Service Provider or Trusted Ally; The Perception of Central IT in the Current Higher Ed IT Landscape

Higher Education Information Technology Leaders face the challenge of relevancy while aiming to demonstrate the value of central IT in their institutions with the emerging "as a service" and "on-demand" landscape. Questions... [ view full abstract ]

Higher Education Information Technology Leaders face the challenge of relevancy while aiming to demonstrate the value of central IT in their institutions with the emerging "as a service" and "on-demand" landscape. Questions often arise as to whether central IT is agile enough to meet the fast changing technology demands of our institutions or whether we can compete with 'Shadow IT'. Does the perception of the central IT department become diminished to that of just another Service Provider competing for institutional business, or can we shift our academic and administrative colleagues' perception of IT from simply a service provider to Partner, or better yet, to Trusted Ally, when striving to achieve institutional objectives?
In order to frame this challenge, this session will share the results of a CUCCIO survey that assessed the current perception of IT within various Canadian post-secondary institutions and compare it to data from a survey completed by Gartner, allowing you to compare your institution’s perception of IT to similar institutions from across the country. Analyzing and drawing conclusions from the survey, we will focus on key opportunities IT Leaders can embrace by sharing common experiences and successes as we move forward on our journey towards Trusted Ally. Audience participants will be invited to share their own stories and reflections.
Presenters, Mark Humphries, CIO, University of Lethbridge, and Gayleen Gray, Deputy CIO, University of Guelph, were exposed to this concept at Gartner's CIO Forum, spurring this Canadian Higher Ed IT exploration.