Small businesses see IT failure as the biggest threat to their ongoing health and profitability, research by Axa Insurance suggests.

According to the research, 91% of small business owners see IT as a potential threat with 23% viewing it as a significant one and a quarter of those questioned citing it as the most common cause of business failure.

"Fear of IT failure keeps small businesses awake at night," said Doug Barnett, risk control strategy manager at Axa. "If your IT systems fail and you aren't prepared, this is probably the one risk most likely to put you out of business. Businesses need to consider all the risks they face and prepare a business continuity plan. If you plan for it, you can cope with it."

Axa is urging companies to consider the following issues to judge whether their business is at risk of IT failure:

• How long could you afford for your systems to be unavailable? Do you have a back-up solution in the event of your main systems failing?
• What does your IT system control? If you are a retailer and have your products linked to electronic scanning and payment tills, do you have procedures in place so all staff know what they must do if the IT system fails?
• What level of IT support do you have access to and do you have a formal contract? Is it sufficient? Do you have access to expertise out of office hours? Can critical support be accessed quick enough to get you back online before severe damage is done to the business?
• Is your most important data regularly backed up, stored offsite and available to you quickly in the event of system failure, theft or damage? Have you kept information on key services you may have to reinstall, such as broadband account details or security settings
• Are your systems protected from theft, virus infection or systems hacking? Do you have up-to-date virus software and internet firewalls installed? Do you control what access your staff have to the internet and what they are permitted to open or download?
• Do you have up-to-date copies of all your software easily available should you need to reinstall them on new systems, and do you know how to reinstall software? Have you kept details of all required documentation such as licensing agreements? How often has the original software being updated and do you have licences to upload the most recent updates? Have you installed protection against Spyware?
• If you have custom-designed software, is the supplier still in business should you need it reinstalling or updating?
• When did you last test your back-up procedures or your business continuity plans?