Where’s my data? Four in 10 don’t know

Almost half of companies running transactional UK websites do not know where their data is stored, according to new research.

A study carried out for Q3 Internet Services by industry analyst Redshift Research found that 45% of companies running transactional websites don’t know whether data is stored in the UK or not. Some 27% do not know who their web hosting provider is while 53% could not say why they had chosen their provider.

Q3 says this raises concerns about the security of sensitive customer information.

Some 164 IT buyers across industries including retail, leisure, entertainment, financial services and the public sector took part in the study. The research also showed that 18% had suffered a major outage in the last 12 months, while 33% found their website too slow. Only 35% said they were happy with the service from their existing provider.

Raj Sukkersudha, managing director at Q3 Internet Services, said: “The research results demonstrate that the average organisation is surprisingly blasé about their choice of web hosting provider – until there is a problem. A significant percentage of companies running transactional websites don’t even know where their data is hosted. Given the sensitivity of much of that data, this is quite alarming.”

He said a poorly thought-out web hosting decision could cause problems down the line that will reflect poorly on the business.

“A company’s web presence today is no longer a nice-to-have, it is core to an organisation’s brand,” he said.