Higher Education IT
Trends: 2016
Note: this is cross-posted at the Simon Fraser University site.
As part of my duties as President of CUCCIO I am expected to
give the President’s report to the Annual General Meeting. At the June meeting
my talk included some observations about trends and changes in higher education
IT I have seen in the past year. Several folks have asked me to share these ideas
so I wrote this blog post as a summary of the speech.
1.
Cloud
computing isn’t a big deal
Cloud computing is simply a fact
of life and we are dealing with it. Every organization has its own approaches
and strategies that suit the uniqueness of their institutions and legislative
domains. From Dalhousie University’s fascinating cloud first strategy to SFU’s
cloud consumer and provider strategy,
every university is dealing with it.
2.
Security
is compelling and demanding and ubiquitous
The recent ransomware attack at
the UofC has raised the profile of IT security in a jarring and shocking
manner. Not only was the university forced to pay an embarrassing ransom, but
more importantly, all their IT systems were shut down for 10 full days which
has an immeasurable fiscal impact. Universities can no longer hide behind the
veil of academic freedom to continue to justify a network security blanket that
resembles cheesecloth.
3.
IT
isn’t a cost, it’s an investment
Conversations with President’s,
Provosts, VPs of Finance, and Research VPs are reflecting a new perspective of
IT. In the past the conversation about IT was typically all about the cost. Now
the conversation is changing; we are talking about how to extract value from
the investment in IT. These are investments helping the university achieve
educational, academic, research, and community objectives.
4.
Social
media is no longer special, it’s just media
We are now talking about a
digital experience, not just a learning experience for our students. We are
creating digital strategies that engage our stakeholders and integrate new
media changes into everything happening on campus. From a media perspective, traditional
IT is like a millstone around the neck of media innovation. “Social” media is
no longer unique – it is the media.
5.
Benchmarking
is community building
A number of universities across
Canada participate in a benchmarking initiative. This sharing of IT data exposes
our strengths and weaknesses in a measurable manner. The act of sharing such
sensitive data requires an unusual level of community trust. Emerging from this
trust is a stronger community of shared interests. If I see a similar school
with interesting metrics I can simply pick up the phone and to ask what they
are doing and how they are doing it. The ability to compare and contact is
priceless, and it builds a stronger and healthier higher education IT
community.
6.
IT
used to provide technology with a service component; now IT provides service
with a technology component.
Our clients don’t want technology;
they want the service delivered by the technology. The entire emphasis of our
information systems organizations has clearly shifted from technology to
services. We are becoming client-centric and the shift to out-sourcing (cloud
computing) is accelerating that change. In a more cloud oriented world, we do
increasingly less with baseline technology and we become integrators of a
basket of services from a wide variety of providers.
7.
There
is no such thing as IT strategy
IT departments expend a lot of
energy developing technology strategies. Nobody cares. Much to IT’s chagrin,
they are discovering that IT staff are the only folks in the institution
reading the strategy. Today, real IT strategy is part and parcel of the fabric
of the university strategy. The best IT strategies are the ones embedded into
the university strategic plan.
As we wrap up the current academic year and entering into
the summer months, we have the opportunity to reflect on these trends and think
about how we should respond to them effectively. I look forward to a new
academic year with more changes and a new series of ever-changing IT trends.