September | 2020
The global pandemic of 2019-20 has not left any industry untouched in its wake. If there is one factor that can help us defeat this crisis and rise stronger, it is knowledge. Hence, the pressing need for the knowledge juggernaut to roll on cannot be overemphasised.
As the disruption hits Higher Education institutes, five key challenges facing the industry are falling enrolments, student debt, declining state funding, lower world rankings, and worrying completion rates. What we really need is digital disruption by finding new ways of imparting knowledge and conducting operations that can help universities chart strategies and apply the latest technology to accelerate student experience and outcomes to thrive in the post-COVID age. Some of the key asks that we see topping our clients’ lists include:
In order to realize the above goals, it is crucial for universities to revamp their back-office IT to rewire and reimagine transformation toward a Modern Campus. For example, if you plan to launch a new program, how do you optimize your risk without clear visibility of the potential class size? If you want to deliver a convocation remotely, like during the ongoing pandemic for example, how can you ensure the quality of experience lives up to your students’ expectations?
Cloud transformation can provide answers to these questions, and more.
Now, if you are running on a heavily customized legacy system (e.g. Oracle PeopleSoft), it is natural to pause before embarking on a transformation journey. Keeping such constraints in mind, we at Wipro’s Higher Education team have drawn upon our experiences of working with universities over the years. Looking at the best of technology on offer right now, we have identified achievable milestones to prepare you to traverse this new landscape, optimizing risk for the short-to-medium term, while building a foundation to meet your long-term objectives.
Here are some options
Minimize existing customizations and introduce process enhancements:
Conduct a comprehensive assessment of your IT investments, to lay out a unique roadmap that addresses your priorities (e.g. examine how Oracle Student Cloud can help simplify some aspects of your customized landscape in improving your overall experience)
Focus on modernizing your back-office:
Evaluate the value of lifting-and-shifting your applications to an IaaS/PaaS platform like Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), as an interim step before moving to SaaS
With the above options to consider, Wipro’s ideology for a technology-led transformation is built around the following pivots:
Personalize and digitalize student experience using Cloud:
Students arrive on campus with high expectations, and it’s up to your institution’s faculty and staff to deliver the personalized, connected experience they demand. You’ll need to manage student relationships across channels and devices to meet enrolment goals. If not, students become discouraged and may even leave, taking their tuition money with them. Personalized content and interactions can help students succeed.
Understanding new ways of learning in the COVID era:
Learning Management Systems (LMS) have remained underutilized at universities. The present scenario calls for a change. Re-integration of the LMS to Student Information Systems (SIS) and other functions like CRM and HCM.
Cloud eliminates both virtual and physical walls and barriers to access, delivery, and collaboration. Today, more than one in every four students in the United States are taking an online course, opening the classroom doors to non-traditional students now able to pursue their dream of a college education. From a research perspective, cloud not only provides access to extraordinary scale and compute capabilities, but also enables unique, truly global collaboration opportunities that can result in unimaginable scientific breakthroughs.
Communicating the unique proposition of your university to prospective students with conventional media is no longer viable
Enabling a Modern Campus through Oracle Student Cloud:
Conclusion
In the modernization journey toward a Modern Campus, the back-office merits attention. Using DNA (Digital Navigator Assessment), our “accelerated” consultative framework for Oracle Cloud Migrations, can help customers understand critical processes, applications, and technology capabilities needed to adopt industry-leading best practices and improve your university’s competitive positioning.
Arif Girniwala
Technology Partner - Higher Education, Oracle Practice
Arif has 20+ years of IT experience, transforming, simplifying, and optimizing solutions for complex data and business problems. He advises CXOs on emerging technologies and strategies in Cloud, and adopting modern best practices in Higher Education.
Ashutosh Prasann Sinha
Subject Matter Expert - Higher Education, Oracle Practice
Ashutosh has 15+ years of experience in IT and the Higher Ed Industry. He has been instrumental in successfully delivering key Higher Ed accounts in Wipro. Ashutosh has played various roles in Competency, Delivery, and Presales.
Avik Kumar Si
Solutions Consultant, Oracle Practice
Avik is a solutions consultant with 9+ years of experience across Strategy, Solutions, and Presales. He is passionate about bringing the latest offerings in Digital and Cloud to help drive business simplification and growth initiatives. He holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Management from XLRI Jamshedpur.
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