Business benefits against
UK database designer costs.
A database allows its users to reduce uncertainty about the
world. However, not all of the variables can always be stored
in a database.
As a result, the user may subsequently have to use a lot
of guess work. A decision based on such estimated data may
not be perfect.
We call the costs associated with such suboptimal decisions
the cost of incomplete information. This cost can be reduced
by expanding the database to contain more information; such
expansion will increase the data-related costs because of
more data collection, manipulation, storage, and retrieval.
A database designer must then consider the trade-off between
the cost of incomplete information and the data-related costs,
and choose a design that minimises the overall cost to the
organisation. In many business databases, the sheer volume
of the data involved makes such a trade-off at design time
all the more important.
Broadly speaking, there are two main areas of cost savings
Quantifiable Cost Benefits of Databases
Quantifiable costs are usually easier
to identify; for example: the time saved by using a system
to automate acknowledgement letters. This not only cuts down
the time someone might have spent producing the letters but
at the same time frees them up to do other tasks. Or entering
business details only once and then transferring this data
to the web.
Other quantifiable cost benefits might
include: producing letters/labels, producing financial reports,
performing database segmentation and thus better targeting
(with associated 'non-wastage' of inappropriate approaches),
faster entering and administrating of details, and relevant
forms, electronic fund transfer for standing orders and direct
debits.
Non Quantifiable Cost Benefits of Database Systems
Non-quantifiable benefits are harder
to put a figure on. For example, the fact that an business
can check the database to find out if an individual contact
is also a senior manager in another company they are dealing
with, which could lead to further instructions. Or knowing
that another negotiator in the organisation has recently approached
a particular person over a valuation, ensuring two people
do not approach the same prospect.
Other non-quantifiable cost benefits
might include: analysing past trends, analysing database segments,
relationship management and seeing 'who knows who', easy viewing
of communication history, client profiling, diary /reminder
system ensuring appointments/calls are not forgotten.
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