{"id":110493,"date":"2026-05-12T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/?p=110493"},"modified":"2026-05-12T10:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T10:01:11","slug":"why-database-ownership-is-so-fragmented-in-2026-and-what-you-can-do-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/databases\/why-database-ownership-is-so-fragmented-in-2026-and-what-you-can-do-about-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Why database ownership is so fragmented in 2026 \u2013 and what you can do about it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In today\u2019s cloud-driven, multi-platform environments, answering the simple question – who owns that database?<\/em> – is no longer straightforward. As teams adopt open-source tools and spin up cloud services on demand, ownership is becoming fragmented across development, operations, and data teams. This shift is accelerating innovation but also creating new challenges in visibility, control, and accountability, as Grant Fritchey explains<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the first part of Grant’s mini-series on overcoming cloud migration challenges in 2026<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho owns that database?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever asked that question (or variations of it using \u201ccluster\u201d, \u201cserver\u201d, \u201cinstance\u201d instead of database?) And have you noticed that, at the beginning of your migration to the cloud, you\u2019re asking it more and more?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, you\u2019re not alone. In Redgate’s 2026 State of the Database Landscape report<\/a>, development (73%), operations (50%), data managers (65%), and DBAs (69%) report that they must support multiple data platforms across an increasingly hybrid environment. As a result, the fracturing of processes and ownership is almost inevitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The questions are, how does this come about – and how are teams dealing with it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is database ownership fragmenting?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the old days (15 years ago or more), the only time you\u2019d see ownership fragmentation was when you found a database server hiding under someone\u2019s desk, running some type of software that nobody in IT knew about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternately, a group within the organization may have \u201cgone rogue\u201d – purchasing a management tool that ran on a platform you didn\u2019t support. OK, these instances were<\/em> pretty rare, but nowadays it’s a different picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With two major innovations \u2013 open-source and cloud adoption – both directly impacting nearly every organization, we\u2019re seeing a lot<\/em> of ownership issues. Worse yet, the combination of the two is exacerbating the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to open-source software, it\u2019s simple enough to understand and explain. First, it\u2019s \u201cfree\u201d (yes, in quotes because nothing is ever, completely free), or at least license-cost<\/em> free. That makes implementation pretty simple. No development team needs to go through a procurement or financial approvement process when there\u2019s no money changing hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, that\u2019s not why the best teams are moving towards open source. The real reason is speed of development and the quality of code, especially <\/em>at enterprise level. The \u2018better\u2019 open-source projects (like PostgreSQL<\/a>) are innovating in ways that a single company working only on their proprietary software can\u2019t replicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between the two, when a new project kicks off, it just makes sense for a wise development team to pick the right tool for the job in question – even if that tool isn\u2019t currently supported by their IT organization. The only limiting factor to this is control over the infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re the responsible party for hardware and virtual machines within your on-premises organization, you have the ability to exercise at least some<\/em> control over this fragmentation of ownership. That is, until your organization starts to use the cloud<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pros and cons of cloud adoption<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A significant benefit of the cloud (and frankly one of the reasons I\u2019ve been in love with the concept since I first heard about it), is the ability to spin up your own platform. You don\u2019t have to wait for permission, or involvement from other teams. You can simply log on to a cloud platform and get your own MariaDB<\/a> instance running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want to work with CosmosDB<\/a> but as a PostgreSQL compatible data store? Cool. Spin that sucker right up. No waiting, no approvals, and no slowdowns. Also, no oversight, limited monitoring, potentially poor security practices, violations of various compliance requirements\u2026in short, chaos<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issues don\u2019t end there. Everyone agrees that there are challenges to cloud implementations<\/a>. However, we don\u2019t agree on what those challenges even are<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cost management and security are the leading cloud concerns<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll note that technical people are extremely worried about cost management, while senior leaders are clearly less concerned. Yet, start talking security, and senior staff are very clearly worried, while technical staff are relaxed (without a doubt, overly so!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most everything else is roughly the same except, again, where senior staff worry far more about compliance than technical people do. All of this creates friction, which isn’t good in an IT environment. Much like friction on an otherwise featureless plane, it causes anything in motion \u2013 be it objects\/projects\/migrations, or all three – to slow down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, it\u2019s easy enough for a team to pick AWS Aurora<\/a> for PostgreSQL because of its high-performance compatibility and high-availability functionality with the platform. However, if the operations team isn\u2019t ready for automated deployment to that environment, the implementation of the project will slow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, if the database team doesn\u2019t have a good set of skills for monitoring, tuning, and ensuring availability for the platform, then it\u2019s possible to see outages or gaps in coverage – again slowing down the cloud migration for the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the IT team may not even know that this new database even exists. That opens up the potential for the organization to suffer with data breaches or compliance issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cloud adoption is accelerating, but database migrations aren\u2019t keeping pace. Find out why.<\/h3>\n
\n The Cloud Migration Divide explores why complex, business-critical databases remain on-premises \u2013 and what\u2019s holding organizations back as confidence fails to scale with complexity. <\/div>\n <\/div>\n Download the free report<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

How are organizations dealing with database ownership in 2026?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Slow-paced approval and procurement processes slow down \u2013 or stop \u2013 innovation, and migrations to the cloud. So, what are teams doing to prevent this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, it\u2019s all about communication<\/a>. More people are, thankfully, adopting methodologies and processes that increase communication across teams:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As you can see, the number of teams with a completely informal <\/em>sharing process has nearly halved year-on-year (17% to 10%). Teams with limited sharing practices have reduced even further, from 18% to 10%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So – what are they doing instead? Well, they\u2019re adopting the many well-established best practices, the ones that have long been known to work. Put simply: organizations are implementing formal processes and establishing methods of cross-functional collaboration. People across the company are talking to each other<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of that talking involves adopting a culture of continuous improvement \u2013 an area we\u2019ve seen jump 50% in a year (from 6% to 9%). And one of the most exciting things I see – because I really do believe in sharing knowledge \u2013 is that building communities of practice has doubled from 2% to 4% in a year. Yes, that one is still exceedingly small, but it\u2019s growing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Yates, Senior Vice President, Managing Director of Data and Architecture at Republic Bank, probably put it best when he said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As organizations modernize legacy infrastructure and scale operations, the challenge is no longer just about moving fast \u2013 it\u2019s about moving smart.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion: how best to establish data ownership in 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The issues of database ownership are quite real \u2013 as are the issues of ownership around servers, virtual machines (VMs), and the rest of the data platform. As things move faster and faster with open-source adoption and cloud migration, we\u2019re experiencing real friction that ultimately slows down our innovation and migration between platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there really are<\/em> mechanisms \u2013 established, documented mechanisms – that can help you improve your processes. It\u2019s mostly a matter of getting the 32% of people who are not <\/em>following any processes (or a following informal or ad hoc processes), to create more formalized processes within their organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In particular, I suggest putting special attention into communities of practice within your organization. You have good people working for you. Encourage them to share with one another, very directly, and you\u2019ll reap the benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of all, though, embrace the fact that migrations to new (and more), data platforms are going to occur, and occur at a fast pace. As Chris Yates put it: move smart!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FAQs: Why database ownership is so fragmented in 2026 \u2013 and what you can do about it<\/h2>\n\n

1. Why is database ownership becoming harder to track?<\/h3>\n
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The rise of open-source software and cloud platforms means any team can spin up a new database without going through traditional IT approval processes. This creates fragmented ownership spread across development, operations, and data teams \u2014 often without centralised visibility.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n

2. How widespread is the multi-platform database challenge in 2026?<\/h3>\n
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Very widespread. According to Redgate’s 2026 State of the Database Landscape report, 73% of development teams, 69% of DBAs, 65% of data managers, and 50% of operations teams all report supporting multiple data platforms across hybrid environments.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n

3. What are the risks of untracked cloud database deployments?<\/h3>\n
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When a database is spun up without IT oversight, organizations face potential data breaches, compliance violations, poor security practices, and limited monitoring. Cost management is also a major concern \u2014 technical teams especially flag uncontrolled cloud spend as a serious risk.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n

4. Do senior leaders and technical teams agree on the biggest cloud challenges?<\/h3>\n
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Not always. Technical staff are most concerned about cost management, while senior leaders prioritise security and compliance. These differing priorities create internal friction that can slow down cloud migrations and project delivery.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n

5. How can organizations improve database governance and ownership in 2026?<\/h3>\n
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By formalizing processes and encouraging cross-team communication. The share of teams with purely informal sharing has nearly halved year-on-year (17% to 10%). Building communities of practice \u2014 where teams share knowledge and standards directly \u2014 is one of the fastest-growing approaches, doubling in adoption over the past year.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n
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\n \n \n \"Image\n Grant Fritchey<\/span>\n <\/a>\n\n \n in<\/span>\n \n Databases <\/a>\n <\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\n Why database ownership is so fragmented in 2026 \u2013 and what you can do about it <\/h1>\n

\n Learn why database ownership is so fragmented in 2026 – and how best to overcome this challenge, with proven methods… <\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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