Small and medium-sized businesses as well as their customers are at risk of losing their vital data unless these entities bolster their disaster preparedness to tackle possible IT system failures, says a survey. The study included more than 1,840 respondents from 23 countries in North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Asia Pacific and Latin America. There were 900 respondents from Asia Pacific with 499 employees. Many SMBs do not understand the importance of disaster preparedness. While 68 per cent of the respondents said they do not have a plan in place, 50 per cent of them said that it never occurred to them to put together a plan. 17 per cent stated that disaster preparedness is not a priority for them, a survey conducted by security software company Symantec revealed. Despite warnings, most of the Indian SMBs are still not prepared for disasters, putting them at risk, it said. "Disasters are unpredictable and can happen due to natural causes, human errors or IT systems failures. SMBs which handle sensitive information such as customer records, credit card details or personnel files, cannot afford to risk data loss incidents," Symantec head-Channels & Alliances Vineet Sood said. This lack of preparation is surprising given how many SMBs are at risk. 27 per cent of respondents live in regions susceptible to natural disasters. In the past 12 months, the typical SMB experienced six computer outages. The leading causes cited were cyber attacks, power outages or natural disasters. "Findings from the research show that SMBs in India still haven't recognised the tremendous impact of a disaster. Simple planning can enable SMBs to protect their information in the event of a disaster, which in turn will help them build trust with their customers," Sood added. The survey revealed that the information that drives most SMBs is not protected. Less than half of SMBs back up their data weekly or more frequently and 12 per cent back up daily. In fact, 77 per cent of SMBs said they would lose at least 50 per cent of their data in the event of a disaster. Disasters can have a significant financial impact on SMBs. Outages cause customers to leave. 44 per cent of SMB customer respondents reported they have switched SMB vendors due to unreliable computing systems. 31 per cent of SMB customers surveyed stated that their SMB vendors have temporarily shut down due to a disaster. The survey found that 52 per cent of Indian SMBs intended to create a disaster preparedness plan in the future.