Guys, here’s the update on the results of 2012 Symantec State of the Information Survey in the Philippines which was presented in a media briefing at the Peninsula Hotel, Manila earlier this morning.

Done in 100 various business and organizations nationwide, the Philippine findings of the survey revealed that digital information makes up 73 percent of an organisation’s total value.

“The rapid growth of digital information in the Philippines is inevitable with several national initiatives, including the five year Philippine Digital Strategy,”

said Luichi Robles, senior country manager of Symantec Philippines.

“In the digital economy, organizations could use the information they produce everyday to serve customers better and increase productivity but the same information could also be a major liability if not properly protected and managed.”

According to Alex Lei, Symantec’s director for Strategic Sales Group in the Asia South Region, the survey found that while large enterprises and small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the Philippines place a high value on business information, they still struggle to protect the information effectively.

Lei said:

“Businesses of all sizes in the Philippines face issues such as duplication of data, data loss and low storage utilization. They can address these challenges by taking proactive steps to build an information-centric IT model to protect their valuable information cost effectively”.

The survey further revealed that respondents from the Philippines highlighted the impact of data loss to their business, including damage to reputation and brand (62 percent), loss of customers (52percent), increased expenses (48 percent) and decreased revenue (48 percent).

According to Symantec, while so much is at stake, protecting information should be at top priority. And to help businesses in effectively protecting their information,
Symantec has come up with these recommendations:

• to focus on the information and not on the device or data center
• separate useless data from valuable information
• focus on efficiency by storing less but protecting more through archiving
• consistent policies on information and implement flexible infra to support continued growth.

Also present in the briefing was Yu Wui Wui, Symantec’s Senior Manager for Public Relations, Asia South Region.