In his latest video, CIO Max Davis-Johnson discusses the key concerns that keep the Office of Information Technology (OIT) focused, including prioritizing work according to Boise State’s strategic needs, reducing complexity, improving efficiency, managing risks like cybersecurity and AI, and strengthening communication.
Max emphasizes that technology solutions depend equally on people, processes, and technology, and highlights the unique diversity of IT in higher education.
To address these challenges, OIT has partnered with The Gunter Group to assess operations and help develop an actionable strategic plan. While worries do exist, OIT is actively crafting solutions rather than just identifying problems. Despite the challenges, Max expresses excitement about the rapid evolution of technology and the opportunities it brings.
Transcript
[Max Davis-Johnson] Hi! This is Max Davis-Johnson, Boise State University, Office of Information Technology.
Today, I’m going to talk about what keeps me up at night and what keeps OIT up at night, besides drinking too much coffee or watching the latest episode of Reacher or Daredevil and getting too excited to go to bed.
But first, I want to talk about two fundamental assumptions that we have in OIT. Technology is people, processes, and technology, and it takes all three to provide a proper solution.
And higher ed technology is unique. It’s very diversified. You know, we have business technology, we have academic technology, classroom technology, we run a Help Desk, we have research technology.
We have a vast network that connects literally thousands of people every day bringing their own devices to campus. We connect all across the country. Higher ed IT is diverse, and that’s one thing that makes it so much fun. Seriously!
So, what do we worry about in OIT? And I have a list, which I want to review with you now.
We want to make sure we’re working on is the right thing, not the LOUDEST thing.
We want to reduce complexity, because chaos is not a solution.
We want to become more efficient, i.e., doing more with less.
Certainly, we want to reduce risk. Yes, that includes Cybercurity risks, AI risks.
How can we approve strategic alignment is another big worry that we have.
He want to be able to communicate better. Hey, you’re watching this video! Hopefully we’re trying here.
And remember, people are a big part of our technology, so being able to hire, retain, and train a great talent is a fundamental worry and a fundamental mission of what we’re trying to do here at Boise State.
Now, does this sounds familiar? It should, because we all have very similar problems around these lines.
Yes, I worry about cybersecurity. The good news is we have a lot of other people that worry about cybersecurity, too.
I worry about AI. AI has amazing potential. Two years from now, we’ll wonder how we ever got along without it. But there’s also risk involved with AI. We have to tread lightly as we move forward there.
And just to be clear, we aren’t simply listing our worries and hoping they’ll vanish.
We’re crafting strategies, we’re taking concrete steps to tackle our challenges head on.
We’re already implementing solutions by refining processes, hopefully enhancing communication and fortifying our cybersecurity and trying to do all this without, you know, sacrificing our sleep or our sanity, certainly here.
And that’s exactly why we partnered with the Gunter Group, a consulting firm from Portland, to provide an outside assessment of OIT to determine where we are, determine what our path forward can be, and then develop actionable plans that we can certainly move forward on.
The Gunter group will be here in April, actually, probably as we’re filming this, and do a debrief and to do a discovery of what they’ve find and determine how we can move forward.
I know that’s a lot of worries that I’m talking about. But also, this has never been a more exciting time in technology.
Technology is evolving very quickly. AI, all these things, and so
it’s just such a great and exciting opportunity for us in OIT. And I think for all of you that are listening to this.
So the big focus for the coming year, you know, basically will be to partner with the Gunter Group, with university leadership, with OIT leadership, and you to help develop an actionable strategic plan with real objectives, real measurables and building on the Blueprint for Success.
And yes, we will continue to have worries, but at the same time, having plans in place, actually implementing plans, will help us mitigate those worries to some degree.
So, to quote the noted philosopher Alfred E. Newman: “What, me worry?” Well, maybe just a little bit.
But anyway, thanks for listening and until next time. Bye.