In my opinion, infrastructure managers are among the least appreciated top-tier management specialists within major corporations. They are crucial to the success of failure of a business, and businesses can make substantial improvements by including them in all aspects of business planning.
Our infrastructure manager is, in a lot of senses, the baseboard for our entire company. Without them, the entirety of our business operations crumbles to the ground. They make sure things run smoothly, managing essential components of operation, communications technology, and so many other things. You name it, and they’ve got it covered.
Why, then, do so many large companies encourage them to stay within the realm of IT, never adding their valuable input into planning for the business’ future?
Here are a few reasons your infrastructure manager should be included in your core management planning meetings.
- Their specialized knowledge is a crucial addition
Infrastructure managers understand how information flows through the company’s systems. If you are at a loss over the root of a problem, they may offer valuable insight into some potential tech-based solutions. In your business planning meetings, they can shine a light on some ways forward which may decrease the friction of new policies and help their implementation run more smoothly.
They also specialize in knowing how to keep internal and external operations of your company compatible. If you are considering new partners, a new tech initiative, or anything which could change the nature of communications within the company, the infrastructure manager is the most important person to consult in your core management team!
They are the ones who know if your communications system will be able to give you the outcome you want.
- They keep you grounded and your plans realistic
It’s no secret that core management meetings can often end with your heads in the clouds. From a business planning standpoint, it’s relatively easy to come up with theoretical ideas that sound great and will revolutionize your company.
However, it sometimes doesn’t work out the way you intend, because the infrastructure of your company simply can’t handle your crazy and complex plans.
Infrastructure managers can usually predict pretty well what plans are realistic in the framework of your company’s operational capabilities, and which ones will probably leave you in a budget hole with dampened spirits. However, too often their well of knowledge goes untapped because they are considered the “tech guys,” rather than valuable additions to your business planning.
- They have contact with employees at all levels
If you are working in tech management, it is impossible not to get to know the skills and needs of your employees at different tiers of the company. This is because, in the infrastructure management realm, if something early on down the line doesn’t work out, the tech manager is the first to see it manifest explicitly in some kind of malfunction.
All business activities depend on its infrastructure! Do you have any insights into why we don’t include tech managers into planning meetings? Do you think they shouldn’t be included? Comment with your opinions.
