An IT Manager is a unique position in the business world. While many people understand what an IT Manager does, it can be hard to find information about what that entails.
In this article, we’ll dive into the role of an IT manager and explore the responsibilities and skills required to do it successfully.
According to Robert Half Technology, the demand for IT managers is expected to grow by 15% over the next two years. This means more opportunities will be available in this field than ever before.
Today we will discuss an IT Manager and what an IT manager does. We will be talking about their skills, responsibilities, and what they do daily. So let’s start talking about what an IT manager does.
The audience for this article
If you’re reading this article, you are either an IT manager already, someone who wants to become an IT manager in the future, someone in a senior position that wants to hire an IT manager, and who need to know the skills, or maybe someone in the HR department who wants to know what the IT manager’s responsibilities are. Whatever the case, hopefully, this article will be helpful to you.
All companies require an IT function, whether small, medium, or large, so they will generally have some form of IT structure. Someone who can take care of all the technical stuff in the company. Computers, networks, internet, email, phone system, security, and many more.
An IT manager needs to plan, organize and direct the operations of their department. They are responsible for managing budgets, developing and implementing policies and procedures, overseeing people management within the department, and development of new systems, technologies, and applications.
IT Managers will also oversee the maintenance of existing systems.
The responsibilities can vary depending on the type of business you work for or your position within your organization’s hierarchy (e.g., director vs. vice president).
It also has evolved. In the past, the role was more focused on developing and maintaining technology systems. Today’s IT Manager must also focus on business strategy, leadership, and management.
However, the role and responsibilities of the IT manager can be different from company to company and from industry to industry.
IT Manager Skills
The primary responsibilities of an IT manager are to ensure the efficient and effective use of computer resources. To achieve this, the manager must have technical and managerial skills.
Some IT managers can be more technical and probably move from technical positions to IT Managers. In contrast, other IT managers and leaders could be more strategic, policy-driven, and not as technical.
Others could be good at both technical and strategy and management altogether.
Technical Skills
An IT manager must understand the technical aspects of computers, networks, and other technologies involved in the business. For example, they should know how to install hardware, software, and networks and how they work together.
The IT manager should also understand how technology can solve business problems, improve productivity and increase revenue. This means they must be able to analyze current systems, compare them with alternatives, and recommend changes based on an analysis of costs and benefits.
Management Skills
An IT manager must have excellent communication skills to communicate with employees at all organizational levels about their responsibilities for using computer resources effectively. They should also be able to listen carefully when others express their needs for information technology support services.
An IT manager must also be able to deal with people who do not want change — especially those who may resist new ideas that could save money or make them more productive. An effective way to handle this situation is by ensuring everyone understands why changes are needed, so they must be willing to collaborate.
Other critical skills are planning, organization, leadership, and strategy.
An IT manager needs to stay on top of the game, be up to date with technologies and know what the best solution is for a business and its success and growth in the long term. Following is an overview of the responsibilities of an IT Manager:
Strategic planning
To develop a roadmap that aligns with the overall business strategy.
Business analysis
We are gathering and analyzing data to understand how technology can improve business processes or create new revenue streams.
Technical leadership
Developing technical solutions for business problems and leading teams of developers, network engineers, tech support specialists, testers, and other IT professionals who implement and maintain solutions.
Infrastructure management
Managing existing infrastructure (e.g., servers, databases) and developing new infrastructure to support business growth, ensuring infrastructure components are secure and perform optimally.
Service delivery
Providing support for all departments within the organization; troubleshooting issues with existing applications or systems; responding to service calls from users; managing third-party vendors who provide services such as data backup/restoration or networking
People development
They assist employees with their professional development by coaching them on technical skills or providing opportunities for training sessions. Also works with the human resources department to ensure full compliance with company policies.
In a nutshell
So essentially, an IT Manager leads full responsibility for the IT services, infrastructure, tech support, security, and day-to-day IT operations of the IT Systems across the business.
IT managers have a good understanding of business processes and management processes. They must also understand how business units can use technology to improve productivity and efficiency.
In a small organization, the IT manager handles all the responsibilities of managing IT services and infrastructure and looks after everything, and can report to someone like a Finance Director or even the CEO directly.
In a medium size organization, the IT manager delegates some of the responsibilities to other staff members.
In a large enterprise, there may be multiple different types of IT managers or people that can have the title “IT Manager,” and each one will manage different roles and responsibilities, all reporting to a Chief Information Officer (CIO) or Chief Technology Officer (CTO), depending on the organization.
In addition to managing the technology, an IT manager also contains people in the department. They must know how to hire, retain and promote employees to build a strong team that can continue its work even after the IT Manager retires or leaves for another job.
The most common IT manager roles that you find in any organization are:
IT Infrastructure Manager
An IT Infrastructure Manager will maintain and monitor the company’s infrastructure, like switching, routing, networking, and data centers, but not be involved in a day-to-day operations perspective.
The manager must ensure that all systems are running correctly, and if a problem occurs, the manager must identify its cause and resolve it as quickly as possible.
IT Operations Manager
An IT Operations Manager may be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the IT in a business.
IT Help Desk Manager
The IT Help Desk Manager is more of a hands-on role. It’s where you come in, and you’re responsible for supporting users and helping train others to do their jobs.
A help desk manager is responsible for the overall operation of a help desk and may also be called a service desk manager, customer support manager, or end-user support manager.
An IT Support Manager’s primary responsibility is managing all aspects of IT support requests, including managing the workflow of support calls coming in. It May also be responsible for performing technical tasks, such as installing new hardware or software systems on company computers or phones.
An IT Support Manager must have excellent communication skills to effectively communicate with employees who are having trouble with their computer system or software program.
They must also be able to train new employees on how to perform specific tasks related to their job duties (such as installing programs) so that they can handle simple requests without having to call for assistance every time something goes wrong with their computer system or software program.
An IT Support Manager, or End-user support, ensures that the end users are looked after, the hardware and the software, like computers, phones, and mobile devices, but they may not even touch infrastructure.
IT Security Manager
The IT Security Manager is responsible for the security of the organization. It means they need to understand security standards, like encryption, to protect their data from being stolen.
They need to understand how to protect the network from being hacked or compromised by the outside world.
And they need to understand how all these different devices are connected to ensure that they won’t be vulnerable at any point in time.
They will work closely with the Infrastructure and the Operations Managers to guarantee that everything is set up, maintained, monitored, backed up, correctly, and secure at all times.
IT Applications Manager
The IT Manager is responsible for the maintenance and development of the organization’s existing and new software apps. Software apps that cover all the areas of the business and apps like ERPs and CRMs are managed by the IT Manager.
The IT manager can understand the company’s operations well and translate all that into implementing new technology or maintaining the existing apps to provide further services that cover the business needs.
In general, they need to take care of the needs of all the departments, like Sales, Finance, Production, HR, etc., so the ERP and CRM platforms can provide everything they need.
IT Service Delivery Manager
They’re generally the most common IT manager type of role, but you may find a pool of managers that become the management team in some organizations.
And again, it all depends on the company, but some IT manager roles could be blurred and merge into each other.
So as an example, an IT operations manager could also be responsible for infrastructure management, the infrastructure manager could also have an element of security management, and there’s blurring between these roles.
Now we will talk about the higher level IT manager, or in larger organizations is called CIO or CTO. The IT manager encompasses all these roles and discusses what the IT manager role entails.
End-User Support
The IT Tech Support Manager is responsible for the overall management and support of the Services and Systems and for supporting an organization’s end users. The company’s equipment can include everything from computers and phones to smart TVs and videoconferencing rooms.
The job of an IT tech support manager is to ensure the smooth running of all systems in the office. All company departments, like Marketing, Sales, Finance, HR, and others, have IT systems that must be managed and supported.
They are responsible for any issues that arise with any aspect of the company’s technology needs. These could be anything from software bugs or viruses to faulty hardware or damaged cables. A good IT, tech support manager will also know how to fix broken equipment, so they can carry out repairs as needed.
The role of an IT tech support manager involves more than just fixing problems, though; they must also ensure that all equipment is kept up-to-date with patches and updates (known as firmware) and that all systems are running efficiently and smoothly.
This means checking for signs of malware, viruses, and other malware programs regularly. It also means ensuring that all staff members follow security policies, such as password protection policies and encryption standards.
Tech Support takes care of end-users desktops, laptops, desk phones, smartphones, tablets, Meeting Rooms, Board Rooms, Projectors, TVs, AV equipment, and perhaps intelligent lighting, as well as any electronic equipment.
All of that equipment needs to be managed by the IT Tech Support and their team, making sure that the operating system is set up correctly and that its software and firmware are patched and that it has adequate protection on it, that it’s been secured, that it’s got endpoint protection, that it’s got antivirus as well.
The IT Tech Support Managers need adequate remote management tools to log into and support these computers remotely, such as Chrome Remote Desktop, Teamviewer, etc.
An essential part of all this is ensuring that all of this equipment is licensed correctly and that it’s under support, maintained, and replaced at the end of life.
IT Infrastructure
In today’s world, every business is increasingly dependent on its IT infrastructure. How an organization uses IT infrastructure to run its business directly impacts its productivity and profitability.
This is the backbone of any organization’s IT infrastructure. It includes all the hardware, software, and applications employees and other stakeholders use to conduct business activities.
The network connects all the computers in an office or business together so that they can share information. Networks also allow computers to communicate with each other over long distances via phone lines or cables.
Maintaining the network infrastructure, including servers and data centers, is also essential to IT Infrastructure activities.
IT Infrastructure is part of an organization’s Information Technology (IT) department.
The IT Infrastructure is responsible for maintaining and supporting the network infrastructure of an organization, including but not limited to servers, data centers, active directory, DHCP, DNS, email services, database servers, web servers, routers, switches, firewalls, wired and wireless LANs (Local Area Networks), ethernet cabling, fiber optics cabling, and cloud services.
Managing Servers
An essential part of an IT infrastructure is the servers, physical or virtual servers, and all the software on these virtual and physical servers. The most common servers are Windows Servers, Linux Servers, and Apache Servers, which may include storage like SAN or NAS.
SANs or NAS are rack units full of high-speed disks that can store the company’s data, applications, and configurations.
Managers and Engineers typically develop skills in virtualization, storage, and backup to do this effectively, leading to roles such as those found within a data center.
This includes creating virtual machines (VMs), maintaining backups from VMs in the event of failure or disaster recovery, and coordinating upgrades on hardware components (CPUs / memory / hard drives).
Routers, Switches, and Firewalls.
Modern businesses rely on networked servers, routers, and firewalls. Managing these components is a significant part of an infrastructure IT Manager’s job.
The phone system is a big part of the business. It’s essential to customers because they want their calls answered. They want to be able to reach their customers and colleagues easily, and they want them to be able to get them back.
IT Managers may also take care of Company Phone Systems; if the company has multiple offices, they must take care of the connections and VPN links between them.
Security
Refers to protecting your data from unauthorized access or modification by others. In other words, security protects your data from cyber attacks such as viruses or hackers trying to steal your credit card numbers, bank account information, and other sensitive data. Managing all security aspects, such as passwords, encryption, and firewalls, is also crucial for an IT manager.
Data Centers
Data centers house the servers and other equipment that store, manage and process data for companies. The goal of a data center is to ensure that critical corporate information is stored safely, securely, and efficiently.
Data centers can be large or small, depending on the size of the company’s operations. A small business might have one server in its office, while a large corporation may have hundreds or thousands of servers across multiple locations worldwide.
Data centers are the nerve center of an organization’s IT infrastructure. They house the servers, storage devices, and networking equipment that enable employees to access applications and data.
Data center management is a broad topic that covers a wide range of activities, including:
Server rooms house a data center’s physical components (servers, storage devices, networking equipment). Server rooms must be kept at optimal temperatures and humidity levels to ensure the equipment’s reliable operation.
Comm rooms house network equipment such as network switches or routers. These rooms need to be adequately ventilated so that heat from the equipment doesn’t build up too much inside them.
Network Cabling
An IT Manager needs to be responsible for cabling, labeling, and ensuring that the equipment needs to be monitored for temperature and humidity levels so that they’re maintained at optimal levels for performance and for the reliable operation of sensitive electronic equipment.
On-Prem vs. Cloud Computing
IT Managers are responsible for maintaining the IT infrastructure used to support their organization. There are two main types of IT infrastructure: on-prem and cloud computing.
On-prem refers to your company’s office’s physical servers and storage devices. Cloud computing refers to the same functionality a third party provides over the internet.
As an IT manager, you have many responsibilities regardless of whether your company uses on-prem or cloud computing. You still need to ensure that employees have access to email, file sharing, collaboration tools, and an Internet connection so they can communicate with customers and vendors.
The most significant difference between on-prem and cloud computing is how you handle upgrades and maintenance. With on-prem, you have complete control over all aspects of the system — including when updates are installed, what patches are applied, and which applications are installed. This gives you more control over security issues but makes it more challenging to deploy updates quickly because there is no centralized management system like there is with cloud computing (where everything happens automatically).
With cloud computing, you only manage users’ access rights — not which applications they use or how often these applications are updated. Because everything happens automatically,
It’s scarce these days to find a business that runs 100% on-premise without even a small presence in the cloud. Most companies run hybrid networks, meaning some services run on-premise and others in the cloud.
The big companies here are Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and a few others, and all these services essentially fall under the responsibility of the IT manager.
Monitoring, Backups, and Restoring Data
Managing disaster recovery plans in case of outages or other system failures is also very important.
All the equipment must be monitored, ensuring that it’s operational and that all the infrastructure, data, firmware, and applications are backed up and sent off-site. Also, it is essential that there are adequate retention policies and that all restores are tested frequently.
IT Procurement and Vendor Management
All equipment must be purchased, so the IT manager will be responsible for procurement.
An IT Manager will be responsible for this, so an IT Manager must work with vendors when necessary to ensure that their company receives quality products and services at a reasonable price.
They also need to ensure that new technology is implemented correctly so it doesn’t negatively impact users’ experience with the system or network.
Licensing and Warranties
For all the purchased equipment, keeping track of the warranty and ensuring everything is licensed correctly, especially if you’re dealing with virtualization and databases, is essential.
Outsourcing vs. In-house Services
Outsourcing IT services is a great way to get a company up and running quickly. It lets you focus on your core business while someone else handles your IT needs. However, it also means you have less control over what happens with your business’s information technology.
When you choose to outsource, you must decide how much control you want over the process. For example, if you’re hiring an outside company to handle all of your software development needs, then you probably won’t have any say in what they do with their time or how they spend their money.
You’ll be paying them a flat fee or hourly rate for their work, so they have no incentive to cut costs or spend money wisely.
You may also want more control over how your outsourced IT services are managed, which means hiring a third-party company that manages other companies’ outsourced IT services for them. These companies can help ensure that everything is working correctly and that your network has no security breaches or other problems.
They can also help find solutions when problems arise with one of your systems or applications.
In-house IT services give companies complete control over what happens with their data and systems. They can hire whoever they want for whatever
Managing IT
You’ll be responsible for managing the IT department and its employees and planning and implementing projects related to the department’s work.
These tasks may include designing new software or hardware systems, ensuring existing equipment is working correctly, and troubleshooting any problems. You will also be required to manage budgets and other technology-related resources within your organization or company.
Keeping track of the budget
An IT Manager must oversee the budgeting process for new hardware and software. An IT Manager has to keep track of all financial matters related to their department so they can report on them accurately and regularly. They also have to make sure that their department operates within budget guidelines set by management so they can provide efficient services without exceeding allocated funds.
We are ensuring that the IT budget is accurate, correct, and updated, working closely with the finance team, and asking for more money for the budget when needed.
Managing Staff
Apart from managing relationships with external vendors, an IT manager must manage staff by making sure they have enough training, that they are mentored, making sure that they are helped, and have the resources needed to do their jobs effectively while also ensuring they follow company policies regarding security policies, employee conduct, etc.
Staff that needs to be managed is all the people at the help desk, technical support levels one, two, and three, system and network engineers, database engineers, and developers, and all these people will report to the IT manager.
IT Strategy
We provide leadership, direction, and guidance on all technical aspects of the business.
The IT manager is a strategic team member who can provide a different perspective on how technology can help the company achieve its goals and must clearly understand where the business is going and how it will get there.
The IT Manager also needs to be aware of the culture and people to ensure that any new initiatives are aligned with them.
Also should be involved in big decisions such as mergers, acquisitions, or divestments; this will help ensure that the proper IT infrastructure is in place for those changes.
They should also understand how operations work across the business to provide solutions that meet operational needs like improved efficiency, reduced costs, or improved customer service.
Roadmap
The IT Manager is responsible for developing the roadmap for the IT department. The company’s vision should be aligned with the IT Manager, who will then align their priorities and expectations with the company’s image. The IT Manager is also responsible for creating a one, two, three, and five-year strategy roadmap for where the IT systems will achieve that vision.
The IT Manager needs to be able to forecast where technology will be going so that they can plan for it. They need to know what kind of technology is coming down the pipeline and how it will affect their department and its operations.
The IT Manager also needs to develop strategies for implementing new technologies into their organization and learning about new technologies so that they can use them to their advantage when it comes time to decide which technologies they want their company to adopt.
Policies Development
In addition to overseeing day-to-day operations within your company’s IT department(s), you’ll need to develop policies for how certain functions are conducted within these departments—including procedures on how projects are planned and implemented, as well as how employee training is carried out in relation with these processes (and others).
This may require collaborating closely with other managers across various departments within your organization to create guidelines based on best practices when it comes time to develop new policies within each subgroup involved in implementing them throughout all departments under your purview.
Examples here would be to create an IT-acceptable use policy, a DRP (Disaster Recovery Plan), a BCP (Business Continuity Plan), and all these other policies, manuals, and procedures that the IT Management Team needs to follow.
Training
Another important activity of an IT Manager is ensuring that staff is well trained on how to use all the IT systems, so all of this training should be managed and maintained, and rolled out by the IT manager and their team.
IT Monitoring and Reports
The IT Manager has to monitor and report about the IT Systems’ health and well-being, capable of sending automatically to the CEO or the Board of Directors and providing updates on how the IT systems are going, how the SLAs are met, and the status of all incidents and service requests, like the availability of the servers and the network services.
The following list provides some examples of tools you can use to monitor your infrastructure.
- Server monitoring and Network Monitoring software
- Application monitoring software
- Endpoint security software
As an IT manager, you must communicate effectively with your team and navigate all the skills required for the job. These include:
Leadership skills
As a leader in your organization, you must be able to motivate and inspire those around you. You also need to be able to delegate responsibilities appropriately among members of your team.
Problem-solving skills
Each member should have solid problem-solving abilities for your company’s IT department (or departments) to function correctly at peak efficiency. This includes being able to identify issues from their area of expertise as well as seeing more significant trends within the business unit they are part of so they can offer suggestions on how best to address them or prevent them from occurring in future projects or products/services provided by our company overall.”
Small Business
If the company is a small business, then your job as an Information Technology Manager will likely be much different from someone who manages 20 or 30 people simultaneously. In this case, being comfortable with technology won’t necessarily mean being able to write code as much as it means knowing how computers work so that when something goes wrong with one computer device within your office building – like when there’s no internet connection available during lunchtime hours – then knowing how best handle things before calling over all those other workers who aren’t familiar with computers either!
Medium-size Business
In a medium business, the IT Manager will likely focus on managing the operations of their department. For example, suppose you own a small company that employs five people. In that case, your role as an IT manager might be to manage those employees’ day-to-day tasks and projects while also ensuring that they keep up with each new technological development so they can use it effectively in their work.
Large Business
In a large business, the IT Manager is responsible for the overall technology strategy and direction. Multiple departments may work under them, including developers and other IT professionals.
IT managers are the backbone of all IT organizations. They ensure that the entire organization gets the maximum advantage of all the latest technological advancements and helps them to save money and time which will eventually lead to a rise in the productivity of their organization.
IT Manager is a really strategic job that requires strong planning skills. The tasks are daunting and are given to the person that must be able to handle all of them as one unit and make customers feel happy. Aside from this, the IT Manager must work well with other departments in order for the company to be at its best. If you are someone who does not mind being pressured, then this profession is for you.
Let me know in the comments, I definitely would love to know and keep in touch, and as always remember to like and share this article.