Addressing IT skills shortages within Local Authorities
Many local authorities are facing very difficult spending decisions and are dealing with running an IT service which is chronically understaffed in order to meet spending requirements. From working directly with public sector organisations we know how difficult this can be to manage on a day to day basis.
Two of our expert DB2 Consultancy team members have previously worked for Local Authorities and can give first hand examples of how teams are struggling to cope.“When I worked in local government the focus was very much on reducing cost and reducing headcount. This meant there was no longer any budget for a dedicated DB2 DBA” Mark Gillis, Senior DB2 Consultant, Triton Consulting.
We have found this to be a very common problem. In many public sector organisations IT staff are being asked to take on more and more work which is often outside their area of expertise. For example a skilled SQL Server DBA is likely to be able to “get-by” supporting DB2 for a while but if any serious DB2 issues arise then there are bound to be problems. This is a real concern given that most local authorities require their data to be available 24/7 in order to provide critical services such as social care, children’s services and emergency support.
Although many Local Authorities would happily employ one or two more DBAs to cover support of their critical databases the reality is that there just isn’t that kind of budget available. The cost of bringing in extra DB2 skills is a major issue for many organisations, not just in the public sector. Utilising an external support provider can be far more cost effective than bringing in extra permanent resource. The combination of external support working together with internal IT teams works really well for many organisations. External support often sounds expensive but it really doesn’t have to be, in fact organisations can reduce annual support costs by up to 75% with RemoteDBA Office from Triton Consulting compared to one full time DBA.
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