Many SMBs today look to establish and maintain a core IT team that has the expertise and agility to respond to business demands, such as developing and updating custom applications. For non-core/maintenance processes like database administration, there are many benefits to partnering with third-party experts who can handle these time-consuming, specialized tasks reliably and efficiently. This is why remote DBA services have become one of the most prevalent forms of IT outsourcing.
What are remote DBA services?
Remote DBA services can cover a wide range of everyday database tasks, including:
- Database administration (e.g., user administration and space management)
- Performance monitoring and tuning
- 24×7 database support
- Report development
- Database health checks and troubleshooting
- Database security monitoring
- Database upgrades
Here are 5 ways that remote DBA services can benefit your business.
One: Save money and reduce business risk associated with hiring skilled technical resources
Demand for skilled DBAs exceeds supply and salaries are averaging well above $100,000 plus benefits. Hiring qualified technical staff is time-consuming, challenging for HR staff, and risky due to high turnover and potential competence issues. The cost to engage remote DBA services is generally 40% to 60% lower than hiring a full-time employee. Further, a remote DBA services team can offer specialized skills and up-to-date product knowledge on demand that the individual you hire may not have.
Two: Better staff continuity
Ironically, high turnover and poor retention of skilled technical resources mean that many businesses get better staff continuity and knowledge transfer by leveraging remote DBA services than by hiring in-house DBAs. At a minimum, leveraging remote DBA services means you can rest assured of continuity of services, without the risk of losing a key DBA and being left without that critical resource. You’re also less likely to be impacted by inevitable issues like vacations, maternity leave, illness, etc. Many remote DBA services offer 24×7 coverage for your environment, with rapid response in emergencies.
Three: Improved database operations
Especially for SMBs struggling to cover critical database tasks, relying on remote DBA services can improve your database availability and performance. Remote DBAs have your database environment as their top priority and can be more proactive about improving service levels versus reacting to problems in a break-fix manner when they manifest. For example, database health checks are key to ensuring maximum uptime for your critical databases. But these can be complex to organize and perform to avoid impacting users and workloads. Remote DBA services can ensure that health checks and other maintenance and administrative tasks are performed routinely and efficiently.
Four: Increased scalability
As your business grows or your specific database needs change, you might find you need to augment current database staffing. A remote DBA services arrangement makes it easy to get more bandwidth and/or additional expertise without the extensive cost and time required for a full-time hire. A remote DBA can also support your business to scale up by ensuring that your database can handle increasing amounts of data and transactions.
Five: Improved database security
Information security is a specialty discipline, and database security is a specialty within that specialty. Many DBAs don’t have these hard-to-find skills, which results in critical data being vulnerable to cyber-attack. Your business may also be out of compliance with security requirements in applicable regulations like HIPAA, PCI-DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), etc. A remote DBA service can help improve your database security by applying best practices, including helping you develop strong security policies, patching your database environment, auditing your databases for vulnerabilities with automated tools, and reviewing user and administrative rights and privileges.
Next Steps For Remote DBA Services
Buda Consulting has been a preferred remote DBA services partner to global brands and SMBs for Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, and other database technologies for over 25 years. Our staff consists of certified database professionals capable of managing the most sophisticated database architectures. Contact us to talk about your database requirements and how Buda Consulting can help.