Avoiding the pitfalls of installing systems management suites

Systems management suites offer the promise of a single, centralized solution for businesses that performs disparate enterprise management functions, including electronic software distribution, network management, alert management, help desk, inventory management, performance monitoring, metering, and other tasks essential to maintaining enterprise productivity. The unfulfilled promise of systems management suites has become critical for organizations seeking control of the distributed enterprise. The article reports on the results of a survey of IT professionals in collaboration with a recognized expert on the distributed enterprise. This systems management suite survey: assesses organizations' commitment to suite technology and/or best-of-breed point solutions and their ability to implement suite technology throughout the enterprise; examines the costs associated with suite deployment; and identifies the essential steps and key obstacles to suite deployment and management. Although the survey found that these complex suites still left a lot to be desired, it also pointed out pitfalls some organizations were encountering along the way to early adoption.