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Field notes

What actually fixes these problems.

Real engagements, real numbers. Read them as a yardstick for what this work should produce, whoever ends up doing it.

We see the same pattern on most estates we assess: money saved, speed gained, risk removed. Notice what each note carries, because it is the standard to hold any provider to. A number before, a number after, and the specific change that moved it. Where a sector is narrow we soften the name. The figures stay exactly as they landed.

Governance
$5k failed fix → 5-yr partnership

They paid $5k to a famous "SQL Rockstar" for a one-off performance fix that yielded zero improvement. We took over with a $600/month managed service. We fixed the issue, governed the estate, and they are still our client five years later.

We needed someone to run the estate, not just drop in for a quick tune.IT Director
Large food & beverage distributor
Licensing
$20k → save $200k

They were licensed for SQL Server Enterprise but used none of its features. We confirmed Standard Edition covered the workload and moved them across — a small change that erased a ~$200k licensing liability.

$20k to save $200k. Best buy ever.Chris, CEO
FMCG distributor, NZ
Performance
6 hours → 6 minutes

The daily restock picklist took six hours to generate. Now it runs in six minutes — about sixty times faster.

Fantastic.Roger, CEO
Fashion retailer, ~30 stores
Recoverability
20TB → inside SLA

A 20TB database took up to six hours to back up against a two-hour objective. Compression brought it to 12TB, back within SLA.

I didn't even know this was possible.Susan, Senior DBA
Metropolitan transport agency
Licensing
$20k → $2k / month

The wrong SQL Server editions were inflating licensing by about $18k a month. We matched editions to the actual workload. A 90% saving.

That's pretty impressive.Ray, CEO
IT managed-services provider, NZ
Performance
92% fewer deadlocks

SQL deadlocks were interrupting logistics operations. Performance work cut them by 92%, for a much steadier operation.

We can see a huge reduction in deadlocks.Deep, IT Manager
National food-service distributor
Performance
13h → 6h payroll

Payroll runs took 13 hours and blocked all reporting. Now they run in six, and reporting is no longer held hostage to it.

You just saved us 2 FTEs, and I get my evenings back.Michelle, Payroll Manager
Regional healthcare group
Performance
40s → 12s at peak

Hotel searches took 40 seconds at peak — 25 over their threshold — and the team had started doubting their move to the cloud. We found the bottlenecks in 20 minutes; their team applied the fixes. Searches now finish in 12 seconds.

This is just incredible. We cannot thank you enough.Ken, Data Team Lead
Global corporate-travel platform
Performance
70 → 130 items/sec

A vehicle-tracking queue was 400,000 items deep and hours behind — clients couldn't see their fleet. We tuned the workload and cut the CPU count: the queue cleared, throughput nearly doubled, and licensing dropped 30% alongside it.

Wow. I have never seen it this fast.Joseph, Tracking Admin
Fleet-telematics provider
Migration
35% opex saved

SQL in Azure was slow and expensive, and an earlier migration had stalled half-done. We stepped in, finished the move to private cloud, and took 35% off the SQL estate running cost.

After the earlier migration stalled, SQLDBA stepped in and finished it.Bob, IT Manager
AU/NZ fashion retailer
Recoverability
Gates unblocked

Slow boom-gate operation was throttling truck volumes and backing traffic onto the road outside. Performance work on the SQL Server behind the gate system got the gates opening faster — trucks clear quicker, and the queues eased.

This is just great. Wow. Amazing work.IT application manager
Port operator

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