Page 34 - Campus Technology, May/June 2018

“If you have a stable environment that you have routine- ly maintained, and if you have the luxury of a deep bench in your IT department, then you might want to continue running applications on-premises, as long as they are performing and secure,” says Mungovan. “Moving to the cloud is often a very personal decision—and it’s based in part on the skill sets, capabilities, and wherewithal need- ed to care and feed an expansive system.”
A PATH FOR ALL
Moving to the cloud doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Colleges and universities can move incrementally; migrating one application at a time or
even by applying cloud-based capabilities on top of existing applications. This help them leverage their current investment in technology while still enjoying the benefits of cloud innovations.
For example, the University of Adelaide has added
a cloud-based service orchestration layer over its PeopleSoft systems for student information and human resources management. This model lets the university continue using its legacy software while presenting new capabilities to staff and students, such as a chat-bot service to enhance its student admissions process.
What’s more, some institutions may be unwilling to give up control of their applications or share server space in
Sponsored Report
the public cloud. They can opt to host their own private cloud infrastructure, if they have the requisite expertise.
The State University of New York had regulatory concerns about using the public cloud to host its data center, so it partnered with Oracle to create a private cloud-based research environment. This cloud solution allows the university to take advantage of the capabilities of a public cloud offering while keeping data behind their firewall. SUNY expects its individual institutions to use the solution to run their public cloud initiatives while keeping sensitive data within their premises.
Moving to the cloud can bring many benefits if done in a thoughtful and deliberate way. Colleges and universities need to understand their goals, as well
as their current capabilities and limitations. Then it’s advisable to partner with a company with the expertise needed to help design a custom path to the cloud that is right for their institution.
For more information go to oracle.com
“When universities have struggled, it’s often because they didn’t realize the amount of change management that needed to happen within their
business processes.”
KEITH RAJECKI, ORACLE