Impact of Databases
Introduction

A database is a collection of organized information in such a way that the information
can readily be accessed, updated, and managed. Databases are most done in computer systems.
Without a database, it is almost painful to know what is happening in the business, especially if it
is a business handling vast amounts of information. A database is significant to a workplace
because it shows the information about your transactions, customer profiles, marketing activities,
and products. One of the impacts of having a database is that business owners no longer make
decisions based on assumptions they study the trends on the data they have collected and can
decide the best way forward based on facts.

Impact of Database at Work Places

Databases allow the sharing of data between the employees in the workplace. There can
be different levels of authorization to this effect, but at the end of the day, the work is efficient
since most of the data is easy to access and share. Many remote users can also be able to access
the data in the databases. Databases have also helped reduce redundancies in the system, where
one data is duplicated multiple times in the dataset. It has assured data consistency where all the
data in the system is the same to every employee, and any changes made to the data can be
detected by other employees (Borg &Peterson, 2020). Databases have brought about less loss of
data since most databases have backups, so the individual employees do not have to back up
their data for them to avoid losses. According to Borg and Peterson (2020), there is the aspect of
privacy in the database since for anyone to be able to assess the organization's data, they have to
get authorization, which protects the institutions against malicious people. Database systems

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have seen the increase of productivity by the employees since they can assess the data and
manipulate if with high efficiency, unlike an institution without a database system.

Queries Forms and Reports

Designed queries, forms, and reports are essential to a database system, for it makes it
easy for the business to determine where it is going and how to get there. These tree queries,
forms, and reports are essential because, with them, one can filter, drill down, and try to
understand the business performance. Reports give an insight into where the enterprise or
business is heading. Queries also provide a better read of the customers and or stakeholders.
These three can be customized to the target user to give a better read of the intended target. The
other benefit of queries, forms, and reports is that they are quicker to market and saves time. It is
like a shortcut to the target market as it is easy to access and determine what the consumers want
through queries and tell how they feel through reports on the delivered product.
Database reporting tools are easy to use, and generating reports is very easy using the
drag and drop interface. When businesses use reports, they create advanced data visualizations;
the collected data can be drafted such that it can be seen in bubble charts or bullet graphs, which
increases data visualization. Their analysis can make the institution discover useful patterns that
can help in the growth of the business. It is important to note that they also update in real-time,
showing the latest data (Loyola et al., 2016). The database queries, forms, and reports enable the
business to examine numerous options the values that should have been annualized to detect
information or data trends can be dropped. Then there is a fast and more reliable way to create
charts that are to be used in the analysis. Furthermore, the reports can be customized to, for
instance, generate alerts to make the reports more accurate and productive. A database report

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protects your sensitive data as it is possible for humans to make errors when entering the data as
opposed to machines.

Security Concerns and Remedies

One of the significant security concerns is having a broken database; for instance, in
2003, a worm called SQL Slammer was able to infect almost all the computers in a timeless ten
minutes of it being deployed. Such a worm can take down numerous databases in minutes of
deployment. This unfortunate virus took advantage of, the Microsoft SQL Server, a server used
to create databases had bugs that left most computers vulnerable (Jain et al., 2016). To solve this
problem, for instance, Microsoft came up with a fix to the bug that the administrators were able
to install and fix the problem. This warm generally demonstrates how it is essential to install
security patches and fixes. Most businesses still leave their computers vulnerable despite the
constant update of security patches, some of them citing lack of time or enough resources to
undertake this vital action.
Data leaks and deployment failures are another security threat that has been cited
continuously by many organizations. During the deployment of databases, most people do not
take due care. Most database functionality is indeed appropriately tested to ensure that the
database is working as designed. The problem is the database is usually not tested to see if it is
doing what it is not meant to be doing, resulting in a database that may malfunction when subject
to a different set of data or environment. Then there are data leaks most organizations assume the
database is a backend part of the office and is usually secure from internet-based threats, but this
is not typically true. Databases are vulnerable to hackers as any other interface that can assess the
internet; hackers can assess the database through the traffic from the internet and interfere with
the data. To save the data, there is a need for encrypting a database to protect the information.

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References

Borg, M., & Pettersson, S. (2020). Response time analysis of indexing in relational databases and
their impact.
Jain, A., Persson, K. A., & Ceder, G. (2016). Research Update: The materials genome initiative:
Data sharing and the impact of collaborative ab initio databases. APL Materials, 4(5),
053102.
Loyola-González, O., Martínez-Trinidad, J. F., Carrasco-Ochoa, J. A., & García-Borroto, M.
(2016). Study of the impact of resampling methods for contrast pattern-based classifiers
in imbalanced databases. Neurocomputing, 175, 935-947.