The cloud has changed everything – from the way companies access their critical documents and information, to the way consumers access and store media. There aren’t many aspects of daily life that haven’t been changed for the better by the easy availability of cloud computing.
One position, however, that was widely predicted to be eliminated because of the cloud was that of the IT manager. Pundits everywhere felt that the IT manager would go the way of the dinosaurs or cassette tapes. The cloud would make it super-easy for businesses to have a low-level person click a few buttons and have their company’s IT run like clockwork.
Well, contrary to popular belief, the IT department and its employees have not died out. In reality, they’ve evolved. Cloud computing has definitely made managing a company’s IT much easier, but it hasn’t eliminated the need to have active, connected and involved IT managers – nor has it made the IT workers themselves obsolete.
Because the cloud has changed the way modern IT is run, companies have been able to free up time for their IT staff to work on more critical activities, often related directly to the success of the company itself. In addition to ensuring that their cloud-based business applications are running correctly – from office functions to storage and beyond – those in IT have developed new skills and areas of expertise that match the need of today’s businesses.
So what do you need to augment your skill-set with if you’re in IT? Here’s a few things we’ve seen become more important in recent years:
Working with data has become a critical skill for those in IT. Companies today are collecting information on everything from consumer behavior to successful sales approaches and working to analyze it, so that through this analysis they can find patterns and ways to improve their business operations and sales successes. Today’s IT employees are tasked with this more and more.
The ability to negotiate and manage partner or vendor relationships is becoming increasingly valuable as well. As businesses move functions to the cloud, they need someone who can evaluate various vendor possibilities and make sure their company is getting the best deal. These traditional business skills and any experience in this area will be invaluable.
Stemming directly from the last skill is the ability for today’s IT manager to develop and map out a plan for his/her organization. The IT team needs to be able to take a high-level view of what the business is trying to accomplish – and what IT can do to help them achieve those goals. Experience with strategic planning and organization is a must.
Software development skills are another item that companies are looking for. Software is increasingly being used in every aspect of a business and whether it’s creating something to pull data from a database or helping in app development, this is a skill that’s necessary.
An understanding of security and what needs to be done to protect your company, its information and its customers. This may take the form of developing and implementing security initiatives yourself, or it may mean selecting the correct vendor(s). Either way, one only need to look at the breaches in the headlines every day to understand how important this is.
Here at the Markley Group, we pride ourselves on helping our customers take advantage of the cloud’s benefits – while making a point of making it easy for them to do so. If you’d like to learn more about Markley Cloud Services and what we can do for you, check us out here or drop us a line at sales@markleycloud.com.
