System Management
The term “Systems Management” refers to the centralized management of a company’s information technology assets, and it encompasses many different tasks required to monitor and manage IT systems and resolve IT problems. Systems management solutions can help business owners address many requirements including:
- Monitoring and management of network, server, storage, printers and client devices (desktop, laptop and mobile devices), including notification of impending or actual failures, capacity issues and other systems and network events;
- Hardware asset inventory and configuration management, including firmware, operating systems and related license management;
- Application software usage and management;
- Software asset inventory, versioning and patching, and license management;
- Security management, including anti-virus and malware management tools, including virus definition updates;
- Automated backup and restore, to backup up systems data in a central data repository;
- Service desk problem management, which provides an automated process to generate and track trouble tickets and resolve problems.
Systems Management: why is it important?
As businesses grow, so do IT requirements. In many companies, it’s tough to find a facet of the business that doesn’t depend on IT. As dependence on IT to run the business grows, it becomes vitally important to efficiently manage and safeguard IT and data assets.
System management solutions — such as service desk management, single sign-on authentication and patch management — can help keep systems up and running, and maximize IT and employees productivity. They can also help your IT team efficiently roll out new software solutions, or upgrade existing ones. In a nutshell, effective systems management solutions help IT organizations move beyond fire-drill mode to provide the business with proactive guidance and support.
System management solutions also help companies protect against the fallout from downtime and threats, whether caused by system malfunctions, lost or stolen mobile devices, network sabotage, power outages, security breaches, identity theft, human error and natural and man-made disasters.
Many small businesses fail to perform regular data back-ups, and even if they do, tools and procedures can fail due to malfunctioning hardware and storage media, corrupted data, or because backup software isn’t reset to include new files or applications. Whatever the reason, costs to replace the data and restore employee productivity can be enormous. Businesses also face stiff penalties if they can’t store, retrieve, monitor and transmit data in accordance with regulatory requirements.
The benefits of centralized systems management
Criteria such as company size, number of devices, complexity of IT infrastructure, IT resources and expertise all come into play when considering centralized systems management. For instance, in a small business with just a handful of PCs, centralized systems management may require more of an investment in time and money than it would take to just manage each device individually.
But as companies grow, a lack of centralized system management can become a pain point and true vulnerability. Driven by the need for a quick fix, businesses can end up with several disparate point products that don’t work together. This can create both short-term gaps and integration and scalability problems over time.
Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution or short-cut to a short-list. But small businesses can avoid these potential pitfalls by taking action on these tips:
- Assess gaps, bottlenecks and vulnerabilities in the IT environment;
- Look for vendors and solutions that can address immediate pain points, but also provide incremental capabilities that the company may need over time.
GL Group guarantees remote and on-site management of the entire IT infrastructure of the customer. Allows the customer to demand day-to-day IT infrastructure management by entrusting it with our professional services to concentrate their skills and resources on the company’s core business.