The Cloud in Higher Education

Doing more with less is the mantra for today’s higher education leaders, and IT solutions have emerged as the best way to accomplish this lofty goal, with cloud rising to the top. While hosting major systems and services in the cloud provides a range of benefits for institutions, especially when it comes to meeting the high expectations of today’s students, the cloud should not be seen as a panacea.

This Special Feature focuses on true value of the cloud, what it takes to successfully shift to this approach to computing and how it can transform the student experience.

Higher Education Won’t Be Able To Resist The Cloud Much Longer

Navneet Johal | Research Analyst for Education Technology, Ovum

The higher education industry is not much closer to widespread adoption of cloud technologies than it was two years ago, but market conditions today make it more important than ever before.

Increased IT Staff Satisfaction an Undervalued Benefit of the Cloud

Steve Burrell | Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, Georgia Southern University

Moving to the cloud has a significant impact on staff satisfaction, which impacts the capacity for IT staff to work on more high-value tasks and has significant benefits on its own for institutions.

Using the Cloud to Transform Business Outcomes: Sooner is Better

Abbie Lundberg | Contributing Editor for Analytic Services, Harvard Business Review

Hosting major systems and services in the cloud transforms the way IT teams operate and creates a number of benefits for institutions, but the market is shifting and the nice-to-haves will soon be must-haves.

Using the Cloud to Meet Students’ Expectations

Sherry Watson | Executive Director of Technical Services, Lone Star College

Students have high expectations for higher education institutions when it comes to business processes and moving to cloud-hosted systems and services will allow them to focus on their academics.

Technology Upgrades Require Staff Learning

Lige Hensley | Chief Technology Officer, Ivy Tech Community College

The cloud has the capacity to transform institutional processes and vastly improve student experiences, but only if the IT team using those services truly appreciates how it works and how it can be manipulated.

Saved Resources and Higher-Value Service: The Benefits of the Cloud

Bernard Golden | Vice President of Strategy, ActiveState Software

By partnering with a cloud service provider on the provision of central administrative functions, IT organizations gain the capacity to better allocate their resources, focus their time and efforts on high-value tasks and provide a higher level of service to key stakeholders than would otherwise be possible.

Moving to the Cloud Facilitates Re-Prioritization and Differentiation

Sue Workman | CIO and VP of Information Technology, Case Western Reserve University

By moving major systems to the cloud and taking advantage of services offered by partners in the cloud space, higher education institutions can reorganize their workforce to focus on unique, high-value tasks that make a difference for students.

Cloud Offerings Enable Higher Ed to Refocus on Core Competencies

Mike Scheuermann | Associate Vice President of Instructional Technology and Support, Drexel University

While the initial move to the cloud can create some expense for higher education leaders, those costs pale in comparison to trying to create a market-leading cloud environment in-house, both in terms of actual resources spent and opportunity cost.

Cumulonimble: Finding the Flexibility to do More on Campus

Ravi Ravishanker | CIO, Wellesley College

Cloud technologies can help institutions adapt to the demands of today’s key institutional stakeholders within the budgetary constraints of today’s postsecondary environment, but a successful transition requires buy in from institutional IT staff.

How Flexibility and Agility Benefit Today’s Higher Ed Organizations

Michelle Stiles | Associate Dean of Administration and Chief Administrative Officer for Extension, UC Los Angeles

Cloud services do not offer institutions a panacea but can help them to create a business that meets students’ expectations and allows them the space to grow and evolve.

Why a Cloud Strategy is Your Umbrella

Jack Suess | Vice President of IT and CIO, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Defining a strategic approach to the cloud will help any college or university determine what cloud-hosted services and systems to adopt and will help to make integration as smooth as possible.

Beyond the Cloud: Embrace the Exostructure

Jeremy Stanton | Chief Digital Officer at the School of Continuing Studies, Georgetown University

Cloud tools alone aren’t enough to guarantee an institution’s agility or flexibility. An exostructure strategy that clearly defines institutional goals and maximizes the use of appropriate technologies will have a better long-term impact.

Higher Education Planning for the Cloud, in the Cloud, and of the Cloud

Michael Hites | Senior Associate Vice President and CIO, University of Illinois

Cloud-hosted systems and services are creating lower-cost environments for higher education institutions, allowing colleges and universities to take advantage of the Internet of Things, but leaders and staff must collaborate to ensure the solutions are right for the institution.

Risk-Taking Cultural Transformation Central to Meeting IT Needs

Eric Miller | Instructional Designer, Marylhurst University

Institutional IT teams need to be more open to risk-taking and innovation in order to meet the heightened technology expectations of students and staff.

Transforming Enrollment and Lifecycle Management with the Cloud

Brian Murphy Clinton | Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management, Northeastern University

Student engagement across the entire student lifecycle—not just up to the point of enrollment—is critical for today’s more innovative enrollment management teams, and cloud-hosted tools and services can help them deliver the experience today’s customers expect.

The Cloud in Higher Education: Balancing the Benefits, Challenges and Risks

Deborah Gelch | Chief Information Officer, Lasell College

Moving to the cloud has inherent risks and challenges to go along with the benefits that must be managed in order for the transition to be truly successful for the institution.

Migrating IT Services to the Cloud Benefits Students

Javier Miyares | President, University of Maryland University College

Traditional higher education IT services have been commoditized and the future model, based on cloud, is becoming critical to staying up-to-date with industry changes and student expectations.

Reinventing Service Access through the Cloud

Rob Lowden | Associate Vice President of Enterprise Systems, Indiana University

Replacing a legacy management system with a highly functional, cloud-based on-demand system similar to the App Store has created an environment where students can access whatever services they need on any device they want with a simple click.

Using Technology to Maximize Output with Limited Resources

Ruth Pionke | Senior Information Officer in the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Alabama

By implementing a new mobile management system, the university was able to realize significant cost savings and efficiencies, improving the overall experience provided to both students and staff.

Cloud Services Provide Sky-High Business Outcomes

Luke Stevens | Director of Technology at Berklee Online, Berklee College of Music

It would be immensely difficult and expensive to achieve the convenience and flexibility available in the cloud through on-premises tools, and would ultimately detract from the institution’s core business of educating students.

Creating Flexibility to Improve Engagement: The Benefits of the Cloud

Ven Meyerzon | System and Business Analyst for Extension, UC Davis

Organizational flexibility and agility, facilitated by the use of cloud-hosted systems and tools, supports the development of the responsive programming critical to continuing education organizations and the institution by extension.

Cloud Consumer Services for Flexibility, Creativity and Innovation

Scott Sorley | Executive Director of Information and Communication Technology Services, University of Southern Queensland and Ken Udas | Deputy Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer, University of Southern Queensland

Adopting cloud-hosted tools and systems helps drive creativity, flexibility and innovation at higher education institutions.

Protecting Student Data: A Cybersecurity Challenge

Jane LeClair | Chief Operating Officer of the National Cybersecurity Institute (NCI), Excelsior College

Strong policies, a commitment to ongoing training of all key stakeholders and up-to-date technology are all central elements of protecting critical student information from data breaches.

Cloud Shift Requires Vendor Leadership and New Procurement Processes

Tracy Mitrano | Director of Internet Culture Policy and Law, Cornell University

College and university leaders need to ensure they are well aware of state compliance and security regulations, and must find a vendor that uniquely understands the higher education environment to facilitate their shift to the cloud.

Navigating Risk Management Challenges in Today’s Highly Complex Environment

Tim Wiseman | Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enterprise Risk Management, East Carolina University

Developing distinct risk management frameworks is central to minimizing silos, improving communication and collaboration, and improving institutional efficiency.

Cloud Misconceptions Stand Firmly In the Way of Necessary Change

Bob Flynn | Manager of Cloud Technology Support, Indiana University

In today’s higher education marketplace, IT leaders should be looking to SaaS, PaaS and IaaS solutions before building in-house but some of the more persistent misconceptions about the cloud slow that movement and tend to stop discussions around true benefits.

To Build or Not To Build; That is the Cloudy Question

Joel Rosenblatt | Director of Computer and Network Security, Columbia University

When choosing between an in-house build and a service provider partnership for major systems, deciding entirely based on dollar value will typically lead an institution to spend more than it bargained for to get the functionality originally desired.

One Size Does Not Fit All: The Importance of Identifying Solutions on a Needs Basis

Chris Megill | Associate Director of Technology Services, George Washington University

As different needs arise, and with the wide and expansive market of services available, institutions have more choice than ever before as to how to address their needs and what tools and systems to use. Different solutions require different approaches to hosting.

Considering the Integration Impact of Cloud Service Adoption

Russell Battista Jr. | Director of Administrative Computing, Fairfield University

It’s irresponsible for leaders to purchase and implement a cloud-based system without doing the necessary legwork beforehand. It’s critical to ensure that any considered solution is the right solution for the right set of circumstances.

Waiting for the Cloud

Kenneth Green | Founding Director, The Campus Computing Project

Cloud computing is dominating the radars of CIOs and technology leaders at higher education institutions across the United States, but deployment of cloud-hosted solutions for more mission-critical work has been slower than expected.

Sightings and Illusions: Looking Toward the Cloud

Colleen Carmean | Assistant Chancellor for Instructional Technologies and Director of Institutional Research, University of Washington Tacoma

With all the conversation around whether to phase out legacy systems in favor of newer, cloud-hosted platforms, institutional leaders need to ensure they are balancing the expectations of their new student demographics against the needs of internal stakeholders and the pace of change.

Staying On Premises Risks Institutional Agility, Responsiveness and Long-Term Viability

Nelson Vincent | Chief Information Officer, University of Cincinnati

Replicating the service and convenience offered by cloud-hosted services is very difficult for institutions to do today and will be nearly impossible to do in the coming years, which will impact the agility and responsiveness of the institution in the long term.

Clouds, Bundles and Crisis, Oh My!

Richard Katz | President, Richard N. Katz and Associates, Inc.

By focusing on delivering the institution’s key differentiators and outsourcing peripheral services that may actually detract from the student experience if kept in-house, higher education leaders can weather the coming storms and set themselves up for long-term viability and growth.