A couple of years ago, a piece in the Wall Street Journal declared “It’s Time to Get Rid of the IT Department”. Challenging all known definitions, the author proposed the classic IT departments were “from a bygone era”, sowing the seeds of change in an operation that seemed to be at a stalemate.
And IT, from an organizational point of view, hasn’t changed much. But the article fails to convey the dramatic change in their services and responsibilities, especially in the last few years.
The always-growing importance of cybersecurity cannot be denied. The soft skills of personnel in direct contact with people are tested daily. And the business environment of today has been the hardest rock to climb: post-pandemic, remote work-forged teams have learned a lot.
And the idea of outsourcing IT teams through alternatives such as managed service providers has been gaining traction, especially in infrastructure, service desk, and provisioning. But maybe you only have seen IT from an “IT support” point of view. So, what’s the deal with IT departments? Why are they so important and how do they fit into your business needs?
Let’s get into it.
What is an IT department?
At its core, an IT department ensures that all the technology systems within a business run smoothly, securely, and efficiently. But in today’s ever-evolving digital landscape, IT teams have grown into strategic partners that help drive business goals, improve operational efficiency, and safeguard critical data.
The role of IT isn’t just about fixing what’s broken — it’s about building and maintaining the infrastructure that keeps a company’s information flowing. From managing networks and databases to implementing cybersecurity measures, the IT department handles everything from the hardware your business relies on to the complex software systems that keep it competitive.
In short, IT departments are business enablers. They ensure that employees have the tools and support they need to work productively, while also protecting the organization from growing digital threats. As technology continues to evolve, IT departments have become more central to business strategy, helping companies scale, innovate, and stay ahead of the curve.
Why do we need an IT department?
Far from just fixing broken computers or troubleshooting network issues, IT teams are now deeply involved in ensuring the seamless flow of information, safeguarding data, and maintaining the systems that drive efficiency.
Typically working under the umbrella of Operations, IT departments are tasked with managing everything from information security and infrastructure maintenance to programming and technical support. But their role doesn’t stop there. IT departments aren’t just service providers anymore—they are strategic partners in the business, enabling growth, innovation, and competitive advantage.
Common IT department structures
Each IT department structure is built differently to suit the needs of the organization. Whether the company prioritizes specialization, flexibility, or cost-effectiveness, the right structure helps manage responsibilities and maintain business continuity. Let’s explore how these structures are organized and what roles typically fit within them.
1. Functional Structure: Clear Specialization with a Defined Hierarchy
The functional structure is based on specialization, grouping team members according to their expertise and responsibilities. Each function within IT (e.g., network management, cybersecurity, technical support) operates in its own team, led by a manager or senior IT administrator. This structure is hierarchical and centralized, ensuring that every role has a clear place within the organizational chart.
Organizational Chart:
- Top Level: Chief Information Officer (CIO) or IT Director oversees the entire department.
- Second Level: Department heads or IT managers who are responsible for specific functions (e.g., Network Manager, Security Manager, Help Desk Manager).
- Third Level: IT specialists or technicians within each function (e.g., network engineers, security analysts, help desk technicians).
Roles and Elements:
- CIO or IT Director: Sets the overall IT strategy and ensures that each functional team aligns with business goals.
- IT Managers: Lead specific functions, coordinating teams and resources.
- Specialized Teams: Dedicated groups focusing on network management, security, software development, infrastructure, or user support.
How It’s Built:
- Team Segmentation: Each area of expertise (networks, security, etc.) operates separately under a manager, reporting to the CIO.
- Top-Down Communication: Decision-making flows from the top, with each function receiving direction from IT leadership.
Example: In a functional structure, the network management team might include a Network Manager, network administrators, and technicians responsible for maintaining connectivity and server integrity.
2. Independent Service Line Structure: Autonomy and Flexibility Across Teams
In the independent service line structure, each IT service line functions almost like an independent department, with its own governance and leadership. This structure is more decentralized, allowing different teams to operate autonomously based on their specific responsibilities.
Organizational Chart:
- Top Level: CIO or IT Director overseeing the broader IT strategy.
- Second Level: Independent service line leaders, such as a Cybersecurity Lead, Infrastructure Lead, and Software Development Lead, who each manage their respective teams.
- Third Level: Service-specific teams, with specialized roles in each independent line (e.g., cybersecurity analysts in the Cybersecurity service line, cloud architects in the Infrastructure service line).
Roles and Elements:
- Service Line Leaders: Heads of each IT service line who have full decision-making power within their team.
- Autonomous Teams: Each service line operates independently, managing resources, decisions, and projects without needing constant approval from higher management.
- Decentralized Management: Unlike the functional structure, service lines make their own decisions, promoting faster problem-solving and more flexibility.
How It’s Built:
- Independent Governance: Each service line has control over its operations and budgets, while still aligning with the overall IT strategy.
- Cross-Departmental Collaboration: Teams collaborate directly with other business units to support specific functions, making this structure more responsive to business needs.
Example: A company using an independent service line structure might have a Cybersecurity service line that works directly with the legal department to ensure compliance, while the Infrastructure service line works independently with vendors to maintain cloud systems.
3. Leveraged Structure: Combining Internal Teams with External Expertise
The leveraged structure blends internal IT teams with external service providers to fill gaps in expertise or resources. Internal teams manage core IT functions, while external providers (such as managed service providers or MSPs) take on specialized tasks, such as cybersecurity monitoring or cloud infrastructure management.
Organizational Chart:
- Top Level: CIO or IT Director who oversees both internal IT operations and manages the relationships with external providers.
- Second Level: Internal IT managers leading core functions (e.g., Network Manager, Help Desk Manager), alongside service-level managers responsible for managing external providers.
- External Providers: Managed service providers responsible for specific outsourced tasks, such as cybersecurity, cloud services, or advanced technical support.
Roles and Elements:
- Internal IT Managers: Lead in-house teams responsible for essential day-to-day functions.
- Service-Level Managers: Oversee the performance of external providers, ensuring SLAs are met.
- External Specialists: Experts from third-party providers who handle complex or resource-intensive tasks.
How It’s Built:
- Core Internal Teams: Internal IT staff focus on business-critical tasks, like supporting users or maintaining internal networks.
- Outsourced Expertise: External providers take on specialized roles such as cloud management, 24/7 security monitoring, or disaster recovery, ensuring the company doesn’t need to hire full-time staff for these functions.
Example: A mid-sized company might use a leveraged structure by maintaining an internal help desk team while outsourcing cybersecurity to an MSP that offers constant monitoring and threat protection.
4. Hybrid Structure: Full Integration of External and Internal Teams
The hybrid structure goes beyond the leveraged model by fully integrating external providers into the organization’s IT operations. External vendors manage entire IT service lines as if they were part of the internal team, working collaboratively to meet business goals.
Organizational Chart:
- Top Level: CIO or IT Director who integrates external teams into the company’s strategic IT planning.
- Second Level: A mix of internal IT managers and external service line leaders, depending on the structure of the hybrid model.
- Third Level: Both internal IT staff and external specialists work together under the same service lines (e.g., cloud service specialists from an external provider collaborating with internal infrastructure engineers).
Roles and Elements:
- Integrated Teams: External providers are no longer just third-party vendors—they are an integral part of the company’s IT operations, often working on-site or fully integrated into the company’s processes.
- Internal Managers: Oversee collaboration between external and internal teams, ensuring seamless cooperation and that all IT services align with business objectives.
- External Service Leaders: Lead outsourced IT lines (e.g., cloud infrastructure or security) while working in tandem with the in-house IT leadership.
How It’s Built:
- Collaboration at Every Level: External providers become a core part of the organization, attending meetings, following company protocols, and aligning with the business’s IT strategy.
- Ownership of IT Lines: External providers take full ownership of certain service lines, while internal teams manage other areas. This integration ensures expertise in critical areas without overburdening internal resources.
Example: A financial services company might use a hybrid structure, keeping an in-house team for day-to-day IT operations while outsourcing all cloud services and cybersecurity to external providers, who are embedded within the company’s processes.
The IT department's responsibilities
As we discussed earlier, the IT department handles way more than your malware-infested computer. Besides maintaining standards in critical areas and assuring business continuity, IT staff is the engine & transmission driving the efficiency of any organization that requires technology (nowadays, most of them). This includes managing hardware and software systems, investigating and resolving technical issues, and providing technical support to users.
The IT department’s responsibilities can be summarized in three broad groups:
Architecture
No computing device in an organization exists on its own. Networks, endpoints, and servers: all of them subsist on a complex mesh of layers, hardware, and protocols. That mesh is usually a blueprint (or a set of blueprints) that IT architecture is tasked to design.
Usually, a “strong” architecture is defined as a cohesive structure governing all areas of tech, from planning to acquiring, and finally to building and implementing systems.
IT professionals responsible for architecture exist all across the spectrum. Domain architects, for example, are experts in designing infrastructure, applications, and information exchange; while security architects develop protective barriers (physical or otherwise) so the entire organization can be shielded from malicious actors.
Governance
The enterprise world, like our society, needs rules & goals to maintain its sustenance and boundaries. Without a set of rules, there would be no control and no accountability. And with no control, issues would immediately arise. That's where governance comes in. The main purpose behind IT governance is to establish processes that manage IT resources transparently and efficiently, to help the entire organization to achieve its goals collectively.
IT governance can be broken into five domains, defined by the IT Governance Institute (a division of ISACA):
- Value delivery: To categorize and demonstrate the value of the IT department, often foreshadowed by not being directly aligned with the business goals. The lack of value delivery causes a “black hole” effect, where IT costs are perceived as lost.
- Strategic alignment: To support the business through TI and how the department objectives are aligned with the organization.
- Performance management: To track implementation, resource usage & service delivery, and maximize budget.
- Resource management: To optimize and monitor critical IT infrastructure (through asset management, for example) and to deal with third-party providers.
- Risk management: To assure operations continuity and information integrity through risk mitigation.
Functionality
Of course, the most common way in which we look at IT is in its functional responsibilities. IT support, help desk, network administration… the list goes on. From crimping an RJ45 connector into a cable to massive provisioning of devices, the scenarios that IT departments face almost always are operational in nature. Managing specific aspects of IT security, including network security and data security, is also a crucial part of their responsibilities.
IT department roles
The majority of roles inside a typical in-house IT department are defined by the size/scope of the organization, the priority when fulfilling the responsibilities mentioned above, and the frameworks adopted.
Nevertheless, there are roles that are broadly accepted as important or relevant to have in your organizational structure. One such role is the project manager, who oversees IT projects, ensures alignment with business objectives, and manages IT-related tasks and teams within the organization. This is especially true if following a functional model that requires a structured approach to fulfill operations and business functions.
CIO: Chief Information Officer
The CIO is the business leader behind and above the IT department, with the primary objective of translating business objectives and key stakeholder needs, sometimes across the organization, to the IT strategy. Consequently, the CIO is in charge of managing all organization-facing technology.
As a C-level manager, a CIO has several executive responsibilities, such as (among many others):
- Leading the IT team, in-house or external (through an MSP)
- Choosing information technology frameworks to apply and leverage, and create & implement IT policies
- Setting appropriate controls and budgets for all processes (infrastructure, cybersecurity, operations)
- Defining and overseeing accountability for all tech-related processes
- Overview of the recruitment for the IT department
The CIO should not be confused with the CTO (Chief Technology Officer), a similar C-level executive that usually deals with customer-facing technology.
Operations: the role of Sysadmin
Operations is a broad term that includes various positions that provide the functional responsibilities of the IT team. Most of these responsibilities include technical support, troubleshooting, installation & provisioning, and a ton of network tasks around all OSI layers.
Commonly called system administrators (or Sysadmin, for short), the professionals who deal with these issues are problem solvers in nature. Experts in multitasking, sysadmins must be proficient in computer science as well as other skills: hardware, software, networks (physical and virtual), databases, web, and even security.
Their level of specialization depends on the complexity of the system itself; small organizations may need a Jack-of-all-trades to deal with the day-to-day, while the enterprise world usually has teams of sysadmins dedicated to all areas.
Nevertheless, one thing is certain: almost all organizations require a sysadmin, in-house or otherwise.
Infrastructure
The infrastructure team is responsible for maintaining and managing the technology infrastructure (the hardware, software, and network that supports the delivery of services) of an organization. For that reason, the infrastructure roles are usually the most committed to the business goals, especially in organizations that produce or sell technology products; therefore, an infrastructure team can have goals set by the CIO and the CTO.
The main role of this team is to ensure that the systems supporting that tech is reliable, secure, and scalable. As such, infrastructure engineers are experts in installing and configuring servers, storage systems, network devices, and other technology components, as well as maintaining and updating existing systems.
Infosec
The information security (Infosec) team protects an organization's information assets and systems from unauthorized access, disruption, disclosure, or destruction at all costs. This involves implementing and maintaining a comprehensive set of IT security measures and controls to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. Infosec engineers, whether it's networks or device security, are the bouncers of this party; they know very well who can come in, and usually who needs to be stopped or kicked out.
Infosec is a broad field with close ties to security, therefore the team can be managed by other C-level executives as well, which may or may not be dependent on the CIO: the CSO (Chief Security Officer) & CISO (Chief Information Security Officer).
The Infosec team is tasked with conducting security assessments and audits, implementing and managing cybersecurity software, performing risk assessments, developing security policies and procedures, and responding to incidents.
Takeaways
In the natural growth process of companies, information technologies play a fundamental role. IT departments have changed, and with the addition of external teams capable of supplying technical and operational deficiencies, it is natural that they evolve towards new relationship structures and methods.
We hope this guide will serve as a starting point to better understand the inner workings of an IT team. We understand that some positions and responsibilities may have been left out. The field of information technology evolves every day, and the structures that support it are in constant mutation, according to the needs of each particular business.
