Author:

bomgar_univ_of_reading

Bomgar – University of Reading

Collaborative IT Support at the University of Reading

Since 2012 British Universities have been able to charge £9,000 (about $15,000) per year for tuition fees. I wrote last year, following the itSMF regional at the University of Exeter, that this charging policy shifts the relationship between undergraduates and institutions and further elevates students to ‘customers’ with buying power. Students have new expectations and demand higher standards of their Universities, including IT services.

This is sentiment echoed by Gordon Roberts, Customer Services and Communications Manager at the University of Reading, who I met with Joel Bomgar, CEO of the $50m enterprise remote support company that bears his name. Joel was in the UK to visit the EMEA office and talk with clients including the University of Reading (UoR) who have recently joined the ranks of around 8,000 other Bomgar customers.

Gordon stated his team were under increasing pressure to increase service levels: both to satisfy their staff and students but also manage external reputation. Bad vibes about support spread like wild fire amongst prospective IT savvy students.

 Read the full story here

twitter_eunis_web

A little bird told me …

A little bird told me … 

EUNIS increasingly publishes news, updates, research opportunities and articles of general interest via Twitter.

Don’t miss out on the latest updates – follow us @eunis_it 

Send us a tweet to let us know you belong to a EUNIS member organisation and we will be sure to follow you.

If you would like to share information about news, events, publications or other topics of interest from your organisation with the EUNIS community just send us a link in a tweet (please note we only forward material in English).

If you are new to Twitter why not get started now. Set up an account and follow some EUNIS members to see how Twitter can help you stay up to date with the latest developments in your areas of interest.

@eunis_it

BI_Maturity

BI Maturity Survey: extended to Dec 31

EUNIS evaluates BI maturity in Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, Sweden, Finland, Ireland and now UK…

EUNIS is conducting an evaluation of the maturity level of Business Intelligence initiatives in Europe. The initial scope of the project involved the maturity assessment in Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, Sweden, Finland, Ireland. This has now been extended to the UK thanks to collaboration with the UCISA, the professional association for UK IT managers and a EUNIS member.

The BI Task Force @EUNIS is a special interest group inside the European University Information Systems Organization (EUNIS), a non-profit organization that brings together those who are responsible for the management, development and the policy for Information Technology in Higher Education in Europe. The BI Task Force aims to promote the effective application of business intelligence (BI) systems to Higher Education management, as well as the sharing of knowledge and experiences among BI practitioners of European Universities.

The BI Task Force @EUNIS is currently undertaking an assessment of the maturity level of BI initiatives in Higher Education Institutions (HEI). The goal of this project is to raise awareness for the critical success factors and pitfalls of BI initiatives, providing a transparent and unbiased assessment of the current state of affairs of BI implementations in European HEI.

As the IT and/or BI responsible at your institution, we kindly ask for your participation in this survey, which can be accessed through the following links (depending on country):

The survey is completely anonymous (neither you or your institution will be identifiable), and includes the assessment required by two maturity models (TDWI and a Higher Education specific maturity model). The aggregated results of the survey will be published online and presented at future EUNIS conferences. The BI Task Force @EUNIS specifically acknowledges the copyright of TDWI regarding the TDWI Maturity Model. We would be grateful if you could complete the survey by 31st December 2013 and appreciate your help.

Eunis_Elite_Award

Call for 2014 EUNIS Elite Award

Call for 2014 EUNIS Elite Award for Excellence in implementing Information Systems for Higher Education

The EUNIS Board of Directors is pleased to invite submissions for the 14th EUNIS Elite Award for Excellence.

Goal of the Award

The main purpose of the Award is to recognize and promote best practice in some aspect of the use of information systems in higher education in Europe. The competition will:

  • recognize excellence
  • stimulate wider awareness and use of information systems in research, administration and community service in institutions
  • encourage best practices

Submissions for the Award may come from any area related to information systems, including for example:

  • Portals
  • Identity Management
  • Administrative Information Systems

Judging criteria

The panel of judges needs to see an evidence of successful implementation. Entries will score well if they clearly show some or all of the following:

  • Demonstrable benefits to the target community
  • Efficiency and productivity gains
  • Innovation
  • Imagination
  • Collaboration
  • High levels of technological integration
  • Transferability to other organizations

Entries will not be restricted to in-house developments only. Solutions acquired elsewhere will also be accepted for consideration by the judges, but there must be clear evidence of original and imaginative use of the technology by the institution making the submission.

Rules for submission

All members of EUNIS are eligible to compete for the Award, including institutions in national organizations in membership of EUNIS.
Only one entry per institution will be accepted.
A member of the winning team must register to attend the Congress and be ready to present and preferably make a demonstration of the project.
The submission document for the Award should describe:

  • The goals of the project
  • The environment in which the project takes place, including technical, administrative and financial constraints
  • The results of the project and its impact on the institution
  • The state of development of the project
  • Any planned further developments
  • The applicability of the project to other institutions

A brief summary of the project is also required.

Submission procedure and deadline for 2014

Extended abstract submission at EUNIS 2014 Congress (see http://www.eunis.org/eunis2014/), and in the same time, indication of intention to submit an entry for the Award contest.

Contest entry submissions (limited to 6 to 8 pages): deadline is 31 January 31, 2014
All entries should be sent by email to the EUNIS Executive Secretary, Jean-François Desnos ( jfdesnos(at)orange.fr)

Award

The project team of the winning submission will receive an honorary diploma and an art piece. The winner of the Award will have an invited slot at the Congress. The winning presentation will be put on the EUNIS web together with the previous winners.

Previous Winners

1999: Oxford Brookes University (UK)
2001: Helsinki University of Technology (Finland) and University of Porto (Portugal)
2002: London School of Economics (UK)
2003: Technische Universität Graz (Austria)
2004: University of Manchester (UK)
2005: Masaryk University Brno (Czech Republic)
2006: Universitat Jaume I Castello (Spain)
2007: MUCI Consortium (Poland)
2008 to 2010: no award
2011: AlmaLaurea Interuniversity Consortium (Italy)
2012 : Waterford Institute of Technology (Ireland)

2013: University of Porto and FCCN Portugal

 

bomgar-uca

Bomgar – University for the Creative Arts

Meeting the Changing Support Needs of the University Across Five Campuses and Internationally

 The University for the Creative Arts (UCA) is a specialist university formed to foster a unique community for its students around subjects including fine art, digital media, journalism, animation, crafts, fashion and photography. UCA has five campuses and several annex sites across the South-East of England, including Chatham Historical Dockyards and Maidstone TV Studios.

Before using Bomgar, UCA found its IT team was facing challenges around remote support on both the business and technical sides. The biggest challenge was supporting an increasing number of staff working remotely and travelling internationally as part of the University’s recruitment and internationalisation strategies. Together with the growing number of different devices being used by staff connecting to the network, this placed new challenges on the University’s service desk and support teams when it came to dealing with requests.

Read the case study here