A good DBA saves you money. A great DBA makes you money!

A good DBA will configure your database for optimal availability and performance of critical information systems. They will also set up a rock solid disaster recovery plan so that your business can continue to run smoothly even during and after disaster, and take care of your database infrastructure and disk storage needs, and monitor gr

owth trends and advise management on long-term capacity plans, all the time taking budget requirements into consideration.

A good DBA will be responsible for ongoing monitoring of the database system to identify bottlenecks and resolve them. Many factors can affect the performance of the database and a high level DBA understands which monitoring tools to implement so that performance is integrated into the database design from the start.

Hiring a DBA that can manage all of these issues is key to maintaining your business and saving you money by avoiding problems and running an efficient system. But some Database Administrators are not just good, they are MVPs!

What is the difference between a good DBA and a great one? A great DBA goes beyond the basics. A great DBA not only helps ensure your business is running with proficiency but also contributes to your organization’s bottom line.

A top Database Administrator will make himself fully aware of and aligned with your business goals and operations. He /she takes initiative and understands the potential role that the database can play in your organization.

So how can your DBA help you make money?

• identify new opportunities by discovering and mining data that is not being leveraged.
• integrate multiple databases that were not previously in sync and resolve specific organizational challenges.
• monitor data usage to reveal trends in usage and behavior within your organization.
• analyze existing business processes to find potential shortcuts and smarter processes.

These are not just theoretical thoughts. We, at Bitwise MnM, have worked with organizations on leveraging their data for their business needs. Here are two examples of how we’ve used data to improve processes that directly contribute to the organization’s bottom line:

1. Integration of Quickbooks and Service Usage Data The organization had one system for entering new contracts and billing. The system was managed on the popular bookkeeping solution Quickbooks. For actual service usage, the same organization managed a separate system on an SQL server. The two systems did not “talk” to each other because no integration work has ever been considered, let alone implemented. This is a classic example of the data silos phenomena. — lots of data in the same organization residing in separate, disconnected systems. Bitwise MnM worked on a simple integration solution leveraging the Quickbooks API to automatically copy data to the SQL server where it is reconciled with actual service usage. The result? The company’s sales team now has a tool to show customers how their actual service usage compares to their contract, thus presenting new and compelling opportunities for the sales team to upsell.
2. Real-time CRM data enables faster decision-making. An organization uses a CRM to collect important data about sales activity, but the CRM data is not available to company executives. A data warehouse and a reporting tool are implemented and a daily data transfer is scheduled between live data entry and the data warehouse allowing the management team to view updated data periodically. This is an improvement over no visibility to the data but it is not fast enough to allow the management team to react appropriately. To make effective use of the valuable data, management needs to see it in real time. So we built a custom solution by designing a procedure base transactional replication with built-in ETL logic. The result? Management is now able to make quick decisions, based on real time data and more deals are closed and at a faster rate, having a significant positive impact on the business bottom line.

When you are seeking a great DBA for your business, you are looking for someone who has high-level technical know-how, a sharp ability to understand your business and its needs, a pro-active thinker and the interpersonal skills that allow him to synchronize between your organization and your management. Great database administration is critical to the ongoing success of a modern business. Maybe more DBAs should be studying for business degrees today!