What makes a university successful? While there are many possible answers to this question, there is one that stands out: positive student experiences. Student experiences can impact universities for years to come. With an overall high quality of student experiences, the appeal to prospective students will also be high. The number of applicants per year and the school’s reputation will grow. And, while a student’s “great” college experience is subjective, having a helpful and useful IT department is imperative, though often overlooked, to help achieve the positive student experience.
IT and the College Experience
When it comes to the college experience, the focus typically lands on activities, courses available, and sports teams. What people often overlook is the group providing help behind the scenes – the IT department. Higher Education IT departments play a significant role in a student’s college experience, and their responsibilities are continuing to grow. Students interact with IT on a daily basis, whether it be through the campus WiFi, a university mobile app, university email, or help with their devices. Every year, online learning becomes more popular, and the BYOD movement continuously grows. With each of these comes inevitable tickets and requests.
To best serve their students, Higher Education IT teams must anticipate these student requests and tickets. They also need to be cognizant of everything happening on campus and the new devices they will be expected to support. With a centralized approach to IT, universities can provide a higher level of service to those they support. Higher Education-focused software is one way to achieve this.
Better Service for Students
At California State University – Chico, also known as Chico State, the Information Resources (IRES) department was trying to provide the best possible service to students with the resources they had available, but they knew they could do better. They knew that to adequately serve their users and the overall operations of the university, they had to find IT Service software that was better suited to Higher Education.
By using Higher Education-focused IT Service Management (ITSM) and Project Portfolio Management (PPM) software, Chico State has been able to increase their level of service and student satisfaction immensely. They now have a better handle on the issues students are having and visibility into how they can do better next time, helping Chico State as a whole to thrive.
To find out how California State University – Chico uses IT Service Management and Project Portfolio Management solutions, read the case study.