Do It All and Start It Now — Advice for Universities Considering Digital Transformation

They say that fortune favours the bold and I think this is especially true of digital transformation today in the Higher Education (HE) sector. Institutions are mostly failing to meet the expectations of the digital-native millennials who make up the majority of the workforce¹ and the younger, even more, digitally-savvy Gen Zs which today’s HE student population mostly consists of.

HE institutions really need a massive transformational change, and they need to start now as many run legacy systems that are a decade or two old and are no longer the right tools for the job in the digital age. Modern, cloud-based systems can integrate data and processes across all departments and functions, creating ‘one version of the truth’ and enable academic institutions to take advantage of the efficiencies and improved User Experience (UX) possible from Intelligent Technologies. These include automation, machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), chatbots and predictive analytics.

Universities taking a super slow, system-by-system approach to modernisation are missing out. They are also in danger of becoming irrelevant over the next few years as they cling to their decades-old legacy systems which cause challenges and frustrations for the end-users. By replacing and fully integrating all of their core systems, HE institutions can eliminate data siloes, cut admin costs, increase efficiencies, deliver innovation and create online experiences which help to attract and keep students and employees.

The restrictions caused by Covid-19 policies have hugely increased the pressure on universities to evolve and to do so faster than many are capable of doing. With academic staff and research fellows working from their homes as well as on-campus, and students needing to rely on cloud-based tools to access much of their education, transforming legacy systems has become a ‘do or die’ necessity. Those who don’t evolve soon won’t be able to compete effectively for students and staff with the bolder, more forward-looking universities.

Why HE has been slow to evolve their technology

The Higher Education sector has been extremely slow to join the digital age. This reluctance to bring their systems up to speed is partly because the approvals process for large technology investments can be lengthy and difficult to navigate. However, technology has moved on both in terms of functionality and affordability. Best-of-breed finance, HR, ERP and student systems are available in the cloud as a software-as-a-service (Saas) model. This enables universities to spread their investment across a much longer time period and move from a CapEx to an OpEx cost.

The other big stumbling block is that digital transformation can be so daunting because universities have such a complicated network of systems. A student system will typically touch 50-100 other business systems: accommodation, libraries, printing, car parks, sports facilities, catering and so on. Finance will touch 30-35. This can cause big headaches with integration if a university chooses to implement software from multiple providers.

How not to fail   

In the recent past, several Northern universities committed to replacing all of their systems but both failed very publically. I’m sure this is also a main reason for the reluctance to transform digitally. But this doesn’t mean that upgrading ALL systems in one project is inadvisable or unachievable. It just needs to be approached in the right way. If that happens then the benefits can be huge.

The wider HE sector can now learn from these past mistakes and plan accordingly for a successful digital transformation journey. My overarching recommendations for a successful, full systems transformation project are:

1. Don’t use a range of different suppliers
   Avoid any integration issues by choosing a partner who can do the lot: from ERP and finance through to HR, Payroll, student systems and HE-specific apps.
2. Allocate enough people
   Neither the universities in question nor their suppliers had enough people on the job. Choose a digital transformation partner that is large enough to scale up to the work. Plan for backfilling your best staff during the implementation period as you will need them on the project full-time.
3. Be realistic on timescales
   Don’t underestimate how much there is to do, and therefore how long it will take. Smaller, less experienced suppliers may quote you 100 consultancy days which would be accurate in a corporate environment, but for a complex university systems transformation, it’s more likely to be 10x that figure.
4. Be bold, take action now and know that it’s possible to do all core systems together
   We’ve recently completed a full systems transformation project for De Montfort University and will be publishing a case study on it soon. In fact, to my knowledge, the only successful universities who have digitally transformed every main system have implemented SAP technology. Newcastle was the first to do this 20 years ago, and are still running their full SAP solution.

1. Source: Open Access Government, 2019 – Workforce will be dominated by millennials