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EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH:
DATA CENTERS LEAD THE
DRIVE TO INNOVATION
2014 IOUG IT RESOURCE
STRATEGIES SURVEY
By Joseph McKendrick, Research Analyst
Produced by Unisphere Research,
a Division of Information Today, Inc.
February 2014
Sponsored by
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������3
Follow the Money����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������4
Time Spent���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������7
Strategies for Success�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������12
Demographics��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������20
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 2014 the spotlight is on data management departments as
they lead the effort to deliver competitive advantage from Big
Data analytics. Decision makers seek information from a growing
range of data sources and sophisticated toolsets. Managing the
integration of myriad networks, data systems, and applications to
deliver reliable information is a greater challenge than ever before.
The capacity to expand into new ventures requires a data
management function that is capable of supporting new
challenges and even taking a leadership role. While enterprises
rely more than ever on IT and data managers to deliver this
competitive edge, these managers report that their departments
and resources still tend to be mired in low-level database
administration tasks, such as performing upgrades, fixes and
patches, maintaining uptime and availability, and creating and
maintaining copies of database information. Data management
departments need to increase their output and productivity. But
mere efficiency is not enough—IT and data managers need to
make innovation a larger part of their jobs.
The challenges of freeing up database budgets for more
transformative IT initiatives are explored in a new global survey
of 285 data managers and professionals who are members of
the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) and their global
partner organizations. The survey was underwritten by EMC
Corporation and conducted by Unisphere Research, a division of
Information Today, Inc. Survey respondents hold a variety of job
roles and represent a wide range of organization types and sizes
and industry verticals.
In terms of technology solutions, 92% run Oracle Databases—
mainly Oracle 11g and 10g—along with Microsoft SQL Server
and MySQL. (See Figures 26–30 for more demographic details.)
Key highlights and findings from the survey, which explore
IT and database resource issues, include the following:
n I T budgets keep gaining strength, with about half of IT and
data managers anticipating growth in the next 12 months.
However, significant portions of budgets are going to database
maintenance, versus supporting new technology initiatives.
n A
long with budget shares, IT and data managers report that
significant amounts of their time are also being devoted to
routine maintenance activities. Close to half report that this
has been on the increase.
n A
ctivities taking up the most IT budget resources include
performing upgrades, fixes and patches, maintaining uptime
and availability, and creating and maintaining copies of
database information. Activities eating away the most staff time
include performance tuning and diagnosis, maintaining uptime
and availability, and applying upgrades, fixes and patches.
n E
nterprises are turning to standardized technologies,
automation, and virtualization in efforts to tighten up their
budgets and make more room for innovation. Two-thirds
agree that decreasing the maintenance portion of IT and data
budgets will help fund new value-added activities.
n O
nly one out of six enterprises have been able to reduce
the portion of their IT budgets spent on routine database
management tasks to less than 10%. These “leaders” report
greater levels of automation, but are more inclined to be
seeking additional funding for new projects
On the following pages are the results of the latest examination of
today’s pressing data availability concerns and how IT departments
and their business counterparts are addressing these issues.
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
4
FOLLOW THE MONEY
IT budgets keep gaining strength, with about half of IT and data managers anticipating growth in the next 12 months. However,
significant portions of budgets are going to database maintenance, versus supporting new technology initiatives.
In a sign of robustness and evidence of the impact of
technology on organizational growth, IT department budgets
keep rising. Organizations’ overall IT budgets have been tacking
toward increased budgets, and will keep increasing, IT and data
managers predict. Close to half of respondents, 48%, expect an
increase in their budgets, up from 40% who experienced increases
the previous year. About 19% of respondents saw declines in
their budgets last year, only 13% expect any retrenchment in their
budgets in the immediate future. (See Figure 1.)
While the majority of small-to-medium-size organizations
anticipate increases in their IT spending over the coming year,
IT and data managers in the largest organizations in the survey
(those with more than 10,000 employees) are less inclined to be
seeing boosts in spending. This signals continued caution among
organizations with large, complex IT budgets, and may reflect
the impact of underlying efficiency measures, such as data center
consolidations and greater cloud adoption. (See Figure 2.)
There are a range of database management activities taking
up most of respondents’ IT budgets. Close to half report their
time is taken up applying upgrades, fixes ,and patches, as well as
maintaining uptime and availability. (See Figure 3.)
IT and data managers provided information on how much
of their IT budgets are spent on ongoing database management
activities (maintaining uptime and availability, applying
upgrades, fixes and patches, ensuring security) versus new project
development or new initiatives (Oracle 12c, new applications,
virtualization, cloud). Seventeen percent of respondents have
reached a laudable level of stability and efficiency, in that they
are spending less than 10% of their IT budgets on maintenance
activities, enabling them to commit more to new initiatives.
At the other end of the spectrum, 23% report spending the
majority of their IT budgets on maintenance, suggesting there is
a great deal of legacy technology and outmoded processes that
hinder innovation. The remainder, a total of 42%, are in the
middle ground, spending significant portions of their budgets
on maintenance. (See Figure 4.) Studying the practices of the top
17% may prove useful to those spending a larger percentage on
maintenance.
Data managers are more likely to report they are committing
increased amounts of money into routine database maintenance
activities than see any relief. A total of 39% report that the
share of IT budget for ongoing database management activities
increased over the past three years, while 16% report this portion
has been on the decline. (See Figure 5.)
Figure 1: Changes in IT Budgets 2012–2014
This Year from Last
Next Year
Increase >20% 7%6%
Increase 11% to 20% 6%8%
Increase 6% to 10% 14%14%
Increase up to 5% 13%20%
INCREASE
40%48%
No change 25%22%
Decrease up to 5% 8%6%
Decrease >5% 11%7%
Don’t know/unsure 16%16%
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
5
Figure 2: Increased IT Budgets in the Year Ahead
—By Organizational Size
1 to 100 employees
51%
101 to 1,000 employee
53%
1,001 to 10,000 employees
54%
10,000+ employees
38%
0
20
40
60
80
100
0
20
40
60
80100
Figure 3: Money Pits: Database Management Activities
Taking Up Most IT Budgets
Applying upgrades, fixes and patches
49%
Maintaining uptime and availability
48%
Creating and maintaining copies of database information 41%
Security
40%
Performance tuning and diagnosis
37%
Testing and quality assurance
23%
Don’t know/unsure
12%
Other (Multiple responses permitted.)
4%
0
20
100
0
2040
40 60
60 80
80100
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
6
Figure 4: Amount of IT Budget Spent on Ongoing Database Management
Activities (Versus New Projects or Innovation)
<10%17%
10% to 25%
23%
26% to 50%
19%
51% to 75%
23%
76% to 100%
13%
10%
18%
Don’t know/unsure 0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80100
Figure 5: How Share of IT Budget for Ongoing Database Management
Activities Changed Over Past Three Years
Increased significantly
Increased moderately
39%
6%
33%
Has not changed 34%
Decreased moderately
10%
Decreased significantly
6%
Don’t know/unsure
11%
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80100
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
7
TIME SPENT
Along with budget shares, IT and data managers report that significant amounts of their time are also being devoted to routine
maintenance activities. Close to half report that this has been on the increase.
Money isn’t the only thing being consumed by routine
database management activities, the survey finds. About a third
of IT and data managers, 32%, indicate they spend a majority of
their time each week engaged in routine database maintenance.
Only 13% say they are able to devote more than 90% of their time
to new initiatives. (See Figure 6.)
The survey looked at the tendencies of “leaders” (those
reporting that less than 10% of their budgets are spent on
database maintenance activities, per Figure 5) versus “laggards”
(those spending in excess of 50%). In terms of time spent,
a significant share of leaders, 38%, report they also spend a
relatively small share of time per week on maintenance, versus
a meager 2% of the laggards. (See Figure 7.)
For some enterprises, the opposite effect may be true. “Our
problem may be reversed from most,” notes one respondent.
“We are not given even the minimum amount of time needed
for database and systems management, because we keep having
new projects thrown at us and management does not understand
the need to maintain the systems that they have us put in until
they crash.” (Data on how many of the “leaders” in low-cost
maintenance believe this has created a risky situation is not
available from this study, beyond this anecdotal statement.)
What types of database management activities are taking up
most of respondents’ time each week? The activities on which
data managers spend the most time are performance tuning and
diagnosis, following by maintaining uptime and availability. Two
out of five data managers also spend time applying upgrades,
fixes, and patches. (See Figure 8.)
For some respondents, the increasing complexity of IT systems
and networks is contributing to the amount of maintenance time
occupying their workweeks. “We try to fix problems instead of
find more ways to monitor for them,” says one respondent. “All
the monitoring just creates a false sense of control. Management
likes monitoring so they can look like they know what is going
on. However, the more monitors and agents you install the more
complex systems become.”
How has the amount of time spent on ongoing database
management activities changed over the past three years? Close
to half of data managers, 48%, say the amount of time they’re
spending on routine maintenance activities has increased. Only
15% have seen any positive change in this area. (See Figure 9.)
Many respondents believe the amount of time, money, and
resources they spend on ongoing database management activities
versus new project development or new initiatives is affecting the
competitiveness of their organizations. A majority of respondents,
52%, agree that to some degree, the amount of resources they
devote to database maintenance is inhibiting or even severely
limiting their organization’s competitiveness. (See Figure 10.) The
laggards in the survey are more inclined to recognize how their
over-commitment of time and money to maintenance is holding
back their organization’s progress. (See Figure 11.)
When it comes to maintenance activities inhibiting innovation
at the departmental level, even more data managers indicate this is
a problem. About two-thirds, 63%, say there has been an adverse
effect. (See Figure 12.) Just as laggards recognize how devoting too
many resources to low-level activities holds back organizational
innovation, they also are more cognizant of the impacts on their
department’s productivity as well. (See Figure 13.)
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
8
Figure 6: Amount of IT Staff Time Spent on Ongoing Database Management
Activities (Versus New Projects or Innovation)
<10%13%
10% to 25%
26%
26% to 50%
21%
51% to 75%
19%
76% to 99% 32%
12%
100%1%
Don’t know/unsure 8%
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80100
Figure 7: How Much Time Spent—Leaders Versus Laggards
nnnnnnnnn Leaders <10%
38%
2%
>50%
12%
74%
0
20
40
nnnnnnnnn Laggards
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80100
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
9
Figure 8: Database Management Activities Taking Up Most Time
Each Week
Performance tuning and diagnosis
48%
Maintaining uptime and availability
44%
Applying upgrades, fixes and patches
40%
Creating and maintaining copies of database information 37%
Ensuring security
34%
Testing and quality assurance
25%
Don’t know/unsure
10%
3%
Other 0
20
100
0
20 40
40 60
60 80
80100
Figure 9: How Share of IT Staff Time for Ongoing Database Management
Activities Changed Over Past Three Years
Increased significantly
Increased moderately
48%
10%
38%
Has not changed
29%
Decreased moderately
11%
Decreased significantly
4%
Don’t know/unsure
8%
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80100
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
10
Figure 10: Amount of Resources Spent on Ongoing Database Management
Activities Affecting Competitiveness of Organizations?
Yes, the amount of resources spent on 14%
ongoing database management activities
is severely limiting our competitiveness
Somewhat, the amount of resources spent on ongoing management activities
is inhibiting our competitiveness
38%
No, the amount of resources spent on
37%
ongoing database management activities
is not an issue in our competitiveness
Don’t know/unsure 10%
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80100
Figure 11: R
esources Spent on Maintenance Affecting
Organizational Competitiveness—Leaders Versus
nnnnnnnnn Leaders Yes
17%
23%
Somewhat
37%
46%
0
20
40
nnnnnnnnn Laggards
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80100
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
11
Figure 12: Amount of Resources Spent on Ongoing Database Management
Activities Affecting Productivity and Innovation of Departments?
Yes, the amount of resources spent on 20%
ongoing database management activities
is severely limiting our productivity
Somewhat, the amount of resources spent on ongoing management activities
is inhibiting our productivity
43%
No, the amount of resources spent on
27%
ongoing database management activities
is not an issue in our productivity
Don’t know/unsure 10%
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80100
Figure 13: R
esources Spent on Maintenance Affecting
Organizational Productivity—Leaders Versus Laggards
nnnnnnnnn Leaders Yes
22%
27%
Somewhat
41%
54%
0
20
40
nnnnnnnnn Laggards
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80100
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
12
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
Enterprises are turning to standardized technologies, automation, and virtualization in efforts to tighten up their budgets and
make more room for innovation. Two-thirds agree that decreasing the maintenance portion of IT and data budgets will help fund
new value-added activities.
IT and data managers are employing a range of strategies to
reduce time and money spent on ongoing database management
activities. A majority are undertaking standardization of their
IT infrastructure as a way of reducing the amount of resources
being poured into database maintenance activities. Close to half,
46%, intend to increase the level of automation within their data
centers. (See Figure 14.)
The survey explored areas in which data managers would like
to see their organizations spend more money or devote more
resources. Two-fifths says they would like to migrate or update
their databases, and the same number would pursue database
consolidation strategies. (See Figure 15.)
Now the $6-million question: If respondents could reduce
time and cost spent on ongoing database management activities,
would this help fund these new value-adding activities? A majority,
66%, agree that the resources freed up would make room for
more innovative activities, either through cost savings alone or in
combination with budget increases. A total of 48% say more money
is needed for new types of growth activities, though only 27% feel
this is in combination with savings efforts. (See Figure 16.)
Interestingly, the leaders in the survey—those spending
a minimal amount of time in maintenance activities—are
more prone to see the need for fresh infusions of cash to boost
innovation in their departments. It may be that any efficiency
has already been wrung out of their operations. (See Figure 17.)
Respondents also provided the preferred activities they
would like to pursue, should their time be freed up with greater
efficiency. Technology professionals being who they are, most
invest the spare time in advancing their knowledge of new and
existing technologies. More than seven out of 10 data managers
say they would invest in researching new technologies, and a
majority would spend more time learning new IT skills. (See
Figure 18.)
There are a range of areas in which respondents see
automation freeing up time to spend on more value-adding
initiatives for themselves or their organizations. Areas ripe for
automation include database performance monitoring and
diagnosis, backup and recovery management, and database
cloning and refresh management. (See Figure 19.)
Respondents provided a number of ways they would like to
see automation applied. “We seek to automate SLA management,
patch management and provisioning to standardize infrastructure,”
one respondent recommends. “We may continue to look at other
IT automation after production deployment.” Another respondent
says his organization is exploring “automated auditing of tables
and users. We are also looking to fine-tune our automated
tracking and reporting queries. In addition, we are centralizing
offline syncing of data with external websites, and automating the
removal of log files.”
Database automation is already a big part of the picture, the
survey shows. Two-thirds of respondents say they have put at
least some automation in place. However, only 6% indicate they
have achieved high levels of automation. (See Figure 20.) Already,
13% of leaders indicate they are already “highly automated,”
which is helping to contribute to their ability to minimize
resources spent on maintenance tasks. (See Figure 21.)
Have these processes become more or less automated over
the past three years as respondents’ environments have grown? A
combined total of 86% of data managers say automation has been
on the increase. However, in most cases, the growth has only been
“slightly more automated,” indicating there is still a lot of work to
be done in this area. (See Figure 22.) The leaders in the survey are
taking more initiative in automation efforts, with 21% reporting
their data enterprises are “much more automated” than three
years ago—compared to 13% of laggards. (See Figure 23.)
Respondents wholeheartedly agree that it is important to
improve DBA-to-storage administrator communication and
productivity in their organizations. This is something that
80% of data managers agree needs to be improved within their
organizations. More than two-fifths feel very strongly about this,
indicating that such communication is “very important.” (See
Figure 24.)
Do they collaborate well today? Most respondents, 81%, say
there is at least some level of communication between the two
groups. More than two-fifths feel that their communications are
highly effective. (See Figure 25.)
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
13
Figure 14: Strategies Employed to Reduce Time and Money Spent on
Ongoing Database Management Activities
Standardizing of IT infrastructure
52%
Increase database/data center automation 46%
More virtualization or cloud solutions
44%
Database or data center consolidation 42%
Don’t know/unsure
11%
Other
2%
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80100
(Multiple responses permitted.)
Figure 15: Preferred Areas of Investment
Migrating or updating our databases
39%
Database consolidation
39%
Researching and installing new Oracle features 36%
Upgrading or modernizing hardware
and processors 34%
Virtualization and cloud
32%
IT as a service
24%
Flash technology
19%
Don’t know/unsure
8%
Other
5%
(Multiple responses permitted.)
0
20
40
60
80
100
0
20 40
60
80100
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
14
Figure 16: W
ould Reducing Database Maintenance Expenditures
Help Fund New Value-Adding Activities?
Needs to be funded 27%
by both new budget/savings
from existing budget
Yes, time and budget 39%
savings can help cost-justify
new initiatives
Don’t know/unsure 13%
No, new initiatives require 21%
net new budget
Figure 17: Innovation Require More Savings or More Budget?
—Leaders Versus Laggards
nnnnnnnnn Leaders More savings
35%
41%
More Budget
35%
21%
Combination of savings and more budget
17%
29%
nnnnnnnnn Laggards
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80100
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
15
Figure 18: P
referred Areas in Which IT and Data Managers
Would Prefer to Spend More Time
Researching new technologies
72%
Training and broadening my IT skill sets
55%
Enterprise and data architecture/planning 48%
Working with end-users
27%
Consulting with corporate management
18%
Establishing IT chargeback and self-service models
12%
Don’t know/unsure
(Multiple responses permitted.)
5%
0
20
100
0
20 40
40 60
60 80
80100
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
16
Figure 19: A
reas in Which Automation Could Free Up Time
for More Value-Adding Initiatives
Database performance monitoring and diagnosis 62%
Backup and recovery management
46%
Database cloning and refresh management 44%
Data protection and recovery
30%
New database instance provisioning
30%
Hardware provisioning for database systems
20%
Don’t know/unsure 11%
2%
Other
0 20 40 60 80100
(Multiple responses permitted.)
0
20
40
60
80
100
Figure 20: L evel of Automation Achieved
Highly automated 6%
Somewhat automated 61%
Don’t know/unsure 7%
Entirely manual 3%
Mostly manual 24%
(Total does not equal 100% due to rounding.)
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
17
Figure 21: Degree of Automation—Leaders Versus Laggards
nnnnnnnnn Leaders Highly automated
13%
0%
Somewhat automated
53%
60%
Manual
33%
39%
nnnnnnnnn Laggards
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80100
Figure 22: A
utomation Growth Over Past Three Years
Much more automated 17%
Slightly more automated 69%
Don’t know/unsure 7%
Entirely manual 2%
Less automated 5%
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
18
Figure 23: Growth of Automation—Leaders Versus Laggards
nnnnnnnnn Leaders Much more automated
21%
13%
Slightly more automated
67%
84%
Less automated/manual
11%
4%
nnnnnnnnn Laggards
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80100
Figure 24: I mportance of DBA-to-Storage Administrator
Communication and Collaboration
Somewhat important 39%
Very important 41%
Not very important 11%
Don’t know/unsure 9%
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
19
Figure 25: D
epth of DBAs and Storage Administrators’
Communication and Collaboration
Communicate 39%
sometimes
Communicate 42%
very well
Don’t communicate 9%
well today
Don’t know/unsure 10%
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
20
DEMOGRAPHICS
Figure 26: Respondents’ Database Systems or Platforms
Oracle Database (any version)
92%
Microsoft SQL Server
75%
MySQL
47%
Microsoft Access
31%
IBM DB2 23%
Apache Hadoop 12%
PostgreSQL
12%
SAP Sybase ASE
9%
Teradata
7%
MongoDB
5%
SAP HANA
5%
Cassandra
3%
SQLite
3%
Amazon SimpleDB
1%
CouchDB
1%
Other
4%
(Multiple responses permitted.)
0
20 40
40 60
60 80
80100
0
20
100
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
21
Figure 27: Oracle Database Versions
Oracle Database 11g
82%
Oracle Database 10g
63%
Oracle Database 12c
19%
Other 12%
0
20
60
80
100
0
20 40
40 60
80100
Figure 28: Size of Respondents’ Organizations
1 to 100 employees
20%
101 to 500 employees
14%
501 to 1,000 employees 9%
1,001 to 5,000 employees
17%
5,001 to 10,000 employees >10,000 NA 5%
24%
2%
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80100
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
22
Figure 29: Respondents’ Primary Job Titles
Database administrator (DBA)
48%
Director/manager of IS/IT or computer-related function 10%
IT consultant
9%
Analyst/systems analyst
7%
Architect/engineer (security, systems,
data, etc.) 6%
IT operations manager
3%
Systems administrator
3%
Programmer/developer
3%
Project manager
3%
Chief/VP (CIO, CSO, CTO, IT, IS, etc.)
3%
Executive/manager of a business unit 2%
Other 2%
0
20
100
0
20 40
40 60
60 80
80100
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.
23
Figure 30: Respondents’ Primary Industries
IT services/consulting/system integration 20%
Education (all levels)
14%
Government (all levels)
12%
Financial services
8%
Manufacturing
7%
Utility/telecommunications/transportation 7%
Retail/distribution
6%
Software/application development 6%
Healthcare/medical/life sciences 4%
Business/consumer services
3%
Energy (oil, gas, etc.)
3%
High-tech manufacturing
3%
Insurance
3%
Nonprofit
3%
Other 3%
2040
4060
6080
80100
00 20
100
EFFICIENCY ISN’T ENOUGH: DATA CENTERS LEAD THE DRIVE TO INNOVATION—2014 IOUG IT Resource Strategies Survey was produced by Unisphere
Research and sponsored by EMC Corporation. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of
Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere.
Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701.