A couple of days ago I walked through 4 more broad IT Roles that were mentioned in a recent CIO Insight Magazine Article on growth within IT Departments. Today I will look at the next 4 in that list with my personal spin on why these roles both need and deserve to see a boost (and I will back track to one that I forgot to include).
Portfolio Management
When it comes to measuring the success of an IT Department and creating and defining the metrics and investment returns of Technology in an organization has always been a nebulous effort in the past. Post Recession, businesses are expecting to know that if $1 is invested that they will reap a positive ROI on that technology and managing the complete Portfolio of Technologies has become a full time job!
This discipline looks not just at the hardware and software but also oversees the project implementation and success, measures the completion of directives from Strategic Plans and overall guides a department and quantifies the informal IT efforts and ensures continued success.
Security
With the onslaught of hacker attacks lately that has brought down many notable large companies, Information Security is on EVERYONE’s mind. I have had more than one IT Manager contact me post LulzSec to inquire about what my organization can do for them. A solid security platform though just like a good lock will only keep out an honest thief!
Security MUST start at the end user. Always the weakest link in the Security Chain the end user is absolutely key to any implementation. Training, Education and Testing are the only way to ensure that the Back Door is protected! I am also seeing a massive shift for the role of IT Security to balance directly with the Physical Security with the digitization of CCTV and the storage requirements of that information. Areas of IT Security that I expect will continue to grow are:
- Data Loss Prevention – the monitoring of I/O traffic
- Firewalls and VPNs
- Content Monitoring and Security Management
- Anti-Virus
- Configuration Management and Encryption
- Authentication Management and Access Control
- Identity and Rights Management
- I also see a trend to more functional GRC tools (Governance, Risk and Compliance) across industries