As companies decentralize their operations and extend their reach worldwide via the Web, the challenge of maintaining and managing IT Infrastructure is becoming ever more critical and complex. The drive for increased business efficiency and the growth of virus attacks and other security threats have also focused attention on protecting desktops and keeping users as productive as possible. IT managers can choose from a number of point product solutions to handle discrete systems management functions, such as network management, patch management, software distribution and asset management. Increasingly, though, they are opting for an integrated management services that performs all the required management functions without the hassle of buying and integrating additional point solutions when new needs arise. An integrated management service also provides the benefits of centralized control and the simplicity and convenience of one console, architecture, and database.

To determine the relative business benefits of remote systems management, IDC conducted in-depth interviews with enterprises using Remote Management Services. From the results, IDC was able to quantify the average cost savings. IDC found that the Remote Management Services saved an average of close to $1.1 million annually over three years in increased user productivity due to reduced downtime and less time lost on system administration tasks. When normalized for company size, these savings amounted to $22,909 per 100 users (see Figure).

For the companies surveyed, the number of downtime incidents dropped by an average of 29% following the deployment of the LANDesk software, resulting in an average 59% reduction in downtime minutes. On average, the companies surveyed reduced the direct revenues lost from downtime by $338,321 annually, or $7,111 per 100 users. After adopting Remote Management Services, the companies reduced the time spent on managing their networks, systems, and applications by an average of 20%, or 8,971 man-hours annually. The annual savings from the improved IT productivity amounted to an average of $361,322, or $7,632 per 100 users.

For the companies surveyed, the average number of desktops managed by each full-time equivalent (FTE) employee rose from 823 before adopting the Remote Management Services to 1,085 afterwards, an increase of 32%. This improved management efficiency yielded an average payroll savings of $220,625 a year, or $4,427 per 100 users. Additionally, the savings from reduced travel and lower bandwidth, software licensing, and capital expenditure (capex) costs averaged over $149,358 a year, or $3,153 per 100 users, yielding an average total expense reduction of $369,983 a year, or $7,579 per 100 users, from improved IT management efficiency.