Dive Brief:
- IT consolidation projects are a lot of work, but an increasing number of institutions are finding the work is worth it because of cost and efficiency savings.
- EdTech magazine reports that the University of Miami combined IT from three different campuses, increasing its user-to-technician ratio from 250-to-1 to 500-to-1, and finding economies of scale to streamline operations and better serve its community.
- Kennesaw State University consolidated internally and then again with Southern Polytechnic State University when it was absorbed into the larger university, breaking down silos and creating specialized units to increase productivity and place people in the jobs they know best.
Dive Insight:
IT departments have been asked to handle more and more diverse tasks as campuses become increasingly digitized. In some cases, new tasks have been tacked on to existing infrastructure without a break to consider how best to incorporate them. Consolidation provides a good opportunity to step back and re-think processes from the ground up. The University of Miami purchased new technology for its ticketing system, replacing three different systems that functioned independently on the university’s three campuses. Sometimes starting over is the best way to move forward.