According to a Veeam Software data resilience study conducted for World Backup Day on March 31, organizations are more vulnerable than ever to data loss and outages. So much so that the Managers’ concern about a data outage outweighs their fear of an economic recession.
Organizations can only realize the potential of AI when data is resilient, secure, and well-governed. But most boards and executives are not prepared for greater risks from AI.
World Backup Day serves as a reminder that regular, reliable backups are crucial to maintaining digital trust and business continuity. The Veeam study, conducted among more than 4,000 IT managers and decision makers, shows the importance of backup and recovery planning becoming a top priority for companies.
Ransomware and cyberattacks are at the top of the list of threats identified by business leaders. For 67%, they are the most feared risks for next year. In second place, at 29%, are risks related to AI. These include data breaches, algorithmic bias, and uncontrolled automation.
These threats pose a high risk of data loss and service interruptions. And while 47% of businesses expect to experience a major data breach or attack, only 32% believe it is very likely to fully recover critical data and business operations.
Thus, 62% of managers increasingly value data interruptions as a greater financial threat to their business than an economic recession, making resilience an urgent business priority.
Trust in data is a determining factor for the continuity of companies. As companies become increasingly reliant on their data and AI systems, the risk of disruption is more than significant. 76% of companies say they would not survive more than three days of downtime if they suffered a total data interruption.
Additionally, 44% of IT managers are not confident that their organizations can recover all critical data within 24 hours after suffering a cyberattack or data loss. The consequences are significant: loss of customer trust, reputational damage, regulatory sanctions, regulatory non-compliance and, for many companies, the threat of a complete business collapse.
But even though AI adoption is increasing, boards and management teams are failing to manage the associated risks and resilience well. According to the Veeam study, 38% of these have never formally addressed the types of attacks powered by AI, leaving organizations exposed and undermining confidence in AI capabilities.
Additionally, 31% of boards review resilience readiness, such as recovery KPIs or failover outcomes, every quarter. Furthermore, responsibility for resilience is often divided between CIOs, CISOs, risk managers and COOs.
49% of the organizations surveyed link executive KPIs with resilience results, and 24% of managers regularly participate in crisis drills due to data loss or interruption.
The consequences of cyber incidents are not only technical, and 57% of those responsible say that some employees resigned, threatened to resign or suffered burnouts after recording serious incidents. Among the main unexpected impacts were the loss of productivity and well-being.
In 26% of cases, cyberattacks remain the main cause of data loss, followed by human error in 23% of cases and system or hardware failures in 16%. Additionally, over the past five years, 83% of companies have experienced data outages that were not immediately resolved, underscoring the need for resilient and reliable databases.
