guide

The changing role of the

IT manager

CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 Introduction 2
CHAPTER 2 The IT manager’s journey: from money spender to
credible business partner 3
CHAPTER 3 What’s the level of your CQ? 7
CHAPTER 4 Architecture & tools – from silos to the hybrid cloud 8
CHAPTER 5 Key performance indicators – data or customer first? 9
CHAPTER 6 Which skills do we need in the future? 10
CHAPTER 7 How to become a department of “yes”? 11
CHAPTER 8 From cost centre to business partner 12
CHAPTER 9 Nine recommendations for the IT manager 13

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 Guide: The changing role of the IT manager

CHAPTER 1
Introduction
¢¢From experience and talks with many of our customers, Secondly, there is the growing demand on the business to add
we know that quite a few IT managers wish there were value instead of offering technical services. This requires the
more hours in a day than just 24. Today, they have to right alignment between business and IT, a well-publicised
deal with many challenges, but just keeping the lights on issue which seems to be complex in day to day situations.
in their data centre alone is a daunting task. In addition, It requires speaking the same language and adopting non-
they face rapid changes both in terms technology and technical KPIs across the organisation.
business, forcing them to make choices fast, sometimes
without knowing what the real consequences are. Another major theme today is security - every organisation
Moreover, there is a lot of pressure on the IT manager is vulnerable. However, as security is mainly seen as a cost
from the business to innovate and offer flexible services centre and not a necessity, it is not always easy to get it
to end-users. on the board’s agenda. Still, it is crucial to have the right
measures in place, as a breach can be disastrous for any
One major challenge for the IT manager is staff. More and organisation, especially in view of increasingly stringent laws
more IT organisations experience a skills gap. IT stacks on data leakage.
have become broader, deeper and more complex and in the
meantime it has become increasingly difficult to get and keep Finally, there is the issue of agility. We have come from the
skilled staff. Furthermore, the better skilled workers have a monolithic mainframe via the more flexible client/server
higher labour cost, and the chance of employees looking to see systems to today’s cloud computing. The cloud promises
where the grass is greener is increasing. agility and flexibility. Still, there are major challenges in
selecting the right cloud platforms for the right workloads.

These and other developments create a new

situation for the IT manager whose role in the
organisation and the IT department is changing
rapidly. This guide from Proact offers various
insights in this changing role and provides practical
tips on how to take advantage of both of these
challenging and exciting trends.

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 Guide: The changing role of the IT manager

CHAPTER 2
The IT manager’s journey:
from money spender to
credible business partner

THE PATH TO THE IT MANAGER OF 2020

The future belongs to the curious. Striving for the perfect balance between
exploitation and exploration is key for the modern IT specialist. We call it the
chemistry between business and IT. He or she needs to encourage fresh and
bolder investments in knowledge, infrastructure, systems in the management
of these.

The people who dare to ask questions and are willing to research can
be successful.

• What business and IT requirements are necessary in the future?

• What role does the cloud, including automation and orchestration,

play in the future?

• How much will the IT specialist need to elevate their role towards 2020?

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 Guide: The changing role of the IT manager

1ST PLATFORM

ARCHITECTURE
silo based approach
waterfall development methodology

SKILLS
managing IT
task driven

KPI’s
reliable data delivery
business continuity

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
department of ‘NO’
technology as an end

FEELING
cost driver / money spender
of the MT preventing business

RESEARCH FACT
63% of IT departments find migrating from ‘legacy
systems’ created during the mainframe a challenge

63%

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 Guide: The changing role of the IT manager

2ND PLATFORM

ON-PREMISE VS. CLOUD

ARCHITECTURE
large scale IT projects
hybrid infrastructure

SKILLS
keep IT processes going
short term focus - result driven

KPI’s
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
short term focused / result driven

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
business relevant department
cloud as an end

FEELING
reactively supporting
the business

RESEARCH FACT
8x
By 2020 mobile-connected tablets will generate
nearly eight times more traffic than in 2015.

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 Guide: The changing role of the IT manager

3RD / 4TH PLATFORM

PUBLIC CLOUD

PRIVATE CLOUD
HYBRID
CLOUD

ARCHITECTURE
hybrid cloud: best of ITaaS
agile development (DevOps)

SKILLS
managing people
IT investments linked to business value

KPI’s
eXperience Level Agreement (XLA)
plan based on value and risk

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
department of ‘YES’
cloud is a means to an end

FEELING
credible business partner that
is in control

53%
RESEARCH FACT
53% of IT professionals at Dutch organisations find
a hybrid cloud deployment model most suitable

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 Guide: The changing role of the IT manager

CHAPTER 3
What’s the level of your CQ?
¢¢Your role as an IT manager is changing, as are the roles of the people in In today's and tomorrow's world, it is
your department. In the old days of IT, we used to work in silos and what very important to be able to handle
happened in another silo was another person’s problem. As long as your information from multiple sources,
part of the silo was properly functioning, you were doing a great job. If advance professional relationships
you still stick to this approach, you will get into trouble as many of your across different organisations, contribute
competitors innovate. They create competence centres for user and innovatively to organisational practices,
customer experience and mobility, with multi-disciplinary teams that come and communicate with understanding
up with innovative and successful ideas. across social, cultural, economic and
scientific disciplines.
This also leads to new requirements for staff. Today you need a workforce with a
T-shaped profile. Until now, the education system has been producing I-shaped For the IT manager in particular his or
students with deep disciplinary knowledge. T-shaped professionals however are her CQ or ‘curiosity quotient’ – a term
characterised by deep disciplinary knowledge in at least one area, an understanding coined by marketing and brand expert
of systems, and the ability to function as adaptive innovators and cross the Sarah DaVanzo – may be more important
boundaries between disciplines. The I of the T represents the deep knowledge of today than IQ or EQ, as innovation
a person while the T-bar represents the ability to collaborate across a variety of and creative problem solving are major
different disciplines. To contribute to a creative and innovative process, employees themes in the near future. Obviously,
have to be able to fully engage in a wide range of activities within a community that it helps to be curious and to talk with
acknowledges a member's expertise in a particular craft or discipline and shares the business, colleagues, analysts and
information competently with others who are not experts. vendors about the challenges and trends
in the market. This will help making the
right choices for now and in the future.

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 Guide: The changing role of the IT manager

CHAPTER 4
Architecture & tools –
from silos to the hybrid cloud
¢¢For any IT manager, change is the mantra today. On the one hand, you still have to deal with your silo-based
information systems with their CLIs, RPOs and IOPS and on the other, there is pressure from the board to innovate by
using cloud technology, DevOps, service design and experiments in order to remain competitive in the future.

Looking back where IT came from, you can distinguish Looking at tools and development, we can distinguish the
four platforms that each have their specific characteristics. same four platforms.
In terms of architecture:

The first IT platforms with their mainframe computers The first used the waterfall methodology for application
were silo-based. There was a strict separation between development. This sequential, non-iterative model regards
functions in the IT department that operated as individual progress as a steady downwards flow (like a waterfall)
entities. There was little to no communication and shared through the phases of conception, initiation, analysis,
responsibilities between the silos. design, construction, testing, production/implementation and
maintenance. Every phase must be completed before the next
The second platform is less traditional and focuses can start.
more on IT and organisational effectiveness. This platform is
characterised by an integrated approach, using structured The second phase is characterised by large scale IT
methods such as ITIL, Prince2 and BISL, plus hybrid infra­ projects, with long lead times. ITIL, PRINCE2 and BISL are the
structures. Capacity, performance, security and risk are the main methodologies.
major issues. The IT department is very busy keeping all the
lights on every day. For the IT manager, organisational skills The third and fourth platform are much more
are key to support that. There is little time and opportunity for business focused, using agile development (DevOps),
innovation. service design and experiments to better align with business
requirements and business processes.
The third and fourth platform are the typical
platforms of the future. By deploying innovations such as Obviously, there are no strict boundaries between these four
the hybrid cloud, competence centres for specific activities, platforms. There will also always be a need for first platform
automation and orchestration and self-service portals, functions, as there always will be legacy applications and
these platforms enable us to focus on meeting customer legacy functionalities to maintain. The thing is to prepare for
expectations and customer satisfaction. Companies that have change by ensuring you and your team have the right expertise
entered this stage use the cloud as a means to an end instead and skills to move from platform to platform and support the
of an end itself. They know and feel the rhythm of the business business in the right manner.
and go along with it.

“Change is the only constant in IT today. Therefore, it is key to be well

prepared for change, have the right ­expertise and skills and select
the right ­partners in order to support the business in the
right manner.”

Bertus Doppenberg, Service Delivery Director, Proact

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 Guide: The changing role of the IT manager

CHAPTER 5
Key performance indicators – data or customer first?
¢¢What impact do the four platforms from the previous chapter have on the This trend requires special attention
IT department? for new areas. One of these areas is
rethinking security. Looking at the four
In the first platform, KPIs were very much technology driven: the IT department platforms, it is clear that the first one
focused on matters such as latency and preventing packet loss in order to provide was secured by design. For example,
reliable data delivery to the business. RTO and RPO are very important elements of mainframes were closed systems with
business continuity plans for these platforms. In the second platform, there is more easy to regulate secure access. With
concern for quality and transparency of the service. This can be realised by creating the emergence of the second platform,
service level agreements that describe what is delivered under which circumstances systems became open for a wide group
and for what price. of users. Security focused mainly on
protecting the perimeter of the network.
In the third and fourth platforms, KPIs are much less technical and much more In the third and fourth platforms – with
targeted at the end-user. Customer satisfaction scores are more important than infrastructural assets proliferating
latency numbers, and service level agreements are replaced by experience level widely – securing the perimeter is hardly
agreements that describe what an end-user can expect in terms of availability and sufficient anymore. Organisations now
support. Organisations that operate these platforms focus on issues such as time need to secure the source by offering
to operational value and time to market and creating plans based on value and risk. single sign on for end-users and
They move from a data-first to a customer-first approach. For the IT department, the implementing security by design in their
challenge is to adopt the role as an advisor to the business. architecture and development.

“For more and more organisations a customer satisfaction score is more

important than latency numbers. Therefore, service ­level agreements
are replaced by experience level agreements that describe what an
end-user can expect in terms of availability and support.”

Bertus Doppenberg, Service Delivery Director, Proact

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 Guide: The changing role of the IT manager

CHAPTER 6
Which skills do we need in the future?
¢¢As IT is changing rapidly, so are the roles of the IT manager and the staff of the IT department. For the IT manager,
the major change is that he or she must make the shift from managing technology to managing people.

In the first IT platform, the IT department was very much task-driven with a strong For the IT manager, the challenge is
focus on processes and structure. The staff had extensive technical knowledge but to create a balanced team with the
this was separated from other functions as individual staff had an I-shaped profile, i.e. right profiles and expertise to support
employees were experts in their own fields with little knowledge of adjacent areas. both existing processes – including
many legacy functions – and new and
In the second platform, staff are very busy with keeping IT processes going. Most innovative initiatives that will take the
of the time (some 80%) is spent on keeping the lights on. The rest of the time is business further.
available for new initiatives and innovation. Keeping the lights on requires the right
organisational skills. In addition to the team’s profiles, the
role of the IT manager is also changing.
In the third and fourth platforms, other skills are required. In addition to in-depth The IT manager has to be able to manage
knowledge and expertise, it is key that employees understand what the business a team of I-shaped and T-shaped
needs. Therefore, the right mix of I-shaped and T-shaped profiles are necessary. employees but needs to be T-shaped
In today’s IT departments, all employees need a basic understanding of IT him- or herself in order in order to be a
architectures and business knowledge in order to be able to advise the business on true business partner to the managers
the right choices. Employees with T-shaped profiles are required to boost creativity of other departments. Every department
and innovation, while I-shaped profiles are able to run traditional business processes needs to understand the impact on IT,
that depend on legacy systems and applications. this requires close cooperation between
the IT manager and her fellow managers.

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 Guide: The changing role of the IT manager

CHAPTER 7
How to become a department of “yes”?
¢¢Many IT departments are still struggling to offer the right services to the
business. They have to support existing processes and legacy environments
on the one hand, and control compliance-related requirements on the other.
Therefore, there is little time for innovation. This leads to a situation in which
the IT department easily becomes the department of “no”. Requests from the
business are denied because of budget and technical restrictions.

The real danger is that the IT department loses its position and shadow IT takes
over. After all, it is very easy for marketing and HR departments to buy CRM and HR
solutions from the public cloud themselves. For more information, please see the
article "Shadow IT: Threat or opportunity".

Therefore, it is key that IT departments transform themselves into departments that

embrace developments and are able to say “yes” to the business. The IT department
must become a beacon of innovation and achieve the balance required between
current micro projects and a macro overview of IT.

Three ways to achieve worldwide collaboration, learn from users/shadow IT, and
to facilitate policy-based collaboration throughout the organisation include:

1. Think in terms of services.

Customers – and the upcoming millennials in particular
– do not think in technological terms like “applications” and
3. Automate processes wherever possible.
Armed with cloud technology, orchestration can be
used to offer services to end-users efficiently and effectively. In
“databases”. They are tech-savvy and want to use a service that this way, orchestration generates efficiency advantages for the
will enable them to do their work well, whether as a marketer, IT department – which gains more time to spend on strategic
HR employee or in another role. Self-service will play a bigger subjects – thus benefiting the end-user, who has easier access
and bigger role for these end-users: they want to be able to to IT services. Once processes have been automated, it also
press the buttons themselves. It is the responsibility of the IT becomes easier to create a life cycle for applications. An
department to respond to the above by providing concrete application is always in the cloud environment that is most
services that make this possible on the basis of clear SLAs. appropriate for it at that point in time. As a result, greater cost
efficiency can be achieved for each of the applications.

2. Make sure that collaboration with the IT

team is optimised.
When wanting to supply services, it is no longer practical to have
In this way, a service-oriented approach, combined with
reliable collaboration in IT teams, can accelerate innovation in
a number of different, separate IT teams working on applications. an organisation and ensure that the IT department becomes
This results in barriers and power struggles between individual the department of “yes” and is regarded as a credible business
teams. With the above in mind, it is important that the partner who is in control.
environment offered by the IT department also ensures that a
transparent overview is maintained, because of which teams are
aware of each other's activities and more synergy is achieved.

“The IT department must become a beacon of innovation and a

­ chieve the
balance required between current micro projects and a macro overview of IT.”

Bertus Doppenberg, Service Delivery Director, Proact

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 Guide: The changing role of the IT manager

CHAPTER 8
From cost centre to business partner
¢¢As an IT manager, you can often feel like you are doing Change the 80/20
all you can to serve the business in the best possible One of the main goals will be to turn the 80/20 rule around.
way, while at the same you are having to deal with a This rule says an IT department spends 80% of its time on
thousand things thanks to an IT infrastructure that is keeping the lights on and 20% on innovation. Every step that
ever increasing in complexity. Despite all your efforts, is taken to lower the 80% and increase the 20%, is beneficial
the IT department is still regarded as a cost centre. for innovation and competiveness. A prerequisite is that you
know where you are now. Start determining your maturity with
What can you as an IT manager do to reduce the negative regard to IT, security, compliancy and risk and create a plan for
impact of this daily struggle and start finding ways to end it? tomorrow, which included cloud technology. Ensure you pick
the right cloud solution for the right workload, be it on-premise,
Be curious in a public, hybrid or private cloud. This will definitely help
First of all, it helps to be curious. Talk to the business, talk you sleep better at night and will enable you to become the
to colleagues, talk to analysts and talk to vendors about this business partner you want to be.
struggle and challenge them with the answers you have in
mind. It is very important to understand what is happening. Find the right partner
Next, it is wise to be bold. Looking at the huge impact of new Realising that your IT department needs to transform and
technologies on business models, choices have to be made. understanding how to do this can be a huge challenge.
This does not necessarily require steps in the dark. Consider With the help of the right partners and with the right tools and
asking a trusted advisor with the right methodologies and methodologies, this process can be supported in such a way
approach to determine how to enter the future. This advisor that procedures, goals and milestones are clear. Proact has
can also help you prepare in making the right choices. helped many customers with this transformation and offers the
skills and expertise to help IT departments transform into their
new role.

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 Guide: The changing role of the IT manager

CHAPTER 9
Nine recommendations for the IT manager
¢¢Whatever your career aspirations are, there are a number of actions you can consider taking to develop your career.

1. Explore and stretch yourself. Actively seek out opportunities to get involved in IT and business decisions that
create value.

2. Plan your career. Write a personal development plan. The practice of writing and discussing your plan with a mentor
or coach will help to develop your thinking and open up opportunities.

3. Transform your company and IT department. Be revolutionary. Grasp the position to make a difference
for you and your organisation. Make sure you get the support from the business stakeholders within the company. If they
are not open to change at all, explore further and go somewhere you can make a mark and develop yourself.

4. Focus on (soft-)skills development. Emphasise communication, leadership, influencing, networking and

empathy. In today's and tomorrow's world, it is very important to be able to handle information from multiple sources,
advance professional relationships across different organisations, contribute innovatively to organisational practices, and
communicate with understanding across social, cultural, economic and scientific disciplines.

5. Add value to business innovation. Develop your business skills and understand the needs of other
departments within your business in order to bring them the IT innovation in an agile way.

6. Don’t get lost in technical details. Make sure that this is covered in the IT team by the people who are
responsible for this – so delegate this. You as an IT manager need to be able to translate and connect this to business
goals and outcomes.

7. Manage people, instead of IT. The IT manager has to manage people instead of IT with a basic understanding
of IT architectures. Create a culture that is open to creativity and business innovation with a healthy balance between
explore and exploit.

8. Leave your desk, interact with other departments. Get to know the divisions and other departments.
Work out how you can proactively help them deliver their objectives and become the department of “yes” that follows the
rhythm of the business.

9. Stay in dialogue with the board - how can IT enable business agility? Identify what helps
them and align your KPIs with the goals of the business so you become the credible business partner that is in control.
Pitch your ideas or initiatives in a crisp and clear way. If you cannot explain an idea in five sentences when taking the
elevator a few floors up, your idea will never reach the top floor.

Proact is Europe’s leading independent data centre and cloud services provider. By delivering flexible, accessible and secure IT solutions and services, we help companies and
authorities reduce risk and costs, whilst increasing agility, productivity and efficiency.

We’ve completed over 5,000 successful projects around the world, have more than 3,500 customers and currently manage in excess of 100 petabytes of information in the
cloud. We employ over 800 people in 15 countries across Europe and North America. Founded in 1994, our parent company, Proact IT Group AB (publ), was listed on Nasdaq
Stockholm in 1999 (under the symbol PACT).

Follow us on: Twittter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook Proact IT Group AB Telephone 46 8 410 666 00
Box 1205 E-mail [email protected]
SE-164 28 Kista Website www.proact.eu

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