Administering a reliable information system may be a difficult practice as well as cumbersome job for managers. Thus a manager must realize that the organization's information management needs can change over time and particular steps or procedures may have to be taken or repeated later on. Managers should be aware of a number of ways by which information technology can impact other businesses and how the system can function. They should also be responsive to the fact that these results can be both good or bad. Almost everything will depend on the manager's experience.

Once system management is implemented, the process becomes more streamlined. The automation starts offering immediate benefits. It enables reduction in IT staff levels and improves security and information sharing among employees and departments, and with the data already centralized, the reporting and monitoring process becomes a lot easier.

The moment the organization makes decisions to develop and install information system, a task force within or outside the organization is necessary to supervise and monitor the project.

Cost Reduction: First of all, no company, big or small, needs to worry about not benefiting from system management. The only debatable point is the ROI related to the cost of the software and paying a system administrator. Regardless, once implemented, it cuts down the need for IT staffing and other related expenses on a long-term 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.

Many companies go with it because it is more cost effective. While you have to pay for the assistance, you may find that the basic service to have the system monitored is very low and even when there is a problem that needs to be addressed it is more cost effective to have the problem fixed remotely instead of having someone come out to the office and fix the problem.

Regardless of how well planned an information system is, there will almost certainly be hitches. For example the system may be unable to generate a report that needs to be made available to certain managers or the report may not be in appropriate format or certain employees may be unable to access data that they need. To put these problems under control, the installed system must be tested while appropriate modification is made.


To summarize, the immediate advantages of using system management are very much real and the possibilities even bigger. End of the day, each company has to make an informed decision about this based on its own size and growth curve. A cost benefit analysis to figure out the ROI of system management software would be a good place to begin.