For full disclosure – this is the business we are in here at Straight Path IT Solutions. We know something about running a SQL Server Managed Services practice. While we’d love to talk to you and work with us, there are a lot of excellent firms out there like our friends at Dallas DBAs, Procure SQL, or other firms we know and trust.
How Big is your DBA as a Service Team?
Simple question. I’ll be sincere. When I started Straight Path in 2011, I was consulting on the side and delivering some “light” SQL Server DBA as a Service offerings. My website and LinkedIn started saying “we” a lot at some point. It wasn’t a lack of honesty, once you talked to me you understand I just meant me and all my personalitites, but it sounded better to say we than “me.” You need to ask “How many are on the team?” You need to find out what skills exist in the team. If it’s a “team” of one, you should ask how many clients “they” have, do they have a full-time job? These questions matter when the stuff really hits the fan. One thing I’ve learned over the past 25+ years delivering SQL Server services is – the problems never come at the most ideal, well-planned time.
If you need some mentoring, don’t mind waiting in line for a full-time job or another client – the we = me shops are fantastic to work with. They are experts hanging a shingle out there. And they will help you level up and be more flexible in pricing – especially in the “any client is a good client” phase. Just be careful – you don’t get to plan your downtime and if you need that quick response ability, you may not have it.
Figure out how they manage their clients. Do they divvy up duties in a team, track SLAs in a tool, or manage their SQL server clients with a methodology that tries to adhere to rules (while allowing exceptions when they make sense)?
Who is on The Team?
A variation on the above – find out about the experiences on the team. Is it Senior DBA heavy? Do the Junior DBAs work hand in hand with Senior DBAs so you are getting the best of both worlds? Do they hire the current, former, and future Microsoft MVPs and data platform experts who speak at the conferences, write the books, and answer questions? Do they know their stuff and have a team of gurus with competing and complimentary skillsets so you are well covered?
How Soon Will Your Remote DBAs get back to us?
Let’s be honest—if you are hiring a Remote SQL Server DBA as a Service shop to manage your SQL server estate, SLAs matter, right?
Will you submit a ticket and not hear back on the solo-preneurs’ day off or travel day? Will you never really be fully sure a ticket was received because the ticketing system does not send updates when a ticket progresses from “in the queue” to “assigned” to “in progress?”
Figure out the SLAs and make sure they match your needs. What about after hours? How do I reach your team? In the earliest days, it was “call my cell” for me here at Straight Path. And I usually answered the phone – but emergencies happen, travel happens, my phone is accidentally in DND, etc. Ask about the escalation and approach to after hours calls – how are they routed to the tech and a backup and a backup for the backup after hours? If you rely on a DBA team – they better be there when you need them most.
How do you Proactively Manage our SQL Server Estate?
This is as important as the after hours. Do they create dashboards and reports for your environment and review them monthly with you? Do they look at your trending? Do they send you a daily health report that their team reviews – even when your lead DBA is on PTO? Do they talk about trends and future proofing in a regular monthly meeting? Do they tell you about the opportunities before they turn into problems? If they aren’t doing that well, you’ll have to call them after hours and hope they answer.
Will you Teach and Mentor our Team?
This will show you the values of the firm you are working with. Are they going to share knowledge or gatekeep knowledge? Will they help level you up even if it means you need to buy their DBA services less? If they do – they are a keeper.
How Long Have you Delivered SQL Server Managed Services?
Not just, “how long have you been working with SQL Server?” Not even “how long have you worked for other SQL Server managed service providers?” really – how long has your team been delivering SQL Server DBA services? Find out what they’ve learned, how they’ve leveled up. Do they survey their clients and assess opportunities? Do they build their own tools to fill gaps? Do they learn from mistakes and collaborate with others? What kind of experiences have they had and have their clients had?
SQL Server DBA as a Service is What We Do
We do emergency support for big and small needs. We help the client who is in a bad spot regardless, but we do SQL Server DBA as a Service well at Straight Path. Many others do it well also. Ask the questions, call around.
If you’d like to see how we implement our flavor of DBA as a Service at Straight Path and want to see our answers to these questions like our 15-minute SLA and hear about the expertise fo our 17 person team – check out our DBA as a Service offerings.
