Time. There just isn't enough of it.
I think that people want easier ways to do things. A four step process to produce a college catalog rather than a 22 step process. An annual report that takes hours rather than weeks to complete. A financial aid process that doesn't result in hours of review and manual data entry to correct a software feature that failed.
What is the enemy that we all face everyday? Time. There just isn't enough of it.
What if you and I could work together as advocates of operational efficiency? What if we could translate the best practices of other campuses into the delivery of operationally efficient processes and procedures? Could we drive down the price of technology? I think so.
First, we are talking about something that it is believable that software can do. You can call it smart, intelligent software or whatever; but there is no doubt that software is increasingly able to improve the way we do things and the time it takes to get them done.
If you think about it, historically the "killer" apps have been products that improve operations. The spreadsheet was successful not because it introduced a new business metric, rather it made it substantially easier to do what previously took a lot of time. The same thing with word processing. The issue was to improve accuracy and spend less time on production issues. What ultimately drove Intuit's success was not financial advice for the masses, but the ability to enter data and print checks easily.
Holding software up as being responsible for increasing enrollment or raising funds fails the believability test. I was a Director of Admissions and it was always about the people and the mission. It was never about the software.
Better yet, best practices and operational efficiency once delivered is sustainable. Reducing a process from 22 to 4 steps once done is done forever. The value of focusing on reducing IT complexity is that we free people to pursue their individual brand of excellence.
What if I could deliver for you an additional 1 hour every day so you can focus on what only you can do to make your college or university great. Would this be of interest to you?