KU receives national recognition for new campus IT support model
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has received the 2015 award for Institutional Excellence in Information Technology from The Association for College & University Technology Advancement.
The award recognizes the university’s “Reorganize and Redefine IT” initiative, which changes how technology support is provided to faculty, staff and departments on campus. That effort is part of Changing for Excellence, a set of strategic initiatives designed to identify efficiencies and redirect cost savings to advance KU’s Bold Aspirations strategic plan.
“This is truly an institutional achievement, one that began with a clear vision from the chancellor, the provost and the vice provost for administration and finance. This award validates the strategic direction and the innovative approach we’ve taken in providing IT support to our campus customers,” said Bob Lim, KU’s chief information officer.
Like many universities, a decentralized approach to information technology developed organically over time at KU, with campus departments hiring and managing their own IT employees, and purchasing and maintaining their own software, hardware and infrastructure. This led to redundancy, inefficiencies and missed opportunities to maximize the university’s technology resources.
The Reorganize and Redefine IT initiative sought to make technology support more efficient and effective by shifting management of all campus IT staff to KU Information Technology. To meet the challenge, KU IT developed an innovative “locally supported and centrally managed” customer support model, in which IT support staff remain physically located in departments across campus but report centrally through Technology Support Centers. The close proximity to their customers provides quick response times, and the central management ensures consistency in service and solutions.
Over the past three years, KU IT has successfully partnered with 18 of the 22 largest organizations on campus to transition campus IT staff to the Technology Support Center model. KU IT is currently working with the final four large organizations on the transition plan for their IT staff. As a result of the new “locally supported and centrally managed” model, customers have reported improved service and response rates. For calendar year 2014, post-service surveys show that 94.25 percent of faculty and staff respondents “agree” or “strongly agree” they are satisfied with the service they received.
The model also provides benefits for the campus IT support staff who often worked in isolation before the change. They now have much-needed backup for vacations and unplanned absences, access to far more resources, and new professional development and career advancement opportunities. No employees were laid off as a result of the new model, and a number of previously decentralized staff have already experienced professional advancement through promotions to management positions in the new Technology Support Centers.
“In collaboration with university leadership and numerous campus partners, KU IT developed a new paradigm for how technology support is delivered on campus,” Lim said. “The university’s Changing for Excellence Reorganize and Redefine IT initiative has produced positive and permanent changes that will continue to benefit our customers, IT employees and the university-at-large for years to come. At the end of the day, we are here to make our students, faculty and staff successful at KU and beyond. We support their goals by enabling technology to be a force multiplier for their success.”
Lim and Alex Wong, KU IT deputy support officer, accepted the Institutional Excellence in Information Technology award April 21 at the 44th Annual ACUTA Conference and Exhibition in Atlanta.
More information about ACUTA is available here. More information about KU’s Changing for Excellence is available here.
Photo: University of Kansas CIO Bob Lim (right) and Alex Wong, KU Information Technology deputy support officer (left), accepted the Institutional Excellence in Information Technology award April 21 at the 44th Annual ACUTA Conference and Exhibition in Atlanta.