A survey of Belgian, quoted companies that LCL ordered, showed that data security is not seen as essential within IT governance, not even with quoted companies.

One of our clients, a health care company, chose to work with us after their government control body said it was no option to work with only one data center.

In case of a disaster, you risk losing absolutely all your data. After your power shuts down, your company does too.

If you really want to be safe, at least 25 km should separate both data centers.

Moreover, best practices dictate that one should separate the development environment from the production systems.

What are the odds that the current mentality – we all trust that all will go well – will change in the short term?

Only a minority of companies interviewed said they were planning to set up a second data center.

If we really want change, it will have to be directed by the stock exchange control body: FSMA.

So, in the best interest of our Belgian quoted companies, for the sake of their business continuity and employment – not to mention the shareholders who want return on their investment; data loss will almost certainly cause share devaluation – we call upon FSMA to issue a new guideline for quoted companies.

A guideline pushing quoted companies to have a second data center, and to either thoroughly test all back-up systems, including power backup, or to confide in a party that does just that for them. It’s a pain in the lower back part, but people will not move unless they have to.