A Massachusetts community college reaps the benefits of outsourcing its chief information officer.
As cloud computing comes into its own in the higher education space, at least one university has been quietly pioneering an innovative way to deliver technology services on demand, via the Internet, to other institutions. Since the late-1990s, Drexel University in Philadelphia has been serving as an outsourced IT department for a group of colleges that lack the infrastructure necessary to run their own enterprise-wide systems.
Delaware State University has outsourced its IT services to SunGard Higher Education. SunGard HE will manage the IT organization, including providing 24/7 help desk support and other support services. The goal: to improve IT performance and better serve the university's community of users.
As more higher ed institutions turn to different outsourcing models--traditional, cloud-based, or consortial--IT leaders must manage, monitor, and integrate technology solutions from all directions.
The Community College of Baltimore County in Maryland has extended a contract for an outside provider to manage its IT services. The initial agreement, signed in 2007, has been extended to December 2012. The outsourcing effort encompasses the positions of chief technology officer and director of the project management office, as well as project managers and subject matter specialists.
When students write sizable checks for private college tuition, a certain level of customer service is expected. Telling those students that the IT help desk is only available certain times during the week, and more limited hours on the weekend, for example, doesn't cut it in today's technology-centric educational environment.
The Queensland Department of Education and Training has renewed a three-year outsourcing services contract with Unisys' Australian subsidiary.
Two weeks ago we began a conversation with Notre Dame's Gordon Wishon about sustainability in the data center, opening with a description of Notre Dame's virtualization strategy. Here, Wishon talks about further sustainability initiatives, with particular focus on environmental issues.
Israel's Academic College of Tel Aviv-Jaffa has signed a three-year, multi-million-dollar outsourcing contract with service provider Ness Technologies to maintain the college's current infrastructure and develop future IT systems and applications. Ness has operations in Israel, as well as the United States and other countries.
The Medical University of South Carolina Medical Center receives about 50,000 faxes every month. To save paper and the environment, improve efficiency, and avoid the pitfalls of paper-based filing systems, they moved to an outsourced electronic fax service. They've achieved their goals, and the staff and users are 'hooked' on the new service.