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A report summarising two breakout sessions run at the Association of Heads of University Administration (AHUA) 2013 Autumn Conference in Nottingham, held during September 2013. The breakout sessions were run by Stephen Butcher and Andy Powell of Eduserv and involved a total of around 35 senior managers at UK HE institutions. The intention was to investigate why HEIs tend to adopt a DIY approach to IT services.
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IT : strategy, managementand DIY in HE
Breakout session reportAHUA 2013 Autumn Conference
NottinghamStephen Butcher and Andy Powell
Eduserv
Image: Wojtek Gurak @ Flickr
Introduction
• we ran 2 breakout sessions at the AHUA 2013 Autumn Conference in Nottingham
• each session was entitled “IT : strategy, management and DIY in HE”
• we set out to investigate why HEIs tend to adopt a DIY approach to IT services
• there were 15-20 delegates (all senior management) in each session – split into 3 discussion groups
Groups were asked to discuss…
• has your institution considered outsourcing aspects of your IT services?
• pick one example where outsourcing was chosen and one where it was considered and rejected
• what were the drivers that led to those decisions? how valid do you think those drivers were/are?
• are there common characteristics of DIYvs. outsourced services?
Currently outsourced
Note: intention was to pick examples,not to create a definitive list
Outsourcing considered but rejected
Note: intention was to pick examples,not to create a definitive list
Avoi
d up
-fron
t cap
ital i
nves
tmen
tLa
ck o
f in-
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e ex
perti
seFl
exib
le c
apac
ityQ
ualit
y of
use
r exp
erie
nce
and
func
tiona
lity
Spee
d of
impl
emen
tatio
nSt
uden
t atti
tude
s to
cha
nge
Relia
bilit
yCo
stRi
skIn
-hou
se p
rovi
sion
too
mes
sy to
out
sour
ceVi
ew th
at in
tern
al IT
cap
abili
ty is
a ‘g
ood
thin
g’N
iche
HE
apps
(i.e
. no
outs
ourc
ed o
ption
s)Im
mat
urity
of a
vaila
ble
offer
sAb
ility
to c
usto
mis
e th
e se
rvic
ePa
st b
ad e
xper
ienc
es o
f out
sour
cing
(not
IT)
Conc
ern
abou
t exp
loita
tion
by s
uppl
ier
Staff
atti
tude
s to
cha
nge
Bran
d di
ffere
ntiati
onVA
T on
out
sour
ced
serv
ices
Nee
d fo
r int
egra
tion
with
ent
erpr
ise
syst
ems
Mis
sion
criti
calit
yIT
stra
tegy
& c
ultu
re o
f con
trol
Secu
rity
Lega
l, co
mpl
ianc
e (e
.g. F
oI a
nd D
P)Co
nfide
ntial
ity
Reasons tooutsource
Interpretedvariably
Reasons toDIY
Note: ordering applied by the authorsbased on group feedback
Remarks
• it seems likely that the historic need to be at cutting edge of IT (to support the needs of academics) has led to an over-riding culture of DIY, particularly in older universities
• attitudes to issues like cost, reliability and risk appear variable and partly dependent on perception of in-house capability – e.g. cost is likely to be an important factor in individual cases but impact depends on how internal costs are measured
• VAT on outsourced services tends to push cost factor in favour of DIY – externally supplied services have got to be 20% cheaper (before VAT) compared to DIY, just to break even
• only in ‘free’ cases (e.g. student email) doescost become a ‘no-brainer’
Remarks (cont.)
• there was a perception that HE is somehow a ‘special case’ (compared with other sectors) but not clear if this is correct
• in particular, ‘confidentiality’ and ‘mission criticality’ both given as reasons to DIY
• however, in discussion it was noted that:a) other very sensitive sectors don’t see things that wayb) most universities will have procedures and infrastructures that are
less audited and accredited than those of third party suppliers
• groups could usefully have spent more time discussing the relative importance of the issues raised, andwhether they are perceived or real, but timedid not allow for this
Useful resources
• UCISA 2012 Survey of Technology Enhanced Learning for higher education in the UKhttp://www.ucisa.ac.uk/~/media/groups/ssg/surveys/TEL_survey_2012_with%20Apps_final
• Efficiency and effectiveness in higher education: A report by the Universities UK Efficiency and Modernisation Task Grouphttp://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Pages/EfficiencyinHigherEducation.aspx