Synology 2026 Enterprise Survey Reveals India leads Australia and MEA in incident-driven investment.
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, November 3, 2026 – Synology today announced the findings of its 2026 Enterprise Survey, conducted by Foundry, revealing that 64% of Indian organizations have made a new data protection purchase following a security incident, the highest share among the markets studied. Conducted among 308 IT decision-makers across Australia, India, and the Middle East and Africa (MEA), the research examines how prepared organizations are to protect their data as AI adoption accelerates and IT environments become increasingly complex, and reveals a gap between organizations' confidence in cyber resilience and their operational readiness.
All respondents represented organizations with 100 or more employees and already had data protection solutions in place. While 99% expressed confidence in their organization's resilience to disruption, the research identified fragmented tool adoption, inconsistent backup frequency, and gaps in recovery testing and coordination. The findings highlight that confidence does not necessarily translate into operational readiness.
The Synology 2026 Enterprise Survey was conducted between May 11 and June 2, 2026, among 308 IT decision-makers in Australia, India, and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). All respondents hold network administrator or senior roles in IT, networking, or security at organizations with 100 or more employees that already have data protection solutions in place.
"Our research highlights an important distinction between confidence and actual preparedness," said Andrew Huang, Regional Sales Head, Synology. "As businesses increasingly rely on data to support critical operations and AI adoption, cyber resilience must go beyond deploying backup solutions. Organizations need to ensure their data is consistently protected and that recovery capabilities can be validated when disruption occurs."
India Leads in Incident-Driven Data Protection Investment
In India, security incidents were the most common trigger for new data protection purchases. 64% of Indian organizations reported making a new purchase following a security incident, compared with 49% in Australia and 48% in MEA. Infrastructure upgrades (46%) and cost reduction initiatives (32%) followed as purchase triggers in India, with the share citing cost reduction well above that in Australia (18%).
Notably, only 29% of Indian organizations cited regulatory requirements as a trigger for new data protection purchases. This comes as Indian businesses prepare for the core obligations of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, including personal data breach notification and reasonable security safeguards, which take effect in May 2027. These findings suggest that many organizations may still be treating data protection as a response to incidents rather than as part of compliance and readiness planning.
High Confidence, Yet Gaps in Data Protection and Recovery Readiness
Despite high confidence in their resilience, organizations continue to face challenges in their data protection practices. The research found that integration is the most-cited challenge in managing data protection, as organizations use multiple tools across backup, disaster recovery, ransomware protection, and security. When these solutions operate independently, they create integration and management complexity, demonstrating that more tools do not necessarily mean stronger resilience.
Backup frequency also presents a gap. Only 43% of organizations use real-time or continuous data protection, while the remaining 57% rely on daily, weekly, or monthly backups. Having backup solutions in place does not automatically mean organizations can minimize data loss when disruption occurs, as the time between backups represents potential data loss.
Recovery readiness is another important concern. According to the survey, 20% of organizations validate recoverability only occasionally, while another 6% lack a coordinated recovery approach or remain reactive. These findings highlight the importance of regularly testing and validating backup recoverability rather than relying solely on having a recovery plan in place.
Reactive Investment and Fragmented Tools Add to Operational Burden
The survey also found that data protection investments often follow security incidents rather than precede them. 54% of organizations reported making a new data protection purchase following a security incident, with the figure rising to 64% in India. This suggests that investments are often made in response to problems rather than as part of proactive readiness planning.
Managing multiple independent protection tools also creates an operational burden. On average, organizations spend 15 hours per week managing data protection across separate tools, equivalent to almost two full working days, while 5% spend 40 hours or more per week, the equivalent of a full-time position.
The findings show that fragmented protection and reactive investment can create additional management complexity and consume IT resources that could otherwise support more strategic priorities.
Data Protection Investment Is Growing, but Foundational Capabilities Need Attention
Looking ahead, the survey indicates that data protection investment is expected to grow by approximately 14% to 15% over the next two years, with 69% of organizations expecting increases of 10% or more. While 31% of organizations are focusing on AI-driven automation, only 12% prioritize backup modernization. These findings show that organizations are investing in newer capabilities while critical data protection foundations may still require modernization. As enterprises accelerate AI adoption, their data protection infrastructure also needs to keep pace.
Synology Addresses Enterprise Priorities with Unified Cyber Resilience
Drawing on these findings and its experience supporting enterprise data environments, Synology focuses on cyber resilience that combines protected backups across business platforms with verified recovery, as part of a 2026 portfolio that also spans data infrastructure and AI in the workplace.
"As security attacks increasingly target backups, cyber resilience can no longer be treated as an add-on layer assembled after deployment," said Jia-Yu Liu, Executive Vice President, Data Protection Group, Synology. "Organizations should seek an integrated platform that unifies hardware, software, and backup management, while maximizing storage efficiency, with built-in advanced protection and one-click security updates."
To strengthen cyber resilience, Synology ActiveProtect appliances combine dedicated backup infrastructure with centralized management, immutable protection, and automated isolation to help preserve recovery copies when production systems are compromised.
The updated operating system, ActiveProtect Manager 2.0, expands workload support to additional enterprise platforms, including Nutanix AHV and Proxmox VE, enabling businesses to protect more of their IT environments through a single platform. Synology is also expanding the ActiveProtect Series with DP5200, a new 1U appliance that gives businesses a compact option for protecting diverse workloads without recurring subscription fees.
Moving from Confidence to Proven Cyber Resilience
The 2026 Enterprise Survey highlights a clear gap between organizations’ confidence in their resilience and their operational readiness.
With fragmented protection tools, inconsistent backup frequency, and gaps in recovery validation, the findings suggest that the next step for enterprises is not simply adding more backup or security solutions, but adopting a more unified approach that connects protection, recovery, infrastructure, intelligence, and business continuity.
As AI continues to reshape business operations and IT infrastructure, Synology remains committed to helping organizations strengthen their data protection foundations and move from confidence toward proven cyber resilience.
About Synology
Synology is a global leader in data management and protection solutions, helping organizations safeguard and manage their data across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments. Its portfolio includes network-attached storage (NAS), backup and disaster recovery solutions, and video surveillance systems. By combining hardware and software into integrated platforms, Synology enables businesses to simplify IT operations, enhance data security, and ensure business continuity. For more information, please visit: https://www.synology.com/en-in
