Director of Client Services Jennifer Huftalen answers questions about the IT Business Manager role at Community IT
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The takeaways:
- The IT Business Manager is a unique role in the sector and at MSPs serving nonprofits. A combination of technology expertise and a business background make Community IT’s IT Business Managers ideally suited to help our clients undertake strategic planning and management of their IT.
- Similar to a vCIO, like an account manager but so much more, the IT Business Managers work with the primary contact to manage and understand the costs and strategies of IT investment in addition to supporting the help desk team provide day-to-day support.
- The IT Business Manager comes in at onboarding and helps analyze the initial assessment. IT Business Managers at Community IT can spot trends, identify duplicate tools, extra licenses, help the client create an accurate inventory of devices and licenses, and basically work in manageable stages to move the nonprofits’ IT to a “steady state” of well-managed IT.
- Community IT considers our clients our partners in managing IT. Nonprofits know what their ideal IT would look like. We find that a part time vCIO who parachutes in monthly or quarterly can’t develop the deep understanding of that client’s needs and pain points and help them invest wisely and manage change. The IT Business Manager at Community IT monitors trends in help desk tickets and identifies ways technology can make the nonprofit more efficient and more secure. Often they can find ways to save money on IT, help manage projects over time to get it all done, and always use IT funding in the most valuable ways possible. And the IT Business Manager documents everything, so you can ask any questions and understand how your processes work and what IT you are using.
- The IT Business Manager has a long term relationship with your organization and can develop 3-5 year planning in conjunction with your executive team that can be used for grant applications and funding support. For just one example, check out our case study on how an adult charter school in DC was able to implement a 4 year plan in 3 months to move all their students to remote learning in 2020.
- Using Community IT and having access to an IT Business Manager solves the nonprofit problem of trying to hire for this leadership position and find people with a technical AND business background and be able to retain these unique people. And the IT Business Manager at Community IT has the entire team as a resource and their experience at other clients, so you get the benefit of that network of information and expertise.
Navigating the complexities of IT management doesn’t have to be a solo journey for nonprofit leaders. By bridging the gap between high-level strategy and daily operations, the IT Business Manager ensures your technology is an asset rather than a cost. At Community IT, we believe the strongest solutions come from this kind of deep, human-centered partnership. To learn more about how our unique approach to IT management supports long-term mission success, we invite you to listen to our podcast episode or reach out to start a conversation today.
Presenters
Jenny Huftalen has been providing Account Management services for Community IT’s partner organizations since 2007. Now as Director of Client Services, she is responsible for ensuring those partner organizations are receiving the right combination of IT support services that meet their organizational needs and goals.
Before joining Community IT, Jenny worked in a similar role for a best practice healthcare research and consulting firm. Jenny enjoys Community IT’s commitment to serving progressive organizations that are devoted to making a positive impact on their communities and the world at large. She earned a BA in political science from Union College, with minors in economics and history. She was happy to answer what is an IT Business Manager at Community IT, explaining the essentials of this unique and crucial role.
Carolyn Woodard is currently head of Marketing and Outreach at Community IT Innovators. She has served many roles at Community IT, from client to project manager to marketing. With over twenty years of experience in the nonprofit world, including as a nonprofit technology project manager and Director of IT at both large and small organizations, Carolyn knows the frustrations and delights of working with technology professionals, accidental techies, executives, and staff to deliver your organization’s mission and keep your IT infrastructure operating. She has a master’s degree in Nonprofit Management from Johns Hopkins University and received her undergraduate degree in English Literature from Williams College.
She was delighted to have this podcast conversation with Jenny to learn what an IT Business Manager does and what role they play on the client services team.
Ready to get strategic about your IT?
Community IT has been serving nonprofits exclusively for twenty years. We offer Managed IT support services for nonprofits that want to outsource all or part of their IT support and hosted services. For a fixed monthly fee, we provide unlimited remote and on-site help desk support, proactive network management, and ongoing IT planning from a dedicated team of experts in nonprofit-focused IT. And our clients benefit from our IT Business Managers team who will work with you to plan your IT investments and technology roadmap if you don’t have an in-house IT Director.
We constantly research and evaluate new technology to ensure that you get cutting-edge solutions that are tailored to your organization, using standard industry tech tools that don’t lock you into a single vendor or consultant. And we don’t treat any aspect of nonprofit IT as if it is too complicated for you to understand. You shouldn’t have to manage your MSP. You want a partner who understands nonprofits, and a client team that will help you with proactive strategic planning.
We think your IT vendor should be able to explain everything without jargon or lingo. If you can’t understand your IT management strategy to your own satisfaction, keep asking your questions until you find an outsourced IT provider who will partner with you for well-managed IT.
More on our Managed Services here. More resources on Cybersecurity here.
If you’re ready to gain peace of mind about your IT support, let’s talk.
Transcript
Carolyn Woodard: Welcome everyone to the Community IT Innovators Technology Topics podcast. My name is Carolyn Woodard, your host. Today I am happy to be talking to my friend and colleague, Jenny Huftalen, who is our client services director. Jenny, do you want to introduce yourself?
Jenny Huftalen: Yes, thanks, Carolyn. I am Jenny Huftalen, the Director of Client Services at Community IT. I am really happy to be connecting with you today to talk about what I think is one of the more special components of our approach to managed services: our IT business management team.
Carolyn Woodard: Exactly. I wanted to talk to you today because we have this specific role that is quite unique. We named it the IT Business Manager, but often people aren’t sure exactly what that entails.
Can you talk a little bit about what they do and how you define the role?
Defining the IT Business Manager Role
Jenny Huftalen: It is a better question to ask what they do not do. It is a unique role. In the broader managed service provider landscape, it is most commonly aligned with a vCIO or virtual CIO. However, while a vCIO often comes in at a very high level for a short period to identify big problems and give recommendations, the IT Business Manager role is different.
The business and management parts of the title are intentional. They get in the trenches with our partners to understand their operations, from high-level problems down to the day-to-day factors that impact how people work and how decisions are made. They are skilled technicians with IT backgrounds, but they are also people-oriented. They develop critical relationships to understand motivations, budgetary constraints, and priorities. Over time, they help partners improve their operations through incremental improvements.
This role is critical for relationship building, but it also helps our service teams deliver effective support. In sales conversations, I often hear from organizations that are tired of managing their MSP. They feel they are always calling them back or that the provider doesn’t know who they are or how many computers they have. Without a person dedicated to those details, gaps can start to form. IT Business Managers make all other systems work well because they are proactive about making processes clear and available to the rest of our staff.
Carolyn Woodard: I want to clarify that when we say partners, we mean our clients—the nonprofit organizations we work with. We consider it a partnership and value these long-term relationships. I just wanted to clarify we are not referring to our vendors or consultants.
Jenny Huftalen: Thank you for clarifying that.
Navigating the Nonprofit IT Landscape and Vendor Management
It is also relevant to mention that part of what they do is assist with vendor management for our clients. Dealing with vendors can be a huge headache, as they do not always make it easy to navigate licensing or pricing changes. The IT Business Manager acts as an expert who can translate what is happening with vendors and communicate with them directly so the client does not have to get caught up in those details.
Carolyn Woodard: We often say in our webinars that it is our job to know the IT landscape for nonprofits. That is a major part of the IT Business Manager role. While an executive director or COO may be wonderful at managing operations, it is rare to find one who also knows every reputable IT company or which ones offer nonprofit discounts.
Years ago, many nonprofit tools were custom-built by small companies, which often led to being locked into a system that no one else could fix. We have seen a move toward standardized, reputable systems where many consultants can provide help. IT Business Managers keep an eye on the quality of these vendors and whether their customer service is declining. They act as a translator between a business problem and the IT tool needed to solve it.
Jenny Huftalen: Exactly. It is about taking it down to the basics. Often, when an IT Business Manager starts with a new organization, there has been a gap in effective operations because the organization grew quickly and lacked the time to ensure IT grew with them. They may lack documentation or even a basic count of how many devices they have or who has them.
Carolyn Woodard: Or even what licenses they are paying for.
Jenny Huftalen: Right. They often start by looking at invoices to see what platforms are in operation. They can guide you if you are paying for two different tools that do the same thing. We support nonprofits that are focused on their mission. While it is great to give staff the freedom to get the tools they need, having five different communication systems can become problematic due to cost and security issues.
For example, an IT Business Manager recently helped a community-based organization in New York that didn’t know how many devices they had. She developed a simple survey for staff to identify what equipment they had at home. From there, she could determine which devices were too old to be usable and which could be updated and stored. This allows clients to breathe a little easier knowing there aren’t unaccounted-for devices that could be lost or stolen. We start with those bare bones and build toward efficient operations that align with where the organization is going.
Carolyn Woodard: Because we only work with nonprofits, our IT Business Managers are used to the flexibility required. They know that a nonprofit might have the budget for a change immediately but may be able to plan for it in a future grant cycle.
They also keep an eye on help desk requests. If one specific laptop is generating 100% of the tickets, they see that pattern. While a general help desk might not put two and two together because they assist many clients, the IT Business Manager looks for those trends. They provide the strategic thinking and budgeting needed to handle costs and plan for the future.
Jenny Huftalen: That 100-foot view distinguishes the role from a typical account manager or sales representative. Those roles are often incentivized to sell products.
Our IT Business Managers are in the trenches, looking to streamline and strip down unnecessary costs so nonprofit dollars go toward the mission rather than just hitting a sales quota. This reflects who Community IT is as an organization. We attract talent that wants to see these missions be successful. They are creative about prioritizing needs based on when the next grant might come through.
Building Long-Term Strategic Partnerships and Continuity
Carolyn Woodard: It is also very difficult for nonprofits to hire IT directors who have both the technical background and the business experience to think strategically. When we find these people, they develop wonderful, long-term relationships.
I recall a story about an adult charter school in DC. They had been working with their IT Business Manager on a four-year strategic plan to support students remotely. When the pandemic hit and schools closed, they suddenly needed to make that plan happen in three months instead of four years. Because the relationship and the plan were already in place, the funder felt confident in providing the necessary support. They worked all summer to get a laptop to every student so they wouldn’t lose time on their degrees or GEDs. I don’t think they could have done it without that established relationship.
Jenny Huftalen: I had another organization refer to their IT Business Manager as the bat phone. Whether it is a question about something they saw in the news or how to handle AI, they can just pick up the phone and talk it through. That person takes ownership of making sure the client’s needs are met while navigating the various personalities and motivations within an organization. It is about guiding folks to solutions that move them forward.
Carolyn Woodard: Someone else called it IT management therapy. You can bounce ideas off them or vent about a tool that isn’t working. The manager can then troubleshoot whether the tool is truly past its usefulness or if the staff just needs better training on its features.
We also provide a continuity plan. If an IT director at a nonprofit retires, they often take a lot of institutional knowledge with them. Our CEO, Johan Hammerstrom, once compared it to a performer spinning plates on sticks; if that person leaves, no one else knows how to keep the plates spinning. We are the person holding those sticks and spinning those plates for you.
Jenny Huftalen: That is a great point. Organizations will always have people come and go. When things are documented and processes are established by a professional, it ensures that transitions in leadership don’t result in a loss of momentum. Our managers bring knowledge from working with several different clients, allowing them to share best practices and see similarities across the sector.
Carolyn Woodard: And they have a whole team behind them. They meet weekly with other IT Business Managers to share what is working and what isn’t. You get the value of that entire team’s experience.
Jenny Huftalen: We work with the big players in tech, and things change quickly. For example, when Microsoft changes its licensing, it means different things for different organizations. Rather than sending a blanket announcement, our IT Business Managers communicate directly with their clients to explain exactly how a change impacts their specific budget and structure. It combines industry standards with a bespoke approach.
Carolyn Woodard: It is great when a client asks what a change means and the manager can tell them they already handled the upgrade last year.
We are very proud of this team. For nonprofits, having a partner with both technical and business backgrounds is essential for long-term success.
Jenny Huftalen: It is a critical piece of our approach. Our staff are also just kind, capable people, and we are lucky to have them.
Carolyn Woodard: Well-managed IT is what we are after.
Thank you, Jenny, for sharing your time and explaining this role. I hope this gives our audience some ideas about the importance of combining business strategy with IT management.
Jenny Huftalen: All right, thank you, Carolyn.
Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash