The components of a business break down into leadership, finance, legal, operations, customer interaction, human resources (HR), and information technology (IT). Leadership manages the overall goals and interests of the company as well overseeing general operations of other departments. Finance deals with the flow of money for the company including expenses, payroll, budgets, and trends. Legal focuses on all necessary contracts and rules the company has to follow as well as handling any lawsuits that arise, they protect the company’s interests and reputation in accordance with the law. Operations handles a wide variety of things from quality control to logistic problems, production, supply chains, and productivity. Operations ensures that the inner working of the company are running smoothly and efficiently. Customer interaction includes point of contact sales, customer service, and marketing. HR manages hiring and firing practices, staffing goals, and ensure all rules of the workplace and any worker protections are being adhered to. Lastly, IT handles the logistics and upkeep of the company’s hardware, software, networks, and computers to ensure all systems are maintained and protected from threats or leaks.

IT has a wide range of responsibilities and is required to communicate and collaborate with all of the other departments to ensure the systems each department uses. IT resolves any system or hardware problems both within the business and on the customers side of things as well as being responsible for keeping digital and technological assets safe and secure. Because of the ever-evolving nature of technology, an IT departments need to be flexible and responsive to problems arising and any digital vulnerabilities and threats. There isn’t a right way to organize an IT department, different businesses have different needs to be met, but a basic structure can be identified by three sections, information, technology, and security. Information is the section dedicated to internal systems and technology that assists with the everyday operations of other departments. This can include company networks, website designs and management, company provided devices, and accounts and permissions employees have to access the systems and information needed for their job. Technology deals with the progression of technology and the overarching infrastructure of technology a business uses. This section is in charge of the overview of systems and ensuring they align with the company’s goals and needs. Security ensures that all systems and technology used are safe from both external and internal threats, creates action lists and plans for what to do if a system is compromised, and handles upgrades and patches required as any vulnerabilities are identified.