Is management of IT enterprise different from management of any

other enterprise? Assignment 1

Sheenu Gupta

Management in all business areas and organizational activities are the acts of getting
people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives efficiently and effectively.
(Source: Wikipedia)

The goal of business management is to create wealth for business owners by providing
value that consumers need. Long-term survival requires that businesses be managed in
a responsible and ethical manner by addressing environmental issues and employee
career goals. There is also the issue of complying with the law of the land.

Management of an enterprise mainly involves developing strategies for the following

functions:

• Operations management
• Human resource management
• Sales and customer relationship
• Financial management
• Marketing management
• Supporting functions like corporate marketing, procurement, legal & compliance,
housekeeping & administration, transportation etc.

At a broad level, in terms of functional building blocks, management of an IT enterprise

at holistic level is not different from other type of enterprises. However, at operational
level some of these functions differ from any other type of enterprises (such as
manufacturing).

Differences are explained below:

Service Delivery:

• Know how of client business: IT is a type of service industry hence it is

important to understand the business function of client organization to be able to
provide services effectively. Due to this requirement, building of functional as
well as technical competency is an important activity for the management.
• Client information protection is a key aspect of management.
• Project management is an important aspect of service delivery as timely
delivery of services is of utmost importance.
• Knowledge management is integral part of service delivery and management.

Human Resource Management

• Training and competency building is an important aspect and in that sense

creating a learning organization is must to keep competitive edge
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 • Capacity planning is primarily done in terms of human resource management
and secondary aspect is work space planning
• Retention of human resource is important to ensure smooth delivery of services
• Reward and recognition is a key part of human resource management

Sales and Customer Relationship

• Clients are managed as accounts. Clients and service providers prefer long
contracts.
• Small number of customer (clients) as against large numbers in other industries.
Customer focus becomes a key.

Risk Management

• Protection of intellectual property

• Information and data protection
• Network security

Finance: Hedging against foreign currency fluctuation as revenue for Indian IT

companies is mostly from overseas clients.

There are other aspects which make management of an IT enterprise different from
other enterprises:

Low entry barriers: Investment in skilled human resource and secured infrastructure
is the only requirement to setup an IT enterprise. These do not requirement large
capital and therefore entry barriers are low resulting in large number of companies and
stiff competition.

Process and compliance certifications: Clients perceive an IT service company’s

capabilities based on certifications it has acquired. Maintaining these certifications is an
integral part of managing an IT enterprise.

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