Reducing Cycle Time Between Need and Solution
There is widespread desire for an improved service delivery partnership between central IT and end users on campus. Front-line stakeholders feel like they don’t have access to the latest technologies they need to be effective. They expect an “Amazon experience” whenever they use technology. So when central IT can’t help end users access a service or accomplish a task on the timeframe they expect, end users instead look for someone who will—and very often, that’s external vendors.
Meanwhile, central IT worries that front-line users waste scarce resources when users buy duplicate services that are already available through central IT. From the CIO’s vantage point, untold dollars are being wasted as users purchase solutions that are already available on campus, if only users took the time to look.
This resource is part of the Prioritize the IT Projects that Best Serve Your Institution Roadmap. Access the Roadmap for stepwise guidance with additional tools and research.
Our brief shares how higher education IT teams are working to gain insight into end users’ needs and rapidly connect users with the services they need. Download our executive brief or explore each of the three best practices below.
Community demand-sensing platform
By creating a gamified project nomination and discussion platform, schools are able to tap into the current of community demand. This virtual panel of engaged community members provides an up-to-date and complete understanding of the community’s technology needs.
User-first service catalog
Some members are developing a solution-focused service catalog designed to seamlessly connect users with the service they require. Through the application of design principles from user experience research, the service catalog’s structure rapidly guides users to answers to their questions without any active work on IT’s part.
Pre-approved evaluation criteria
Users need to understand whether and when their requests for new services will be implemented. By engaging stakeholders in the identification of broadly applicable, strategically aligned, and mutually agreeable criteria, some CIOs have standardized the metrics used to evaluate IT project proposals. Reviewing projects on an agreed-upon, like-for-like basis allows for quick prioritization decisions that reflect the institutional good.
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