According to a new survey of IT Consultants by BUMI, 91 percent IT consultants and other channel professionals said that technical service and support is the most important factor when selecting a data backup option.

Other important factors named by the professionals include pricing, 73 percent, data security, 62 percent and industry reputation, 51 percent.

"Data is growing too quickly and technology is changing too fast to automate the backup and recovery process," said Jennifer Walzer, CEO of BUMI. "When you have a data failure, you don't want to be filling out online forms or talking to someone who is reading from a script. You want a senior-level engineer who knows your data environment and business needs to walk you through the process."

The report found that 4 percent of respondents test the restore process of a client's backup operation on a daily basis. The same percentage tested on a weekly basis. About 56 percent test monthly, 25 percent test yearly and 11 percent never test.

Business Link said that not having data backup for important information, such as payroll and personnel records, could leave businesses vulnerable. The website said that losing this data without would leave businesses to do the complicated and lengthy process of trying to recoup and replicate all of this information.