It is vital to maintain your company’s data with the appropriate database managed services of your systems. Database Administrators are a critical part of any company’s data management plan. However, full-time in-house DBA(s) can often pose financial challenges for small to medium businesses. These challenges could potentially result in loss of productivity and business continuity – thus lost revenue.
Small Businesses Struggle to Afford Full-Time Internal DBAs
In-house database administrators pose logistical problems for small to medium businesses (SMB). These companies rely on their database systems for business-critical operations, and may lack the resources for large-scale IT departments that can effectively manage these systems. Regular maintenance, monitoring, and interruptions can cause major disruptions in business operations. Unfortunately, smaller IT departments or in-house DBAs simply do not have the manpower to learn everything there is to know about the systems. Top-notch systems experts are overqualified for these positions, and many times hiring managers are uninformed of the necessary qualifications. These businesses are left with a situation where their DBAs are learning on the job, piecing together the system maintenance strategy, and usually playing catchup as they learn just enough to put out the current fire.
Dealing with The Complexity of Database Management
Today’s landscape consists of increasingly complex database systems and data management infrastructures. Understanding the architecture of your system is crucial for optimal performance. In today’s world, a typical business runs an average of 100-500 database instances of varying platforms. Despite this sounding counter-intuitive, this helps to utilize the best aspects of each product for each use case scenario. On the backend, this creates significant workloads for in-house DBAs who are expected to become experts on a large range of products. This complexity muddies the waters of their efficacy.
Having your DBA spend hours learning a new product during scheduled and unscheduled outages, can result in devastating downtime. It could also lead to more frequent outages as maintenance plans are often lacking best practices or maintenance and upgrade schedules are delayed.
2020, Covid-19, and The Problem of Business Continuity
This year has challenged businesses like no other. Everyone has had to adjust to our new reality shaped by the coronavirus and its impact on businesses. The landscape of the office environment has changed significantly, severely impacting on the issue of business continuity for your database management. Relying on in-house DBAs to manage your database systems can put businesses at risk when challenged with the unexpected. If your company has a critical database issue at the wrong time, you could end up scrambling for emergency assistance and panic-reading your system documentation, which may or may not be up to date. By having a strategic plan in place for emergencies, you can assure that your business processes and end-users would be covered in such situations. Companies that do not prepare for the unexpected put themselves at risk for losing clients, loyalty, and ultimately revenue.
Regaining Control with Third-Party DBAs
Using third-party DBAs are paving the way for more efficient data management strategies by enabling increased uptime and business continuity. Having a database management company can provide widespread expertise and consistent performance that in-house DBAs are hard-pressed to manage. It is a numbers game where the numbers are in favor of diversifying your management team. Utilizing a reputable database consulting firm, like Spinnaker Support, elevates your company’s level of database comprehension. Invest in the experts and experience the benefits, without the burden of financially investing and training full-time internal resources.