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Information technology management (IT management) is the discipline whereby all of theinformation technology resources of a firm are managed in accordance with its needs and priorities. Managing the responsibility within a company entails many of the basic management functions, likebudgeting, staffing,change management, and organizing and controlling, along with other aspects that are unique to technology, likesoftware design, network planning, tech support etc.[1]
The central aim of IT management is to generate value through the use of technology. To achieve this,business strategies and technology must be aligned.
IT Management is different frommanagement information systems. The latter refers to management methods tied to the automation or support of human decision making.[2] IT Management refers to IT related management activities in organizations. MIS is focused mainly on the business aspect, with a strong input into the technology phase of the business/organization.
A primary focus of IT management is the value creation made possible by technology. This requires the alignment of technology andbusiness strategies. While the value creation for an organization involves a network of relationships between internal and external environments, technology plays an important role in improving the overallvalue chain of an organization. However, this increase requires business and technology management to work as a creative, synergistic, and collaborative team instead of a purely mechanistic span of control.[3]
Historically, one set of resources was dedicated to one particular computing technology, business application or line of business, and managed in a silo-like fashion.[4] These resources supported a single set of requirements and processes, and couldn't easily be optimized or reconfigured to support actual demand.[5] This led technology providers to build out and complement their product-centric infrastructure and management offerings withConverged Infrastructure environments that converge servers, storage, networking, security, management and facilities.[6][7] The efficiencies of having this type of integrated and automated management environment allows enterprises to get their applications up and running faster, with simpler manageability and maintenance, and enables IT to adjust IT resources (such as servers, storage and networking) quicker to meet unpredictable business demand.[8][9]
The below concepts are commonly listed or investigated under the broad term IT Management:[10][11][12][13][14]
IT managers have a lot in common withproject managers but their main difference is one of focus: an IT manager is responsible and accountable for an ongoing program of IT services while the project manager's responsibility and accountability are both limited to a project with a clear start and end date.[18]
Most IT management programs are designed to educate and develop managers who can effectively manage the planning, design, selection, implementation, use, and administration of emerging and converging information and communications technologies. The program curriculum provides students with the technical knowledge and management knowledge and skills needed to effectively integrate people, information and communication technologies, and business processes in support of organizational strategic goals.[19]
IT Managers need to know predominantly Technical and Managerial skills such as analyst ofcomputer systems,information security analyst,compute,planning,communication technologies, andbusiness processes.[15]
Graduates should be able:
In 2013, hackers managed to install malware with the intent of stealing Target's customers' information. The malware targeted “40 million credit card numbers—and 70 million addresses, phone numbers, and other pieces of personal information”. About six months before this happened, Target invested 1.6 million dollars to install the malware detection tool made by FireEye, whose security product is also used by the CIA. The software spotted the malware, and alert was sent out as intended. However, nothing was done beyond that point. The hackers successfully got away with one third of US Consumers’ confidential information. Target's security system’s unresponsiveness led to 90 lawsuits being filed against Target, which went on top of another approximate $61 million USD spent just responding to the breach,[21]
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