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Almost 70% of small businesses in a survey from B2B analyst and reviews firm Clutch say they rely on their cloud storage provider for backups, with only 15% opting for automated services and 12% not bothering at all.

The findings appear as the second of two reports on SMBs and cloud strategy, with the first in November advising that many small firms are risking their security by choosing free storage products.

This time, the warning is around using their providers for backing up data in the cloud. As this publication has examined on various occasions, while the need for backup is rare, it’s always better to prepare for an unlikely event than be caught unawares. If the company was not utilising an automated service and forgot to back it up, then they have no other options.

Clutch recommends Mozy and Carbonite as providers who help with the automation side of backup. “If I put a file in Dropbox, it’s going to be there,” said Mark Estes, regional director of sales at big data firm Qubole. “If I don’t back it up, then Dropbox can’t help me with that.”

The warning comes amidst additional figures from Clutch which show more small businesses are taking the plunge and moving to cloud storage.

More than a quarter of survey respondents said they began using their storage services over the past year. According to the research, the majority (42%) of businesses polled, who have a maximum of 500 employees, said they spend between $51 and $250 each month on cloud storage, with 26% opting for between $251-$1000 and 9% more than $1000.

“It’s…just a natural maturing of the product,” said Jacob Ackerman, chief executive of SkyLink Data and Horizon Businesses Services.

“Once technology starts invading the personal lives of non-IT people in business, the technology is more accepted. It takes a level of acceptance and a level of comfort – people are comfortable with it now.”

The survey polled 293 small to medium businesses in total.