Mid-sized financial companies seriously underestimating website downtime issues

Research commissioned by NetBenefit has revealed that only 26% of mid-sized financial companies believe it would be extremely damaging for their website to be down for a whole day. With 85% of mid-sized financial companies now doing business online, the findings highlight the risk that many financial services companies are still taking with their online brand reputation.

The research reveals that although 89% of financial services companies have a disaster recovery plan in place for their websites, more than half (54%) do not test their plan more than once a year. With continuing threats such as viruses, DoS (Denial of Service) attacks or unpredicted spikes in traffic, disaster recovery plans need to be constantly evolving otherwise there is a serious threat to online business continuity.

Findings of the study, which was conducted by independent research company, Vanson Bourne, among 100 UK IT Directors representing mid-sized companies with 250 or more employees, highlight the risks that companies are taking by failing to ensure a continuous service in the event of web failure. 

Commenting on the findings of the research, Jonathan Robinson, COO at NetBenefit, says: "We know that the number of mid-market companies now using the Internet as a business channel continues to grow, but we have been very surprised by the lack of disaster recovery planning taking place.  Nearly every day we hear about viruses, hacking and other web attacks, let alone natural disasters such as fires or floods. Yet, while many companies go to great lengths to protect their physical assets with burglar alarms and other security devices, they do little or nothing to protect their vital, online business."

Regarding the dangers of ignoring website disaster recovery, Robinson concludes: "Research shows that more than one in four customers are likely to move to a competitor if a website is down for any reason.  For many mid-sized companies this would not only damage customer-loyalty but also mean significant lost revenue.  NetBenefit takes downtime very seriously and goes to great lengths to prevent it by offering dual site resilience, with total mirroring to ensure that complete backup is always available."

For further information about this release or any other press enquiries, please email netbenefit@furlongpr.com or contact Ross Furlong on 0845 053 6855

Notes to Editors:

NetBenefit is part of London listed Group NBT Ltd (LSE: NBT.).  Established in 1995, NetBenefit is an experienced provider of Managed Hosting services in the UK, with a range of services to suit every level of business.  

Its world-class network infrastructure allows it to guarantee resilient, available and secure Managed Hosting for businesses that need a hosting provider they can depend upon.

Group NBT Ltd is a leading provider of domain name management and Internet-related services through the three trading brands, NetNames, NetBenefit and Easily.co.uk. Group NBT has over 200 employees and is based in London with offices in Copenhagen, New York, Nice, Frankfurt, Munich and Madrid.

For further information about NetBenefit or GroupNBT please visit www.netbenefit.com or www.groupnbt.com