Delivering Public Service for the Future

The changing atmosphere of higher education: Harness the power of cloud

Education

Technology is one of the most disruptive influences in education, challenging institutions to rethink the content and methods of teaching and learning. Higher education is moving from traditional face-to-face learning to a more collaborative, self-led learning model—a shift driven by technology.

Research shows that there will be an estimated 26 billion smart devices in use around the world by 2020.1 The Internet of Things (IoT) is destined to far outgrow other connected devices, delivering more personalized information more efficiently and effectively. These smart solutions are already seeping into homes, cities, enterprises and the environment. Over the next few years, IoT will flood campuses, and students will expect connectivity. But college and universities deal with financial strain from years of budgets cuts and enrolment declines, and many IT departments lack the structure and resources to execute new technologies that support digital learning. Given such constraints, the rise in IoT technology on campuses may prove to be the tipping point in the need for colleges to change how they do business.

So how can higher education institutions balance financial limitations with the need to embrace and employ the technology that students bring into the classroom? The answer lies in making structural changes in how higher education institutions think about and do business. Cloud computing offers colleges the ability to simplify their IT structure and reduce associated costs, allowing them to redeploy their resources to handle the wave of IoT technology.

Current legacy IT systems cannot withstand the delugeCurrent college budgets fall short in covering the costs of supporting traditional IT legacy systems. Funding for state-supported schools is on average 23 percent less per student than before the 2008 economic downturn.2 When this funding is cut, colleges and universities generally either cut educational or other services, raise tuitions to cover the gap, or both.

At the same time, students are thinking twice about the cost-benefit trade-off of pursuing a higher education. Accenture’s 2014 Global Value of Higher Education Survey found that 74 percent of college students considered alternatives to a college education and cited cost as a major aspect of higher education that needs improvement.

Financial constraints, along with the demand for education through technology, are realities that render legacy IT systems unsustainable. Maintaining the current systems will only drive cost pressures and limit an institution’s ability to deploy new capabilities. Georgetown University’s CIO, Lisa Davis, stressed the need for IT to deliver, ensuring that it is “no longer a service provider, but a partner.”3

Look to students for digital forecastDigital transformation goes hand-in-hand with cultural transformation. Technology is disrupting the traditional relationship among educators and students. Students

no longer get their knowledge solely through lectures and textbooks. Instead, they increasingly rely on the use of mobile devices, social networking and sharing sites, streaming media and digital texts to learn. The rising wave of IoT technology on campuses will only exacerbate this changing atmosphere in higher education.

The 2013 EDUCAUSE Centre of Applied Research (ECAR) estimates that new-age student brings up to four internet-capable devices to the classroom,4 along with expectations on how and when they want to use them. Students want to learn in new ways and demand that universities employ more digital tools for a more enhanced and personalized learning experience. Higher education institutions can meet that demand by moving to the cloud and freeing up resources that can be poured into preparing for the transformation led by IOT that will alter how students interact and communicate with their educators.

“Students are carrying a cell phone—many with two—a tablet, and a laptop, and they may be also using a campus device at the same time. Not only are we faced with providing bandwidth to handle all these devices but we are challenged by the pure density of devices on campus.”

—Butch Juelg, Associate Vice Chancellor, Technology Services, Lone Star College System

Weather the storm by moving to the cloudIn order to retain and recruit students, higher education institutions must position themselves as experts in the learning network and find more cost-effective ways to implement IT services. It is time to take the financial and structural pressure off of college IT staff by steering away from the burdensome cost of maintenance and upgrades, long lead times for infrastructure improvements and incompatibilities between systems and tools.

Moving a system to the cloud can reduce the cost of ownership by 20 percent. Federal agencies have already reduced their operating costs by 30 percent.5 Colleges can expect to see similar results. The cloud also allows institutions to pay for what they use versus building capacities that are largely unexploited.

But the savings are more than financial. IT departments gain flexibility, agility and productivity, and their staff become more efficient and mobile. All of these savings can then be used to develop services and capabilities that support colleges’ key mission to educate.

Not only can institutions meet the digital demand, they will boost their competitive edge in innovation. Accenture’s education survey found that 80 percent of students say innovation is an important factor in deciding what institution to attend. However, only 13 percent of college students believe their institution provides appropriate digital learning tools.6

Being at the cutting edge of campus technology and having the capacity to handle IoT will help colleges develop better curriculum that will, in turn, motivate and excite students. Passive learning can become active learning. In essence, by removing typical IT constraints, the cloud allows higher education institutions to do what they do best – teach. And that is good for business.

The sky’s the limitDespite the spread of digital, on-demand learning tools, college is far from being irrelevant. Accenture’s education survey shows that 59 percent of students and recent graduates pursue a higher education to gain skills needed to get a job after graduation.

The key is to recreate the college experience by incorporating new technologies. By harnessing the power of cloud computing, colleges and universities can spend more time focusing on teaching and improving higher education performance in the digital age to deliver public service for the future.

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Reference

1. Gartner. 2013. “Gartner Says the Internet of Things Installed Base Will Grow to 26 Billion Units By 2020.” Available online at http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2636073.

2. Michael Mitchell, Vincent Palacios, and Michael Leachman. 2014. “States Are Still Funding Higher Education Below Pre-Recession Levels.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Available online at http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=4135.

3. Quoted in Michael Krigsman. Sept. 28, 2014. “Higher Education: Innovation and Digital Transformation.” Available online at http://www.zdnet.com/article/higher-education-innovation-and-digital-transformation/.

4. Quoted in The Consumerization of Technology and the Bring-Your-Own-Everything (BYOE) Era of Higher Education, ECAR Research Report (http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/byod-and-consumerization-it-higher-education-research-2013)

5. Accenture Federal Services, The Road Ahead: Three Years After Cloud First.

6. Accenture. 2015. “Digital Business Era: Stretch your Boundaries.”

About Delivering Public Service for the Future

What does it take to deliver public service for the future? Public service leaders must embrace four structural shifts—advancing toward personalized services, insight-driven operations, a public entrepreneurship mindset and a cross-agency commitment to mission productivity. By making these shifts, leaders can support flourishing societies, safe, secure nations and economic vitality for citizens in a digital world — delivering public service for the future.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 323,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

For more information, contact:

Robert J. Friess Managing Director Health & Public Service – Education Accenture North America robert.j.friess@accenture.com

John Thompson Hass Student Services Lead for Health & Public Service Accenture North America john.thompson-haas@accenture.com

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