Your Online IT Degree Teaches You Project Management

A business might purchase a new computer information system today and it is quite common that it will be obsolete in just a couple of years. This is because information technology (IT) is still advancing. So businesses upgrade their information systems to stay on top of the game and it is the project manager with an online IT degree responsible for keeping IT projects on schedule and within budget.

Project management is probably the most important skill you can develop. In a company, top-level management knows it needs information technology in order to operate on a daily basis. And, there are always requirements to change existing systems in order to meet new sales strategies. However, management wants to keep IT project development and implementation costs at a minimum and this is where your project management training through an online IT degree program comes into play.

IT project management requires a fundamental knowledge of business. Your online IT degree will train you in this field in the context of a business. No information system exists in an organization within a vacuum. All data within a database is owned by the various departments of an organization. For example, customer information is important to marketing departments. Accounts receivable information is important to company bookkeepers. Your online IT degree will expose you to the most common functional business departments because your job as a project manager will be implement IT projects in such a way as to minimize any adverse interruptions to operations.

Even though an IT project is outsourced, it still requires project management. In fact, when it is outsourced, it adds a new level of complexity to the entire project. Your online IT degree will teach you how to keep projects on track even though a lot of the work is managed externally and out of your direct control. Outsourcing IT projects is a way of life in the industry today because companies keep their IT department staffing as trim as possible. As an IT project manager, you may even have to coordinate an outsourced project with IT consultants as far away as India.

Project management skills are helpful when managing temporary IT labor. Oftentimes in a major IT project, management will staff IT departments with temporary consultants in hopes of getting the project implemented faster. In actuality, many consultants are brought on site having little knowledge of the business they are working for. Your online IT degree will educate you on the communication skills required for coordinating large IT project teams. In fact, the curriculum for online IT degrees usually includes a group project where you will get to try out your skills in coordinating a project given a diverse group of project team members.

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