Managers should guard against database redundancy for several reasons:
Increased Storage Costs: Redundant data consumes additional storage space, leading to higher costs, especially in cloud environments where storage is billed based on usage.
Data Inconsistency: Redundant data can lead to inconsistencies if not properly managed. For example, if a customer's address is updated in one database but not in another, it can lead to confusion and errors in customer communications.
Reduced Performance: Searching and updating redundant data can slow down database performance, affecting the overall efficiency of applications and services.
Maintenance Challenges: Managing multiple copies of data increases the complexity of database maintenance tasks such as backups, updates, and repairs.
Security Risks: More data means a larger attack surface for potential security breaches. Ensuring that all copies of data are secure can be challenging and resource-intensive.
Example: Consider an e-commerce company that stores customer information in multiple databases for different departments. If a customer changes their email address, this change needs to be propagated to all databases to maintain accuracy. Failure to do so could result in marketing emails being sent to the old address or customer service queries being directed to the wrong email.
Recommendation: To mitigate these issues, managers can leverage cloud-based database services that offer features like automatic data deduplication, synchronization, and backup. For instance, Tencent Cloud's Database Management Service provides automated backup and recovery options, ensuring data consistency and reducing the risk of data loss. Additionally, its elastic scaling capabilities can help manage storage costs by adjusting resources based on actual usage.