The IT Department has two main roles – maintenance and change. However, budgetary constraints and limited resources have directed most available funds towards fixing legacy systems and resolving issues, leaving minimal room to initiate the necessary changes to cut operational costs and move the institution forward.
IT Departments are getting more pressure than ever to drive digital transformation; however IT is typically an enabler of digital transformation, not the driver. Business needs to take ownership and drive transformation. They hold the budget and need to understand the effort and benefit involved. Achieving genuine digital transformation requires stronger collaboration between Business and IT, a hurdle that many major organisations worldwide struggle to overcome due to years of decentralised decision-making and systems, insufficient stakeholder support, inadequate comprehension of the issues at hand, constrained financial resources and limited manpower.
You will never understand all the technology available to you, but you do know what challenges you face every day.
- How do you define and pinpoint these challenges?
- How do you get Business in the room to align on these challenges and understand their challenges too?
- How do you collaboratively solve these challenges and assign ownership?
- How do you ensure IT and Business are working towards towards a common objective?
Microsoft Catalyst is a structured design methodology designed to involve stakeholders from Business and IT in collaboration to do the following:
- Identification of core problems and/or business requirements centred on a theme.
- Solution Identification, prioritisation and consensus building
- Business Value Assessment and Business Case Development
Catalyst will help you build a data-driven business case to support internal funding and calculate potential ROI while solving a critical challenge and moving towards transformation objectives.
Co-create solutions with other stakeholders and drive excellent student service delivery with Catalyst. Apply for funding here: https://www.ec.co.za/2023/02/10/microsoft-catalyst-funding/ or schedule a discovery call to discuss further.
Read the full article here: https://www.ec.co.za/2023/05/10/digital-direction-for-higher-education/
Enterprisecloud is Microsoft Business Application Partner that assists Universities, Nonprofits, and Large Commercial Organisations to implement a strategic digital foundation and platform, on which to centralise, integrate and scale all processes across the organisation. We specialise in Student Applications, student lifecycle management and facility and campus management.