Historically, good stewardship of your IT function was all about keeping things running. IT was primarily an engineering discipline, with a smattering of budget responsibility and team management thrown in.

However, as technology has increasingly become commoditized, those engineering skills have become marginalized. The new role of the IT leader is to define and deliver a technology strategy to improve and harmonize the production, managerial, and administrative functions of your firm.

Let's take a look at the issues and some solutions.

Why is IT such a hard department to manage?

Why is it so hard for managing partners to manage their IT departments? Every other department seems rational, aligned, and supportive. But IT can be mysterious, remote and awkward. Why is this?

What can management boards do to help IT come closer to the rest of the firm, and what can IT experts do to work in harmony with their colleagues?

The Issues

A lack of specialist knowledge

In general, leadership teams are confident that if push came to shove, they have the knowledge necessary to run most operations within the firm. However, with IT being such a specialized discipline, the confidence required for this assertive stance is lacking.

Managing from within

As a result, leadership in technology is unlikely to come from the usual management team and is more likely to be devolved to the IT team. Where IT is an internal function, the technical skills of a senior IT person whilst commanding the respect of the IT team may actually make them a poor candidate for leading the rest of the firm. Where IT is outsourced, this situation is compounded because any leadership that is on offer is also not impartial.

Resentment

What is more, many IT departments become increasingly entrenched and isolated from the rest of the firm. They can become resentful and feel under-appreciated, especially when in addition to not feeling “professionally qualified” compared to their line-of-business peers, their outlook is further hammered by feeling that they are a cost-centre nestling amongst high-flying fee earners.

A better way - three key ideas

So, given that IT leadership is specialized, how can these leaders succeed? They must inspire not just the IT team but the wider practice too. They must imbue in both audiences a sense of the worth of technology and their activities. Here are three key ideas.

1. Broadcast the right messages

Here are some messages that IT should be sharing with the wider firm:

1. Technology enables everyone to work smarter and be more effective, improving users’ day-to-day work experience and worth.

2. Automation and AI will lift the “drudge” load from users and allow them to be more intellectually stimulated and happier at work.

3. The firm can innovate and differentiate itself through appropriate use of IT, winning and keeping clients, which pays the bills!

4. Every penny spent on IT has an impact across the whole firm because it permeates every aspect of operations; only technology has such a universal impact.

2. Take pride in achievements

Too many IT departments are brow-beaten by users about issues and fail to celebrate achievements and progress. This isn’t to say IT leaders shouldn’t be criticised! But they must fight their corner, take criticism as constructive feedback, and use it to further shape service delivery to users.

3. Integrate with the rest of the firm

IT leaders should blend their technical know-how with a thorough appreciation of the commercial plans of the practice, and anticipate needs in terms of innovation, capacity, and capability.

IT leaders should spend the majority of their time with their “professional” peers. Doing this will not only educate them and bind them into the production side of the business, it will also allow them to spot opportunities to apply technology to problems and opportunities that they may never otherwise see.

Jeremy Hyman Associates is a leading independent technology advisory practice acting for PrimeGlobal and several member firms.