46% of US executives responding to Harris Interactive survey indicated their companies are more prepared compared to 2005 in their ability to access business-critical data in the event of a disaster. Yet, 39% of respondents provide grades at a C or lower for their capabilities, citing deficiencies such as inconsistent practices, lack of preparedness and competing priorities. 95% of respondents overwhelmingly agree the tolerance for business systems downtime has narrowed, 28% cannot tolerate less than one hour of unplanned downtime. 42% have increased spending to reduce the risk of loss of access to business-critical data during a disaster while the remaining respondents’ budgets have mostly stayed the same, compared to one year ago.