EDUCAUSE 2014 Top Ten IT Issues

Today’s Agenda Introduction to EDUCAUSE IT Issues History & Methodology 2014 Top Ten IT Issues Selected Issues Reviewed In-Depth

Introduction to EDUCAUSE

Transforming higher education through the use of information technology

About EDUCAUSE Mission: To advance higher education through information technology Audience: Higher education IT, including those interested in using IT Focus: Strategy, issues, management, best practices Organization: 501(c)3; membership organization

About EDUCAUSE Membership: 2,400 colleges, universities, and organizations (40+ countries) Size: – $18M (without grants) – 90 employees – 60,000 active members Outreach: – 22 face-to-face events/year – 10+ online events/year

About EDUCAUSE EDUCAUSE helps people who lead, manage, and use technology to make better decisions about – Enterprise systems – Strategic leadership – Teaching and learning – Cybersecurity Visit us at

Top Ten IT Issues History & Methodology

14 Years of the IT Issues Top Ten List

Top Ten List Methodology Changes – Web survey of EDUCAUSE primary representatives – Survey responses about 30% – Concerned about staleness – IT Issues Panel formed and charged with choosing the panel 2014 – IT Issues Panelists wanted validation of issues – Member survey chose and prioritized the final Top Ten list

2014 Top Ten IT Issues

1.Improving student outcomes through an institutional approach that strategically leverages technology 2.Establish a partnership between IT and institutional leadership to develop a collective understanding of what IT can deliver 3.Assisting faculty with the instructional integration of information technology 4.Developing an IT staffing and organizational model to accommodate the changing IT environment and facilitate openness and agility 5.Using analytics to help drive critical institutional outcomes 6.Changing IT funding models to sustain core service, support innovation and facilitate growth 7.Addressing access demand and the wireless and device explosion 8.Sourcing technologies and services at scale to reduce costs (via cloud, greater centralization of IT, cross‐institutional collaborations, and so forth) 9.Determining the role of online learning and developing a strategy for that role 10.Implementing risk management and information security practices to protect institutional IT resources/data and respond to regulatory compliance mandates (tie) 10.Developing an enterprise IT architecture that can respond to changing conditions and new opportunities (tie)

Sourcing technologies & services at scale to reduce costs (via cloud, greater centralization of institutional IT services & system, cross-institution collaborations, etc.

Sourcing Technologies & Services at Scale

In the Cloud Today Institutions with at least one core information system in the cloud 51% Three or more in the cloud 13% All core information systems in the cloud 8%

2014 Cloud Technology Priorities Source: Higher Education’s Top-10 Strategic Technologies for 2014, Susan Grajek, ECAR, February 2014

IT Is Dependent on Institutional Practices  Financial practices are effective at over 50% of institutions  financial management  budget planning  Leadership practices are effective at fewer than 50% of institutions  strategic planning  alignment among leadership  IT governance  Management practices are effective at fewer than 25% of institutions  continuous improvement  data driven-decision making  business process optimization Source: Assessing Your Fiscal Bandwidth: Current Practices for Measuring IT Costs in Higher Education, Eden Dahlstrom, ECAR, May 2013

Sourcing Technologies & Services at Scale to Reduce Costs--ADVICE Participate in the EDUCAUSE Core Data Service to benchmark and establish baseline measures Consider business process reengineering (BPR) Capture BPR savings to support strategic objectives Understand the TCO of systems and processes in terms that can be compared with cloud offerings Ensure the understanding and support of institutional leaders Understand the strategic importance of institutional information systems

Changing IT funding models to sustain core service, support innovation, and facilitate growth

Funding IT Strategically

IT Expenditures by Institutional Mission Source: EDUCAUSE Core Data Survey, 2013

IT Expenditures by Activity Source: EDUCAUSE Core Data Survey, 2013

Current IT Financial Management Capabilities Can calculate the ROI or NPV of IT projects 20% Can calculate the TCO of IT services 18% Source: Assessing Your Fiscal Bandwidth: Current Practices for Measuring IT Costs in Higher Education, Eden Dahlstrom, ECAR, May 2013

Changing IT Funding Models To Sustain Core Service, Support Innovation, And Facilitate Growth--ADVICE Benchmark IT finances by participating in the EDUCAUSE Core Data Service Ensure the institutional leadership is committed to changing Create and maintain a service catalog Estimate the TCO (total cost of ownership) for each service Develop a plan to drive down the costs of commodity services Identify services that can be sunset Integrate these foundation approaches into institutional IT governance

Using analytics to help drive critical institutional outcomes

Using Analytics to Support the Institution

Analytics Maturity Index Source: ECAR Analytics Maturity Index, education

Analytics Technology Priorities For 2014 ✓ ✓ ✓ Source: Higher Education’s Top-10 Strategic Technologies for 2014, Susan Grajek, ECAR, February 2014

Using Analytics To Help Drive Critical Institutional Outcomes--ADVICE Begin with strategic priorities rather than data or tools Develop an analytics architecture Complete the ECAR Analytics Maturity Index for Higher Education Ensure analytics outputs are built into ongoing processes Determine who needs to be trained in analytics Review the EDUCAUSE Top-Ten Strategic Technologies for 2014

TOP TEN IT ISSUES OF 2014 Establishing a partnership between IT leadership & institutional leadership to develop a collective understanding of what information technology can deliver

Institutional Partnerships

Institutions That Have… CIO on the president’s or chancellor’s cabinet 51% Alignment among institutional leadership 44% Effective IT governance 32% Source: Today’s Higher Education IT Workforce, Jacqueline Bichsel, ECAR, January 2014

Percent of IT Budget Spent on Research Mission Source: EDUCAUSE Core Data Survey, 2013

The Ability Gap for CIOs Source: Today’s Higher Education IT Workforce, Jacqueline Bichsel, ECAR, January 2014

The Ability Gap for the IT Workforce Source: Today’s Higher Education IT Workforce, Jacqueline Bichsel, ECAR, January 2014 Ability to manage other relationships within my institution Understanding non-IT business processes and operations

CIOs’ Participation in Institutional Decision-making Source: Today’s Higher Education IT Workforce, Jacqueline Bichsel, ECAR, January 2014

Obstacles to CIOs’ Effectiveness Source: Today’s Higher Education IT Workforce, Jacqueline Bichsel, ECAR, January 2014 Institutional leadership’s lack of interest in (or understanding of) IT 38% Lack of clear, consistent goals for IT overall 26% Lack of cooperation among colleagues outside IT 24% (Biggest obstacle was insufficient resources, cited by 1 in 2 CIOs)

Establishing a Partnership Between IT Leadership and Institutional Leadership--ADVICE Identify the institution’s champions for effective use of information technology Help educate institutional leaders about the contributions and costs of technology to help them right- size their expectations Ensure the IT staff who are interacting most with institutional leaders understand and support the IT organization’s approaches and priorities Help institutional leaders ensure that IT leaders are included in the strategic planning process and ongoing institutional governance

TOP TEN IT ISSUES OF 2014 BOTTOM LINE: Don’t assume institutional leaders know how information technology can help them achieve their priorities. Meet them more than halfway by understanding their lines of business and priorities. Establishing a partnership between IT leadership & institutional leadership to develop a collective understanding of what information technology can deliver

Questions? Learn more about the 2014 Top Ten IT Issues at: publications/research/top-10-it-issues publications/research/top-10-it-issues

Thank you! Joanna Lyn Grama, JD EDUCAUSE Director of DRA Operations, IT GRC and Cybersecurity Programs