My IT person is miles ahead of me, but is he far enough ahead to look after me?

This is a real problem faced by many business owners. If you're paying others to look after IT in your business (which is often absolutely necessary for non-IT business people), there is always a looming risk involved. In short – how do you know that they're actually looking after you?

Here is a scary admission. I've been an in-house IT guy, responsible for the upkeep of 75 mission-critical computers in a business where management lacked strategic IT capability. Looking back, I was resistant to introducing change because I knew that change was going to push me out of my comfortable complacency. I looked after this organisation as a young contractor and then as an internal IT manager. I now know I was only part of the required solution.

I was a technician and a technical manager of small projects. I was very good at my job and so it was assumed that I was a great all-rounder, and could plan the future strategy as well. Fifteen years later, with a wealth of broad IT and business experience under my belt, I now know that I stood in the way of progress in that role. Fortunately, I went on to work in much larger organisations with strategic IT leadership above me, and a team of capable technicians below me.

I would go so far as to say that when the person setting the strategy is the same person who has to deliver the technology and implement it, you already have a serious problem. At the core of this problem is the fact that there is no accountability. You will either have a good strategist who fails to deliver, or a good technologist who stays busy for lack of a strategy. Complex systems require a team approach. And it takes technological leadership to encourage a team of people to design a future-proofing technology plan, leap into the unknown, discover the paths and technologies, do the learning and deliver the solution in a cost-effective, timely and useful way.

Without the leaders striving for better solutions and laying down objectives, plans and measures, and keeping score, the technical team quickly retreats to maintenance mode. It takes an extraordinary individual to play this scenario out solo and provide the solutions to your business needs.

A real danger sign from my perspective is when the person advising on strategy is keen to pick up tools and fix a fault. This indicates a technical manager who can't delegate because he believes others will only let them down. We know from the E-Myth that this is neither scalable or strategic.

So, even if you have your own IT team, it is a good idea to find a strategic industry leader to partner with. This ensures that your team is getting the input it requires to keep the technology you invest in at the leading edge – driving productivity and growth for your business.

David Markus is the founder of Combo - the IT services company that ensures IT is never an impediment to growth.