The unexpected IT leader

For the last year, Eric has been the Head of Finance for a mid-market company based in the Midlands. He regards his fastidious and highly organised nature as reasons for his success and hasn’t yet had a challenge he couldn’t overcome. Which is good news for Eric, because his latest role as Head of Finance includes managing a team of five, delivering monthly reports, ensuring in-comings and outgoings are processed accurately, forecasting and… IT.

Eric was more than a little surprised to learn that IT was his responsibility. He knew very little about the subject and wasn’t hugely motivated to learn more. Still, backing down from a challenge is not in Eric’s nature and as time passed he was sure he would learn enough about it to manage.

Twelve months in and Eric is sat at his desk, rocking back and forth as he watches the complaints about IT support roll in. End-user support has gone from amber to red in his reports. The software Marketing and Sales use is out of date and they keep downloading their own, introducing cyber security risks and setting his IT team off on another rant.

Not only that, but according to his IT Manager, they desperately need to do something important with their current infrastructure and judging by the words he kept repeating he knew it was important and needed his time and judgement to resolve…

What should Eric do next?

As companies grow IT often gets attached to another, bigger, department. And that can work – but not always. The unexpected IT leader faces a unique set of challenges. There comes a time when the specialist knowledge needed can surpass even the most capable leader from another department.

Are you Eric? Do you recognise the challenges he faces? If you do, why not call us to see how we can help you with advice, support, transformation, projects or simply helping you select the three most important things to do in the coming year.