Technology Acumen for Business Leaders – What You Need to Know

As technology continues to push business forward, the need for business leaders to have a requisite amount of technical knowledge has exploded. All this when it seems there’s barely enough time for business leaders to perform their own job much less learn a field as complex as IT. And that doesn’t even take into consideration that technology changes at an incredible pace. Yet, more and more, business leaders are overseeing IT – and being held accountable for it. So how can business leaders balance the requirements of their jobs with the technical knowledge needed to successfully manage IT? The good news is it may not be as hard as it seems.

The first thing to know is that you don’t really need to know all that much about IT; rather, you need to understand the underlying concepts behind a handful of current technologies. Why? Because if you understand the concepts behind the right technologies, you’ll have a framework for understanding what the IT team is saying. Once you have that, you’ll be able to:

1.      Ask the right questions

2.      Identify the risks of technical projects

3.      Evaluate the value different IT solutions can provide

If you can do these three things, you can make reasonable decisions on IT.  So what technologies should you familiarize yourself with?

Here’s a list I believe would position business leaders to be successful in most IT conversations*:

The Cloud

• What is it?
• What’s the value?
• What are the risks/limitations?

 Virtualization

• What is it?
• What’s the value?
• What are the risks/limitations?

 Software

• How does software create business value?
• What is the difference between custom and off-the-shelf software?
• What is a hosted application and how is it different from applications that run onsite? 

Internet/connectivity

• What is the difference between fiber, cable, and copper?
• What are the different connectivity technologies (VPN, MPLS, point-to-point, etc.)
• What is an upload/download speed?

 It might seem like a lot at first, but keep in mind you have time. Just committing to learning this stuff is a step in the right direction. Remember that you don’t need to know the technical details of how the various technologies work – that’s what you have an IT team for. What you do need to know is how the various technologies work together to provide business value. 

There’s no question you’ll need to supplement this information with specifics on your company, staff, or initiatives, from time to time, but if you can answer the questions above, you’ll have a strong framework for communicating effectively with your IT group, and ultimately, making good IT decisions.

*This list is an attempt to drill down to the fewest number of technologies a non-technical manager would need to know to interact with the IT team, and IT in general, effectively. As such, I’ve omitted some important technologies such as phone systems, business intelligence, data and backup, and many more. If you feel I’ve missed a critical technology, please comment below – I’d love to hear your thoughts.