Your business relies on data. Customer data, prospect data, employee, and proprietary company data. Your database is king. And your ability to manage your database efficiently and effectively is central to maintaining business as you know it! Naturally, this information is so crucial to your livelihood that hiring an in-house DBA is the best way to go right? Well...not exactly. When you hire in-house you often have to worry about training, retention, internal capabilities, disaster recovery, etc etc. I know, your head is spinning. Do you really want to take this on yourself?  Perhaps not. Hiring a remote DBA resource -- a seasoned administrator that handles your database from a remote location -- can be a reliable and cost saving alternative to an in-house resource.  But lets take a look at 5 ways that a remote DBA can save your butt and help you focus on your core business capabilities--which I am assuming is not database administration.

1.) Scale your business.
Business is changing and growing more rapidly than every before. Applications such as Salesforce, Eloqua, and Marketo are enabling you to become more flexible. But, as your business grows and more applications are introduced that store your most proprietary information, your database also grows in complexity. Because your core competencies lie elsewhere, it is difficult to stay ahead of the curve. A great benefit of having a remote DBA resource is that their core competency is DBA. They have years of experience at their fingertips and have access to the newest technology that will enable you to easily scale your database -- while your business continues to grow.  

2.) Save money.
Save money you say? In! Hiring an in-house resource requires hiring, training, and retention costs. There are additional costs that can be incurred during a disaster recovery and an increase in support issues. And don’t forget opportunity costs that can be lost if your customer data is not functioning. If your database is down, your business is not making money. Remote DBAs are often a monthly flat-rate fee and they typically have 24x7 support, in case of an emergency. Feel secure that your data is being monitored and that you can call on a DBA firm’s robust experience to know what the right call is the first time around.

3.) 24x7 emergency support.
Your employees care about work/life balance, but your database sure doesn’t. Kind of tough to call your DBA at 3am on a Saturday to have him troubleshoot an emergency. Or maybe your database is down while your DBA is in the Bahamas vacationing with his family. The fact is that you need 24x7 support for your database and there will be plenty of instances where you DO need to call your DBA at 3am. Luckily, a remote DBA service will generally provide emergency support and you don’t have to feel bad calling, as it is their job to always be there.  

4.) Have an elastic workforce.  
Companies do in-house DBA’s a variety of ways. They hire a full-time resource or some companies hire a general resource--as in someone who is maybe part time DBA and part time IT. There are some inherent problem with both strategies. Additionally, you might need more or less resources as your company grows. The beauty of a remote DBA firm is that you can have flexibility to rapidly scale up or scale back when needed. You can have on-demand service without having to commit to a full time hire or have to worry about splitting job duties.

5.) Be able to sleep at night.
Databases are complex. You have to worry about scaling, performance issues, increasing support tickets, upgrades, disaster recovery, mission critical requirements, security, maintenance, and major projects. Your in-house resource will have to be an expert in all of these things and will have to work hard in order to keep the lights on. As an alternative, outsourcing your DBA can ensure that your team members can focus on your business and you can rest assured that your database will be constantly monitored.  

Interested in learning more about Bluewolf’s Remote DBA service? Contact us!

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