As the lines between business and technology industries continue to blur, more and more information, computer and tech professionals are looking to business schools and MBA programs to achieve a leg up on the competition. An MBA with a focus on information technology (IT) is a great path to landing any number of tech-related jobs. One such position is that of the IT manager/director.
What Does an IT Manager/Director Do?
IT managers oversee information technology strategies by managing the IT staff of a company and researching and implementing technological strategy solutions. They are often responsible and accountable for ensuring that the company’s computer systems function within the limits of certain requirements, specifications, costs and timelines. An IT manager will also oversee the implementation and maintenance of a company’s computing needs.
Obviously, this position requires some tech savvy, but as you can see in the following listing of typical job responsibilities by Workable, IT managers are very clearly also business-minded folks:
- Manage information technology and computer systems
- Plan, organise, control and evaluate IT and electronic data operations
- Design, develop, implement and coordinate systems, policies and procedures
- Ensure security of data, network access and backup systems
- Act in alignment with user needs and system functionality to contribute to organizational policy
- Manage staff by recruiting, training and coaching employees, communicating job expectations and appraising their performance
- Identify problematic areas and implement strategic solutions in time
- Audit systems and assess their outcomes
- Preserve assets, information security and control structures
- Handle annual budget and ensure cost effectiveness
How Can an MBA Help Me Become an IT Manager?
An MBA is by no means a requirement for this career choice, but it can certainly help. Business school skills are becoming an essential part of the IT world as information tech continues to play a larger role in business functions.
John Reed, executive director at Robert Half Technology, expects it will become increasingly desirable for IT pros to earn an MBA.
“If someone is doing it now, they’re probably ahead of the game,” Reed told NetworkWorld. “Having an MBA isn’t mandatory, but it’s certainly advantageous, particularly if you’re looking to be in a leadership capacity. A candidate who brings an MBA to the table—many times that separates you from the pack.”
One of the largest sub-divisions of the start-up world is the tech start-up industry. An MBA with a background in IT who can provide a flexible skill set could be extremely valuable to any small business or team looking to grow.
Michael Morris doesn’t work for a small start-up—he’s an IT manager at a $5 billion tech company who leads a team of engineers responsible for data networks, storage area networks, IP telephony and security. After a decade of networking and communications experience, including four years as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army, he decided to go back to business school and earn an MBA.
He told NetworkWorld:
“[The MBA] will open up doors in other parts of IT that my technology background can’t take me to,” he said. “The best thing the MBA gives me from a skills standpoint is the ability to really look at business decisions, quantify them from a financial perspective, apply certain principles and derive an ROI from any type of activity. That’s key, because there aren’t a lot of IT people who can really do that.”
What About an MS in IT or an MS in Information Management?
You may think of them as similar, but in fact these degrees are very, very different. Essentially, an MBA in IT is a business degree, focusing more on operations and management. An MS in IT is a technology-driven degree.
Meanwhile, an MS in IM focuses more on running information systems, software and hardware, while an MBA in information technology is a business degree grooming candidates to manage the people who are looking over those systems.
Got It. Any other Reasons Why Pursuing an MBA Is a Good Move for Me?
Thomas MacKay, the assistant director of IT at Christopher Newport University, believes that an MBA education provides communication skills and training in pragmatic, analytical thinking—all very important skills for tech executives to have. He outlined a 10-point argument in favor of earning an MBA to CIO. Here are a few examples:
It teaches you to think like a business person
An MBA teaches you to look at problems and opportunities holistically. It also provides analytical frameworks, such as risk assessments, cost-benefit analyses and strategic plans, that you can apply to any problem or opportunity you encounter, whether in or beyond IT. The business mindset that an MBA gives you becomes habit because you use those frameworks repeatedly in a rigorous academic environment and you see how they can be applied in a variety of situations from one course to another.
An MBA better prepares you to solve business problems
We’re in the process of implementing credit card processing on campus at Christopher Newport University. When we are discussing the impact credit card processing will have on the general ledger and the reconciliation process, I’m not lost. Because I studied accounting in business school, I can assist with technical and process automation solutions because I know what the university is trying to accomplish, what can be automated and what needs to be reviewed and audited. Thus, I’ve made meaningful contributions to this project.
You will communicate better with your business colleagues
Finally, the MBA experience will change the language you use in conversation with business people. Before I got my MBA I’d enter a conversation by asking, “How can we solve this problem with technology?” Now I start by saying, “How does it make sense to solve this problem?” because technology isn’t the solution to every problem.
Great! Which Schools Have the Best Programs for an MBA in IT Management?
There are plenty of great programs out there for prospective MBAs looking to break into the IT management field. CIO named the following schools the 10 most tech-centric MBA programs:
- Sloan School of Management
- Tepper School of Business
- McCombs School of Business
- Carlson School of Management
- Robert H. Smith School of Business
- The Wharton School
- Eller College of Management
- Leonard N. Stern School of Business
- Stanford Graduate School of Business
- J. Mack Robinson College of Business
For more information on mba career options, mba career paths, highest paying mba jobs, and entry level mba jobs, make sure to check out the other stories in our Hot MBA Jobs series: Product Manager, Logistician, and Operations Research Analyst.