From my working experience, Databases are an extremely vital part of the business environment, but they rarely get treated like so. At my first co-op, we had a complicated system of different database systems, and working with them to get the information one needed was often a hassle. The first step was always getting permissions. As there was a lot of confidential information being dealt with, every employee needed to get their account verified first to get access to any information. This would often take atleast a day, and in some cases even more. After that hurdle was overcome, the next step was to actually access the database. Unfortunately, since there were many different systems in use for different information, this next step sometimes required setting up new software, which would again take time. Again this was mostly due to business necessity, as the firm used a variety of different sources for information. Still, it showed the value of using a single integrated system for a company's data needs, as that would make it much easier to combine different data.
The hassle with permissions indicates a major required feature of databases: security. consequences. As happened earlier today, the firm found that over 2.2 million of their voice recordings of kids and parents got leaked out by hackers, making it so that anyone could have access to this deeply personal information. This case isn't something that happens rarely either. Target got breached in 2013, Arby's has been breached, and Yahoo recently lost information on over a billion user accounts. Essentially, firms across all industries and valuation levels have been hacked, and the threat is always present. On top of that, the target of most of these attacks is databases, as they house all the valuable information these firms have. Because of that, keeping one's databases secure is of utmost importance at all times. When Target got breached, many customers had their private financial information revealed. Yahoo had millions of emails leaked out into the internet. This information can have devastating consequences if used with ill intent, and people often have no idea whether a malicious actor has their information or not.