UCISA Conference Day Two

Stewart Buchanan Gartner Group

Began by using the Gartner Hype Cycle to link the relationship that you have with suppliers with the four stages trigger (roses), peak of inflated expectation (the wedding/contract), trough of disillusionment (toddler) and plateau of productivity (cash cow). Most of us still concentrate on the tip of the iceberg (the visible budget costs) rather than the total cost of ownership. There is a need to look at the cost structure - take a look at Gartner Paper: IT Spending Cuts Don't Always Reduce Costs. The funding that has been channelled into public sector/HE by suppliers to lower costs may have evaporated. Indeed seeing more audits by vendors which may have a cost impact. There is a research paper called Top 10 Extreme Negotiation Tactics. There are 5 things that you can do at fairly low risk and then 5 things that need to be handled more carefully. Suggestion that you need to know how the sales people are being trained and keep current with that. Question about whether procurement should be IT or Purchasing and that it should be both but more "in breach than observance". Wonder what role that UCISA could play in delivering sector information perhaps even via Freedom of Information. IT Asset Management is a key function to manage the total costs on a day to day basis like software compliance - not sure we have that role currently.



Lynn Tucker Kings College London

Put together a "connected campus program" with a relatively new management team. A lean organisation (less than 70 FTEs) and originally half of these were contract staff. This has remained the same over the transition period. At that time, there was a competitive london jobs market 2-3 years ago probably would be less of a factor now. High risk location of data centre without generators, below water line (next to Thames) and quite a lot of power interruptions. Took a multiple partner approach using network and web. Don't underestimate what is involved in managing all of this including vendor management this is very significant - may even need a post to manage, escalate and change management processes. Transition is from capital to revenue budget for quarterly charges to external suppliers and that is also a change but it included an uplift to the IT budgets. Sapient have introduced a bespoke admissions for UG and PG developed - averaging 250k hits a day. Need to look closely at the exit strategy and also covering the routine software upgrade strategies where there is a financial risk. Might not be financially viable in the current economic situation.