Advantages of Using DBMS in Business and other Organizations

Implementing DMBS in business and other types of organizations carries with it many advantages. The flexbility of quality DBMS packages allows easy software updgrades to changing business and user needs. Security of information can easily be tailored to different users. Private data such as salary information or account details can be made only accessible to the appropriate parties. The DBMS can also log by whom an alteration of data was made, as well as the date and time of the edit. Data access can be restricted via database "views" that filter out sensitive data. Data redundancy can be significantly reduced by keeping a single copy of specific information, by doing so, consistency of data is improved.

A DBMS' centralized system allows for easier data control, deployment, access and restriction. In addition, it makes it easier to enforce standards for data creation, naming, modification and removal, thereby also improving the quality and consistency of the data itself. Information altered in the central database is replicated seemlessly throughout all applications supported by the database.

Businesses and organizations can benefit from the aforementioned advantages in several ways. Time is money and DBMS save a lot of it. Jobs previously reserved for data maintenance and updates have almost been eliminated, or at least the nature of it has been dramatically changed. As such, organizations and companies are able to compete with industry leaders or even maintain a competitive advantage over their peers. The security of information is a prevalent issue these days, and effective DBMS can ensure its access is limited only to those concerned. The database administrator (DBA) is responsible for the for the development and management of databases within an organization. He or she works with management and programmers as well as users to establish and enforce policies for the management of information and security. A good DBA is essential to justifying the expense of implementing database technology within a firm.

Sources:
Jessup, Valadich & Wade. (2006). Information Systems Today: Why IS Matters.
Toronto: Pearson—Prentice Hall.

DBMS.ca. “Data Security”. A Guide to Database Management Systems. <http://dbms.ca/concepts/security.html>.
Accessed April 3, 2009.