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Could Power Disruption Cost You Critical Data and Records?

As many businesses becoming increasingly digitised and interconnected, protecting your organisation against the risk of data loss is increasingly vital. Data centres already invest significantly in emergency and backup power systems to prevent disruption to their power supply risking data being lost or corrupted.

However, many other businesses across a range of sectors are at an increasing risk of their data and digital systems being disrupted, with the risk of power disruption in the UK steadily rising. Even what on the surface appears to be a minor, momentary change in your site’s power can cause computers or servers to shut down, requiring lengthy restarts and risking compromised data.

Why Protecting your Data is Critical

Power disruption is one of the most common causes of data loss, alongside hardware or system malfunctions, human error and viruses. While your organisation’s IT functionality should have systems in place to protect you from the other three, power disruption can be more difficult to screen against. While critical infrastructure such as servers should be protected with UPS equipment, the increase of digitisation and Industry 4.0 means that data can still be lost or compromised if other infrastructure is disrupted.

The damage done by data loss can’t be understated. In one US study, 70% of small or medium-sized businesses that suffered a substantial data loss went out of business within a year. In the UK, a study by the British Chamber of Commerce found that 93% of businesses that suffer data loss for more than 10 days file for bankruptcy within a year. A report by the Ponemon Institute found that data loss costs UK firms an average of £71 per individual record. Loss of data can also significantly impact on productivity and your reputation with customers and partners.

Protecting your Digital Site

While critical IT infrastructure has typically been protected by UPS, with backup generation in place in the case of prolonged disruption, business sites are becoming increasingly interconnected. Your digital systems, and the crucial data that you are able to gather across multiple interconnected digital infrastructures, can be disrupted even if central servers and controls are protected.

Instead, a battery energy storage system (BESS) provides emergency power across an entire site, protecting not just critical equipment but all of your infrastructure and digital systems from power disruption. Power disruption can not only compromise data but significantly impact on your operations and productivity, making it doubly important that your site is properly protected. BESS also contributes to your other energy management priorities as well as bolstering power resilience, helping to improve efficiency and reduce costs through allowing the more intelligent buying, storing and use of power.