Put the kettle on.
“Should we get a new database?” People ask me this a lot.
My response is always “Why do you think you need a new database?”
I know it’s bad form to answer a question with a question, and you know I don’t usually avoid giving answers, but the responses I get will speak volumes. And they are almost always around the same themes: the data is rubbish, or the organisation can’t use the data, or the data is holding back our business, sometimes all three!
Think bite sized
So, let’s break it down into non-techie, bite size chunks. Think of a database as something warm and familiar: a cup of tea.
I usually drink my tea from a thermos mug. Its large volume and heat retaining abilities ensure I get a constant supply of my workday fuel. I could however tip the tea into any old container: a regular mug, an old jam jar or my boot. It would still be a nice cuppa despite the container, and it would still be hot enough if I drank it quickly, although I admit the tea might lose a certain something if I supped it from my wellie.
But this is assuming my tea was well made in the first place. What if I’d made a particularly awful brew? Rubbish tea bag, stale water and rancid milk. I could put this concoction into any one of these containers and the outcome would be the same – pretty dire, undrinkable.
Have you seen the link yet?
I appreciate at this point that you’re probably questioning my sanity; but what this beverage-based expedition demonstrates is that the tea and the drinking vessel are not intrinsically linked. Good tea in a boot is still good tea and bad tea in a lovely thermos is still bad tea.
So, going back to the original point. If your data is rubbish and the organisation can’t use it, or you feel it’s holding back your business – then these are all issues with your data. This is the data equivalent of a bad cup of tea. You can buy the best mug (or database) money can buy but it won’t change the fundamental issues with the tea you are drinking (or the data you are trying to use). What is more relevant is to use a fresh pint of milk, to boil the kettle properly and to use a nice new box of teabags (re-structuring your data, removing duplicates or carrying out a suppression audit).
I’m not ever going to rule out a new database, (I use Beacon, Donorfy and many other) but for most organisations it would be the answer to a different set of issues that probably don’t exist yet. But I’m more likely to start with something a little easier to manage: good milk, boiling water and a lovely new teabag.
If you can’t get your data to work for you, if you really do feel it’s holding back your business there are some helpful tips here, and if that isn’t enough, don’t worry – just give me a ring, stick the kettle on and I’ll be round in a bit with the Hobnobs.
