Irrespective of the widely talked-about IT skills shortage in SA, the vertical database management market faces an even more critical shortage of expert skills.
So says Johan Lamberts, MD of Ascent Technology, who believes outsourcing is the best solution to bridge this gap.
“The database environment is critical to any organisation that has one. If the database is down, a lot of businesses cannot operate. Investment in database expert skills is just like buying fuel for a motor vehicle; the database can't operate without it.”
To really get to the bottom of the matter, and to gain a clear understanding of how local organisations are dealing with database management, ITWeb, in partnership with Ascent Technology, today unveiled the Database Management Survey, which will run online for two weeks.
“We want to know how South African companies are meeting their database skills requirements and the challenges they are facing,” says Lamberts. “We also aim to understand how they are fulfilling these requirements in a cost-effective manner.”
He also notes that the salaries database administrators demand are so exorbitant that the majority of small to medium-sized organisations find it difficult to keep them in-house.
According to Lamberts, it is also increasingly difficult for database managers and the organisations they work for to keep up to date with the latest database technologies.
“Database software is becoming more complex and takes years to master. Training is not only costly in terms of the price, but also in time,” he adds. “Training can also prove costly because employees are often moving from one job to the other.”
Lamberts believes outsourcing database management skills and requirements to a specialist service provider offers organisations definite business benefits. Not only does it ensure they are protected from potential disasters and unnecessary downtime, it also means they are assured of continuity in the skills required to administer the database environment.
“Outsourcing database management is also a very cost-effective option, which is one of the drivers behind its increasing uptake,” he concludes.
Click here to complete the survey.
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