Currently: Twice a year clock hours change, which means that business hours change.
The original point? To save money by using less artificial light - getting up earlier and using the sunlight instead. (The idea was originally proposed by Benjamin Franklin who at the time was living in Paris - Parisians did not rise before noon).
Quote from http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin.html
"This event has given rise in my mind to several serious and important reflections," the letter continued. Had he not been aroused at so early a morning hour, he would have slept until noon through six hours of daylight and therefore, living six hours the following night by candlelight. Realizing the latter was much more expensive than the former, he began calculating, for the sheer love of economy, the utility of his discovery -- the true test of any invention.
The real benefits today:
Power is saved due to better 'usage' of sunlight - meaning that there is less time each day during which electric lights are used.
Health Benefits - Sunlight is good for you. Getting home before the sun sets means less driving at night and therefore less accidents.
The Negatives: farmers are often the main opponents of daylight saving time. Everyone in a day light saving state has to alter their clocks twice per year. Everyone regardless of location has to accept the different time difference between locales when communicating over long distances.
The real effect:
Business hours change, causing everyone to get up earlier and go to bed earlier.
People complain about changing their clocks over and having to adjust their sleeping patterns (especially those with sleep disorders).
Confusion about what time events happen on the change over days. Quote http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html
[on the night the clocks are set back] Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins and one child was born 10 minutes before 1 o'clock. ... the time of birth of the two children would be reversed. ... Such an alteration might conceivably affect the property and titles in that House.
Increasingly in today's communicative world, people have to adjust their knowledge of time difference between places (and loved ones).
My proposal: Change the business hours instead. That way people are still forced to get up earlier and go to bed earlier. The power savings are still made, but people don't have to deal with the altered time difference. Also, less clocks would need to be changed, as you'd only need to change your alarms, not every clock.
Whether or not this helps out the farmers who (in the past at least) have complained about the hour change affecting how they work (it upsets the chickens etc to change their routine by an hour) is debatable.