The digital transformation means regardless of your industry, technology is likely at the heart of your business. Your daily operations rely on the applications that support them, and in turn, the performance and reliability of these applications are completely dependent on the databases behind them.

So, who’s managing your Oracle, SQL Server, or NoSQL databases? If your database is down, so is your business. Finding the best support option for your database management strategy is absolutely critical.

In our “Definitive Guide to Enterprise Database Management” we outlined the many options companies have when it comes to the management of their databases. In this post we’ll take a closer look at one of those options:

The Internal Senior DBA

The Internal Senior DBA is an expensive but effective option, that is most common in larger corporations. The pros of this in-house solution speak for themselves — consistent monitoring, easy access, and knowing that they’re focused only on your systems.

However, most small to medium-sized companies can’t afford to invest upwards of $100,000 (the average salary for a Senior DBA) into one person to manage their databases. Keep in mind too that larger corporations typically need more than one Senior DBA to manage the entirety of their database environments (whether Oracle, SQL Server, or NoSQL, etc.).

Turnover can be another challenge for internal DBAs. If the individual leaves your company, your organization’s databases might be completely unmonitored until you’re able to find another Internal Senior DBA to replace them. If your organization is currently relying on an Internal Senior DBA for database support, be certain you have a junior resource on staff who would be able to take the reins as a backup if the need arises.

Having a single database management resource can also be limiting based on the knowledge and expertise of that specific individual. Technology is constantly transforming and staying up to date can be a huge task for one person. As a result, you may find gaps in their ability to holistically manage your databases. Here are a few red flags to keep an eye out for, which demonstrate your Internal DBA may be over their head:

1. They aren’t monitoring your systems
2. They’re manually doing certain tasks that can (and should) be automated
3. They’re ignoring job failures and errors in the error log

Finding a Database Management Solution That Works For Your Company

Because of the cost of bringing on a full-time employee, many companies simply can’t afford the luxury of having an in-house senior DBA. But that shouldn’t mean you have to sacrifice on the quality of management your databases are receiving.

For many companies, the solution is partnering with a managed service provider (MSP) for the management and optimization of this business-critical IT. A strong MSP partnership means having a full team of experts dedicated to not only ongoing management but true optimization for your Oracle, SQL Server, or NoSQL databases.

In this complimentary guide, we’ve defined the morphing responsibilities of the modern DBA, the most common support options that businesses choose to manage their database, and everything you need to know to streamline and optimize your IT environments.