Loss of paper documents still a significant threat
30 percent of those surveyed said that they would never recover if their paper business documents were destroyed by a fire, flood, terrorist attack etc. 32 percent of respondents would take a minimum of 12 months to recover and the remaining 38 percent would take approximately 6 months to recover. This is despite 60 percent of companies surveyed stating that they have business continuity plans in place. The financial cost of all business documents 'going up in smoke' is also significant. All respondents would incur some financial cost with 45 percent incurring at least £50,000. 32 percent of organisations would incur between £100,000 and £800,000 and 15 percent would have financial costs of more than £1 million. Key concerns by organisations (if all paper documents were destroyed) include "critical documents would be lost forever", "there would be legal and VAT implications" and "the business would lose SOX compliance". In addition, some organisations state that the destruction of all hard-copy documents would: - "Cause the business to go under" Tony Bray, director of Version One, commented: "Many organisations think disasters just won't happen to them. This mentality is extremely alarming! The only way organisations can ensure all business documents are protected in the event of a fire or flood, is by electronically storing all documentation from invoices and purchase orders through to despatch notes and technical drawings, as well as keeping back-up copies off-site."
•Date: 24th Jan 2006• Region: UK • Type: Article •Topic: BC stats |
