STORIES & SOLUTIONS FOR THE MODERN BUSINESS USER

Is your ERP a necessary evil, or a critical business tool? How do you measure the value to the end-user community when compared to your IT spend?

The process of embarking on a digital transformation can be daunting, and choosing the right partner is an important task that can make or break a project. Using contract vehicles, public sector organizations can streamline the procurement process to find partners that are vetted, understand the needs of public sector organizations, and are ready to partner for success. Here are three ways contract vehicles save time and money.

Changing student expectations are driving the need for transformation in higher education, yet the majority of colleges and universities are working with legacy systems that are 20 years old or older. Students today want to be able to register for classes, see their degree progress, pay their bill, accept their financial aid and many other critical student experience tasks using their mobile device.

Higher ed has a greater share of older workers than other industries. The median age for higher education staff is 45, above the U.S. workforce average of 42. As baby boomers approach retirement age and exit the workforce in the coming decade, they will be followed by Generation X — a much smaller generation. At the same time, by 2030, it is expected that nearly one in five workers will be over the age of 65. As workers continue toward retirement, it can create challenges in the IT department as knowledge leaves the institution. For individuals who stay, it creates a training need for people to learn new systems and processes and adapt to change.

For many higher education institutions, a cloud implementation is the largest initiative undertaken in 20 years or longer. However, a successful transformation project is more than modernizing technology. Success is measured on the level of adoption and use of the new system and takes careful planning. Bringing human resources, financial, and student systems together impacts the entire institution, and as with any widespread change, developing a robust communication strategy is vital to project success.

In the nearly two years following Covid-19, higher education has undergone an unprecedented uptake in digital transformation. Many higher education institutions are long overdue for modernization, having used the same technology for 20 years or longer. The digital revolution is moving forward and whether willing or unwilling, higher ed leaders know they need to get onboard and adapt.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was signed into law a year ago on March 11, 2021. The plan, which includes $350 billion dollars in emergency funding, is dedicated to mitigating pandemic impacts for state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments. While now a year old, there is still funding available and recipients still have until December 31, 2024, to assign funds and until December 31, 2026, to spend them.

For many institutions, it is time to undergo digital transformation. According to Educause, 38 percent of institutions are exploring digital transformation, and more have started a digital transformation project. Many digital transformation initiatives in higher ed are focused on the mission to improve student outcomes. Through transformation, institutions are able to adapt more quickly and enhance the employee and student experience.

The amount of data created every day is staggering. According to industry sources, more than 181 zettabytes of data will be created by 2025. However, despite the abundance of data, many higher education institutions struggle with extracting value from their data. Driving value requires a culture change and a solution to make data accessible. Democratizing data, or enabling access to data for everyone across the institution, creates barrier-free access so leaders can make data-driven, effective decisions.

Going live on Workday is a huge accomplishment for any organization. A cloud solution that seamlessly connects information and creates efficiencies is a game-changer and frees resources to focus on higher value activities. However, for many organizations, once the deployment partner is no longer part of the day-to-day processes, it can be challenging to know how to use Workday to its full potential. Engaging post-production support or an application management services (AMS) provider can help you deploy additional applications missed in the initial implementation or provide experienced resources to stabilize the transition for ongoing operations.