Businesses in Canada seem unwilling to invest in systems which are only seen as a way of avoiding small disruptions, according to a new survey.

The study, entitled the American Express Small Business Monitor, discovered that two out of every five businesses have already experienced a "significant" disruption to business and thus have been hit hard by a lack of disaster recovery systems at work.

Howard Grosfield, the vice-president and general manager of small business services at American Express Canada and International, explained that small companies are not investing in online data backup as it is an issue which does not translate into growth.

He continued: "Business owners are laser-focused on how to boost sales and profit, particularly during a recession. Business continuity planning, while a vital protection for small businesses, simply isn't going to make a company money in the short term."

According to the Disaster Recovery Guide, such systems must ensure they keep pace with any other technological changes at an organisation to make any possible future information restorations easy, quick and comprehensive.

A recent survey for Connect found that one in ten companies has lost important data as a result of a backup failure. The company has now developed a unique online backup service for SMEs to ensure they can survive any disaster.