When administering online businesses like an e-commerce store or a healthcare application, the database is the key element to support all its functionalities. There are many options to consider when it comes to deciding your business database. Conventionally, most organizations tend to use SQL databases for their enterprise database management. But, unless you really know what you need and how your database should work, it will be easy to get confused about the complexity and jargon involved in databases.
So, in this article, we will try to understand SQL databases more simply and effectively. For this, we will discuss how to operate SQL databases in terms of how it benefits your business to be better informed and make knowledgeable decisions to choose the right database options.
How do SQL databases help businesses?
When it comes to SQL database systems, it will enable you to have a better data structure in the real context. Doing this will help you to transform the raw data into valuable information. Data is just a set of numbers, whereas when it is converted into insightful information, it will change the way how you run businesses.
As a real-time example, you can consider a piece of data as to what a customer had purchased from you two months back. This is primarily a piece of data that can tell you nothing special. But the database tracks the customer purchase and shows you a pattern as the customer purchases on a bi-weekly basis or at the beginning of every month. This can prove to be the right time for you to provide the customer with an apt offer, thereby increasing the chances of sales.
This simple example can go much deeper when it comes to real-time business administration based on data turned information. For more complex operations in terms of marketing and sales, you will be able to conduct a custom search of all the user information and data related to their purchasing behavior in order to figure out the patterns to take advantage of it.
The major role of SQL-based databases is to collect the data which is important for the business and organize it in a usable format. There are many choices when it comes to SQL databases that can do this same job. However, it is not just information about the customers that can be stored in SQL databases, but you can organize any specific data you consider valuable information. For example, you may want to see the employee information like the monthly salary being paid to them or the incentives they earn, and how they perform in their daily operational tasks, etc.
SQL coding and maintenance
SQL database is very easy to work with, which only requires the least amount of coding knowledge. The initial setup of the database platform may be a bit complicated, which has to be done by an SQL expert. You can rely on the consulting services of RemoteDBA.com for expert database implementation and remote administration. However, the programming and the IT department may be able to handle it, and the individual users can then be able to use it without much training. This makes SQL an ideal database for smaller businesses even without much resources. After the initial setup, there are many different ways to fine-tune the SQL Server performance. You will be able to consider performance monitoring and add-on security tools.
Understanding SQL server
You may frequently hear the term SQL Server while referring to SQL databases. SQL Server actually refers to the relational databases and the popular SQL server types. This service may include the top Microsoft SQL Server or MS SQL etc. SQL is actually a language that is used to build queries to interact with relational data sets. SQL server also refers to SQL database in this way, whereas SQL primary is a language used to interact with SQL server. We will try to explore various types of SQL servers further.
Relational SQL database
This is the first and most popularly available database widely used across the globe. Relational databases are meant to host information that can be delivered through online applications and web-based interfaces. The database can be integrated with the front-end clients to request data queries and information from the DB. However, there are many other purposes also for SQL databases like identifying customer trends, market projections, etc., based on the available historical and real-time data.
Hybrid databases
SQL databases have existed for a long, but only offer limited functionality in many modern applications. In order to enjoy better features that are not there in the conventional SQL databases, organizations now tend to use hybrid databases or otherwise called NoSQL databases. Within the NoSQL sector, users will be able to store information in an unstructured manner and by following key-value stores. Hybrid databases are commonly relational and non-relational databases like object-oriented DBs, graphs, document databases, etc. All these different types of databases follow different storage formats, and thereby hybrid databases are useful in multi-purpose data environments.
Find the apt database for you
It should be known that each business has some unique requirements when it comes to enterprise data management. As we have seen, there are different types of databases and different functionalities around various types of databases, which may confuse the users while choosing a business database. So, you need to do a fundamental analysis of your needs first in order to identify which type of database will be ideal.
Wrapping things up
Sometimes, the conventional SQL relational databases may be ideal for running your business, and some other times, it may be the need to handle a lot of unstructured data. Along with your custom needs, you need to consider the storage capacity, support features, ease to operate the DB, etc., when choosing an appropriate database. But keep in mind that choosing an appropriate database is absolutely necessary. Take your time, do your research, manage your budget but choose the right one.
