Whether you’re considering a new Microsoft SQL installation, or you’re already up and running, you’ll want to make sure you’re configured for optimum performance, security and stability. Your in-house IT staff will keep things running smoothly day to day, but unless they’re SQL specialists, there will be times a little bit of expert help, guidance and insight will come in handy.
As well-established experts providing high quality IT solutions UK-wide, Life IT can help with all aspects of Microsoft SQL admin, support and development. They’ve highlighted five situations in which the help of an SQL expert is essential…
1.       SQL implementation
With its impressive power and flexibility, it’s easy to see why Microsoft SQL is such a popular choice. But if it’s not properly installed, you won’t see any of these benefits. To get the best possible performance, reduce the likelihood of failures and to ensure security is tight, it’s highly recommended that you call on the services of an SQL expert.
 2.       Health checks and system monitoring
Once your Microsoft SQL installation is up and running efficiently, you’ll want to ensure it stays that way. Constant system monitoring and regular health checks can catch potential issues before they become problems. To effectively and promptly identify such issues, it’s best to choose a knowledgeable provider of SQL admin services.
 3.       Disaster recovery
Although you may never need to worry about disaster recovery procedures, it’s crucial to be prepared for the unexpected. To minimise data loss and disruption, and get your SQL installation back up and running as quickly as possible, it’s strongly recommended that you use the services of dedicated SQL experts if you find yourself in this position.
 4.       Upgrades and migration
We all know the high speed at which technology evolves. While your current server may be state-of-the-art today, eventually you’ll need to upgrade. Getting this right is just as important as your initial SQL implementation – so you’ll want to make sure it’s done quickly and professionally to minimise downtime and ensure optimal performance.
 5.       Bespoke application development
If you need your SQL database to perform tasks that it can’t do out of the box, it’s possible to develop bespoke applications to allow total customisation. But unless you have a programmer on your IT team, you’ll need to call in a specialist in SQL coding.
Life IT can help with all of the above situations – and more – wherever you are in the UK. They can assist with SQL implementation, ensure everything’s running smoothly and efficiently (and fix it if it isn’t), keep everything up to date and even develop bespoke SQL applications for you.
Find out more about Life IT’s Microsoft SQL services and flexible support contracts at www.lifeit.co.uk.

What others say about us

“Having migrated from IBM Domino to Microsoft Office 360 (Business Cloud), we are delighted with the results – and have 1000 happy internal customers who much prefer Outlook to Domino. Life IT were flexible, fair and supportive when schedules had to change due to other Gurit projects.  We had direct access to engineers and technical staff and a dedicated team who were easy to work with.  The whole project was done in a very friendly environment and I would definitely recommend Life IT for these sorts of migration projects.”

Henrikki Häkkänen,
Global IT Services Manager — Gurit Services AG

“Without the professional and expert support of Life IT, we wouldn’t have had the quality product we now have. They gently but insistently pushed the boundaries of our assumptions during the analysis phase, getting us to challenge our mind-sets and think outside the box. They then worked seamlessly as part of our team and delivered to time and to budget – no mean feat”.

James Hacking
Head of Technical Services—HCSS

“As we’d already invested significantly in Lotus Notes and Domino, a solution that built on our existing investment and skills was ideal. Life IT understood what was important to us and delivered a solution that met our needs. We’ve already seen the number of ‘distress calls’ to the sales office reduce as our sales managers can easily access customer data off line wherever they are and we’ve had positive feedback all round about the ability to update their call reports instantly on the road.”

Colin Mosley
Head of IT—Polyflor

“The Life IT solution has provided us with a significant reduction in support and maintenance costs and is an easy to use, more resilient and more easily maintainable system. As a business that handles thousands of transactions a day from 12 different own brand or white label websites it was vital that the whole process was seamless and, with the renewal of the support and maintenance contract from our existing supplier looming, it was also vital that the project came in on deadline. Life IT achieved this and more as they provided us with additional MI functionality and supported our staff whilst transferring their skills.’

Andrew Kirkham
Head of IT Development—DLR

“Life IT are doing a great job providing a very professional and efficient service. They are almost silently efficient and just get things done – only escalating issues when necessary. Their expertise in the AS400 is a key strength ensuring a real depth to their service and they keep us up to date with advances in technology too. So from an AS400 perspective I have very little to worry about.”

John Geary
IT Service Delivery Manager

“After the restructure I was left with a critical resource gap which quickly needed filling, having worked with Life IT before I gave them a call. Their response was swift and efficient. They now work as a virtual Center Parcs help desk team providing a strength and depth of support. Their flexible working based on a time bank system is real value for money. So not only do I get an expert and efficient service, I have reduced my resource costs!”

Kerry Moakes
Head of IT—Center Parcs

“We wanted flexible support to ensure 24/7 cover and Life IT worked with us to deliver this. Life IT has become integrated into the Bentley way of working and their role has expanded into looking at the technical side of the application as well as the support. “Our relationship has been built up over a significant period of time and both sides have worked hard to develop a supplier/customer relationship that can be used as a model throughout Bentley. We are now in the position where we have a pro-active partnership, Life IT are treated as part of Bentley, and that is a credit to them”.

Chris Sayers
Senior IS Manager—Bentley Motors

Support options

From full 24 by 7 operations to month end support and holiday cover, we can tailor a fixed price solution to fit seamlessly with your IT department.

So we offer a wide range of technical support services including IBM i, System P, Domino and SQL Server, to proactively monitor the availability and performance of your systems within a fixed price contract.

The key to our Application Support is that it’s ‘tailored’ to your exact requirements, with the flexibility to increase the resources and hours of cover as required.

With a Life support contract, you have access to a multi-skilled team with hardware, operating system and application skills as well as the latest IBM i certifications.

We provide any combination of application, operational and technical support, no matter how current your environment is and no matter how long support is projected for.

Life IT offer bespoke managed Microsoft SQL Server support services which are tailored to our customer’s requirements to ensure their systems are optimized, stable and secure, as well as prepared for future upgrades and updates.

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