Many organisations are still running on database systems that were never designed for the scale and speed of today’s business environment. Over time, what once worked fine begins to feel sluggish, reports take too long to load, staff complain about system delays and customer service starts to suffer. But behind the scenes, the issue is often the same: a legacy database that hasn’t evolved with the business.
As data volumes grow and demand for real-time access increases, older systems begin to crack under pressure. They weren’t built for today’s pace.
More than 40% of businesses report revenue losses due to downtime, complexity and outdated systems.
One of our clients in the healthcare sector was relying on a mission-critical application that was taking up to 45 seconds to return basic results. The database behind it had grown to 1.2 terabytes and was stored in a single data file, with no partitioning, no archiving or no indexing strategy. Over time, as more patient records and historical data piled up, the system scaled vertically but not strategically. Queries scanned massive tables, the transaction logs competed for disk access and performance kept degrading.
The turning point came when the issues started affecting patient response times. Staff had to wait, patients had to wait and the business could no longer ignore it.
The Solution?
Starting by analysing query patterns and optimising indexes to better reflect real usage. Removing redundant indexes and rebuilding fragmented ones. Historical data older than two years was archived into a separate read-only database, reducing the size of active tables and dramatically improving performance. Splitting single data files into multiple files to reduce input/output contention and moving the transaction logs to a separate high-speed drive. Finally, working with the application team to introduce date-based table partitioning so queries only had to scan what was relevant, rather than the entire dataset.
The result was immediate. Average response times dropped to under two seconds. The system became fast, stable and usable again without needing to be rebuilt from scratch. More importantly, the business regained confidence in a tool that staff had begun to mistrust.
This kind of optimisation isn’t just about improving performance. It’s about reducing risk, boosting productivity, and extending the value of your existing systems. It’s also a way to prepare for future growth without jumping into a full-scale migration prematurely.
If you’re experiencing similar issues, from slow reporting to system complaints, your database might be trying to tell you something. With the right strategy, you can address these bottlenecks in a cost-effective way and align with your business goals.
