The changing face of IT executives: managing information technology departments increasingly requires business and political skills. Major concerns include security, staff training, and keeping up with ever-evolving user needs

University Business, June, 2005 by John Burton

FRIENDS UP ABOVE?

The task of convincing administration leaders of the need to invest in hardware and software is a chief rote of CIOs and IT managers, but it helps when those above them on the food chain already have an understanding of the topic.

Many of the investments are built into ongoing strategic plans, of course, so standard upgrades of systems and replacements of equipment generally are not a problem. But nearly every department or constituent has a wishlist for more technology or services that require funding, and that's where the IT pro's political experience and business acumen pay off.

The executive team at Sul Ross "is incredibly supportive," according to Graf. "Whether dealing with business process or budget issues, we work through them."

Ardalan praises his college's leaders for their understanding of technology and its cost. "Operational investments are justified based on increasing efficiency," he says. "Some initiatives are easier to sell than others. For example, security-related projects can get immediate support with limited efforts, white implementing VoIP required a full proposal including ROI. The implementation of a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system involved the entire campus and was focused on increasing efficiency and service to customers--faculty, staff, and students. In short, it depends on the project."

His words are echoed by DeWitt. "We're in the midst of trying to put together an RFP for a storage-area network. That's completely based on an ROI argument--the consolidation of the existing storage arrays and [saving] staff time," says DeWitt. But for "introducing wireless access for students, it's obviously a software argument in general."

ROI remains an important factor for Meserve's tech initiatives, too. Software and hardware contracts are constantly reviewed to see if newer technologies can achieve the same goals at Lower costs. "Over the past three years, all major infrastructure upgrades--hardware and software--have hit a target ROI of two years or Less using this approach," he says. "We have reduced the average age of our server farm from 11 years to two years in the past 36 months, while maintaining zero budget growth."

PLANNING THE FUTURE

From what's on the drawing boards, students and faculty of tomorrow can expect more cameras, microphones and other multimedia equipment to be integrated into their courses. Wireless technology and distance Learning also appear to be popular focuses.

"We do a fair amount of video teleconferencing in one of our classrooms to allow corporate Leaders to address classes, but not streaming of class Lectures via the web--yet," says Noffsinger. When that does happen, it'll only be because it meets the requirement that it "allow faculty to integrate it into the way they do business, and it must be easy to utilize."

UI Springfield's future technology growth will revolve around integrating Learning with technology "that can encourage student participation in Large classes," says Eslahi. "An appliance such as the one from [RoData, Inc's] Accordent ... can capture an entire classroom session and make it available for future viewing."