How one software project made a big impact

IT teams in higher education are inevitably limited by what they can aim to achieve with new projects due to ongoing funding pressures. According to recent Educause research, 80% of IT spending focuses on running the institution with only 5% aimed at transforming it.

So there’s only a small proportion of projects with overt objectives aimed at shifting towards more student-centered competencies - ones that are primarily designed to improve experiences and outcomes. However, some projects are able to support daily operations while still achieving a transformative effect. This is what Northern Arizona University recently accomplished. Their connect2 project improved the operational efficiency of one department with better software, while also transforming their students’ experience of using the department’s services...

You can read how they did this in our new case study: Connect2 and Northern Arizona University.

An important aspect of this case study is how the University worked with Lorensbergs to ensure project success. Lorensbergs has a very structured way of bringing new university customers on board refined by working with higher education technical staff, faculty and IT over a fifteen year period. It ensures the university decides the final details of how the software works and looks, as Russ Gilbert, Program Coordinator at Northern Arizona explains: 

“In effect, connect2 is tailored to the needs of each customer. There’s a lot of features to choose from and it was an enjoyable well-structured process hearing about everything it could do and getting it set up. It was a really good experience working with Lorensbergs.”

So it’s a process of close consultation but, at the same time, we oil the wheels to achieve faster project completion with some important initiative-taking. This covers such key areas as authentication set up, single sign on (SSO) where required and, certainly not least, system security. Here’s some further feedback received only earlier this month that illustrates our approach:

“Lorensbergs took the lead working with IT and security when installing connect2. They worked directly with those involved in IT, for example, to organize access and authentication. It’s really helpful how they take this initiative. It ensured the project was a success.” University of Bath

Lorensbergs looks forward to onboarding more customers with connect2 this summer in preparation for great new service delivery and elevated experiences this coming fall. We hope you enjoy reading the new case study here to see what's possible.