The cost and time involved in researching, purchasing and adopting new tools into a database management workflow are what stops some managers from providing their DBAs with the latest and best tools.
Some managers believe that the costs associated with using new tools far outweigh their potential benefits - but that simply isn’t the case. Here at dbWatch, we believe that the right tools can not only save you money in the long run but also dramatically reduce the risk of costly system downtime and other disasters across your business.
In this post, we’ll look at the potential risks for a business not using the latest database solutions, and discuss how those risks stack up against the cost of tools.
The Cost of Downtime
Downtime can be very costly for a business, and downtime that stems from poor management or maintenance of IT systems is any DBA’s worst nightmare.
Not only does system downtime that impacts on your organisation's services have a negative effect on customer satisfaction, but it can tarnish your brand’s public image and reputation. An organisation that cannot be relied upon to maintain 24/7 service in today’s always-online world is one which customers will not trust, and extended downtime will see customers quickly head for your competitors - putting a dent in your bottom line.
Unwanted downtime can have a negative effect within your business too. Not only might the negative press arising from public mistakes lower your team’s morale, but it can make productivity suffer too. In the event of unplanned downtime, staff must be pulled urgently from other tasks to fix the most pressing issues, delaying other vital work and holding up other projects that they were working on.
These costs, both internal and external, can far outweigh the cost of ensuring that disasters are avoided in the first place, and the impact to your organisation’s reputation may be felt for years.
Tools To Avoid Downtime
The best solution to avoiding the financial and reputational costs associated with unwanted downtime is investment in staff and equipping them with the best tools that you can find.
Database management and monitoring solutions are essential for helping your DBAs to keep your organisation’s servers tuned, secure and performing well - though some tools are better than others.
The right tools should provide your staff with a full overview of, and insight into, every one of your instances and servers. This overview will allow you to properly monitor usage, discover and predict trends, and, in turn, identify any upcoming problems with usage or resource shortages.
Having a complete overview also allows you to have full control over your systems, with automated maintenance, full control over resources and security measures, and will allow you to react quickly to any sudden changes or errors that you detect.
Ultimately, a high level of insight and control will improve the overall performance and stability of your organisation’s servers too. Automated management and maintenance will help to keep instances constantly tuned and secure, while automated reports and alerts will help to keep you and your team up-to-date and able to avoid costly downtime.
Conclusion
Gambling with your organisation’s reputation and bottom line is never a good decision, but that’s what some managers do by not equipping their staff with the best possible tools.
Access to the right management and monitoring software for your business’s servers is the best defence against unwanted downtime. Though automated tasks, total control over systems and full overview and insight into every aspect of every instance, tools can not only keep system performance high but save you money at the same time.
