Almost all business software is based on a database at its core and a Database Management System is now the accepted norm for a company's back office. Often ensuring reliable database disaster recovery, data integrity and security, system performance, and ongoing support have been dumped on the MIS department by default.
This is most common in the SME where funds are limited or where knowledge of the impending disaster of data loss is blissfully lacking. To take the easy way out, though appealing as a cost saving maneuver, is the most expensive in the long run, by far.
If disaster strikes or security is breached and the cost-conscious manager is faced with trying to explain to stake holders how it happened , only then will the true cost of ownership emerge, like a lion in the bush.
But it doesn't have to be that way. In the early days of database development, when Edgar Cobb was first creating DB normalization theory, there was dawning recognition that anomalies and crippling inefficiencies could creep into any database and that they were difficult and expensive to detect and repair. As IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft (and many others) began to appreciate the value of the Database Administrator (DBA), a new profession was born.
These are the days of the DB Administrator. He or she typically is immersed in DB theory, lives far away, and sees a broken database as manna and disaster recovery as bread and butter.
Because of the costs involved with in-house systems, outsourcing of Database Administration has been popular almost from its inception in the 1980s. With IBM owning a large market share of the MLE outsourcing pie, others initially had trouble competing. But Oracle, and later Microsoft, with its SQL Server, helped to change all of that. Since outsourcing is a growth industry and with offshoring taking an ever-increasing market share, managers can now see light at the end of the administrative, cost-conscious tunnel.
In spite of the best efforts of database engineers, databases still need maintenance. Indeed, this is a critical part of owning a database. Obviously disaster recovery planning requires ongoing commitment; security is a moving target with new vulnerabilities published daily; verification of data integrity never ends, especially as the database size increases; compliance setup, verification, and implementation are inherent for the mission-critical database; and, performance tuning and optimization are challenges that have some well established standards. This is what we do at iCatchIT.
Our staff of fully qualified DBAs are available to service your database needs on an ad hoc basis or as part of a maintenance contract.
We also offer database hosting solutions on our servers or on your site (on-your-premise hosting).
iCatchIT servers have the most important security measure you can have: limited, electronically controlled access. Studies have shown that this is the single most important security barrier a company can have, since most intrusions come from compromised physical access.
