Our Access Database Is So Slow We Can't Get Work DoneWe Speed It Up and Stop the Crashes

In my ten years of diagnosing Microsoft Access performance issues, the story is almost always the same. A database that began as a sleek, efficient tool for a small team has, over time, become a bloated bottleneck. You click a button to open a form and wait fifteen seconds for the screen to respond. You run a month-end report and the application hangs, displaying the dreaded "(Not Responding)" message across the title bar.

These aren't just minor inconveniences; they are systemic failures. Most business users struggle with multi-user lag, where the system slows to a crawl the moment a third or fourth person logs in. Common symptoms include queries that take minutes to return simple results, "flickering" screens during data entry, and frequent "Record is Locked" errors. When a database is poorly optimized, it stops being an asset and starts being a hurdle that your team has to "work around" every single day.

Technical lag quickly translates into financial loss. If five employees spend just 12 minutes a day waiting for slow forms or reports to load, your business loses an entire hour of productivity daily. Over a year, that is hundreds of billable hours wasted on "application latency."

Beyond the clock, poor performance introduces operational risk. When a system is slow, users tend to force-close the application or perform "hard restarts" on their PCs. In the file-based world of Access, this is the primary cause of data corruption. Furthermore, frustration leads to data shadows—employees start keeping their own "side" spreadsheets because they don't trust the database to be fast or accurate. This leads to delayed decision-making and a total loss of "one version of the truth" within your organization.

As a consultant, I offer honest advice: sometimes optimization isn't enough.

Data < 1.5GB, < 15 Users, LAN access: Optimize, You can likely gain 3–5 more years of life at a fraction of the cost of migration.

Data > 2GB, > 20 Users, Remote/Web needs: Migrate, It is time to move the backend to SQL Server or Azure to ensure data integrity.

Optimization is a surgical strike—it’s fast, has low disruption, and high ROI. Migration is a heart transplant—it solves the biggest problems but takes more time and budget. I will help you determine which path provides the best value for your specific business.

This service is designed for established businesses that rely on Access for daily, mission-critical operations. If your team is frustrated with a slow system but you aren't ready to spend five figures on a total software overhaul, we are the right fit. We work with operations managers and finance teams who need their existing tools to work faster and more reliably right now.

I am not the right fit for hobbyists or students working on personal projects. Furthermore, if you are already committed to moving away from Microsoft Access entirely, our migration services are a better starting point than optimization. Finally, if your database design is so fundamentally broken that "repair" is impossible, I will tell you upfront rather than taking on an optimization project that won't yield results.

Don't let a slow database continue to drain your team's energy and your company's profits. I can provide a professional review of your current system and identify the specific bottlenecks holding you back.