Database management is an important responsibility of any business, yet it’s one that often gets overlooked or handed off to a team member who knows just enough to keep things running (the accidental DBA). Unfortunately, in such cases, the “return” on a lack of investment in this important responsibility can be catastrophic. The impact of an under-qualified database management solution typically shows up in the form of unexpected downtime, a costly situation to say the least.
For many companies, hiring a full-time, in-house database administrator (DBA) isn’t in the budget, but that doesn’t mean you have to resort to an accidental DBA, there’s another option. Remote DBA support from a managed service provider (MSP) can effectively cover a company’s needs for a fraction of the cost. Whether it’s a short- or long-term DBA solution, an MSP can give you the expertise and support you need to keep your databases up and running for a solid return on your database management investment.
Still wondering how managed services could boost your database management strategy? Here are just a few reasons:
Eliminate database downtime.
Database downtime (of the unplanned variety) is the stuff of nightmares for any business owner. Unfortunately, while the DBAs of the world do everything in their power to avoid it, the fact of the matter is, bad things can still happen to good databases. Whether it’s due to a software vulnerability left unpatched or a security breach or simply end user error, having the right support in place to get you back up and running asap is a must.
Unfortunately, for businesses relying on in-house management for their databases, that’s not always possible. This is where the support of a managed services team can save the day or, in most cases, prevent the day (i.e. downtime) from even happening in the first place. With the 24/7/365 coverage of a managed service provider, you get the peace of mind of knowing that no holidays, vacations, or sick days will ever potentially put your databases in peril again.
Broaden and deepen your database expertise.
While there are undeniable benefits of having an in-house database expert, there are still limits to be considered. Your in-house DBA may be outrageously qualified, but they are still only one person with one set of experiences and those won’t always align with what will work best for the full optimization of your databases.
An MSP can expand on that expertise with a whole team of database experts, each with years of database experience that goes far beyond simply maintaining the daily processes of databases. An MSP with a true partner mentality will continually find ways to optimize your databases with more extensive tools, best practices, and processes to not just keep your databases running, but ensure they are thriving.
Provide a greater return on your investment.
Database management is a crucial investment for any business. Therefore, it needs to be given serious consideration to ensure you’re getting the return you expect (and require) on that investment.
Having a support solution in-house has definite upsides, but it can also come with a lot of expenses — salary, benefits, training, hiring expenses (to name just a few). With an MSP your investment goes toward database support and nothing else. Whether you’re working with SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, or another database environment, there really is no excuse to not have a management solution that works for your business’s needs. An MSP can give you the expertise your databases require. The return on that kind of investment may be hard to measure, but we did our best in this DBA ROI resource.
Demonstrating the full value of proper database management is no small task and balancing that investment with the return can be even more difficult. That’s why we’ve done the math for you in this Database ROI resource doc. Get your copy here.
