I think I have some similar experience. The company I've joined was solving specifically this problem: non-IT company building in house after deal with 3rd party fell through. Some good experiences: 1) I was the first on the team as PM but also I could code. That meant that looking for development solutions it was easier to evaluate offers and advise CEO on budgets etc. 2) We practised GEMBAs - going to watch colleagues work. If your tech staff is willing to do that, it's really beneficial. You get the empathy for the users and collect feedback that otherwise SME wont provide (due to their limitations) 3) Allocate time and space for meetings between tech and business people - we practice weekly meetings where people come with requests. We have a chance to understand the demand (not just written task) and find the solution - be it new feature, workaround or existing feature not introduced to the person. 4) Lesson learned for me is that management style and structure for IT and non-IT part of business differs (at least in our case). IT staff is more self-reliant meaning that higher level of freedom should be allowed.

If you're interested to discuss more, happy to do so rimantas@kuodys.lt. Greetings from Europe.