Monitoring software is a must; there are plenty of cheap tools for smaller networks, so cost should not be an issue. The power of a high end program will provide more reporting power and better automation. Being able to see where network bottlenecks are what make network management software so very necessary. Without a piece of monitoring software, a network engineer could spend days slowly working his or her way through the network in search of a slowdown. If an employee complains about a slow network there can be up to a dozen points of failure that need to be researched and tested; software can alleviate this testing by identifying properly working equipment.

The investment of network management software can reduce the number of required network technicians, by allowing one person to do the work of several. Reports will provide information on times of high bandwidth utilization and even provide a list of computers that could be infected with a virus due to strange network activity. Most management software is intuitive and most have a forum of users that can provide additional information. A powerful and efficient network saves money and allows employees to do more work.