As we approach 2012, Indian small and medium businesses (SMBs) are planning IT initiatives for next year. Virtualization is at the top of the list for many. It is no longer just an enterprise technology and is increasingly being adopted by SMB organizations.

For many, 2011 will be recalled as the year of the data breach as companies of all sizes made headlines for losing valuable data. Small businesses were no exception as cybercriminals found SMBs as a new favorite target. Looking forward, the threat landscape won’t be getting any better but Symantec foresees 2012 as a year of action for SMBs where they’ll start taking tangible steps to protect their businesses from the threats they face.

The following are some of the key IT trends that will influence IT purchase decisions of SMBs through the coming year:

SMBs Will Head to the Cloud in 2012

Cloud computing today has captured the attention of organizations of all sizes alike, as a technology that offers lower operational expenses, scalability and mobility among other benefits. SMBs in particular, are increasingly aware of emerging technologies, as they struggle to secure their IT infrastructure and better manage their data and storage needs. According to the Symantec 2011 State of Cloud Survey, Indian organizations are conflicted about security – rating it both as a top goal and as a top concern with moving to the cloud. Eighty-seven percent of respondents are confident that moving to the cloud will not impact or will actually improve their security.

Cloud security services such as email security and web filtering technology allows SMBs to get enterprise-class security as a service that is always up-to-date on the latest threats. Many organizations are talking about moving to the cloud, with almost  80 percent at least discussing all forms of cloud. Eighty-two percent of Indian organizations have adopted or are adopting some sort of cloud service, with security services leading the way*. Symantec predicts that SMBs will flock to the cloud for their security needs. That’s why in 2012, we expect SMBs will harness the power of cloud solutions for security.

Mother Nature Will Put SMBs Disaster Preparedness Plans to the Test in 2012

In 2011, there were significantly more natural disasters than previous years. Yet, Indian SMBs are ill prepared to handle disasters. The Symantec 2011 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey revealed that sixty-eight of the respondents of did not have a plan in place.  Fifty percent said that it never occurred to them to put together a plan and 17 percent stated that disaster preparedness is not a priority for them.

Organizations who suffered downtime, required corporate spin doctors and dedicated technical efforts to repair their damaged reputations. In 2012, the likelihood that organizations will need to implement their DR plans is greater than ever before and organizations will understand the need to recover faster by automating the recovery process.

Virtualization and the SMB    

In 2011, many SMBs have resorted to taking shortcuts to protect information in physical AND virtual environments.  Next year could see some failures in the recovery of information if SMBs don’t implement a holistic backup solution addressing physical and virtual environments.  Symantec’s recent “backup in virtual environments” flash poll revealed some interesting behavior about backing up virtual environments:

* Only 15 percent always back up virtual servers
* When respondents were asked to name the types of challenges they face in implementing virtualization, 56 percent reported backup as a challenge.

There are some simple steps organizations can take to centralize backup and recovery of their physical and virtual server environments.

Standardize on a single platform:  A common software platform will protect physical and virtual machines together, enabling SMBs to centrally schedule backup jobs, manage recoveries, monitor the success and failure of backup jobs and provide a common console that IT managers can use to administer all backup jobs.

Implement automated, centralized monitoring: The creation of a virtual machine can now occur as quickly as in a few minutes by an individual and their creation can even be automated through the use of scripting.  Centralized reporting can monitor and report on the creation of these VMs.

Protect your data:  Have a simplified approach to backup.  Implement a solution that protects both physical and virtual environments.  Consider a data deduplication solution, to save space and time.

Implement granular recovery: Implement backup software that can protect and restore individual items within the VM, quickly and easily.

*Symantec 2011 State of Cloud Survey
**Symantec 2011 Virtualization and Evolution to the Cloud Survey
(Mr. Ajay Goel is the Managing Director of India & SAARC, Symantec. The views expressed by the author in this feature are entirely his/her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of SME Times.)