| | June 20158CIOReviewCIOs as Strategic Campus LeadersBy Yvette Brown, CIO & VP IT, Barry UniversityWe are operating in challenging times where for many of us in the independent sector of higher education--business as usual is simply not an option. If we do not take the time to rethink our current "business" models and find ways to move past our need to discuss and deliberate ad nauseum, we might find ourselves losing relevance in the marketplace and worse yet operating with no possibility of long term financial sustainability or hope of recovery. Long gone are the days of "if we build it or offer it, they will come." It is more important than ever before for higher ed CIOs to be an integral part of the "inner circle" conversations on where the institution must go next. The pervasiveness of technology and its simultaneous consumerization already required us to shift our focus as CIOs--away from policies and practices designed to limit, control and contain and leaning instead towards guiding and steering discussions and explorations about how the institution might achieve its strategic goals. CIOs are best positioned to see clearly across the institution and can therefore articulate the touchpoints and handoffs between units and functional systems. This big picture view across many areas also means that as CIOs we can help our cabinet partners understand more about requirements, dependencies and why timing is important as we attempt to prioritize institutional spend on strategic priorities.Many of us as CIOs worked hard to change perceptions and overcome the many stereotypes of IT as the department of "no" or "not now", the rule enforcers and the back-end folks struggling to keep the systems online. Even if we are not completely there yet in terms of the maturity of our systems and the capabilities of our organizational units, we are now in a very different place because of the dependence on technology both inside and outside of the classroom. Ultimately though, every CIO still has to make a very conscious decision about how they can best serve the institution. An IT unit cannot exist on its own island or in its own silo nor should we ever presume to know everything there is to know about the academic and business units we support. In fact, part of our internal messaging with campus partners should be to ensure they understand our modus operandi is we never force solutions without first taking the time to truly understand needs. But, there are some CIOs who appear to be so focused on supporting, serving, enabling and facilitating, that they appear to have forgotten the need to lead. Leading in this context should not be confused with the idea described earlier of pushing technology or buying solutions first and then making them fit. CIOs must lead by engaging their peers and other academic leaders in discussions about possible outcomes. What else might we achieve through the adoption of solutions capable of overcoming existing gaps? If some of these gaps prevent the full execution or attainment of institutional strategic priorities--what can we do to fix them? We have an obligation to use whatever credibility we've already earned through prior successes to encourage the exploration of new ideas­but we should only do so when the time is right. Those of us at independent institutions where the revenue struggles are real must look outside the academy to identify the best elements of new technology offerings that can be adopted on our campuses to drive strategic initiatives. CIO INSIGHTSYvette Brown
< Page 7 | Page 9 >