Cloud computing, Software as a Service (SaaS), and “managed” or “hosted” services: These are terms that today’s campus IT chiefs surely are familiar with. But do these ed-tech models make sense for higher-education institutions?
That was the question that Geoff Tritsch, vice president of Vantage Technology Consulting Group, sought to help campus IT leaders answer last month during a breakout session at the 40th annual conference of the Association for Information Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education (ACUTA).
All of these IT delivery models are forms of outsourcing, Tritsch told a packed conference room at the Hilton Bonnet Creek in Orlando. That is, all involve the contracting out of a business function—typically one performed in-house before, such as hosting software on your own internal servers—to an outside provider.…Read More