A Corporate Perspective on the 2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10: Jenzabar

Which one or two of the 2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10 issues are going to be most impactful to you and your company, and why?

Issue #3, Data Analytics for Operational and Financial Insights, is a strategic imperative for everybody, especially right now. This work can't be done by feeling anymore. Institutions need to be able to improve retention, reduce costs, and look for new areas of growth. Our tools are built to help them do these things faster and more confidently. If you look at Jenzabar's approach, even when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), we're all about data. This is why issue #9, AI-Enabled Efficiencies and Growth, is important to us, too. We always say our objective is to let educators focus on doing their jobs—creating a positive student experience—and not on navigating our tools.

A key challenge for institutions implementing technology today is identifying what is actually going to be of value. The AI work we're doing is valuable to institutions because it allows staff to run reports and get data without knowing SQL query languages. Our model is agnostic of any specific AI tools—individuals can use any of them. It allows users to ask the system a simple question, and the AI can pull reports not just from our database but from all databases on campus.

When it comes to identifying value, it can be tough for IT professionals to calculate a technology's return on investment (ROI), which is reflected in issue #6, Measured Approaches to New Technologies. What's worth the investment? What can the tools do? For me, that's the biggest challenge. This year's list of issues is great, but I think number six is the underlying issue to everything else.

One of the biggest challenges that all of us have in this market is determining ROI. We've had people reach out when they're looking to change something, and CFOs are now asking, "How is that going to help me do X? How is it going to help me recruit more students? How is it going to help me retain more students?" Technology needs to clearly demonstrate ROI. Jenzabar is using technology to help colleges and universities make ROI decisions—not just in terms of a single technology's return, but also in terms of being able to deliver on institutional objectives. "Is this technology providing significant value? Will this new solution open up online courses? What will the ROI be now? What is the market for this technology?" That's what we hope our systems can help facilitate for users.

Can you share a story or example of how you're experiencing one of the Top 10 issues when you're working with an institution?

We have multiple examples of working with different types and sizes of institutions as well as institutions with varying economic structures. Regarding Issue #3, Data Analytics for Operational and Financial Insights, we're working closely right now with the analytics team for a small, private university in the Midwest to help them use data to predict enrollment, student risk, and retention using our AI tools.

For enrollment, we have an offering that allows institutions to look at historical data so they can make more informed decisions about who's going to attend and who's going to remain enrolled. But for this institution specifically, we're creating predictive retention models using data from across campus to immediately identify and evaluate students who could be at risk so staff can intervene and provide critical support. From a consulting perspective, we are also helping them look at retention processes and types of engagement that can help students.

Another small private college in the Southeast is using our tools to help create a predictive model to assess college readiness before students even get to campus. The institution is using data and AI in its student application process and evaluation. The goal is to leverage predictive models to assess a student's ability to succeed academically in the short term and the long term.

Proactive approaches to enrollment, retention, and student success like these give institutions the opportunity to really support and empower students when they arrive. It's kind of like a preemptive retention strategy. I know these examples are focused on data, but in our work with a small, private college in Pennsylvania, the institution is using analytics to make decisions, which is reflected in issue #3, Data Analytics for Operational and Financial Insights, and issue #10, Decision-Maker Data Skills and Literacy. Overall, institutions want to be more efficient in how they deliver their programs and be able to visualize program performance data to guide decision-making and student success.

What immediate or short-term actions should institutions consider for effectively addressing some of the Top 10 issues?

One of the biggest challenges right now is that institutions aren't sure how to go about adopting AI and organizing their data projects. We are helping them figure that out. One critical component of these initiatives is getting institutional buy-in. Everyone needs to be committed to looking at AI and data management. Everyone needs to make sure that the projects they're working on align with the institutional mission and not just the departmental mission.

Other important components include creating a governance structure and educating people. At the end of the day, we're going through this internally. We're educating our teams on what it means to use ChatGPT, Gemini, OpenAI, and other tools so they can be responsible when sharing information.

I think one of the best ways to succeed with AI and data organization initiatives is to start small and create small wins before scaling up. As we all know, it's tough to make changes, especially in higher education. By demonstrating value and outcomes from smaller-scale projects, you can solidify use cases and best practices to build upon. I also think it's important to work with the right technology partner—a partner that can be trusted to develop a long-term relationship and that understands the institution's needs—not a vendor that is just trying to sell the institution on the latest and greatest tools.

A recent report indicated that the value of higher education has increased for the first time in ten years.^Footnote1 So, we need to work with our institutions to continue demonstrating and communicating their value to students and parents.

What skills or competencies will institutions need to effectively address the Top 10 issues?

Not to sound like a broken record, but institutions need to be able to leverage analytics and AI. Institutional leaders need to be data literate; they need to know how to work with data and where to find it. The future will involve cross-departmental collaborations like we've never had before. As data becomes more accessible to the entire academic community, institutions should enable personnel to review all available data—not just their siloed data—when making decisions. And the right governance and ethical frameworks need to be created for that.

Also, higher education needs to become more agile. Technology is changing the way we're doing everything. But because the technology world is so fast-paced, we can't just chase new trends. We must be able to evaluate new technologies intelligently and not just say, "AI is out there. What are we doing with it today? I want a report." Instead, we should pause and say, "Let's evaluate how we can and should use AI in ways that deliver value to our students, community, and institution."

So, institutions should start small when launching new initiatives, resist the urge to chase trends or seek out shiny new tools, make sure they iterate on their goals for projects, and stay focused on their mission. At the same time, institutions should remain open-minded because you never know what's going to stick.

How do you see this year's Top 10 issues changing the relationship between your company and the higher education community in the future?

I think this is the greatest Top 10 list EDUCAUSE has ever published. Everyone at Jenzabar loves the list this year because it aligns with our initiatives. Issue #2, The Human Edge of AI, aligns with how we're evolving. We are restructuring our cloud and moving everybody into SaaS environments to strengthen cybersecurity, especially because there are so many open ports that can create problems between students and faculty and other system users. We're also reimagining how our customer support structure might look and how we can enhance partnerships with institutions.

We are also really focused on on-site meetings and learning about institutional challenges. We've visited more schools this year and delivered more training in person than we have in the past. COVID created challenges, but I think it also hurt the relationships between institutions and vendors. One of the changes I've made is showcasing how Jenzabar is truly a partner, not just a vendor.

Our biggest focus is on deepening our relationships with institutions. We have a whole team that is focused solely on visiting schools. They're not sales-oriented; they are set up to advocate for the client and to come back and fight with me. They say, "My school needs this. We need this." We want to give schools what they need, and that's what we're pushing for right now. At the end of the day, Jenzabar doesn't educate students, but we want to make it so that our systems help colleges and universities spend more time achieving their mission.

So, the more we can automate, the better. Some might say, "Oh, this new automation tool set will mean we're going to get rid of people." No, you're not. It's just going to let you redevelop and refocus teams on the real mission: helping students.