Major Issues that IT Managers Face - Assignment Example

 Major Issues that IT Managers Face Major Issues that Information Technology Managers face The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution in the last couple of decades has opened up new avenues of communication, establishing contacts and doing business. Almost all organization, in every sphere of activity, has taken advantage of ICT to boost their efficiency, effectiveness and pace of work. Those who have not, have fallen by the way side. Application of ICT in one form or the other has not only become essential but indispensable in almost every organization. Every organization therefore has an ICT infrastructure manned by ICT staff, used by a majority of personnel of the organization, and managed by an ICT manager. The positional situation of the ICT manager is unique in the organization. Not only does the ICT manager have to manage ICT resources, he or she also has to ensure that the ICT resources are easily and effectively utilizable by the users or clients of the organization and non-ICT personnel within the organization itself. ICT managers are no longer concerned only with maintaining ICT equipment and personnel. “Today’s business environment has changed drastically from just a few years back. Rather than working exclusively with equipment, data, and systems, today’s IT managers face issues such as cross training, personnel management, interdepartmental communication, and a widening job scope for all IT employees.” (Kanu) The work cut out for the ICT manager is made even more challenging as many components of the ICT infrastructure have to provide round-the-clock service. ICT managers therefore face many challenges in their work. The objective of this paper is to identify four major issues that ICT managers face in their work, to analyze them from both technical and business perspectives and to explore possible solutions to these issues. The four main issues that ICT managers face in the present world are: i. Tailoring Information and Communication Technology (ICT) strategy for business value. ii. Ensuring security iii. Efficient utilization of ICT resources iv. Ensuring availability of services ICT strategy for business value In the present world scenario, the fundamental issue that faces any ICT manager is the tailoring of the ICT strategy for business value. This is where ICT managers are required to take a broader perspective of the respective organizations that they are working for and understand the business strategy of the organization fully. ICT managers have to know what businesses want to accomplish with ICT, and then shape the delivery strategy of ICT accordingly. Unless the ICT strategy and the business strategy are synchronized and complement and support each other, a larger part of every effort of the ICT manager would lack the objectivity that is so essential. Gottshalk (2001) found that IT leaders are assuming significant organizational roles including the role of a change leader and having the responsibility for strategic alignment of IT and business. The first thing that needs to be done to evolve an ICT strategy for business value is to bridge the conventional divide between ICT and the business. Executives of the organization must be made to realize that business strategy is not only enabled by ICT but that it can provide new business opportunities as well. To be able to do so, well-designed training programmes must be organized for decision makers in the business. ICT should have enough credibility within the business so that the ICT manager sits on the executive team and participates in all business strategy discussions. ICT managers must cultivate good insights of business opportunities, have a broad perspective of the entire organization and also have the ability to a long-term view of things. The ICT manager must understand the business model of the organization and be able to differentiate between the business model and business strategy. A business model explains how the different pieces of a business fit together. It ensures that everyone in an organization is focused on the kind of value a company wants to create. Only when the business model is clear, strategies can be developed to articulate how a company will deliver that value in a unique way that others cannot easily imitate (Ross & Beath, 2002, pp. 51 – 59) ICT is no longer about individual and isolated projects. In order to be able to develop a suitable business model, an ICT manager must adopt strategic themes. Nowadays, ICT strategy comprises well designed programs with the focussed objective of developing specific business capabilities. Each of these programs is composed of a mix of interrelated businesses and ICT initiatives that cut across several functional areas. Themes should be adopted to provide ICT managers a broad but focussed topic of interest that enables them to move beyond current operations (Kanter, 2002, pp. 76 – 81). Ensuring Security Maintaining security is one of the biggest challenges that ICT managers face today. Most business and organizations are connected over the Internet – a fact of life that poses very high security risks. With the advent of wireless networks, the security risk has increased manifold. Now the threat is not only from the hacker who comes in through the network from a remote location but also from the many clients, employees and maintenance personnel who walk in with laptops and connect to the organizational network Data can also be violated physically by authorized users. There is no way that the ICT manager can deny access or services to any of these people. If the business is handling customer data, then it becomes legally mandatory for the ICT manager to take full responsibility for protection of this data. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has devised a full arsenal of statutory tools to ensure that companies implement reasonable measures to protect sensitive consumer information. It works on the principle that just as businesses keep their cash safe, they are also responsible for keeping the sensitive information of their consumers safe (Smith, 2005). Any security lapse could therefore result not only in loss of credibility of the organization, but also in huge financial losses. Network and data security are therefore issues that could perpetually keep ICT managers on tenterhooks. The solution would be to adopt a two-pronged approach : implement the latest and highest security technical products and applications according to requirement, and equally important, adopt a well-planned and drawn-out security policy that involves each and every person who could at any moment have access to the network or to any form of data. The technical implications would be to implement security technologies such as firewalls, Demilitarized Zones (DMZs), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocols (DHCPs) for dynamic allocation of IPs, honeypots, anti-virus, anti-spyware and anti-phising software both at the network periphery as well as the internal network including in the individual server, client and other components. These technical initiatives are to be coupled with management-oriented efforts through the adoption of the security policy that emphasizes the importance of adhering to security measures and practices throughout the organization. Efficient utilization of resources Rising cost of ICT resources is a challenge for any ICT manager. As new and more powerful machines come into the market, the ICT manager is forced to incorporate the latest technology to keep at par with the competition. This entails huge financial investments. In many instances, it has been found that ICT budgets of businesses cannot match the rising cost. The dilemma of the ICT manager is either to compromise on the quality of service delivery or to ask for additional financial inputs which may not be considered entirely justifiable considering the high rate of development of ICT technology. The solution to this problem however lies in the effective and efficient utilization of all ICT resources. The average server is only used to between 5 and 10 per cent of its capacity, while data storage is used only 25 and 30 per cent of its capacity, despite being powered 24 hours a day (Fildes, N.). This implies that more than half the available computer resources are going waste. The ICT manage can ensure efficient use of ICT resources by employing technical solutions such as implementation of virtualisation in which several logical computer systems are defined in a single high-end computer system, for use by several people; or thin client technology in which client systems with the minimum of computing resources are connected to the resources of a central server for effective sharing of precious ICT resources. Administrative steps in this regard would involve sensitising users to the proper and effective use of ICT resources to reduce wastage. Service Availability Ensuring service availability, in some cases round the clock, is another challenging issue for ICT managers. ICT equipment, like any other piece of machinery, can fail or malfunction at any time. The reasons could be many – both mechanical and software-based. A hard disk may crash, virus attacks could cripple and bring entire networks to a standstill, network connections may fail, the power supply could fail, and there could be denial of service attacks over the network. The resulting disruption in services may cost the company highly in terms of finances, credibility and man hours. The ICT manager has to draw up an overall plan to avoid such eventualities. Such a plan will have to incorporate the following features: i. Critical ICT components such as servers, routers, switches and power control systems have to be identified and active redundancy has to be ensured for each of these components so that in the case of failure of any one of such critical components a standby unit takes over immediately. ii. Proper maintenance of each component has to ensured. This can be done either by employing adequate number of ICT maintenance personnel or by outsourcing the maintenance to respective supplying companies in the form of Annual Maintenance Contracts (AMCs). iii. In case of a dispersed operations scenario where the ICT infrastructure is scattered over a wide geographical area, web-enabled systems are frequently used to monitor the health of ICT components and to register break-down complaints. iv. Last but not the least, adequate back-up facilities have to be in place so that there is minimal data loss even in the event of unexpected failures. In a fast changing scenario, ICT managers have to adapt to changing conditions and broaden the scope of their roles to include much more than their conventional role of managing only the ICT show in isolation from the whole, in order to be able to face and overcome the challenges that could impair their effectiveness and efficiency. References -01 1. Fildes, N., 2007, Can Green Computers help save the World?, [Online] Available. http://news.independent.co.uk/business/analysis_and_features/article2656139.ece [November 25, 2007] 2. Gottschalk, P., 2001, The changing roles of IT Leaders, in R. Papp, ed., Strategic Information Technology: Opportunities for Competitive Advantage, Idea Group Publishing. 3. Kanter, R., 2002, Strategy as improvisational theater, Sloan Management Review, Volume 43, Number 2, 2002. 4. Kanu, F., 2007, The Top Three Problems IT Managers Face and how to overcome them, [Online] Available. http://www.geniusone.com/articles/TheTopThreeProblemsITManagersFace [November 26, 2007] 5. Ross, J., Beath, C., 2002, Beyond the business case: New approaches to IT investment, Sloan Management Review, 2002, Volume 43, Number 2. pp. 51-59. 6. Smith, M.S., 2005, Identity Theft: The Internet Connection, CRS Report for Congress, Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress. Read More