Renaming a column is a crucial task in database management. It allows you to update the structure of your tables to better reflect the data they contain. This is important for maintaining data integrity and consistency, as well as for improving the readability and maintainability of your database schema. For instance, if you have a column named 'customer_ID' and you want to change it to 'customer_number', you would use a specific SQL command to perform this change. The process is straightforward and involves specifying the old column name and the new column name. This operation does not affect the data in the column itself, only its label. It's important to note that renaming a column is a structural change, so it's essential to understand the implications before executing the command. Incorrectly renaming a column can lead to errors in queries or applications that rely on the old column name.