Kurt Survance, President

SQL Server is Our Only Business

At SQL Consulting, Inc. our philosophy is to do one thing well. In our case, that one thing is Microsoft SQL Server.

We know we can't be experts at everything, but we are experts at Microsoft SQL Server. We are trained, certified and experienced with SQL Server and all the technologies required to maintain a high performance, secure and reliable database environment for your company.

If your business runs on a SQL Server database, I think you will find that we are the people you're looking for.

Advantages of remote SQL Server consulting vs. on-site consulting

Our consultants can work effectively from your site or remotely from our own operations center. Whether one method is better than the other depends on the client and the project. There are advantages to both.

Consulting by remote access

Even in this era of reliable high-speed connectivity, there still seems to be a lingering feeling in some IT shops that a remote consultant is in some way less available and consequently less reliable than one who is on-site. The truth is, however, that anyone not sitting at your SQL Server machine itself is accessing it remotely. It doesn’t make much difference if they are sitting in an office down the hall or at a desk halfway across the continent. Reliability is not dependent on physical proximity. A reliable consulting firm will be just as reliable remotely or on-site.

Lower cost, high productivity

An obvious benefit of remote consulting is that it gives you access to specialists that may not be available to you locally. It is less expensive because there are no travel expenses to consider. Another often overlooked cost benefit is that the remote consultant’s time can be managed more efficiently, resulting in greater productivity per dollar spent. For example, in some on-site consulting engagements there are periods of time that cannot be utilized effectively, like when a two hour database restore has to be done before the consultant can continue with his/her work. On a client site, there is sometimes no good way for a consultant to utilize that time productively. However,a consultant working remotely from our site will stop the clock for a client during those sorts of delays.

A consultant from SQL Consulting, Inc. keeps the same detailed timesheet whether on-site or working remotely. Our clients can track productivity and assure themselves that our consultants are working effectively on their behalf.

Security

One of the most common concerns about remote consulting is security. The technology is available to make remote connections very secure against unauthorized access, but the question of authorizing remote network access for any outside party is sometimes at odds with company policy.

We recognize that granting network access to our consultants is not a simple decision, but we do what we can to alleviate the security concerns of our client: First of all, we have a long list of references from clients who have trusted their data systems to us. They can assure you that we have handled our obligations in a secure and professional mannner . Our standard agreement addresses confidentiality and non-disclosure in great detail and can be modified if you have additional restrictions you would like to apply.

Remote consulting has a place in many projects. At SQL Consulting, even for on-site projects we typically do a preliminary environmental and performance analysis remotely. It gives us a baseline understanding of the system and the issues before arriving at the site and allows us to get productive very quickly after arriving.

Consulting on Site

Despite the addition of travel expenses to your consulting costs, having the consultant or consultants on-site is sometimes the better option. If, the security policy of your company does not permit opening up connections into your network for non-employees, on-site consulting is your only option when you need outside expertise.

Depending on the size and complexity of the project, sometimes there is no substitute for having the whole team in the same physical location, at least occasionally. Telephone and video conferencing have reduced the number of times this might be necessary, but they have not eliminated it. Knowledge transfer still happens more easily and completely among people who have easy face-to-face access to one another. Many of our projects are a combination of both remote and on-site consulting.

If you have any comments or further questions about remote consulting. email us or call the toll-free number below.