Is your business or organization having trouble with their project management? Are office politics and other factors getting in the way of establishing the correct systems? Then it may be time to look into hiring external project management services in assisting with your desired goals.

One of the problems that businesses encounter when attempting to manage their own projects is that they are likely to use their existing preconceptions when making decisions, as oppose to evaluating the system from the very beginning.

Having external project services allows for an impartial and unbiased view of the proposed plans, while also being in the position to designate responsibility and tasks without the interference of internal sources or pressures.

Traits of a successful project manager

To be an effective project manager, there are a number of key skills that should be possessed. Being able to manage people, as well as time, are two of the critical requirements, while having adept communication skills is also a must have. Being able to motivate staff and monitor progress is an important aspect, while being able to have strong problem solving skills will allow you to best respond to the inevitable obstacles that will be encountered.

Designating responsibility

One of the key elements of an efficient management services company is being able to designate responsibility among a team and its members, allowing each person to know what their role is, and how to fulfill it accordingly.

Having a clear project goal

One of the first areas that project management services will research is the end purpose of the project, and having a clearly designated goal that they are trying to attain. If the goal is not easily identifiable, then it makes both the planning and execution phase much more problematic.

Formulating a schedule and plan

One of the main areas that management services covers is coming up with the plan and accompanying schedule of what is to be completed, and by what time. Having a stringent plan in place gives you the best chance of a project being completed on time and on budget. Many businesses make the mistake of not having a plan or schedule which is rigorous enough, the end result being that several different areas of the project may overrun, causing severe delays further down the line.

Benchmarks for success

In order for project management services to be deemed a success there need to be benchmarks and targets set throughout the project. Having these benchmarks in place before the work is started ensures that you are able to monitor your original schedule with where you are currently at, allowing you to measure performance levels effectively.

The final benchmark and goal should be an easily measurable and identifiable target, making it simple for both the company and the project management services provider to ensure they are both completely clear at what point the project is completed and finalized, eliminating any possible confusion.

Information technology management or IT management refers to the administration of the technology resources of an organization in accordance with its priorities and needs. The technology resources may comprise of computer hardware and software, networks, other data center facilities and the personnel who are in charge of maintaining the systems.

An Overview of IT Management

IT management is different from management information systems (MIS). Whereas MIS is related to automation of methods involved in human decision making process, IT management deals with activities associated with management of the IT facility which encompasses the information systems and personnel involved, through basic management functions such as budgeting, change management, network planning, etc.

IT management primarily focuses on creation of value through business strategies and aligning technology that plays a key role in improving an organization’s overall value chain. This is because value creation involves building networks of relationships between both external and internal networks.

In the past, the practice was to dedicate a set of resources to a particular computing technology, line of business or business application and managed in isolation. This created issues in optimization and reconfiguration of systems to support the actual demand and led to the creation of converged infrastructure environments and IT management as a specialized field of operation. IT management, thus, enables organizations to get their applications up and running faster, reducing maintenance requirements and improving manageability.

Disciplines in IT Management

The term ‘IT management’ encompasses the following disciplines:

Business-IT alignment: It refers to the effective use of IT in achieving business goals, typically competitiveness in the market place and better financial performance.
IT Governance: It is a subset of Corporate Governance and focuses on performance of IT systems and risk management.
IT Services Management: The intention of this process-based practice is alignment of IT services with the needs of the organization with more emphasis on customer benefits.
IT Financial Management: It is an IT service management process which aims to provide cost-effective and accurate information about IT resources and assets employed in IT services.
IT Configuration Management: It is a process that establishes and maintains a product’s consistency with respect to performance and physical and functional features throughout its life.

IT Management Outsourcing

Organizations depend on reliable communication and information in order to grow their businesses. Many organizations invest large amounts of money in setting up computer networks to increase productivity, provide a competitive advantage and create opportunity, but are most often saddled with higher expenses and management issues because of budget leaks, higher salaries, recurring demands for software and hardware upgrade, repair bills and downtime.

Organizations can outsource the task of IT management to professional companies that specialize in managing the IT departments for small and medium businesses. These companies provide the resources such as skilled and experienced manpower and tools required to manage the IT departments so that organizations can focus on their core activities. Other advantages of outsourcing include cost reduction, access to specialized resources, improved focus, workload reduction, better risk management, etc.

Summarizing, businesses need the support of IT to remain competitive in the market place. However, the decision as to whether IT management has to be carried out with in-house resources or outsourced is to be made on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis by small and medium organizations.