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With the advent of distributed networks and systems, network/systems management had become a very difficult task for administration staff. It was exceedingly difficult and time consuming to manage each device that made up a system individually, even if they were from the same vendor. The overhead required to configure and maintain systems, as well as the risks of mis-configuration were quite high. It was also hard to store all network device setups and connections in a simple to manage way.
What is an Element Management System (EMS)?

An Element Management System consists of the systems and applications that are concerned with managing one or more physical devices that make up a system. It allows these often distributed nodes or network elements to be managed in a unified way using one management system.

In any distributed system, there are often many devices that are performing the same, albeit complex, functions. With structuring and grouping the elements, they become easier to manage, since rather than having to address each element individually, it is far easier to manage the system as one entity, or groups of entities. This also allows system designers to easily gain access/talk the language of disparate elements from multiple vendors using widely understood protocols like SNMP.