IT management, or Information Technology management, is the administration of all technological resources of a company. This process involves activities of data collection, storage, selection, comparison, and distribution.
It might sound a little complicated, but don’t worry! IT management is just the opposite as it facilitates the work routine; after all, technology is part of the daily operations across the company.
Then, adequate IT management is essential for business growth in all industries. Learning more about it will help you make better decisions for your business, so this article will discuss everything you need to know about IT management.
What’s IT management?
IT management refers to the administration of all technological resources used in data storage and distribution in your company. It includes, for example, your inventory management software, online customer service, and computers used by your team.
That is, IT management is the administration of all technological activities, solutions, and resources in a company. The purpose of this department is to optimize the process of data storage and access to such information.
Therefore, effective IT management facilitates the routine of all teams, increases the company’s productivity, and even allows high-quality services and products.
Pillars of IT management
If you’ve studied a little about IT management, you’ve certainly seen that IT doesn’t involve computers only and that’s really true – this industry is more complex than that.
Most methodologies used in IT management suggest it has 3 main pillars, guiding the implementation or improvement of processes. Learn more about these pillars below.
People
The truth is that no industry can succeed without the right people. Then, IT management must also handle technology teams, assigning responsibilities according to the company’s needs and expertise of employees.
Tools
The selection, implementation and maintenance of machines and software solutions required for proper functioning of the company are responsibilities of IT management. For this reason, tools are critical for increasing productivity and optimizing processes.
Processes
Even the best tools used by the best professionals will not be effective without process standardization. That’s why IT management is responsible for ensuring the adoption of good practices, the effective use of these tools across the company, and that everyone knows how to maintain the integrity of these processes.
Principles of IT management
ISO/IEC 38500 is an international standard that describes six basic principles for good corporate governance of IT, which are briefly described below:
- responsibility — every business must understand the role of IT in the organization;
- strategy — internal planning must observe the limits described or projected for the technology being used;
- acquisition — a transparent process is required for new acquisitions for the IT sector;
- performance — IT management must support the company’s objectives;
- conformance — all processes must follow current regulations;
- human behavior — IT management policies must be based on the needs of people involved in the work routine.
Responsibilities of IT management
The creation of an IT management department in a company or outsourcing of IT services should be carefully performed. This department will assume many responsibilities which include:
- information security;
- prevention and solution of IT-related problems;
- optimization of internal processes;
- strengthening the company’s infrastructure;
- development of productive and intelligent systems;
- meeting business goals and objectives;
- generate reports with relevant information to the company’s management.
Benefits of IT management for your business
Despite the importance of this department, business owners are often not sure about the practical benefits for their companies. To better understand why you need good IT management practices, see below the main advantages for your business.
Increased productivity
Today, people rely on technology in every aspect of their lives. It’s no longer necessary to memorize telephone numbers or carry heavy telephone books in your purse, for example. With your company, it shouldn’t be different.
How much time do your employees spend looking for important information to be used in daily processes? And how much of that time could be saved if such data were just a click away?
Good IT management increases productivity of all departments in a company, because it implements tools that speed up the routine of teams, eliminating repetitive and time-consuming tasks. Then, employees can focus on what they do well.
Cost reduction
It’s true that deploying IT management has some upfront costs. However, in the long run, you’ll see this investment will have prevented many unnecessary costs across the company.
For example, a new inventory software system can optimize your company’s purchases, thus avoiding excessive losses or expenses. In addition, it is possible to reduce lost sales due to stockout.
When effective management tools are applied across your business, you can identify problems in their early stage or even before they happen. That’s why it’s an important investment.
Data security
Today, data security is widely discussed worldwide. In a business, a huge amount of sensitive information is processed and stored. Such data refer to company’s processes and personal data of customers and employees.
An information leak can severely impact the image of your business. For instance, a breach may cause leak of credit information from all your customers, not to mention fines and problems related to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the fact that many consumers would not trust your company again with such lack of protection.
It is no wonder that information security is extremely important for companies in any industry, and an effective IT management system will take good care of this issue.
Top-quality customer relationship
Your company probably offers different customer service channels, which tend to become more and more integrated. So, if a customer contacted you via email and later decided to call your company, they hope they don’t have to repeat all the information from the first contact.
For example, imagine your company received a complaint via email. Without a software tool that centralizes and manages customer inquiries and complaints, a sales agent calls the same customer the next day to offer a service upgrade. This customer will certainly have negative feelings regarding your company. After all, he just made a support request, and in his perspective, the company’s response was a sales offer.
The good news is that effective IT management allows all departments of a company to have access to important information ensuring service excellence your customers expect to have.
Process optimization
Access to information, data registration, and identification of potential problems are critical processes for the proper functioning of any company. So when those tasks are not easily performed because of inappropriate software systems, many processes and activities can be delayed.
In general, well-implemented IT management can save time and money for companies. In addition, process optimization makes the employee routine more pleasant, which also contributes to increased productivity.
Identification of new opportunities
Your customers won’t be the only ones who will benefit from an integrated and effective data collection and query system. When all information is centralized and accessible to the team, it is easier to identify sales opportunities.
For example, it allows your team to identify the right moment to offer service upgrade to your customers or complementary products to customers who have already purchased from your company.
Easier business management
If you manage a business, you certainly know the importance of monitoring your company’s numbers. Good administration requires close monitoring of process performance, monthly costs, and other data.
Effective IT management means that such information is more accessible and organized, that’s why data integration facilitates the administration of every department. This way, mistakes can be prevented, improving performance in general.
After-sales service
The strategies used in after-sales service can also be improved with access to reliable data of consumer profile, allowing IT management to help build an effective after-sales service planning to promote customer retention and loyalty.
The best moment to adopt IT management
Business owners often have doubts about the right time to implement IT management in their companies. The answer is simple: the sooner the better. If your business is just starting, include this structure now to have an optimized routine from day one.
Most software solutions for IT management are scalable. It means they will grow with your company. Also, don’t believe the myth that IT management is just for large companies. There are many affordable alternatives on the market. If you can’t afford an internal department, for example, it is possible to outsource it.
A company that starts with the necessary organization has a much better chance of being successful. So why wait to implement IT management and have problems and expenses with inadequate processes?
How to ensure good IT management?
Like every business administration department, IT management uses methodologies that guide the work of its professionals. Good practices are standards adopted to ensure the security, accessibility, and integrity of processes in the department.
See below some of the main methodologies on the market that you can use in your company.
ITIL
ITIL stands for Information Technology Infrastructure Library. This is one of the most common IT management models. It’s a collection of best practices that align Information Technology with the specific needs of an organization.
It offers optimization of the services provided in order to reduce costs and ensure effectiveness of the departments. The ITIL Suite contains five core books:
- Service Strategy;
- Service Design;
- Service Transition;
- Service Operation;
- Continual Service Improvement.
COBIT®
COBIT stands for Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology. This is a governance framework for organizations that seek to deploy or improve different IT concepts and practices. It is focused is on investments that are consistent with the company’s needs. In general, this resource is divided into four domains with 34 processes and 210 control objectives.
PMBOK
Acronym for Project Management Book of Knowledge, this methodology is commonly used in project management. It is often adopted not only in IT management, but also in other departments.
PMBOK divides projects into five distinct stages, each of them with defined activities and scopes. The idea is to structure planning, implementation, and maintenance of processes.
CMMI
Capability Maturity Model Integration, or CMMI, is a methodology focused on improving a company’s performance by enhancing the development of products and services, selection of suppliers, and customer service.
CMMI has 29 practice areas, which aim to improve the quality of processes and optimize the organizational routine in order to achieve better results. The idea is to make a company develop through six maturity levels (from 0 to 5).
How to avoid mistakes in IT management?
To prevent a negative impact on IT management due to administration failures, it is important to learn about the most common mistakes in this area and then develop a good management plan for the company as a whole.
The main mistakes in IT management include:
- save on infrastructure;
- fail to develop and conduct a strategic planning;
- lose the entrepreneurial vision;
- rely on a single supplier;
- overlook vulnerabilities and allow gaps in information security.
Then, the first step to avoid these problems is to create a good plan for IT management. Remember that ensuring information security and promoting optimization are key steps for a successful plan.
Next, it is necessary to maintain your business vision and use IT management as a business growth tool. Building strategic partnerships will also help reduce mistakes in this process.
Milvus can help you optimize your IT team
As you’ve seen, investing in proper IT management is one of the most important decisions to ensure your company’s success. After all, this is a critical process for the functioning of businesses in any industry.
In this context, IT team optimization is a very important step for the company’s growth. But don’t worry, it’s possible to find affordable solutions that are just right for your business.
The Milvus platform will help you optimize IT management using a scalable model. Several plans are available to meet the specific needs of your company. The platform has all the resources to make it a much more effective and uncomplicated process, such as:
- organized and efficient asset management;
- automated inventory management;
- device monitoring;
- license manager;
- file transfer via remote access;
- and much more.
And the best part of it: the plans are just right for your business, as you pay per use. So you have access to the best tools without exceeding your budget.
In a few words, IT management enables process optimization, cost reduction, and management effectiveness. It also improves customer relationship and ensures data security for the business routine. Therefore, it is an essential investment for your business growth.
