| |March 201819CIOReviewTRANSFORM OR WITHER!!ransform or wither. A catch cry that has come to the fore as institutions continue to face significant disruption, which is fundamentally chal-lenging how universities under-take their core com-ponents of learning, research and community. The impact of these changes is widespread and is transforming business models and operating models. Universities realise they need to adapt and change quickly, with many of them look-ing to using technology and digital capability to achieve this. University leadership is looking towards digital innovation to fundamentally change the student experience across the full student lifecycle. Thus, we now have the catch cry of Digital Transformation coming out of many universities.Willingly or not, higher education is facing a digital transformation; our students are demanding it and our university leadership is anticipating it. I suggest that this tipping point, i.e. that time at which a change or effect cannot be stopped, has been reached. Where do you as a CIO fit within all of this and what are you doing about it? After all, your university needs to be prepared to be agile, fail fast to succeed sooner, agree a level of risk taking, and be prepared to adapt and change.Many institutions have released a digital strategy and have commenced to execute these. There are a number of common, key threads: attracting students and staff through a digitally enhanced experience; enhanced learning and teaching through digital technologies; new modes of research; and infrastructure to support digital enhancement. In turn, these strategies are supported by other strategies (e.g. web, mobile, and social media), big data approaches, and so the list goes on. Supporting T CXO INSIGHTSBy Bruce Callow, Chief Technology Officer, Griffith UniversityGriffith University is making a concerted push towards cloud-based and managed services as part of an overhaul to power its staff and student access business systems and online services.
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