eWEEK recently talked to several U.S.-based remote database providers, including Bluewolf, dbaDirect and Database Specialists, to get a better sense of what data management outsourcing for the enterprise is like, and the challenges of being an outsourcer.The majority of enterprise customers have database administrators in-house
and cant really run IT without some form of them internally. So conceded U.S.-based
remote database providers Database Specialists, dbaDirect and Bluewolf, which eWEEK
recently talked with to get a better sense of what data management outsourcing
for the enterprise is like, and the challenges of being an outsourcer.
However, the providers added, although data management is so crucial to
large businesses that it has to be secured and managed internally, there is a
complementary role they can play in the monitoring, maintenance and production
workthe administrative tasks that can bog down in-house DBA staffs that are
awash in business-driven technology projects and processes.
But its not just about the administration.
Providers that eWEEK talked to pointed out how there is a need for
assistance with migrations, version upgrades, payment processing, quality
assurance, recurring backup and recovery worka whole ecosystem of data
management that creates a market for their services because even the largest of
IT departments can be stifled by budgetary constraints. Money and the labor to
support initiatives may be tighter, but projects havent totally ceased.
Providers also talked up the value of being an independent check and balance
environment for their customers to help minimize mistakes, catch issues faster
and support challenging change management projects.
How do you do best practices and give the best technology stack that is
compliant and secure for data management? asked dbaDirect CEO
John Bostick, whose company has a large U.S.
presence but also utilizes offshore employees. We deal with a lot of financial
companies, and so we have to go through constant risk management audit, and so
what we are able to do is engineer the environmentwhether it be Oracle, SQL
Server, Sybase, UDB DB2for mass customization to the customers needs.
Bay Area-based Database Specialists is mostly an Oracle shop and has been in
business since 1995. It launched its Remote DBA service in 2000. CEO
David Wolff emphasized that his company is more than just a small group
(12 DBAs) because the company has a proprietary database monitoring tool.
Known as Database RX, this tool, Wolff claims, is a major benefit to customers
because its a whole lot more robust than any of the off-the-shelf database
monitoring tools like EMCs Patrol product
thats out there. Our monitoring agent never touches the data and sends our
daily reports via an encrypted e-mail.
New York City-based Bluewolf, which does IT job placement as well as having
a Salesforce.com SAAS (software-as-a-service) implementation product, stresses
that those companies that hire contract DBA services asks why pay for something
at a high hourly rate when you can get work agreed to by task, and be accounted
for and backed by service-level guarantees?
We are big proponents of making our remote DBA service employees visit
on-site regularly, said Rick Boccard, a director at Bluewolf. And by
extension, our DBAs become important members of a customers team, but [our
customers do] not have the big expense of hourly contracts, where it can be
difficult to map every task in hourly time. We make our service about tasks and
charge a flat fee for the variety of agreed-upon tasks, which helps cut out
some of the waste of contract work.
While cost savings can be the initial driver of business for these
providers, it ultimately comes down to giving high-quality customer service
that leads to being viewed not simply as an outsourcer but as a key business
partner.
We like to call this 'resourcing' rather than 'outsourcing,' said Wolff.
There are plenty of offshore providers who may have decent tools, but lousy
services. Were here, in the U.S.,
and for most customers, we are in their time zone, which can make a huge
difference in terms of service.
CIOs I talk to regularly want their own DBAs on their highly visible
projects, said Bostick, whose dbaDirect has more than 130 employees globally
managing more than 3,000 databases. But they also want the kind of
pay-as-you-go flexibility that you see happening in cloud computing and
software as a service offers, so we have to adjust our product models to give
both on-demand, as-needed services as well as continuous service assurance.
One of the things that we in this industry constantly stress is that, hey,
look, were not competing for existing DBA jobswere just offering additional
help for those that need it.
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