IT Operations · 11 min read

How to Lead Modern IT Support & Operations

Lessons I've learned building teams, processes and trust

When people think about IT support, they picture a team that resets passwords, fixes laptops and reacts when something breaks. After more than a decade across IT support, enterprise operations, Microsoft technologies, cloud services and customer-facing technical roles, I've learned that this couldn't be further from reality.

I've built support organisations from the ground up, supported thousands of enterprise users, improved operational processes, led critical incidents and helped organisations modernise their IT environments. Through all of it, one thing stayed constant: technology matters, people matter more. This is how I believe modern IT support and IT operations should be led.

IT support exists to enable the business

The biggest mistake I still see is treating IT as a cost centre instead of a business enabler. Every department depends on technology. Sales can't sell. Finance can't close the books. Operations can't operate. Leadership can't make informed decisions. If IT isn't delivering, the business isn't moving.

That reframes the daily question. Instead of "How quickly can we close this ticket?" I prefer "How quickly can we get this person productive again?" That subtle difference changes how an entire support organisation thinks — and it's the same shift behind scaling proactive IT support.

Eight principles that hold up under pressure

Build a culture of ownership

The best team I've worked with shared one characteristic: nobody ever said "that's not my ticket". Ownership is contagious. Whether I was supporting enterprise customers, handling escalations or building a support function, I believed the person receiving the issue owns the customer experience until someone else clearly takes responsibility.

Users shouldn't have to understand internal departments. They should simply know someone is taking care of them. Ownership creates trust, trust creates confidence, and confidence is what customers actually remember.

Processes should help people — not slow them down

I'm a strong believer in ITIL principles, but I've also seen organisations become dependent on process for its own sake. A process that slows people down isn't helping anyone. Good process provides consistency without removing flexibility. Most of the improvements I've been part of came from simplifying workflows, not adding documents:

• Better escalation paths
• Standard troubleshooting guides
• Improved knowledge sharing
• Clear ownership during incidents
• Automated repetitive tasks

Simple processes are usually the ones people actually follow.

Documentation is an investment

Every undocumented solution creates future work. Every documented solution saves future time. Whenever I solve a recurring problem I ask one question: "How do we make sure nobody has to solve this manually again?" Sometimes the answer is documentation, sometimes automation, sometimes fixing the environment itself.

Documentation shouldn't exist because management asks for it. It should exist because future engineers deserve a better starting point.

Automation should remove frustration

If engineers perform the same manual task every week, automation deserves a seat at the table. Across my career I've written scripts, standardised procedures and built internal tools to cut repetitive work and improve consistency — the same thinking that drove the 500-user Intune migration.

Automation isn't about replacing engineers. It's about letting engineers spend their expertise where it matters most: new problems, better systems, happier customers.

AI is changing IT support — but not the way many think

AI is transforming IT faster than almost any technology I've seen. People keep asking whether it will replace IT support. I don't believe it will. It will replace repetitive work — and that's an important difference. Today AI already helps with:

But AI still depends on experienced people making good decisions. Technology provides answers; experience provides judgment. The best IT organisations combine both — more on that in how AI is transforming IT support and why AI amplifies great IT leaders.

Measure what actually matters

Too many support teams become obsessed with tickets closed, average handling time and response time. Those metrics have value, but they don't tell the full story. I prefer asking:

Success isn't just operational efficiency. It's customer confidence.

Leadership is about removing obstacles

Leaders shouldn't become bottlenecks — their job is to remove them. That means giving engineers the tools they need, creating clear priorities, supporting learning, encouraging collaboration, helping people make decisions and building an environment where asking questions is welcomed. The best leaders don't create dependence; they create capability.

Communication is a technical skill

Continuous improvement never stops

The biggest operational improvements I've seen rarely came from expensive technology. They came from asking simple questions every week. Over time, small improvements become transformational.

My leadership philosophy

Technology changes every year. Leadership doesn't. Whether supporting a growing organisation, working with enterprise customers, implementing Microsoft technologies or improving operational processes, the principles stay the same: put people first, create ownership, build simple processes, invest in documentation, automate repetitive work, use AI wisely, measure outcomes instead of activity, and never stop improving.

Because the goal of IT support isn't to become invisible. It's to become trusted. And when people trust IT, they trust the business behind it. That's what great IT operations looks like to me.

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About the author

Davor Smajilovic is an IT professional specialising in Microsoft 365, cloud technologies, IT operations, customer success and enterprise support. He has helped build support organisations, improve operational excellence and modernise IT environments. See about Davor, skills, experience, or get in touch. More field notes on the blog.