Pressures experienced by management are the same regardless of whether a business is large or small, one expert believes.

Being "self-aware" is important in dealing with pressure and stress, as every individual deals with it in a different way, according to Sally Toumi, managing director of recruitment consultancy Stark Brooks.

Furthermore, certain personalities actually "excel" as a result of pressure, she suggests.

However, "good communication" in an organisation is of greater significance than the personalities involved when it comes to business continuity during high-pressure situations, she adds.

Ms Toumi explains: "The ones [who] don't flap under pressure are generally the ones who have a team underneath them with a clear, concise message."

Elsewhere, it has been suggested that the array of inexpensive data back-up solutions now available on the market means that firms have no excuse when it comes to implementing an effective disaster recovery plan.

PCPro said businesses should ideally deploy multiple means of back-up in order to safeguard data.

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.