SQL server consulting, like any consultation, requires trust, expertise, experience and communication between clients and their server providers. More and more companies are relying on the expertise of external sql server consultants, because the sheer heft of work required to optimize servers is just too much for their in-house staff. Sure, this creates opportunities for server consultants, but is everyone worthy? Is the sql server consulting firm you hire, the right one for your industry and for your company? What you want from any sql server consulting firm is a set of processes that will maximize efficiency, reduce cost, and more importantly, reduce downtime, should any exist. Your consultant should always suggest that you invest some time into the streamlining of your sql server environment, to ensure that it is easy to use and even easier to manage. Apart from streamlining however, there are several ways to make your server more functional, and sql server consulting can provide these methods for you easily. Here are a couple items you should keep in mind when discussing your server and its performance with your sql server consultant:
Develop Better Relationships With Your SQL Developers – this will pay out in the long run!
Nothing is more counterproductive that tension throbbing in an IT department – specifically between the DBA team and the development team. SQL Server consulting relies on the free flow of information that is corroborated by the team as a hole, so when there is tension – no one wins. The tension usually stems from conflicting and often misunderstood priorities responsibilities and expectations. From deadlines for development to sql server design decisions, differences in opinions can mean poor effects on general performance, not just by staff, but by software as well. By mutually educating each team sect, everyone involved understands their role in the general and much grander scheme of things. Why not conduct design reviews with a member of the DBA team present? Inclusion vs intrusion is the most amiable and productive way to get the most out of your team as a whole, while allowing them to function with respect for each other, separately.
Construct A Comprehensive Disaster Recovery Strategy – you don’t want to drown should things go down!
Your infrastructure, no matter how sound and strong it may seem, is by no means infallible. As a result, it is incumbent upon you to create, test and implement a thorough contingency plan, in the unfortunate event of a programming disaster. Sql server consulting will make sure that your company, its needs and the health of your server are assessed thoroughly so that you will be in a position to predict corruption, and prepare for events like power outages, fire, accidental data loss and other common and damaging occurrences. Sql server consulting incorporates meeting with management to define down-time and data-loss software license agreements, plans on how to recover data from various impetuses of loss and creating strategies to meld with your company’s business-continuity plan.
Sql server consulting is only as successful as you allow it to be, by your willingness to invest in the time and effort precautionary education, development and implementation requires.