Insights

Having the right people in the right positions is what makes your business work.  In IT the reality is that finding strong talent isn’t easy and it can be difficult to have all of your needs staffed properly, including your database administration.  During staffing crunches, we often see Oracle, SQL Server, or NoSQL database management as one of those roles thrust upon an “accidental DBA.”  You know, the tech savvy team member who knows just enough about database management to get your team by in a pinch.

‘Tis definitely the season for good cheer, good fun, and vacation days. But while you and your IT staff are enjoying family, friends, and turkey, who’s keeping an eye on key business processes and services?

Whether your database is in the cloud or not, it’s the backbone of your ERP suite. In that light, you need an excellent DBA to keep everything running right. The abbreviation DBA does double duty here, and for the purpose of this discussion it stands for "database administrator." Its other well-known legal connotation is "doing-business-as." So, at the risk of torturing a pun, let's say that your database does its business by helping you do your business. Your business relies on database management because it meshes in with everything you do. Technology is at the heart of your enterprise; your operations are dependent on the applications you use, and the performance and reliability of these business-critical apps completely depend on the databases that support them.

An enterprise in any industry is completely dependent on their technology stack for the performance of the business. Of course, then, day-to-day maintenance of databases and the applications that run on them have to be taken care of properly. Outside of those administrative tasks are also the opportunities that IT teams have to pursue and implement technological innovations that give businesses long-term competitive advantages and separate the company from competitors.  

We are all aware of and are day-to-day witnesses of the rapid development and advancement of technology. New trends and tools affect what we do all the time, and this is especially true with Oracle, SQL Server, and NoSQL database management.   Application, infrastructure, and data trends impact how to best strategize database management and day-to-day administration. It's unwise to get stuck in your ways and continually follow your management strategies without taking into account the changes happening around us. 

Just hearing the words, “We need to change the code” out-loud can make any DBA feel a massive migraine coming on.   The database is not performing optimally, but DBAs know that changing the code is not the way to go. The client ends up frustrated at the push back. The DBA is frustrated that changing code is focused on as the solution. Lines get drawn. Wagons are circled. Tempers rise. You are at an impasse. But at the end of the day, the database performance has to improve.  

"Nowadays, the term outsourcing is mostly used to describe increasingly cost-centric services garnered in broad, cattle-call situations. Quite simply, it's just not what it used to be."

For organizations in the always-open global economy, success means having constant access to enterprise data whenever it's needed. Unfortunately, critical business operations are often disrupted by breaks in the flow of the data. When calculating your organization’s data availability requirements there are several issues to consider. For example, if mission-critical database functions go offline, how long will it take to get things up and running? What are the business costs of these delays, and what steps can be taken to mitigate or eliminate delays in data availability?

What does a DBA actually do? The role of a DBA may not be immediately obvious—and attention isn't generally called to it unless critical support is in need or something has gone horribly wrong. But a DBA cannot be appropriately managed if there isn't a thorough understanding of their capabilities. DBAs are essential to the efficient performance and maintenance of vital databases and the business-critical apps they support, impacting business performance as a whole. Backups, optimization, maintenance, monitoring, training—DBAs do it all. So let's dive into their day-to-day lives with a walkthrough of "a day in the life" of a ManageForce DBA.

Many IT leaders have had that difficult discussion of whether outsourcing DBA support is beneficial or not. I mean, you already have plenty of capable resources for in-house DBA support, and is it really viable to bring in an external resource that is not familiar with your environment?