Modern universities can be complex environments where business and technology strategies seldom align. To remain competitive, these institutions must provide a good student experience. However, driving digital transformation in higher education can be difficult; some universities date back hundreds of years, and change does not come easily to them.
Key Challenges With Digital Transformation in Higher Education
Spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, students' expectations have shifted. What were once heavily in-person-oriented institutions have had to quickly adapt to a new digital world where all university services, not just eLearning and courseware, must be accessible online.
Digital solutions must work for all users—staff and students. Data needed by administrative staff may be siloed in different systems, which sync together poorly, making tasks required for the day-to-day running of the university unnecessarily arduous. Research from EY found that initiatives that center on the experience of the users, not the existing processes of the institution, are far more likely to succeed.
Adding to the constraints on universities, many depend on international students for a portion of their revenue. When countries restrict the number of student visas they grant, this directly affects university budgets, requiring them to do more with less and look for ways to cut costs.
How Digital Transformation in Higher Education Empowers Universities Using Data-Driven Insights
With all the pressures and challenges faced by higher education organizations, how can they become more agile, make better-informed data-driven decisions, and be more cost-efficient? Many have turned to developing their Enterprise Architecture (EA) to get precisely these insights. With EA, they gain a better understanding of how their organization’s IT operates and how it can be developed to align with business goals.
“Universities that invest in maturing their Enterprise Architecture function gain a better understanding of how their applications connect to their business capabilities, allowing them to reduce risk, cut unnecessary costs, and ultimately provide better services to their students.”
Christoffer Rou, Lead Account Executive, Ardoq
Some higher education customers using Ardoq to power their digital transformation initiatives include:
United Kingdom
- University of Cambridge
- University of Nottingham
- University of Sheffield
- University of South Wales
- University of St Andrews, Scotland
Europe
- ETH Zurich, Switzerland
North America
- The University of British Columbia, Canada
- Sheridan College, Ontario, Canada
- Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Read on to learn about some of our best examples of digital transformation in higher education.
ETH Zurich: Less Time Overcoming Challenges, More Time For Development
Founded in 1854, ETH Zurich is one of the most prestigious universities in Europe and is ranked among the top universities in the world. Specializing in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics, it serves over 21,000 students. Looking to mature their EA function, ETH Zurich chose Ardoq as their new EA platform in 2023.
“With the right tool, we can allocate our time differently. We can overcome the challenges in capturing, governing, and maintaining our architecture data. The goal is that we spend less time finding answers across the organization, less manual work on risk assessment or mapping out how the landscape evolves—and more time on further development, such as adapting AI, for example. It’s now the fun part really starts.”
Paul Signer, Service Architect at ETH Zurich
Read more about why ETH Zurich chose Ardoq as their Enterprise Architecture tool of choice.
Sheridan College: Making Better, Data-Informed Decisions
Founded in 1967, Sheridan College is a polytechnic institute with three campuses across Ontario, Canada: Brampton, Oakville, and Mississauga, serving a total of over 40,000 students.
Sheridan began using Ardoq in 2022 when they needed a better picture of how IT supported the business. Applications and tooling would be purchased for departments without the context of how they fit into the wider organization.
The first stage of Sheridan’s Ardoq journey focused on maturing their EA function to provide an understanding of what the business and IT landscape currently looked like, putting the right data into the hands of decision-makers. The next stage of Sheridan’s transformation will focus on understanding where they are going, helping them to optimize their operations and reduce costs.
“Higher Education can often operate as an “enterprise of enterprises,” with many faculties and departments working towards a shared purpose but with a high degree of autonomy in practice. The net result of this is that discrete decisions made around people, processes, technology, and data that benefit a subset of the organization often create unnecessary inefficiencies and complexity across the entire institution.
Ardoq has been instrumental in helping Sheridan to better grasp that complexity and make better, data-informed decisions around how to optimize our overall architecture to reduce cost and architectural debt and to improve the experience of our entire community.”
James Duncan, Director of Digital Transformation and Innovation, Sheridan College
Crowdsourcing Data to Enable a North American University’s Online Transition
The COVID-19 pandemic required organizations everywhere to transform themselves and become digital-first as quickly as possible. For one American university with around 31,000 students, this meant transitioning from in-person learning to online in just three weeks in March 2020, becoming an online university, digital research facility, and remote workplace.
Prior to this, the university had no clear overview of how technology supported the business, and this information was hard to find as it was scattered across IT and non-IT groups.
The university crowdsourced data to build their metamodel in Ardoq. Using Surveys allowed them to capture data across the enterprise quickly and accurately. Each survey was customized based on the person or role it was aimed at, ensuring everyone was able to contribute their relevant expertise. Stakeholders were given access to this metamodel in real-time, reinforcing the accuracy of information as it was entered. These things all reduced barriers to stakeholder participation and engagement.
The result enabled the whole organization to understand and embrace IT, facilitating buy-in as different roles became responsible for different components and their relationships.
Learn more about the university’s transition to digital using crowdsourced data.
University of South Wales: Accessible EA to Improve Understanding
The University of South Wales is the second largest university in Wales, United Kingdom, with a total of 23,270 students across three campuses. It was founded in 2014 from the merger of two universities: the University of Glamorgan, Treforest, and the University of Wales, Newport, and can trace its heritage back to 1841.
"Ardoq's visualizations have significantly improved our understanding of our digital estate. They revealed aspects we hadn't previously considered, giving us valuable insights into our infrastructure. By making Enterprise Architecture more accessible, Ardoq has helped us achieve a more comprehensive view of our digital landscape. This enhanced visibility has been beneficial for our strategic planning and project realization efficiency."
- Dr. Marius Miknis, Infrastructure Architect, University of South Wales.
University of St Andrews: Uncovering Operational and Strategic Insights
University of St Andrews is the oldest university in Scotland, United Kingdom, with roots going back to 1413. Highly selective with its acceptance rate, it serves around 10,000 students and is considered one of the best universities in the UK.
“Ardoq has quickly become an essential tool in the University's Enterprise Architecture practice. It allows us to see the bigger picture and understand the connections between our technology and institutional goals. Ardoq has helped us uncover both operational and strategic insights that weren’t immediately obvious, allowing us to make smarter decisions about the future of the University.”
Andrew Wilson, Enterprise Architect, University of St Andrews
Ardoq Drives Digital Transformation Everywhere
Ardoq has gained a significant reputation for driving digital transformation in higher education by being flexible, cutting-edge, and accessible to everyone in the organization, not just Enterprise Architects. No matter the industry, organizations across the world rely on Ardoq to empower their digital transformation initiatives and improve the value they deliver.
Contact us to find out more about how we can help your institution succeed and revamp your digital landscape.
