Main Responsibilities and Required Skills for an Incident Manager
An Incident Manager is a professional who takes charge of mitigating and resolving critical incidents within an organization. In the world of IT and service management, an incident refers to any unexpected disruption or issue that impacts normal operations. The role of an Incident Manager is pivotal in minimizing downtime, restoring services, and maintaining a seamless workflow. In this blog post, we will delve into the primary responsibilities and the most in-demand hard and soft skills for Incident Managers.
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Main Responsibilities of an Incident Manager
The following list describes the typical responsibilities of an Incident Manager:
Address
Address incoming escalations from executives and route to the appropriate resources.
Analyze
Analyze Incident records to establish and report on trends which impact IT Service Availability.
Analyze troubles & implement improvements base on team learnings.
Animate
Animate the new Major Incident Management process and communication on the worldwide scope.
Answer
Answer incoming phone (problem Escalation) calls.
Ask
Ask probing questions to identify where the problem lies and who is needed to resolve.
Assess
Assess the appropriate priority for major incidents.
Assign
Assign tasks and track follow-up actions.
Assist with
Assist in incident-related documentation and reporting.
Assist Operation Managers with daily management tasks.
Assist with new customer onboarding to establish process.
Break
Break down the issues met by users into precise incidents.
Break problems into manageable pieces and follow an organized approach to resolve them.
Build
Build, release and configuration management of production systems.
Collaborate
Collaborate on and deliver Root Cause Message (RCM) documentation in under 10 business days.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to prevent incidents.
Collaborate with IT teams for system stability improvements.
Collaborate with multi-functional teams (AS, TAC, etc) to ensure unified messaging to customer.
Collaborate with peers and multi-functional teams.
Collaborate with technical teams to diagnose and resolve incidents.
Communicate
Communicate incident details and updates to relevant stakeholders.
Compile
Compile and deliver frequent, high-quality communication to internal and external.
Compile and deliver frequent, high-quality communication to internal and external stakeholders.
Conduct
Conduct lessons learned sessions after major incidents.
Conduct post-incident reviews to identify root causes and preventive measures.
Conduct QOS organisation on applications and services through the current ITIL process.
Conduct Salesforce / JIRA quality audits and Call Monitoring activities through monitoring tool.
Contribute to
Contribute to long term operational strategy and technical roadmaps.
Contribute to the continual improvement of the Incident Management process.
Contribute to the development of incident response strategies.
Coordinate
Coordinate and lead incident response efforts.
Create
Create reports, analyze and interpret data for tracking SLAs and internal OLAs.
Decide
Decide upon Critical Incident Management technical bridges participants.
Define
Define all the processes and responsibilities of APAC Incident Response team.
Define all the processes and responsibilities related to Cyber Security Incident management in APAC.
Define and maintain incident management metrics and KPIs.
Define and monitor onboarding new Support Analyst / Specialist team members.
Define, Execute and Report on Service Improvements on a quarterly basis.
Define, implement and monitor Support Analysts / Specialists team objectives.
Define KPI and metrics for business processes and methods for measuring and monitoring.
Define programs to deploy ITS Cyber Security crisis practices in the usages and behaviors.
Deliver
Deliver high quality results on time.
Describe
Describe the most significant contacts outside the regular work unit.
Detect
Detect incidents / problems using various monitoring tools.
Determine
Determine correct escalation path and ensure adequate support is provided in a timely manner.
Develop
Develop and deliver Post-Mortem reports for distribution to MS executive audience(s).
Develop and execute incident response playbooks.
Develop contingency plans and be ready with backup options when needed.
Develop, document, and adhere to processes to ensure consistent and scalable response operations.
Document
Document findings and coordinate with proper department for correcting hazards.
Document incident management processes and best practices.
Document steps and actions performed during the incident lifecycle.
Drive
Drive all problems towards root cause identification and permanent fix.
Drive cross-functional post-incident reviews and continual improvement updating playbooks.
Drive customer calls to facilitate the discussions & provide escalation management & guidance.
Drive product development from feature enhancements to new products in the GRC space.
Drive Training & Development.
Enforce
Enforce 'drop dead' time to prevent outage outside of change window.
Engage
Engage additional resources as needed.
Engage and collaborate closely with the Salesforce R&D team on escalated technical issues.
Engage with customers to clarify incident and business impact statements.
Ensure
Ensure all actions, steps are accurately recorded and the high quality of notifications are sen.
Ensure a permanent watch on major incidents. (.
Ensure close collaboration with colleagues in Problem Management.
Ensure compliance to global operational standards, procedures and best practices.
Ensure compliance with industry standards and regulations.
Ensure contractual service support requirements are understood and managed.
Ensure creation of a resolution plan for MI / P1 / P2 incidents.
Ensure effective and rapid response to Major Incidents (Crisis / P1 / P2).
Ensure incident data is accurately captured and documented in the incident recording tools.
Ensure incident team has an active voice and is driving the troubleshooting.
Ensure proper lifecycle transition from Incident to Problem Management processes.
Ensure proper life-cycle transition from the Incident to Problem Management processes.
Ensure Quality Control for Customer Support process.
Ensure quality control of incident tickets according to the points of improvement raised.
Ensure quality control on Problem / Incident activities.
Ensure suitable level of service personnel and activity during problem resolution at all locations.
Ensure that incident procedures are up-to-date, respected and understood.
Ensure that operational policies are followed.
Ensure that the process is understood and followed up and recommend areas for improvement.
Ensure the ITIL standards / processes are globally consistent & reflect local requirements.
Ensure the Knowledge Management System has current information for the application and Services.
Ensure the resolution of incidents in-line with customer SLA's.
Ensure timely escalation of high-impact incidents.
Establish
Establish and enforce incident management procedures.
Evaluate
Evaluate business impact and correctly classify the severity of the incident.
Evaluate recovery actions to ensure that a recovery plan exists or is being actively developed.
Evaluate the impact and cost of those incidents.
Explain
Explain complex situations to technical and non-technical audiences.
Extract
Extract information from multiple subject-matter experts.
Extract information from multiple subject-matter experts who may be under duress.
Facilitate
Facilitate Governance meetings with various partners (Help Desk, Network & Field Services).
Follow
Follow solutions outlined in the knowledge database.
Foster
Foster a culture of incident awareness and continuous improvement.
Generate
Generate support plans to resolve moderately complex service related problems.
Govern
Govern the incident management process and identify and report on violations.
Help
Help to define and meet customer agreements (SLO / SLA / commitments).
Identify
Identify and categorize incidents based on severity and impact.
Identify and enforce to cost reduction measures through continuous improvement and innovation.
Identify and learn from benchmark partners.
Identify appropriate timelines and targets for recovery actions, feedback and communications.
Identify infrastructure and application trends with recurring incidents.
Identify major incidents and escalate via the Incident Management (IM) Process.
Identify renewal risks and collaborate with internal teams to mitigate this risk.
Implement
Implement checks on the different steps of the incident management process.
Implement continuous improvement initiatives for incident management.
Incident
Incident data collection and metrics.
Innovate
Innovate and implement changes to our Atlassian infrastructure.
Inspire
Inspire trust and confidence in Salesforce when communicating with customers.
Lead
Lead and participate in post incident.
Lead collaboration of internal and external IT teams to recover services.
Lead problem management by collecting root cause / causal factor data.
Lead the ideation, technical development, and launch of innovative product features.
Liaise with
Liaise with external vendors and partners during incidents.
Maintain
Maintain a bias for action.
Maintain a log of incident details and resolutions.
Maintain poise, maturity, humility, professional conduct, presence, and appearance.
Maintain training material and provide training to end users.
Make
Make a difference in the lives of thousands of students as they explore educational opportunities.
Manage
Manage alerts raised by infrastructure elements working with our 3rd party vendor.
Manage all incidents through the incident management lifecycle.
Manage and deliver collaborative documentation.
Manage and develop the team that you lead.
Manage and prioritize multiple escalations occurring all at once.
Manage communication channels for incident reporting.
Manage complex and highly sensitive situations dealing with client's escalations.
Manage incident controls and track incidents in the Verifone VCS Production environment.
Manage initial Root Cause Message (RCM) translation.
Manage operations during scheduled shifts using on-hand tools and observations.
Manage service escalations from both internal and external teams.
Manage support tickets and drive remedial work to mitigate an incident.
Manage technical and management conference bridges during incidents.
Manage the technical and functional life cycle of Incidents and provide direction to the team.
Mentor
Mentor and coach Incident Team.
Monitor
Monitor incident response tools and technologies.
Monitor incident trends to identify recurring issues.
Monitor the effectiveness of error control and makes recommendations for improvements.
Monitor the tickets to ensure that the SLA's are respected.
Monitor the workload per Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams.
Oversee
Oversee and engage in global Major Incident resolution activities.
Own
Own and manage DR for IT Operations and procedures.
Own and update as required the Application Critical Incident processes.
Participate in
Participate in incident ticket reviews to provide ongoing feedback to the Incident Team.
Participate in on-call rotations.
Participate in Root Cause Analysis meetings.
Participate in tabletop exercises and simulations.
Participate in the development and delivery of regular service reviews.
Perform
Perform daily health checks (Network, servers & cloud platforms).
Perform Incident trend analysis and systemic Problem identification.
Perform technical research independently as well as a member of a team.
Perform the Problem Management process to include the creation of Problem Records.
Prepare
Prepare and maintain documentation, reports and provide follow-up status on identified tasks.
Prioritize
Prioritize major incidents and assign tasks to Service Support and Delivery resources as required.
Prioritize major incidents based on business impact to the client.
Prioritize incidents based on urgency and potential business impact.
Produce
Produce and Review Post Mortem Reports in a timely manner.
Produce incident management reports and management information.
Propose
Propose methods to mitigate the risk of recurrence of major incidents.
Provide
Provide accurate solutions to user problems to maximize product or system availability.
Provide direction and time management and keep the resolution effort on track and moving forward.
Provide guidance and leadership to less experienced engineers.
Provide guidance to the Incident Process Coordinators.
Provide incident-related updates to executive leadership.
Provide internal and external executive level updates to all partners.
Provide monthly Incident Management reports to demonstrate the effectiveness of the process.
Provide recommendations for process and technology enhancements.
Provide service availability and performance metrics to support reliable reporting.
Provide timely status updates during incident resolution.
Provide training in IT incident management to areas of IT that will benefit from it.
Record
Record information into the Incident tracking system (Salesforce / JIRA).
Record information into the Salesforce and JIRA (incident tracking) system.
Represent
Represent the first stage of escalation for Incidents.
Resolve
Resolve matters that have been escalated and provide approvals where required.
Respond to
Respond to clients, third party suppliers and users within SLA's.
Review
Review incident history to determine recurring faults.
Review new features so we have the operational knowledge to support at production cloud scale 24x7.
Review of incident data to ensure the completeness and quality of the information collected.
Review operational metrics and drive team performance.
Schedule
Schedule / lead meetings with the support team.
Set
Set and review team priorities daily.
Set clear incident resolution objectives (exit criteria) and timings.
Support
Support and backup other Incident Managers.
Support and coordination of major incidents process.
Support and participate in automation that bring value for our team and our customers.
Support the implementation of incident management software.
Take
Take command of incidents within shift and drive the resolution process with urgency.
Take ownership of all outages until service is recovered.
Track
Track process efficacy using established Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Train
Train and evaluate security team members in venues.
Train and mentor junior incident management staff.
Train and mentor staff on the incident response process.
Troubleshoot
Troubleshoot and resolve problems to satisfy requests.
Understand
Understand and clearly communicate the business impact of major incidents.
Understand and follows global standards, policies, and procedures.
Understand associated support teams.
Understand IT roles and responsibilities.
Understand that shift coverage will be required.
Understand the business priorities and can plan / prioritize the work based on those priorities.
Update
Update concerned parties with the progress being made at regular intervals (including resolution).
Update work orders and provides status information.
Use
Use and create dashboards and reporting to help improve the overall process.
Use established tools to contact engineering and leadership teams during incidents.
Use of scripting languages.
Use tools to remotely access customer equipment to diagnose and resolve customer problem.
Verify
Verify resolution of problem with the customer.
Work with
Work closely with Corporate Security and Corporate Crisis cell.
Work directly with customers as an escalation point to provide reassurance.
Work on complex problems where analysis of situations requires in-depth evaluation of factors.
Work under pressure to deliver agreed upon deadlines.
Work with operations and IT teams to perform incident root cause analysis.
Most In-demand Hard Skills
The following list describes the most required technical skills of an Incident Manager:
Proficiency in incident management tools and platforms.
Strong understanding of IT infrastructure and systems.
Knowledge of incident management frameworks (e.g., ITIL).
Experience with incident response and resolution processes.
Familiarity with IT service management concepts.
Expertise in diagnosing technical issues.
Ability to analyze incident data and trends.
Knowledge of cybersecurity and data protection.
Familiarity with monitoring and alerting tools.
Proficiency in incident communication tools.
Understanding of cloud computing technologies.
Knowledge of network protocols and troubleshooting.
Experience with root cause analysis techniques.
Proficiency in relevant scripting languages.
Understanding of change management processes.
Familiarity with software development methodologies.
Knowledge of disaster recovery and business continuity.
Experience with incident simulation and tabletop exercises.
Ability to interpret technical documentation.
Proficiency in using collaboration and documentation tools.
Most In-demand Soft Skills
The following list describes the most required soft skills of an Incident Manager:
Strong leadership and decision-making abilities.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
Effective problem-solving and critical thinking.
Ability to work well under pressure.
Strong organizational and time management skills.
Collaborative and team-oriented mindset.
Adaptability and flexibility in dynamic situations.
Empathy and understanding of user concerns.
Conflict resolution and negotiation skills.
Attention to detail and accuracy in documentation.
Conclusion
Incident Managers play a crucial role in maintaining the operational integrity of an organization by swiftly addressing disruptions and minimizing their impact. Through a combination of technical prowess and essential soft skills, they ensure that businesses can continue to function seamlessly even in the face of unexpected challenges. Whether it's coordinating responses, leading teams, or driving process improvements, Incident Managers are the linchpin in ensuring that businesses can swiftly recover from disruptions and continue to thrive.
