If you are doing large batch operations, you should optimize the operation by figuring out ways to get rid of complex criteria and joins so that you are not taking wide sweeping locks on the table.

You should also be aware that IX locks can be shared with other IX locks. It is an indicator that there is an exclusive (X) lock at a lower level (page, row, range of rows, key). This is in case of lock escalation, it doesn't need to check every page, row, and key to see if there is a conflicting X lock somewhere on the table. It only needs to check if there is another IX lock on the table.