This blog article explores the four areas where you will need to function optimally in a small IT shop. It is essential to mention that these are not the only skills, but they are definitely among the best that will be of great help for you.

• Data Analysis

If you work in an organization where you are the only IT professional, there is a good chance that you are an analyst, a trainer, and a database administrator. As a matter of fact, you can also take up some level of Excel training. You can develop your skills to become an expert in many areas. To gain more exposure to some of the best tools for data analysis, you might want to focus on technologies, such as Power BI, Python, and Tableau. Having expertise in these tools will enable you to automate data requests and reports, and you may also be able to equip your users to explore data on their own. If this is interesting for you, 2019 is a great year to consider this path. By the way, it can be useful to know that there is currently a high demand for the data professionals, and this demand is expected to grow by about 364,000 openings by 2020.

• Cybersecurity

Any organization and team, irrespective of its size, requires security. The number of offensive attacks is increasing, and there have been reports of hacking systems and attracting the users to ransom. To mitigate this, the companies are heavily investing in cybersecurity in today’s business world. As a matter of fact, the global spend on cybersecurity services and products are expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2021. The core goal of offensive attacks is to access information that the hackers can sell. Another goal is to cause harm to a business enterprise or an industry. This means you have to equip your team with the right tool to mitigate any attack. However, before you can achieve this, you need to develop your security skills. There are various ways you can enhance them. In fact, the number of security training available in the industry is limitless. However, as a small team, you may want to stick with the basics for the purpose of resources and time. Some vendors that you can explore include Microsoft and Cisco. You can consider some vendor-neutral credentials from CompTIA.

It is very critical to equip every employee in your organization with up-to-date information and security best practices in the industry. As an IT professional, you should be able to explain in detail to your team members how cybersecurity functions. As a result, it will be easy for everyone in the company to take steps to secure the network or handle the basics.

• Project Management

As mentioned earlier, as an IT professional, you are the whole team, including technicians and managers. Equipping yourself with project management skills will help you understand how you can successfully manage projects within timeline and budget. When you have a project management framework in place, you are sure that everything is within your control without anything falling through. Project management knowledge will help you in scheduling, task management, and critical thinking. All of them are an integral part of any successful organization, irrespective of its size. If your company has a small IT team, it means it will likely have a small project management unit. The implication of this is that the IT pro in the team will have to wear many hats.

You can easily develop your skills in project management and validate your experience with the relevant certification. You can consider the ITIL credential to validate your IT knowledge as well as your project management skills.

• Collaboration Technologies

The size of the team doesn’t matter as every organization uses some kind of collaboration technology. Whether it is Microsoft Team for chat or Cisco Call Center for phones, there is always a need for collaboration technology in your team. Hence, there is a need for someone to manage the systems. Since you are an IT specialist, there is the tendency that the responsibility will fall on you. This means you have to develop competence in at least the fundamentals of collaboration tools. No doubt, this will be a worthwhile venture.

Many employers across the industries look out for the qualified specialists with the ability to combine different online communication tools and utilize them appropriately to develop a stronger and deeper communication platform. If you have this ability, you are on your way to becoming a highly valuable IT pro in your organization. You will also be perceived as a contemporary IT expert who has the capacity to run any technologies and combine them to create an excellent working tool.

Conclusion

The skills highlighted above will definitely help you stand out from the crowd. Developing skills in data, security, or project management will widen the scope of your activity and the circle of people with whom you can effectively work and communicate. It also brings the potential to land a more lucrative job role.