A director of technology provides leadership and vision for an organization's information technology group. The director is responsible for aligning an organization's technologies to the needs of the business. If gaps currently exist or are expected to exist based on strategic objectives, the director determines how to fill them. She also provides leadership for daily application and infrastructure technology operations and the implementation of new services. As a business leader, recruitment and development of departmental staff also falls under her responsibility.
Technology Leadership
The director provides management leadership for all technologies within an organization. She leads teams supporting desktop, file and print services for the end-user community as well as teams supporting network infrastructure and application development. Her leadership covers both daily operations of existing services and design of new services to meet the organization's objectives. It is the IT director's responsibility to ensure that designs meet the integrity guidelines for technological survivability. This means that the company's services should be able to survive any potential equipment failures, avoiding any negative impacts.
Relationship Management
The director of technology manages relationships inside and outside the organization. Internally, she works closely with business stakeholders to ensure their current and future planning requirements are effectively translated into technologies, standards and processes that will meet those requirements. Externally, she must ensure technology vendors meet key performance indicators and well-defined business metrics supported by IT services. Her ability to work collaboratively with all levels of an organization, from hands-on technicians to CEOs, establishes the IT department as a value-adding group within the organization.
IT Business Office Leadership
The director of technology leads the IT department as a business service. She provides leadership for a governance team designed to partner with the business community to support business-to-technology decision-making and prioritize the effective delivery of new services. She guides the development of IT standards and polices to support those services, and ensures that IT services are effectively audited to determine that existing practices meet compliance requirements. She also establishes and oversees the department budget, and provides guidance in technology purchasing and contracts.
Staff Management
A critical asset under the IT director's management is her staff. The IT director is a leader of technical managers and employees, whom she must work with to promote effective interaction and communication with other departments, building synergy within her own group and between groups, to fully utilize the technology that keeps the 21st century organization running effectively. She is responsible for recruiting IT managers, such as computer systems analysts, software developers, information security analysts, and computer support specialists that are fully knowledgeable about constantly changing technological developments. Like any other department head, she also coaches, mentors and develops staff members, and promotes accountability.
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Writer Bio
A careers content writer, Debra Kraft is a former English teacher whose 25-plus year corporate career includes training and mentoring. She holds a senior management position with a global automotive supplier and is a senior member of the American Society for Quality. Her areas of expertise include quality auditing, corporate compliance, Lean, ERP and IT business analysis.