What Is IT Management and How Does It Help Businesses?

IT (information technology) management is a broad term for how teams or individuals within an organisation make information systems function effectively. Think of IT management as aligning technology and business operations to meet business objectives. Software development, consulting, software management, and business process outsourcing (BPO) are all part of the IT sector.

Depending on the nature and scope of a firm, IT management can include one or more of the following disciplines:  

• Business and IT alignment: Integrating business objectives with IT systems to improve an organisation’s outcomes 

• Business intelligence: Turning raw data about an organisation into meaningful information, in the form of charts, dashboards, reports, and tables 

• Web and application development: Building web-based software to enhance customer experience

• Virtualisation: Helping organisations achieve faster backup and recovery of data 

• Cloud computing: Helping organisations mobilise a remote workforce, store, and sync data, automate processes, and manage customer relationships  

• IT finance management: Calculating the cost of delivering IT services and monitoring how an organisation uses them 

• Project management: Planning, scheduling, and executing IT projects within an organisation 

• Sourcing: Finding IT systems that an organisation does not develop internally 

• IT systems management: Making sure IT systems consistently perform as expected

• IT infrastructure and technology management: Using all the tools used to operate IT within a company, including software and hardware  

I’ve been applying the new skills and knowledge I’ve gained from all my courses to my work and it’s helped me be a better IT professional.

— Munifa M., on completing the Google IT Support Professional Certificate

Why is IT management important? 

With businesses’ increasing reliance on technology, IT management is vitally important to an organisation's health and the ability to execute business strategies.

According to Statista, global spending on data migration, enterprise software, and other IT systems is set to reach 5.3 trillion USD in 2024 [1]. Gartner forecasts that India's IT expenditure will amount to 124.6 billion USD in 2024, marking a 10.7 percent increase from 2023 [2].

With a solid IT management team or process, businesses can reduce costs, improve data management, and facilitate employee collaboration, data transfer, and information storage and protection. 

Did you know? According to IBM, in 2024, the global average cost of a data breach rose to 4.88 million USD, a 10 percent increase from 2023 and the largest annual rise since the pandemic [3]. In addition to driving costs, breaches have extended recovery time to over 100 days [3].  

What can you count on from an IT management team?

Given the range of services IT management covers, an IT management team can include technologists with various skills in various roles. While organisations’ IT needs may differ from one to the next, below are some IT management roles and skills you may see across industries:  

Get started in IT management with Coursera

IT management is centered on enhancing the performance of information systems. Effective IT management involves understanding an organisation’s operating needs and sourcing the suitable hardware and software.

Online courses can be a great way to learn more about IT management and discover career opportunities. Explore the Google IT Support Professional Certificate or IBM Technical Support Professional Certificate to learn general IT skills. To learn industry-specific skills, explore Johns Hopkins University’s Healthcare IT Support Specialisation or IBM’s IT Fundamentals for Cybersecurity Specialisation.