What You will Learn

• The specific good and bad aspects of being an IT manager
• Why IT managers and their IT departments have a much more critical role to play in the future of corporations

Introduction

An information technology (IT) manager needs to wear a lot of hats. Different parts of the organization will have different expectations of this position, and you'll have to address them all. Finance expects you to manage costs, Sales and Marketing will want to see IT generate revenue, and the administrative assistant down the hall just wants her printer to stop smudging. In this chapter, we'll delve into the roles and responsibilities of an IT manager.

1.1 Just What Does an IT Manager Do?

Congratulations! You're now an IT manager. You may be thinking, "What exactly have I gotten myself into? I've been angling to get promoted into this position for the last two years, and now I realize I'm not even sure I know what the job is."

IT managers now have many, many responsibilities (data centers, support staff, telecommunications, servers, workstations, Web sites) and connect with almost all the departments (Accounting, Marketing, Sales, Distribution) within a company.

This is both the good and the bad news. At some companies, an IT manager can have direct influence on the strategic direction of the company, suggesting and helping implement e-commerce initiatives, for example. In other companies, an IT manager is really a technician, a phone or network installer. And, to complicate things even further, those...