Even the smallest business has a lot of data on its hands, and the proper management of this data is essential to maintenance of business operations. Some of the data you might have in the business includes employee data, customer and stakeholders’ data, copyrighted company data, prospects data, etc. Efficient handling of this very important resource is crucial if you want to maintain your operations as effectively as they are running currently.
You can hire a full-time in-house DBA, and this is recommended where you are running a very large organization. However, for the average SMB, these services can be easily provided by cheap remote DBA services – compared to the cost of the full-time DBA, that is. With remote administration, dedicated and experienced DBAs handle your database management functions, giving you room to direct your energy towards core business functions.
The following are three ways remote DBA teams can positively contribute to the achievement of your business goals:
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Improving Business Scalability
Businesses are now changing and growing at a faster pace than they were a few years back. There are many applications which have been designed to improve the flexibility of such businesses. However, with the implementation of these applications, the organizational databases become more complex, making it difficult for your in-house team to manage them effectively.
Remote DBA resources are useful since their core competence is in database administration, and therefore they can effectively manage databases of any complexity, allowing your team to focus on what you’re really good at.
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Cutting Costs
Those are the two words you love to hear most, no? When you hire an in-house DBA, all the retention, training and hiring costs fall squarely on your shoulders. This includes additional costs that may arise in the process of their work, such as during support and disaster recovery. In addition, it may not be possible to offer 24×7 support, meaning when there’s an issue and the DBA cannot attend to it, you’re losing an opportunity to make money.
The DBA will also need to be paid extra when they come in at times they are not supposed to be at the office. Remote services offer 24×7 support for a monthly flat rate fee meaning that they can deal with emergencies immediately they arise. With constant monitoring and support, you can be sure your firm has a robust database management at all times.
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Round-the-clock Monitoring and Support
Your employees have a life outside the office, but the database doesn’t care about that. No matter how good an employer you are, no DBA would be thrilled to receive a call at 1 am on Saturday night because there’s a database emergency that needs immediate sorting. It could be worse if said DBA is on vacation in the Caribbean.
Unfortunately, the truth is that such emergencies will occur, and so you need to have a response team in place. Short of hiring more than one DBA, so that one is on call when the other isn’t (and the costs that come with that), there’s no other way to work around it – except remote DBA, that is.