It doesn’t matter how big or small your business is, somewhere along the line you are going to
amass data. It may be the details of your customers or the amount of stock in your warehouse, but
it will get bigger and bigger and less manageable unless you can find a way to organise it. This
is where databases come in, think of them as very fast librarians – constantly organising and
filing your data into sections where it can be easily retrieved. But the really great bit about
databases isn’t the fact that they store your data, it is that they allow you to rapidly retrieve
it.
Unless you are an incredibly tidy person and extremely fastidious and organise everything in your
home into little boxes (yes, there are people like this) you will no doubt be aware of how
difficult it is to find items when you need them. Databases allow everyone to become well organised
and efficient!
Of course storing information is one thing, but using it is another. You could avoid using a
database and put all your company data into a large box and hide it in the attic; but if you never
use it then it becomes worthless. Databases allow people to quickly retrieve not only what they
put in, but also process how the information is presented to them when they retrieve it.
Want to know how many customers bought a particular product in a particular month? Or perhaps you
would like to know how many widgets you have in stock that are due to be out-of-date? This is what
makes databases incredibly powerful and allows you to really get in control of your information.
No, we haven’t gone insane. You can talk to your databases using special languages such as SQL (Structured Query Language), it is these languages that we use to allow you to get very specific information back out. A good developer will be able to write these queries to provide you with exactly what you need in the optimum format – all you need to tell us is what you would like to come back from the database.
Once you have your data in your database and your queries written to bring back exactly what you
need you next need to decide how to present it. This is where you should be using a software
developer that understands great visual design (just like us!). Simply putting a big grid of data
onto the page may be useful in some circumstances, but in others cases you should be looking to
present it in a manner that suits the data. For example, could you show it in a pie chart? Would a
line graph better demonstrate the last quarter’s sales figures?
Allowing users to delve into the data and explore it in more detail is so useful – it gives them
the ability to see it how they deem best. This promotes good interaction with encourages the user
to keep using the system.
We build our database solutions around Microsoft SQL Server™. That means you get access to one of the best in business databases, supported by the world’s largest software manufacturer. And the choice of databases is pretty good as well – you can have versions that run on mobile devices, small servers or large scale server clusters. What is also pretty impressive is that many of these databases can be deployed for no cost, meaning that creating a business class database application can be both affordable and dependable.