Microsoft Access is the most widely used database system in the world. More then 40 million companies use it. When correctly used, Access offers an excellent alternative for the bigger database systems like Oracle, DB2 or SQL Server. Microsoft Access solves many database problems but not all and neither do other tools. What Access offers is the best solution for its range of capabilities. As the most popular database product in the world, Access clearly dominates one of the most important segments of the database world.

A huge number of database needs are solved completely by Access. Access is simply the best at what it does.

Financially, it comes down to how much it costs to build database applications in Access vs. other platforms and the tradeoffs. Access applications are inherently cheaper to build than more sophisticated platforms. .

As a RAD (Rapid Application Developpement) tool, the use of Microsoft Access helps reduce development costs and time and you don't need a big team of technician to take care of the database. Just make periodic backups like for any other database system.

For some persuasive arguments on why Access is "right sized" for a lot of jobs, read the white paper "Database Evolution: Microsoft Access Within an Organization’s Database Strategy" by Luke Chung, president of FMS, Inc.