System management software is what is used to implement, manage and monitor distributed systems. The benefits can be massive, subject to the caveat that the company and its operations are big and distributed enough to warrant such a system. At some point of growth, it becomes unfeasible to run around doing manual deployment, collecting paperwork and electronic data, and then have dedicated staff working to maintain centralized records.
Bring in system management at this point, and the benefits are massive and will ripple across every part of the company's operations. It reduces staffing needs and IT costs, enhances security and information sharing, and makes it easy to centralize data, monitor employee actions and network usage.
Installation & Management: The biggest help, obviously, comes in the easy and automated installations and updates. A small company with one office and a few computers may find it easy to do installations one by one. But for a large and diversified company with hundreds or even thousands of computers, that's not a choice. Servers and system management makes automation possible and new installations are a painless process, needing no extra time or manpower.
Cost Reduction: The question isn't whether or not this software will reduce costs. It assuredly will. The only question is whether the cost of buying and implementing the software, and hiring or training a systems manager, is feasible for the company. On the other hand, it cuts down staffing and IT costs on an on-going basis.
The real savings come from the capability to install new systems and software faster and at a lower cost. Companies start using client-server architecture, ERP and other kinds of enterprise level software and systems. It helps them expand, and open branches where otherwise it may not have been possible. End of the day, it leads to a massive makeover for the entire company, with large-scale improvements in distribution, productivity, work flow and reporting capabilities.
Security: System management has a huge impact on IT security. The same security settings are implemented on all stations, and any new policies are remotely implemented instantaneously on all the stations. Users can access any station and get the same settings and data, made possible by settings that apply to specific usernames and job or department levels. This makes the network more capable of withstanding external attacks.
Security patches and critical updates can be done instantaneously on all stations without any extra effort or manpower, which reduces the window that attackers can use to take advantage of bugs. The network gets centralized enterprise anti virus and malware protection. Even the data is more secure as regards hardware failure or data corruption, since everything is stored on servers with a backup system.
Monitoring: Monitoring capability on the network is one of the biggest advantages, in addition to the cost benefits and automation capabilities. The network can be monitored for both network usage patterns and employee behavior. It helps the administrators improve network capabilities, and the management to observe and follow employee work patterns and performance.
In summary, system management software is everything it is hyped up to be, and then some. While it has spectacular benefits and can accelerate the company's growth, the decision has to be made on a case-to-case basis. Each company has to do a cost benefit analysis and decide if the ROI is sufficient to warrant the change.
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