2025 EDUCAUSE Top 10
#7: Faster, Better, AND Cheaper

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The promise of "faster, better, cheaper" is not new in our field. There have been times when we have fulfilled this promise and delivered quality education more efficiently. There have also been times when promising technologies have failed to meet our hopes and expectations. The promise hasn't gone away. In fact, we are under more pressure than ever to find ways to use technology to decrease institutional costs while improving services and outcomes.

Our current systems, structures, and cultures allow our institutions to operate below the status quo. Externally, the rate of innovation continues to accelerate, but its adoption in higher education often lags behind other sectors, particularly consumer-facing companies that set our constituents' expectations. Although there is willingness to innovate within our institutions, that willingness often seems sporadic, occurring in pockets. We're a proud industry with a long memory. Leaders and staff often refer to past technology initiatives that didn't work. We need to learn from—but not cling to—the past while embracing an often-unknown future.

As we expand our educational services to include a more diverse student body, including those from underrepresented groups and first-generation college students, we face new challenges. To address these challenges effectively, institutions must create personalized learning experiences that help students achieve their educational goals, give them a sense of belonging, and help them build stronger connections with the institution.

Presidents and provosts at many institutions are focused on securing and increasing grant funding and expanding their research enterprises. Most research today depends on technology that is cutting edge and expensive. Faster, better, and cheaper is also an objective for cyberinfrastructure.

Personalized technology guides tasks for our stakeholders, ensuring they have what they need when they need it to take the next step on whatever journey (learning, working, etc.) they are on. Automation capabilities for administrative processes, learning management systems, communication, data analytics, and resource management have exploded. Personalization and automation will help institutions get better and cheaper. But getting faster requires agility—the ability to move quickly in response to new opportunities and crises. So, technology and business professionals must create an enterprise architecture that is easy to adapt and can expand rapidly when circumstances change.

The Promise

Serving a broader audience. Personalization and other affordances of digital education can give institutions cost-effective ways to reach more students and meet their accessibility needs without sacrificing educational quality.

Remaining relevant and competitive. Higher education is unaffordable for most people. Companies see an opportunity to compete by offering certifications and microcredentials at lower costs and in less time. Some entrepreneurs are hoping to use artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies to sideline higher education entirely. College and university leaders have an opportunity to compete by combining similarly flexible credentials and educational technologies and similarly adaptive and agile approaches to educational innovation with what these companies lack: a long-standing commitment to and expertise in teaching, learning, advising, and student support.

Leveling the playing field for students. Personalization, digital learning, and accessibility support hold the promise of giving any student at any institution the access they need to get a high-quality education. Educators who are able to utilize learning management systems and associated engagement technologies to customize not only content and assignments but also pacing can reach all learners more effectively.

Building belonging. Personalization helps students feel seen and understood, which can give them a sense of belonging right from the beginning of their relationship with the institution. Student services and academic staff can use students' information to target and adapt services, learning experiences, and extracurricular activities. Personalization can be leveraged to onboard students quickly, help them engage with other students quickly, and help them stay on track.

Providing cost-effective personalized teaching. There is no replacement for the kind of inspired instruction and mentorship a great professor can provide or the benefits of forming a strong relationship with a faculty member. But few institutions can afford a very low faculty-to-student ratio, and most faculty don't have the opportunities or incentives to provide this kind of teaching and mentoring: The American Association of University Professors reports that 70 percent of instructional staff hold "contingent positions."^Footnote1 Adaptive learning and other personalization solutions can supplement great teaching. In addition, they can give every student personalized feedback and learning opportunities in every class. These solutions can help institutions significantly reduce the cost of teaching more students.

Reducing the costs of research. Knowledge creation today, especially high-impact research, is done by teams of scientists and staff, often working at different institutions in different countries. Technologies and data can greatly accelerate research and enhance collaboration. But faculty at institutions are struggling to afford data- and compute-intensive research, even with grant funding. Research computing professionals can help reduce those costs by employing data intelligence tools to automate and consolidate storage, moving a lot of data to "deep and cheap" archival storage. This approach is also paying dividends when it comes to current and emerging compliance requirements. Having data scattered across the institution on a variety of different storage platforms complicates addressing the various security controls and exposes institutions to compliance violations that could result in significant penalties (both reputational and monetary). Research professionals are also working with faculty to rightsize their use of high-performance computing clusters to lower costs for each project and ensure those clusters serve as many projects as possible. In addition, staff are increasing the efficiency of research computing services by creating better documentation and support.

Increasing sustainability. Automation, smart HVAC systems, efficient high-performance computing cluster management, and space management software can optimize energy consumption and reduce waste. This can reduce campus operating costs and help institutions achieve sustainability targets. Environmental issues are also very important to students, and actions that support sustainability can increase their trust in the institution. Many students are choosing to engage with these types of data in their own learning, giving them more connection between their campus and their curriculum.

Lowering administrative costs. Automation reduces the time and effort needed to get work done. This can help leaders shift resources from administration to mission-related work or reduce institutional costs.

The Key to Progress

Collaboration and commitment across our sector could make all the difference. All parts of the ecosystem need to work collaboratively to use technology and data to truly make higher education faster, better, and cheaper. What does this mean? It means suppliers working in partnership with institutions. It means institutions collaborating with one another and working within associations, consortia, and other networks. It means IT and non-IT executive leaders sharing ownership of challenges and solutions. And it means corporations reframing their work with colleges and universities by shifting the focus from profit-generation to social responsibility.

QuickTakes

It starts with the data. Personalization, AI, adaptive technologies, and automation can't work without a lot of data, and that data needs to be clean, valid, and consistent. Data management and data governance are key to achieving the quality of data needed for these efforts to succeed.

Cheaper and faster, yes—but also better. Focusing solely on reducing costs can become a race to the bottom.^Footnote2 Initiatives that use technology to personalize services, automate work, and increase agility should include both financial goals and goals related to better outcomes for constituents to avoid wavering from the institutional mission.

Keep it real. Technology always comes with a lot of hype, exaggerating the potential benefits and discounting the time, cost, and organizational changes required. "Cheaper" may actually be cost containment instead of reduction. And that might be a great outcome if it's paired with better, faster, and more nimble service.

Preserve the relationships. We are experiencing a loneliness epidemic, and technology is a contributing factor when it replaces face-to-face interactions that build enduring relationships with lower-quality, less personal interactions. As education, advising, and work become more digital, institutions need to pay attention to preserving and reinforcing relationships among students, faculty, and staff. The U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community states, "Each type of technology, the way in which it is used, and the characteristics of who is using it, needs to be considered when determining how it may contribute to greater or reduced risk for social disconnection."^Footnote3

Support a diverse solution sector. Cost reduction is a lost proposition when institutions are locked into solutions whose costs are rising steeply when alternatives either don't exist or entail hugely disruptive and expensive transitions. The big companies have many advantages, but open-source solutions, new entrants, and smaller companies also have a role to play.

Create shared services for multiple institutions. Even large, well-resourced research universities can no longer support research alone. The cost is just too high, and there are necessary considerations for more climate-friendly data center facilities. Institutions that have traditionally built their own facilities and services are now looking for opportunities to share costs for hardware, data centers, and staff resources, and reduce their environmental impact.

Pay down technical and operational debt. Every institution has some amount of technical and operational debt, caused by decisions to defer updates and upgrades and to adhere to outdated but comfortable processes. This kind of debt prevents agility and complicates efforts to personalize services and automate work. Debt can be hard to avoid, but it always carries a surprisingly large cost.

Pay down the memory debt too. A strong institutional commitment to preserving the past can slow the progress of needed change. Leaders should adopt a growth mindset focused on the institution's future instead of a fixed mindset that is focused on preserving the institution's past. They need to recognize when the intentional, or even unintentional, mindset to resist a change—"because it is how we have always done it"—is apparent and instead, foster a culture receptive to a future in which institutional processes are changed to align with technology. That will only work when leaders have built deep trust with faculty and other key constituents, and when they have helped those constituents see how the future state will benefit them.

Grow through innovation. Cost reduction comes from centralized, stable organizational structures. But those structures often impede innovation and creativity. Institutional leadership needs to support the center while also encouraging innovation at the edges. Some innovation is focused on specialized needs, but some creative solutions can scale. The institution benefits from both. And when faculty and staff collaborate, each contributing their strengths, the institution can capitalize on the results.

Ask Yourself

Which will be more likely: a widespread transition to cross-institutional shared research services or a change in the paradigm of institution–corporate relationships that prioritizes social good over profits?

The Bottom Line

Institutions must balance efficiency gains with maintaining educational quality, prioritizing personalized student experiences and agile operations while making tough choices about resource allocation. Institutions that will thrive are those with adaptive cultures, strong leadership trust, and a commitment to using technology to enhance—not replace—the human elements of education.

Data Point

The EDUCAUSE QuickPoll on AI strategy found that only 47 percent of respondents said that they are currently focused on using generative AI for "boosting productivity by automating administrative processes," compared with 72 percent who said that they would be focused on this use of generative AI in the next two years.^Footnote4

From Strategy to Practice

What You're Saying

"Not necessarily cheaper."

"We want to do faster and better. Whether or not it is cheaper is up for debate. We can imagine how AI can enhance our service centers, but AI itself comes with a cost. Our goal is to break down barriers and streamline requests and not necessarily to reallocate staff since we are not, at this point, experiencing an enrollment or funding 'cliff.'"

"One of the pluses of our current project is that we will be able to use this-century technologies to do our core business and also things we haven't thought of yet."

"Once a unified data store is available and silos start disappearing, it is much easier to have personalized services and better automation."

"This is a bit of an oxymoron. Faster and better for sure, but it won't be cheaper. The question is can some of the student costs be transferred to the university, donor, state, feds . . . but quality is never cheap."

"Some of our processes are currently more manual and decentralized. Incorporating technology to personalize services for the university constituents, automating tasks for operational efficiency, and increasing agility are fundamental for universities to thrive in today's competitive landscape. Overall, technology enhances customer satisfaction, improves operational efficiency, fosters innovation, and ensures long-term sustainability."

"How can we simplify and reduce redundancies? Can technology do the heavy lifting and allow the critical thinking time to get things done?"

"Cost pressures will increase, and universities will have to deal with lowering their costs to survive."

"We are struggling here. Where possible, we share and reuse solutions used by other schools in our system, and don't reinvent the wheel."

Solution Spotlights

"Implementing RPA initiatives, using AI and OCR for example, with the idea of empowering the business to build their own applications."

Tarik Alj, Concordia University, Canada

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"At our institution, we leverage technology to enhance the educational experience, streamline operations, and ensure cost-effectiveness. To achieve these goals, we have developed an in-house platform called KUHUB. This innovative platform is designed to provide faster, better, and cheaper solutions across various aspects of campus life. The strongest aspect of KUHUB is its foundation on open-source solutions. By integrating with a wide range of open-source tools and platforms, KUHUB reduces licensing costs and promotes flexibility and innovation. This approach allows for continuous improvement and customization, ensuring that KUHUB evolves to meet the changing needs of our campus community."

Ayhan Ozcan, Koc University, Turkey

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"We are now in the top 5 percent of automation of all users in the U.S. who utilize the same project management software. Productivity is up. A lot."

James Goulding, North Central College

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"By using technologies like AI-powered chatbots and recommendation engines to provide students with 24/7 support and personalized learning pathways, our goal is to gain students who will receive more personalized attention and have access to resources whenever they need them."

Fernando Fajardo, Universidad Autonoma de Chile, Chile

What You're Working On

Comments provided by Top 10 survey respondents who rated this issue as important

AI

• We are identifying ways to leverage AI tools to improve routine administrative tasks for writing emails, research, etc.
• Looking at the hype of AI and understanding where it can help drive augmented capability and efficiency.
• We are looking into the purchase of ChatGPT Edu licensing for all faculty and staff.
• Using AI to provide answers (or drafts of answers) to student, faculty, and staff questions.
• New access: Microsoft Copilot and Chat with Your Data.
• Leverage generative AI capabilities introduced by our vendors in their applications to improve efficiencies and achieve operational cost savings.

Automation

• Workflows and automation.
• We invest in solutions for both classrooms and computer labs that enable centralized remote monitoring and administration. This streamlines operations and allows us to implement central policies (e.g., for energy saving). Centralized management allows us to respond to specific user requests with agility.
• We continue to implement modules of ServiceNow to automate and standardize work and its status easily discoverable.
• Using SF tools to provide a greater level of automation (not necessarily cheaper but definitely value-enhancing).
• Using Adobe Sign to eliminate paper.
• Working on scripting to automate process.
• Automating common tasks like patching and refreshes.
• Using technology to reduce manual/repetitive/time-consuming tasks
• We all need to figure out how to do more with less, and personalized automation is the key. We are going to look at GenAI embedded into tools like Salesforce to help with this automated personalization.
• Implementing BP-Logix and migrating from ImageNow to improve workflow and automation.
• Buying new SaaS to help automate and make day-to-day operations more effective. Writing custom automations for time-consuming manual tasks.
• BP Logix form solution has been in place for quite a few years. We have automated hundreds of processes.
• Investing in an AI model that enables automation of routing activities.
• We have invested in tools to move from paper-based or forms-based workflows to true workflows.
• Pursue more automation and encourage the use of enterprise GenAI tools with simplification and automation of certain tasks.
• We are increasing automation between different systems and leveraging AI chatbots to decrease staff workloads.
• We have and continue to automate manual / paper-intensive processes via document / imaging / workflow platforms.
• Implementing Banner SaaS and reviewing all business processes for more automation, reducing infrastructure costs/carbon footprint.

Change management

• Operational efficiency is a key component of the strategic plan. Investing in change management expertise to help the organization get better at institutional change.

Cost reductions

• We are fortunate to be well-resourced, but that doesn't mean we can take it for granted. Our two-year roadmap includes an initiative for developing a cost optimization roadmap. We are finding more often than not that we are able to reduce pricing significantly in this new age of competition and SaaS-based offerings.
• Use existing tools first, even if they only accomplish 80 percent of the need, rather than buy new tools.

Data center and networking

• We are working toward simplifying our data centers to the point where even routers and firewalls could be outsourced. Our goal is to manage only switches and access points across our entire campus within the next two to three years. We are also implementing a fabric architecture for switches to simplify management of what remains.

Enterprise architecture (reducing the number of apps and improving interoperability)

• Ellucian's Ethos architecture is a work in progress.
• Evaluating software application sprawl and ROI to determine where to prioritize effort and funds.
• Review enterprise-level applications and how systems interoperate with each other.
• We need to look at all the technologies across the campus and determine if they are duplicative of other technologies and ensure we are using them to their full potential.
• We are embarking on a number of efficiency initiatives and have selected a campus-wide ticketing system to integrate processes.
• We are placing an emphasis on using tools that are already in place at our institution and utilizing ServiceNow and PowerPlatform to automate workflows and processes.
• Making use of our M365 licensing to automate workflows, increase collaboration, and move away from outside products that have additional licensing fees.
• The institution is streamlining and aligning the technology toolkit, skillsets and businesses processes to produce greater productivity levels of each staff member over time. The reality of the institution's future is there will be fewer backups, and the loss of an individual, even for an interim period, will have a larger impact than in the past when staffing was more robust. Moving to fewer, but more modern and powerful tools can help dramatically when staff must make up for that loss.

ERP

• Our implementation of Workday for HR and finance is driving optimization planning around data management, adjacent systems, and workflow. This is promoting an ecosystem view instead of a discrete collection of systems and interconnected data elements.
• ERP conversion.
• Our focus is largely on the implementation of the new SaaS ERP (for finance and HR).
• Using our Salesforce build-out and moving to Workday as our ERP (and eventually SIS) helps increase automation and lift the administrative burden off staff and faculty so they can focus on the students in front of them.
• Implemented Workday HCM, Finance, and Adaptive Planning. Implemented Salesforce Education Cloud for student recruiting and admissions. Implementing Workday Student. Planning for data modernization.
• Our new ERP uses AI and machine learning to provide predictive and automated recommendations and data. That saves time and allows our staff to spend more time doing productive things rather than simply cranking the handle to move along antiquated business processes through multiple systems.

Identity management

• New identity management to leverage roles and personas in a more expansive way.
• Using conditional access and Azure SSO to increase our identity security. Use the same login authentication that is monitored by AI and a security operations center.

Improvements to teaching and learning

• The Manufacturing Laboratory has proposed pilot projects so no one is left behind and so everyone, taking advantage of new technologies, can access quality content and technological resources that are useful for their educational processes. That is why they are given Arduino kits, Raspberry kits, RACHEL devices, and viewers, among others.

Improving services to constituents

• Chatbots for administrative work, scientific computing courses for staff, students, and faculty. We have had an amazing response.
• One mobile interface for delivering services in one place. It's easy to support and works off authoritative data sources.
• Adding e-sign technology on campus.
• Communications is one, if not the most important, service needed on the college campus. We are moving to a unified collaboration environment based on MS Teams and Voice. One of the things we discovered and have embedded now is that all employees need to be highly mobile and stay connected. All employees have been provided mobile computing devices with "softphone" and collaboration software.
• New security software was installed to detect phishing, and we saw a 65 percent reduction in phishing emails getting through to our users' mailboxes. Created Power BI dashboards with HR data. This will give managers access to data about their employees that they've never had before; e.g., turnover rates, time to fill rates, how many of their employees have multiple jobs at the institution, etc.
• We recently implemented an intranet tool to wean everyone off our website as their primary means of getting information and instead allowing them to personalize their experience. This is one step in a larger effort.
• Personalizing and improving self-service to support 24/7 access to systems.
• Expect to leverage Salesforce CRM platform to encourage self-service engagement with the IT service desk and to reduce mean time to resolution for reported issues. Also expect to leverage CRM through the entire lifecycle of recruitment, enrollment and retention.
• Establishing and funding a campus-wide CRM strategy.
• We are piloting new SIS capabilities to deliver a personalized user experience for our students to help them navigate the digital aspect of their college experience.

Modern applications and development (SaaS, low code)

• By moving to more SaaS based services from our vendors, we are attempting to implement new technologies that are available sooner than when we had on-premises applications.
• Low-code/no-code models.
• Technology has become expensive, especially since the pandemic. As a result, we are adapting to technology that is more adaptable to the end user's needs.
• Upgrading technologies (ERP); using AI.
• Secure GenAI solutions and self-service no-code/low-code workflow solutions.

Process focus (robotic process automation, etc.)

• Using robotic process automation (RPA), as well as other automation tools to speed up handling of certain types of processes.
• We are developing systems to streamline administrative processes.
• Streamlining processes to drive more time toward enabling student success.
• Converting older forms and processes into modern online forms with workflows, notifications, and storage.
• Automating processes like Adobe Sign.
• We're consolidating many workflows into a single system (Jira).
• Renewing procedures. Assessing existing processes.
• Leveraging robotic process automation. Leveraging AI chatbots. Starting to use Copilot more broadly. Trying to figure out the other AI possibilities.
• Embracing RPA, AI bot to improve service delivery.

Serving students better

• More data integrations with SIS to provide answers to students through AI chat and the student portal. Personalized messaging is making a difference.
• Student information system replacement with new systems to serve the students better.
• Using web-based tools to improve the student/staff experience is important for the future.
• Implemented EAB Navigate five years ago. This has been fully integrated with our ERP to allow for easier access to a wide array of student support services. Navigate has been fully integrated with our ERP to allow students to plan out their academic schedules and to simplify the registration process. We have a college portal that allows access to all services at the college, and SSO is implemented across the board for all systems.

Notes

1. "Background Facts on Contingent Faculty Positions," American Association of University Professors (website), accessed September 25, 2024. Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.↩
2. Seth Godin, "The Race to the Bottom," Seth's Blog, August 2012. Jump back to footnote 2 in the text.↩
3. Vivek H. Murthy, Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation 2023: The U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community, (Office of the Surgeon General, 2023). Jump back to footnote 3 in the text.↩
4. Sean Burns and Nicole Muscanell, "EDUCAUSE QuickPoll Results: A Growing Need for Generative AI Strategy," EDUCAUSE Review, April 15, 2024. Jump back to footnote 4 in the text.↩

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Nath Czechowski is Chief Information Officer at University of South Wales.

Erin DeSilva is Associate Provost, Digital and Online Learning at Dartmouth College.

Marc Hoit is Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer at NC State University.

Luke VanWingerden is Chief Information Officer at Tri-County Technical College.