Managing a large database on a daily basis and dealing with all possible issues and undesirable events that occur during the functioning of such a sophisticated tool can be a very challenging task, which can also test the expertise of otherwise well-established database management companies. Software applications used to deal with large business databases are usually sophisticated software solutions that feature numerous software modules, which in turn are in complex inter-dependencies.
A customer relationship management (CRM) application is just an example of software that deals with data on customers, vendors, suppliers, etc., and where the flawless functioning of the system can be of utmost importance. The same applies to other types of business software that deal with large volumes of information, while some of these software tools are required to operate in real-time or close to real-time, posing further risk of system crash due to over-load or crash of a software module.
Thus, database management companies around the world are forced to invest markedly in development and upgrade of their respective software and hardware, designing less resource-consuming and more user-friendly interface in the process. A reliable enterprise release of a software system for database management can costs between hundreds of thousands of dollars and a couple of millions of dollars, requiring reliable software support and update service after initial implementation. This is among the decisive factors behind the policy of some database management companies to develop their software systems in-house, establishing large software development departments in the process. There is an endless debate on whether it is more advantageous to use software developers for hire or to establish an in-house software development division, but obviously both approaches have cons and pros.
Anyway, all and every database management firm needs an extremely reliable software application, especially in a business environment where vast amounts of information should be collected, processed, or stored online. The flawless functioning of such a system is hard to secure without continuous investment in hardware, software, and human resource that are equally important to maintain a reliable business software platform. That said, those authors who claim that database management companies are intermediaries that profit heavily simply from connecting customers and service providers often forget to mention that in this business large sums of money are invested daily in maintenance and update of the database itself, while significant financial resource is redirected for investment in software upgrades.
If a database management company wants to build reputation as a trustworthy business partner, it should pay special attention to development of appropriate software tools aimed at uninterrupted database management and transfer of information to and from the database under management. Furthermore, most modern-day databases are expected to function in real-time while providing user-friendly interface, which in turn can be a sort of contradicting requirements because it is extremely challenging to come out with a user friendly solution when the database under management contains records coming from different sources and stored in multiple software modules.
Such a system might feature dozens of menus and sub-menus, which is not user-friendly, really, but is unavoidable. One should simply take a brief look at the number of commands listed in the menus of a word processing application to get a good idea how the menu system of a software that is twice as sophisticated can look like. Nevertheless, most database management companies pay special attention to this aspect of their business, too, creating more and more user friendly applications.
World-leading database management companies invest heavily in new technologies, allowing for faster information processing, more reliable online access to data, and integration with third-party software tools, although those looking for free software solutions in the field database management would be disappointed to learn that there are practically no such tools, or at least those are not ones that are worth mentioning.
