Will University IT departments exist in 15 years?

I thought it would be interesting to gaze into the future to understand what a university Information Technology department might look like in 2025.   The following might happen as consumerization, cloud computing and mobile devices continue to dominate the technology in the next 15 years.  The following are ideas that mirror trends that have taken place in many industries.  

The first technology transformation is the consumerization of the technology environment.   Historically, higher education introduced technology innovation to the campus community.   The ability of an individual to purchase a powerful mobile device to connect to information resources is growing at a remarkable pace.   The cost of many laptop computers and tablets are below 500.00 and continuing to decline in price.   Every university today, even the elite’s, are unable to provide students, faculty and staff with the technology resources they can purchase themselves today.   Further, the growth of educational sites like Kahn’s Academy and the thousands of MOOC’s suggest a transformation is underway in delivering course content.  Universities most valuable asset today is its ability to credential a degree is valid.   

So what might the future look like for the Information Technology department?

1.      Access to information will become central to the IT function, students will be able to take courses at many institutions and will need the University to credential their coursework for a degree.

2.      Analytics will be a central offering of Information Technology departments.   The question is will this function become a responsibility of the Chief Financial Officer or the CIO.

3.      A recent presentation suggested in 2020 only 18% of IT operations found on campuses today would remain.  The remainder of the academic and administrative applications will be purchased by individual colleges from software vendors, not IT departments.   IT departments will be required to identify all sources of university information to provide university officials the ability to make wise decisions. 

4.      Branding will become important to a university to attract top students and faculty.   Marketing and social networks will be critical to ensuring a University continues to be recognized as a leading academic institution.   Many of the functions now found in Information Technology departments will become the responsibility of the Chief Marketing Officer.   It is not farfetched to find enrollment management a function of the CMO.

5.      Computing will migrate off campus as cloud computing gains prominence. Students have already moved to Google and Microsoft.   All academic and administrative computing will be done by boutique vendors who ensure their software meets the unique needs of various departments.  The shift has started with major vendors like Adobe moving all their users to the cloud, many other vendors are following.  Two companies to watch are the administrative ERP vendor Workaday and the academic learning management software vendor Instructure.  Both are the fastest growing companies in the higher education marketplace.

6.      Campus networking functions will move to the facilities management organization.  University administrators will understand that there is little difference in structured electrical systems and data systems.  The growth of smart building being managed by the facilities organization will ensure the skills necessary to successfully manage the campus network.  

7.      Universities are creating a new office to oversee all learning, often called the Associate Provost of e-Learning or the Vice President of e-Learning.   The office will be responsible for coordinating all learning on a campus, this would include libraries, study spaces, academic computing departments and the teaching and learning centers.   

8.      Student computing labs will cease to exist.  Universities will convert student computing lab space and library spaces into collaborative study spaces. .  The emphasis on retention will be the catalyst of the transformation.    The purpose of the study space will be to ensure all students are successful.  The study spaces will be managed by knowledge navigators and will support the personal devices a student or faculty owns.  The responsibility of the space will be to bridge the classroom to information resources. 

9.      General administrative computing will be available from vendors like Google, Amazon and Microsoft.  Departments will replace purchasing servers with contracting for services.  Server administrators will dwindle and application specialist will grow..

10.  Research computing will migrate to large multi-university clusters or national labs.  High-speed academic networks will grow in importance.

Just some thoughts to consider, the future will definitely be different than it is today.   The individuals that will be difference makers will be individuals that understand the mission of the university and provide students and faculty with the technology necessary to be successful.