Business isn't getting any easier, but an effective IT department can be your secret weapon. Here are six tech maxims to help you maximise the effectiveness and performance of your IT team.
The business of IT is business
Putting it another way, make sure the goals of your department are aligned with the goals of the business. IT teams that don’t do this risk being seen simply as cost centres – entries on the balance sheet with lots of zeros on the end. Prove your value to the business by developing an understanding of how the business does what it does, whether it’s manufacturing, distribution, delivering services or any combination of the above.
When you understand what the organisation is trying to achieve, you can prioritise your IT projects to make IT work for the organisation, the users and your customers. Once you’ve done that, really get the runs on the board by talking to everyone – from the board to the people in the warehouse – about how you can help the organisation run more efficiently.
Help drive costs out of the business
Australian companies are often competing against the rest of the world with the disadvantages of distance and a volatile (currently unfriendly) exchange rate. To stay competitive, businesses need to constantly find efficiencies and cost savings. By aligning your department closely with the goals of your business, you'll quickly see where there are synergies, duplication, unnecessary costs and waste.
Start by prioritising IT projects that will have the greatest impact on either reducing costs or driving revenue. Get those systems running at peak efficiency and IT will really start to make a difference.
Get in the cloud
Lie down, take a deep breath and repeat after me: “Cloud computing will not destroy the in-house IT organisation.” What it will do is take away some of the more mundane jobs like patch management or hard-drive defragging, which no one in the IT department wants to do. What the cloud will do is make those IT professionals who can see the big picture incredibly valuable.
As business-critical data is increasingly on the move in and out of the cloud, as well as on and off more and more devices, data security/protection plus network availability and integration are going to become even more important. Not only will the IT department need to manage this seamlessly, they will also need to manage the relationship with cloud service vendors and make sure they and their services play nicely together.
Get out of the silo and ahead of the curve
One of the most visible ways for an IT department to be effective is to be up to date with the latest trends and willing to take responsibility for rolling out new technology. Bring your own device, virtualisation, cloud computing, social media and mobile are just a few of the technology trends that are hot-button issues right now. When done properly, following new trends like these can help drive the success of the business – or make it a more enjoyable place to work. Ensure you’re on the front foot making it happen and taking ownership, instead of being seen as a roadblock. IT will be seen as an enabler – as it should be.
Be proactive
Just as a server administrator wouldn’t ignore a hard drive that was throwing errors regularly, an effective IT department identifies potential problems before they become major issues that affect the whole business. It’s the old adage of “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Instead of running around fighting fires, an effective IT department monitors its alerts and makes sure it fixes any problems before they become major issues.
Match the skills to the job
While it is true that SMB and SME IT department personnel need to be flexible and multi-skilled, they also need to let people play to their strengths. If someone is brilliant technically but has poor people skills, an effective IT manager doesn’t force them to work in a role where they need to spend a lot of time communicating with other people. The only exception is when that person wants to improve themselves in a particular department – they may, for example, realise they need better people skills to advance their career.
People have written books on the subject of how an IT department can be most effective, but following these simple rules is a great start.
