Benefits vs. risks
The key driver of the IT outsourcing trend is the emergence of the internet, which has “changed how we think of computing,” Tritsch said—including how software is delivered to users and how quickly organizations can implement technology.
The claims from ed-tech companies in support of IT outsourcing can be compelling, he noted. These include:
• Technology is complex, changing, and converging. The lengthy school budgeting and procuring cycle leaves campus IT departments “behind the curve,” the argument goes, because technology changes faster than campus leaders can react. Ed-tech providers don’t have to jump through the same hoops, however, and they can upgrade systems faster than campus tech chiefs can.
• Outsourcing is flexible and scalable. Schools tend to overbuy and underuse software and equipment in order to deal with the “unknown,” Tritsch said. By outsourcing the provision of these services, school leaders purportedly can avoid this problem.
• People are expensive and can be hard to find—and keep.
• Outsourcing offers improved business continuity and disaster preparedness.
• Web-accessed, location-agnostic services appeal to an increasingly mobile population.
• Technology transitions are easier, and technology is kept up to date.
• Outsourcing is perceived as “greener.”
• Space, power, and capacity planning for university data centers are all reduced.
But outsourcing your IT functions also carries with it several risks, Tritsch said—including the long-term viability of the service provider; the privacy and security of information; the performance of mission-critical applications; and the potential loss of flexibility that comes with vendor lock-in.
The key question to ask, he said, is whether these risks are greater, less, or the same with outsourcing?
One conundrum for campus IT leaders is that “people will accept [application failures] from an outsourcing provider that they won’t accept from you,” Tritsch said, pointing to recent Google Gmail outages as an example. “That’s just a reality, however unfair.”
Although companies often claim that outsourcing will save schools money, that isn’t necessarily true, he said. Outsourcing can lead to “predictable, flatter costs,” and the economies of scale that a service provider can offer might result in some savings—but outsourcers “need to make a profit,” he noted.
- Can technology help schools prevent AI-based cheating? - April 7, 2023
- How to ensure digital equity in online testing - July 11, 2022
- How predictive analytics helps improve student enrollment and retention - December 17, 2020