Backing up important data such as client information is key to a company's disaster recovery plans, it has been claimed.

According to a blogger, writing for the Citizen Times, ensuring information kept on a computer system is duplicated is a major aspect of a company's efforts to plan for the worst.

It also suggested that firms ensure they have a full plan of action for data recovery in place, while employees should also be kept fully involved in plans.

"Draw up a list of telephone numbers for all employees. Assign certain employees to call others if disaster strikes," the writer explained.

"That way, you can learn who is all right and who needs help, and you can quickly communicate instructions about your business."

Recent figures revealed that over 270 data breaches have been reported to the Information Commissioner's Office since the government lost 25 million child benefit records over a year ago.

The majority of the reported issues were found to have arisen in the private sector.

New research from Connect found that, on average, it takes businesses that use backup tapes take 11.6 hours to retrieve and restore files. Connect is now recommending that SMEs switch to www.connect.co.uk/services/online_backup.