EDUCAUSE | Documents Contributed by ECAR and E-mail and Messaging

IT Services Sourcing Survey

ckeller — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:53:21 -0500

This November 2008 survey is a critical component of the EDUCAUSE Center on Applied Research (ECAR) study of IT services sourcing in higher education. The historically binary decision to self-operate or completely outsource IT is being replaced by an a la carte menu that enables institutions to pick and choose which services to outsource, to whom, and for how long. Web 2.0 technologies and business models have expanded the scope of technology services that an institution can potentially source. This ECAR study seeks to evaluate the state of current and planned adoption of various sourcing strategies for IT services.

Citation for this work: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research. “IT Services Sourcing Survey” (Survey Instrument). Boulder, CO: ECAR, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Messaging and Communication Survey

ckeller — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:06:39 -0500

This July 2008 survey is a critical component of the EDUCAUSE Center on Applied Research (ECAR) study of messaging and communication in higher education. It seeks to understand the provision, policies, use, and emerging trends related to telephony, mobile communications, e-mail and calendaring, and emergency notification systems in colleges and universities.

Citation for this work: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research. "Messaging and Communication Survey" (Survey Instrument). Boulder, CO: ECAR, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Google Apps in the Enterprise: A Promotion-Enhancing or Career-Limiting Move for Enterprise Architects?

ckeller — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 09:11:43 -0600

In February 2007, Google announced Google Apps Premier Edition (GAPE), a collaboration and communication solution offered as software as a service (SaaS). Initially combining a portal, e-mail, instant messaging (IM), calendars, document sharing, and concurrent document creation -- all for the price of $50 per user per year -- the solution rapidly caught enterprises' imaginations.
This Burton Group study suggests that quickly adopting GAPE without understanding its quirks or looking at other alternatives is likely to become a career-limiting move. Happily, looking at the larger picture -- studying a variety of SaaS-based collaboration and content solutions -- is a career-enhancing move. Issues for higher education to consider include the SaaS delivery model, the capabilities of the solution, and Google as a company.
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Burton Group (www.burtongroup.com) provides technically in-depth research and advisory services for colleges and universities, government agencies, and commercial enterprises. Burton Group's practical and unbiased research and advice helps technologists make smart IT infrastructure decisions in increasingly complex environments. Burton Group covers directories, identity management, application platforms, architecture, and network and telecom infrastructure topics. Like ECAR, Burton Group is an unbiased advocate for the user and more than 80% of Burton Group's clients are user organizations rather than suppliers. EDUCAUSE member institutions can become users of Burton Group research services through EDUCAUSE pricing. Burton Group is an ECAR partner and can be contacted by email at slesueur@burtongroup.com or by telephone (801-373-5767).

Using Social Software to Enhance IT Operations

ckeller — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 09:31:19 -0500

This research bulletin offers representative examples of social software in action within IT organizations at three institutions -- Duke University; the University of California, San Diego; and the University of Washington. It illustrates ways in which social software tools enhance staff communication and collaboration, and how the tools can support more robust applications such as content management systems.

Digital Rendezvous: Social Software in Higher Education

drupal — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 11:32:36 -0600

The origins of social software—from blogs to facebooks to instant messaging to wikis—are firmly based in the information technologies of the past few decades. This research bulletin explores the genesis of some of the current social software products, helps define common characteristics, describes how the software is being used in higher education, and examines the implications for activities in colleges and universities.

E-Mail: Paradigms, Options, and Outsourcing

drupal — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 08:29:09 -0600

E-mail is perhaps the most fundamental information technology tool in use today. In higheraeducation there are new options to consider that include outsourcing the infrastructure as well as the entire service. With pressures increasing on higher education institutions to find ways to "do more with less," e-mail provision is a problem for which there are solutions that maintain or improve quality of service and, at the same time, significantly reduce costs.