Communication: The Key to Understanding Enterprise IT Value in Dx Initiatives

The 2019 focus for the EDUCAUSE Enterprise IT Program is the relationship between enterprise IT and digital transformation (Dx). You can read about the Enterprise IT Program plan for the year in the blog post "2019 Exploring the Role of Enterprise IT in Digital Transformation."¹ As we prepare new resources related to our 2019 focus, we will publish them on the Enterprise IT Program web page.

Our third set of resources for 2019 looks at the importance of helping stakeholders recognize and understand the value of enterprise IT in enabling Dx initiatives in higher education. Helping stakeholders understand how enterprise IT systems and services add value to institutional strategy will allow them to prioritize and make funding decisions that best align with and support the achievement of institutional goals and objectives.

Dx brings with it a shift in culture, workforce, and technology. Keeping this cultural change in mind while working to connect the value of enterprise IT with the institutional mission is important. The Dx cultural change requires campus leaders to collaborate closely as they work to make their institutions more agile and flexible, increase their maturity in change management, and make information-based decisions to more quickly meet the needs of all their stakeholders.

Effective communication is a hallmark of successful culture change brought about by Dx. Clear, consistent communication can help the IT organization communicate its value across an institution, understand stakeholder needs, and be transparent about governance, operations, and processes. Indeed, effective communication will help the IT organization become, and be recognized as, a trusted partner in delivering on an institution's mission.

If communication is not presently a core IT competency, it will need to become one, and not just at the leadership level. A focus on communication needs to be considered as part of planning for a Dx workforce shift. Add this competency to the required data and analytics skills that are increasingly important to all institutions.

Communicating about the value that technology brings to institutional strategy and goals results in a symbiosis in which technology not only serves but also shapes strategic ambitions. In this evolving environment, information technology becomes mission centric and client focused, positioning the college or university to integrate digital technology into every area of the institution in a way that increases value across all aspects of the higher education mission.

The Enterprise IT Program has developed a third set of resources related to the intersection of digital transformation and enterprise IT. Case studies from Kent State University, Monash University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and University of Wisconsin System Administration illustrate how various institutions have leveraged Dx to enable their stakeholders to appreciate the value that enterprise IT brings to their institutions.

You will find more resources related to this topic in the Enterprise IT Program's Understanding Costs and Value Toolkit:

• An EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research (ECAR) Working Group paper describing how to better align IT funding models to the pace of technology change
• A 2014 IT Administrative Summit report with recommendations for maximizing the value of administrative IT
• Relevant information about demonstrating the value of enterprise IT

Understanding the costs and value of enterprise IT is as important outside the IT arena as it is within. To deepen and broaden that understanding, the Enterprise IT Program web pages also feature links to other professional associations such as the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) and the Association for Institutional Research (AIR).

We hope you find these new resources and the Enterprise IT Program helpful. Send us your questions, ideas, and suggestions by email.

If you have a story to tell about your institution's work in the area of digital transformation, or if you have suggestions or questions about the Enterprise IT Program, please contact Andy Clark or Betsy Reinitz.

Note

1. Betsy Reinitz, "2019 Exploring the Role of Enterprise IT in Digital Transformation," Enterprise Connections (blog), EDUCAUSE Review, January 30, 2019. ↩

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Andy Clark is the Enterprise IT Program Manager at EDUCAUSE.

Betsy Reinitz is the Director of Enterprise IT Program at EDUCAUSE.