
2. Store that data in two different formats.
3. Keep one copy offsite.

Three copies of critical data ensures that no single event will wipe out all the data, says Acronis.

If that data is stored in at least two different formats, such as an internal drive as well as external media like cloud storage, it will help prevent the data from being lost if one repository fails.

At least one copy of the data should be kept offsite to protect against a physical disaster, Acronis says.

“The sooner companies implement the 3-2-1 rule, the better equipped they'll be to prevent an incident from escalating to a disaster,” says Goldsmith.