IT is a knowledge economy, and its growth is highly dependent on people, skills, and expertise. As technology proliferates into every human space, the demand for advanced skills has skyrocketed. These skills are critical for better products, reliable services, and efficient operations.
Every enterprise — financial institutions, government agencies, hospitals, manufacturers, universities, and large corporates — has an in-house IT department (Enterprise IT). Headcount can range from a few dozen in small and medium enterprises to several thousand in very large ones. Their work underpins the phenomenal growth of businesses, smart devices, and digital interactions we experience today at work, in studies, and in daily life.
Enterprise IT is a technology powerhouse. Tech chiefs are often looking for deep specializations. But what exactly defines success, given the hefty responsibilities, impact, and financial resources involved?
Winning The Trust
As a seasoned tech chief in a large enterprise, I find it hard to define success because it varies across industries. Some businesses are judged by profit-and-loss, but this does not apply to governments, non-profits, or social enterprises where strict budget-and-expense guidelines prevail.
Is IT just a tool? Not exactly. It is an enabler, a catalyst, and a strategic partner to the business. After all, IT is a people’s business and rightfully, we should define success from the client’s perspective.
A successful Enterprise IT organization creates new business value, delivers a seamless user experience, and provides a secure and stable digital environment. Ultimately, it must earn the trust of leaders, the respect of the business, and the hearts of users.
A Formation To Win
Like English football (soccer), Enterprise IT is a team sport. It wins or loses as a team, and role diversity matters most. Every player on the field is recruited for their specialty, playing their best in their specific role to win the game.
In Enterprise IT, cybersecurity and identity management specialists are like goalkeepers and defenders: they anticipate risks and rigorously defend networks, systems, and privacy. On the goal-scoring side, experienced application developers and ERP specialists are the strikers, minimizing rework and delivering business-winning applications. In midfield, project managers play the pivotal role, dictating schedules and pace, integrating disparate processes and modular code across teams, and ensuring seamless user experiences.
We value technical brilliance, but also teamwork. A team of brilliant professionals may win matches, but without soft skills — collaboration, communication, and adaptability — they won’t win the league.
Collaboration
In soccer, we applaud skills like tackling, dribbling, and passing accuracy. But beneath these is the essence of soft skills. Players must understand space on the pitch, timing, movement, and adapt strategies to counter opponents. For example, every defender in the last line moves up together to set an offside trap. A moment later, strikers make instinctive runs to the near post or find space in the box for a header.
Technology is also collaborative by nature. Agile, DevOps, and Virtualization thrive on cross-functional expertise and a collaborative mindset.
In IT, individualism has no place. Seniority matters little; every role is crucial. A single service agent can make or break the user experience. We may have brilliant developers and AI experts, but clunky interfaces, illogical workflows, or sluggish system response can completely turn off users. Countless business disruptions arise from lapses in seemingly minor roles — code review, load simulation, and data cleansing. These may not demand high compensation, but failures in them can tarnish reputations and hurt the bottom line.
Communication
Communication remains the greatest challenge for many tech professionals, shaped by years of technical training and back-office work. But Enterprise IT has moved front and center, powering online banking, e-commerce, user analytics, and smart devices. No longer just behind the scenes, IT teams now meet business partners and users to gather requirements, balance usability with security, and design products — areas where many struggle to articulate in business terms.
Another challenge is addressing diverse audiences: corporate leaders, business managers, and user communities, most of whom care little about technical intricacies. If a scam alert, design change, or system upgrade isn’t explained clearly, the audience tunes out instantly. Communication should always consider purpose, intent, and business significance, connecting clearly to the audience’s domain.
Adaptive to Changes
Technology has a short lifespan; skills quickly become commodities, and niche roles fade fast. Coupled with corporations’ relentless pursuit of efficiency and cost control, should the IT workforce be worried?
Not necessarily. Every technological transition creates both new opportunities and cost pressures. With shifts to cloud services, Software-as-a-Service, virtualization, AI-assisted coding, and anomaly detection, we’ve seen new roles emerge like multi-cloud integration, identity management across heterogeneous systems, prompt engineering, compliance, and service-level management.
Jobs are reshaped, not lost. Knowledge evolves and rarely becomes obsolete. Adaptability allows stronger minds and quick learners to thrive in a fast-moving environment.
Conclusion
Enterprise IT shares much with a winning soccer team: brilliant individuals specializing in diverse roles, collaborating and covering for each other, adapting to changes, and communicating well with the business to sustain success. The only difference? The compensation doesn’t quite match that of the top footballers on the global stage!
Copyedit: ChatGPT-5