Recent research from data recovery specialist Kroll Ontrack reveals that, over a 12-month period from 2013-14, one in four workers lost work data due to malfunction or corruption of technology, up from 19% just over two years ago.

Kroll Ontrack advises that this could have serious consequences for organisations that are unprepared for data disaster, as the research highlights that, while 68% of the data lost was recovered, 32% – or almost a third – was irrecoverable.

Says Paul Le Messurier, Programme and Operations Manager at Kroll Ontrack, “Now, more than ever, the business environment is data driven and digital first. It’s therefore extremely alarming that data loss is on the up.

“If this trend continues, there is a risk that large scale data disasters of the kind we have seen lately will persist, as will negative impacts on the provision of service level agreements to customers.

“Organisations must prepare for potential data disasters, by developing a robust business continuity plan, which includes a backup plan, education for employees and, if all else fails, a data disaster strategy.”

Additional findings by Kroll Ontrack highlight that one in three UK employees used personal devices or cloud services to store work-related data in the last 12 months. Recovery rates of lost work-related data among these devices are low. 19% of users successfully recovered data from home desktops, 17% from laptops and tablets, and just 8% from personal mobile devices.

Paul Le Messurier continues, “With the rise of BYOD, the lines between personal and work-related data are becoming blurred, and organisations must take this into account when devising a disaster recovery plan. This means undertaking a full audit of what devices are holding work-related data, and ensuring they are being used responsibly. It’s also important that businesses understand what data on the device is critical, and what isn’t – to ensure that only work related data is backed up to company servers – ignoring personal apps and music.”