What Is IT Management?
IT management refers to the monitoring and administration of an organization’s information technology systems: hardware, software and networks. IT management focuses on how to make information systems operate efficiently. Just as important, it’s about helping people work better.
Increasing numbers of organizations are putting IT at the center of their strategies. In the digital world, IT departments are tasked to do more than ever and are becoming a fulcrum for reinvention.
IT Management Essentials
An IT environment consists of a multitude of hardware, network and software components including computers, servers, routers, applications, microservices and mobile technologies. An IT infrastructure can be on premises, in the cloud or on a hybrid platform that integrates both.
IT managers monitor and govern IT systems to ensure they’re always available and function reliably. IT management responsibilities and tasks include:
- Determining business requirements for IT systems
- Managing IT budgets and costs
- Monitoring safety and compliance
- Controlling system and network security
- Implementing new software, hardware and data systems
- Providing technical or help desk support
IT departments are usually headed by Chief Information Officers (CIOs). They determine IT strategies and goals for the business and ensure they’re implemented.
Many CIOs believe their roles will evolve in the next two to three years. They expect to shift from maintenance and management to higher-value, strategic activities. A key responsibility will be to “implement meaningful digital change through the creation of new tools, solutions and business models.”
Importance of IT Management
IT underpins almost all enterprise activity. Automation, data processing and always-on connectivity have opened the door to previously unimagined capabilities and efficiencies. It may be impossible to separate technology from daily business operations.
At the same time, an organization is vulnerable when systems underperform or fail. A down network, lost data or malware can severely impact day to day operations. The average cost of a data breach is very expensive.
IT management practices ensure that information technologies are secure, highly available and perform at their peak.
CIOs also take a lead role in adopting new systems to improve operations. Emerging technologies, such as machine learning, analytics, chatbots and blockchain, can completely revolutionize our way of offering services.
IT is on the precipice of unprecedented change. Every company, now in the business of technology, is experiencing glimmers of larger shifts to automation, decentralized technology budgets, rapid adoption of cloud-based services, and most recently, artificial intelligence as a business necessity.
Digital transformation requires innovation and strategic enablement. For us, the CIO’s role is no longer the old back-office technology manager. There should be no boardroom conversation that happens without the CIO involved.
At Asani Ali, we strive to become more business savvy, we have to be integrated and ingrained in the business, so we know how to use technology to resolve business challenges and make things forward-looking from an industry perspective. We are here to help. Don’t leave your business to chance, it could prove very costly.
