Higher Education IT Skills Gap: How Colleges Are Restructuring Technology Teams for 2026 Reading time: 5 Minutes Colleges are having a very real conversation behind the scenes right now. Not about budgets. Not about new platforms. But about people. Higher education leaders are looking at their teams and quietly asking the same question: Do we have the skills we need for the institution we are becoming? For many campuses, the honest answer is complicated. Higher education is modernizing faster than its IT workforce can evolve. Longtime staff are retiring. Modern technologies are outpacing old roles. And the people who understand both the institution and the systems are becoming harder to find. As 2026 approaches, leaders realize that campus technology’s future will depend less on what tools they buy and more on how they rebuild the teams who support them. Why So Many Campuses Suddenly Feel Understaffed Even institutions with “full” IT departments are feeling stretched thin. The work today looks nothing like the work of even five years ago. Student experience teams need more integrations. Finance and enrollment rely heavily on data. Academic units require more flexible digital learning support. Yet the size of many IT teams has barely changed. Retirements are accelerating, private sector jobs are pulling technical staff away, and internal hiring pipelines are shrinking. Leaders face a workforce gap growing at the same pace as their digital priorities. The Work Changed Overnight but the Job Descriptions Didn’t Modern campus systems demand skills that most traditional IT roles were never designed for. Cloud-native infrastructure, advanced analytics, workflow automation, identity governance, and API-driven integrations now define daily operations. But many teams were built around legacy systems and on-premise tools. As a result, the gap between what campuses need and what teams are trained for is widening, not slowly but rapidly. Institutions do not just need “more people.” They need new types of skills. When the Old Team Structure No Longer Fits the New Institution Colleges aren’t simply short-staffed. They are structurally mismatched. The historical model of separate system owners, standalone specialists, and siloed departmental support teams is becoming harder to maintain. The work requires collaboration, data fluency, and shared ownership. Many institutions are now asking a bigger question: What should an IT team look like for the next decade? Here are the most common shifts happening across campuses: 1. A Shift from Departments to Flexible, Mission-Aligned Teams Instead of rigid departmental lines, institutions are creating teams built around service areas such as student experience, data and reporting, academic technologies, and enterprise operations. These teams blend functional, technical, and analytical expertise. This makes IT more responsive and removes bottlenecks created by isolated system owners. It also helps institutions focus on outcomes rather than individual platforms. 2. Automating the Work No One Has Time for Anymore With more requests and fewer people, campuses are increasingly turning to automation to bridge the gap. Routine tasks like ticket routing, account provisioning, monitoring, alerts, and reporting are being automated so staff can focus on higher-impact priorities. Automation is no longer a project. It is becoming an operational requirement. 3. Redefining What Must Stay In-House Institutions are being more intentional about which roles require internal ownership. Strategic alignment, institutional knowledge, governance, data stewardship, and academic partnership roles are becoming core positions. Meanwhile, highly specialized roles with narrow skill sets are harder to justify as full-time hires. Leaders are being clearer about what only their staff can do and what can be supplemented more effectively. 4. Borrowing Specialized Talent Instead of Hiring for Every Role Cloud engineering. Banner® and Colleague® expertise. Integration specialists. Identity engineers. Analytics developers. These skills are expensive to hire and harder to retain. Many institutions are shifting from “staff every skill” to “access every skill.” This blended model gives teams the depth they need without overextending hiring budgets or creating single points of failure. 5. Turning Continuous Learning Into a Non-Negotiable The institutions making the most progress have one thing in common: They are treating professional development as a strategic pillar, not a perk. Certifications, learning pathways, and cross-training are helping IT staff evolve into hybrid roles that mix functional knowledge with technical agility. This strengthens teams and reinforces retention during national IT workforce scarcity. What Leaders Need to Get Right Before 2026 Arrives The most successful institutions are the ones building teams that can grow with their needs. That requires three major shifts in mindset. Plan for skills, not positions: Static org charts are giving way to skills inventories and competency frameworks. Leaders are mapping what skills the institution will need in 2026 and determining how to build or access them. Make data and integration capabilities foundational: Every major initiative now depends on clean, connected data. Institutions that invest in these skills early will have a competitive advantage in enrollment, budgeting, academic planning, and student success. Blend internal expertise with external depth: The future of campus IT is a hybrid model where internal staff provide institutional strategy while external partners provide specialized technical depth. This approach preserves continuity and accelerates modernization. Building a Team That Can Grow with the Institution The IT skills gap is not just a hiring challenge. It is a strategic inflection point. The teams that supported higher education in the past are not the teams that will carry it forward. Institutions that take this moment seriously by restructuring roles, investing in people, and building flexible operating models will be the ones ready for 2026 and beyond. A future-ready technology team is not defined by size. It is defined by clarity, capability, and the strength of the partnerships that support it. Preparing for the Next Step Institutions preparing their technology teams for 2026 can benefit from strategic support across infrastructure, ERP management, cloud operations, and 24×7 service delivery. To explore how OculusIT can help fill skill gaps and strengthen your IT operations, contact us today: www.oculusit.com

Institutional Research That Drives Action, Not Just Reports Reading time: 5 Minutes Higher education is producing more data than at any point in its history. Enrollment trends, tuition projections, financial aid modeling, student learning analytics, CRM behavior signals, LMS engagement patterns, and operational metrics all exist across campus systems. Yet even with this abundance of information, many institutions still struggle to translate data into decisions that genuinely move the institution forward. Reports are created. PDFs are shared. Dashboards are opened. But meaningful action often never follows. Modernizing Institutional Research is not about adding more graphs or distributing more summaries. It is about helping leaders shift from data viewing to data doing. The institutions that reimagine IR as a catalyst for direction rather than documentation will be the ones that strengthen student outcomes, financial stability, and long-term resilience. Data Exists Everywhere. The Impact Does Not Arrive When It Should. Most campuses are not suffering from a lack of information. They are suffering from information that arrives too late, lacks context, or never connects to institutional priorities. Common challenges include: Descriptive reports that explain what happened but not what should happen next Data trapped in independent systems without unified governance Long turnaround cycles that delay action by weeks Dashboards that display numbers without interpretation or recommendations The issue is not data volume. It is the absence of an integrated ecosystem, strong data governance, and analytical capacity that can convert insights into direction. Why Traditional Reporting Cannot Support Today’s Pressures For decades, IR offices were structured as compliance and reporting engines. Their goal was to prepare accreditation documentation, complete IPEDS submissions, and respond to leadership requests for ad hoc reports. That model worked when institutions had predictable enrollment patterns and stable operating environments. Today that stability no longer exists. Higher education now faces enrollment volatility, shifting aid requirements, tighter financial oversight, AI governance concerns, and students whose needs evolve each term. Static reports cannot meet these demands. Leadership cannot make confident decisions when data is fragmented across spreadsheets, extracted manually, or updated only once each semester. Traditional IR clarifies what happened. Modern IR accelerates what should happen next. What High Performing IR Teams Do That Others Do Not Institutions that get the most value from their data have IR teams that operate as strategic partners rather than reporting units. Their purpose goes far beyond providing charts. They embed analysis directly into institutional priorities. High performing IR teams: Produce executable insights instead of passive dashboards Connect enrollment, financial, and retention analytics into one unified model Create integrated data environments that eliminate duplication and guesswork Automate recurring reporting cycles so analysts can focus on strategic questions Offer proactive recommendations tied to institutional goals A small example illustrates the difference. Instead of supplying a dean with a table of enrollment numbers, a modern IR team highlights courses likely to overfill next term, projects instructional staffing needs, and identifies sections that could impact retention if not adjusted early. These teams help leadership anticipate decisions rather than react to them. How Modern IR Changes the Leadership Experience When IR evolves, the way presidents, provosts, CFOs, and enrollment leaders operate changes entirely. Instead of waiting for reports: Enrollment teams identify melt and retention risks before the term begins Financial aid offices monitor tuition revenue patterns and aid distribution in real time Student success teams receive early alerts about disengaged learners Academic leaders understand course demand and instructional capacity much earlier A provost does not just see a credit hour report at the end of the month. They receive a forecast that shows which academic programs may face revenue declines and which departments need immediate intervention. This shift moves institutions from reactive management to strategic readiness. What Campuses Are Asking IR Teams in 2025 Across the country, leaders are asking new questions that traditional IR structures were never designed to answer: How will next year’s enrollment shape our financial outlook Which students are most at risk in the first four weeks of the term What operational decisions will improve credit hour production Where should we invest limited resources for the greatest return How do we ensure AI enabled analytics remain ethical and compliant These questions require connected data environments, faster insight cycles, and IR teams that can provide clear institutional guidance. Why the Need for Modern IR Is Urgent Higher education is under historic pressure. AI adoption, federal reporting updates, compliance expansion, demographic shifts, budget tightening, and rising expectations for transparency have made rapid decision support a requirement rather than a convenience. Campuses still relying on manual reporting, disconnected systems, or slow analytical cycles will struggle to keep pace. Institutions with modern IR models gain: Earlier visibility into risk Stronger financial oversight Better alignment across enrollment, academics, and finance Faster understanding of how decisions impact students This is no longer a data trend. It is a requirement for institutional leadership. Turning Institutional Data Into Institutional Action Data matters only when it leads to action. Modern IR integrates analytics, governance, and strategy to help leaders make clear and confident decisions that strengthen institutional success. If your institution is exploring ways to elevate decision support, modernize IR capabilities, or create a connected data ecosystem, this is the right moment to begin the conversation. Stronger insights lead to stronger outcomes. Let us help you build an IR function designed for the future of higher education.

Cutting Cloud Costs on Campus: FinOps Strategies That Actually Stick in Higher Ed Reading time: 3 Minutes Across higher education, cloud technology has become the backbone of innovation. From powering student information systems to supporting AI-driven analytics and hybrid learning, the cloud is now critical to how campuses operate. Yet for many institutions, this digital transformation comes with a growing challenge: rising cloud costs that are difficult to track, predict, and control. Budgets that once funded innovation are now strained by unpredictable usage, overlapping subscriptions, and services that never seem to turn off. For higher education leaders balancing modernization with financial responsibility, this has become one of the most urgent technology conversations of 2025. The Growing Cost of Cloud Convenience Cloud technology was supposed to simplify operations. Instead, for many campuses, it has created a new kind of complexity. Multiple departments adopt different platforms, projects expand without cost visibility, and legacy systems continue to run alongside new ones. The result is what many CIOs describe as “cloud creep,” a slow, unnoticeable expansion that eventually becomes a budgetary surprise. Without a central view of consumption, institutions end up paying for idle storage, unused virtual machines, and overlapping licenses. Cloud overspending is rarely intentional. It is often the byproduct of distributed ownership and a lack of real time governance. When procurement, IT, and academic departments operate independently, costs slip through the cracks. And because cloud expenses accumulate incrementally, the warning signs appear only when it is too late to adjust. Where FinOps Changes the Equation FinOps, short for financial operations, bridges the gap between financial accountability and technical execution. It is not about cutting costs; it is about ensuring every dollar spent on the cloud delivers measurable value to the institution. In a FinOps driven model, IT, finance, and academic leadership collaborate to monitor usage, forecast expenses, and align cloud resources with institutional priorities. The focus shifts from after the fact bill reconciliation to proactive cost optimization and transparent decision making. What makes FinOps particularly relevant to higher education is its flexibility. It does not require every institution to have the same structure or technology. Instead, it provides a framework for building financial clarity, shared accountability, and data-driven governance around cloud investments. FinOps Practices That Work in Higher Education Gain Real Time Visibility Across Systems A single dashboard that connects usage across departments, vendors, and cloud providers helps identify inefficiencies quickly. Visibility transforms decision making from reactive to strategic. Create Shared Accountability Between IT and Finance FinOps thrives on collaboration. When finance and IT teams share metrics and define ownership for cloud budgets, optimization becomes a shared goal, not a blame game. Automate to Prevent Waste Tools that automatically shut down idle environments, scale resources based on demand, or apply reserved instance discounts can generate consistent savings with minimal effort. Integrate Cloud Strategy With Institutional Goals Cost savings should not be an end in itself. FinOps enables leaders to redirect those savings toward strategic initiatives such as student success systems, cybersecurity improvements, or AI driven analytics. Foster a Culture of Continuous Optimization FinOps is not a one-time audit. It is a mindset that encourages teams to regularly review performance, eliminate redundancy, and refine resource usage. Why 2025 Is the Right Time to Act The urgency to manage cloud costs has never been greater. As higher education embraces AI, advanced analytics, and personalized digital experiences, cloud usage will only grow. Institutions that delay optimization risk being caught in a cycle of reactive budgeting, forced to choose between maintaining systems and funding new initiatives. By contrast, colleges and universities that adopt FinOps early will be better positioned to forecast budgets, sustain modernization, and make confident technology investments. In 2025, financial transparency and operational agility will define which campuses lead and which fall behind. From Cost Control to Strategic Advantage The most forward-thinking institutions see FinOps not as cost control, but as empowerment. It enables them to plan, innovate, and adapt without fear of financial surprises. When technology teams and financial leaders operate from a shared playbook, innovation becomes predictable, governance becomes stronger, and resources are directed where they create the most impact. Cloud spending will continue to grow across higher education, but waste does not have to grow with it. FinOps turns what was once an unpredictable expense into a managed investment, creating the space for institutions to focus on what matters most: improving learning outcomes, enhancing research, and supporting the student journey. Ready to Take Control of Cloud Spend? If your institution is looking to optimize cloud costs while supporting innovation, it may be time to explore a FinOps approach that actually sticks. Let’s connect to discuss how you can build clarity, accountability, and measurable savings into your cloud strategy.

The Future of Higher Education: Data-Led Retention Strategies for Student Success  Reading time: 4 Minutes Higher education is entering a defining moment. Application volumes may fluctuate, FAFSA cycles may shift, and economic pressures may reshape decision timelines, but one truth is becoming impossible to ignore. The institutions that thrive in the coming years will not succeed only by attracting new learners. They will win by ensuring the students they already worked so hard to enroll feel supported, connected, and able to persist.  New students bring momentum. Returning students build stability. Yet across many campuses, students who start with promise quietly disengage, fade into the background, and disappear long before graduation. Marketing, brand investments, and AI enabled recruitment cannot solve the enrollment challenge if current students are slipping away without real time support.  The institutions that lead the future will be the ones that identify risk when it begins, not when it becomes irreversible. That requires a shift from historical reporting toward live, connected insight that guides meaningful student intervention before it is too late.  Why Traditional Retention Strategies Fall Short Most institutions care deeply about student success. Faculty notice attendance shifts. Advisors reach out when performance dips. Student support teams work tirelessly to intervene before challenges become barriers.  But goodwill is not enough when information is delayed or scattered. Too many campuses still face:  Manual reporting cycles that surface risk after term deadlines have passed  Student data spread across SIS, LMS, advising notes, and CRM platforms  Limited visibility into academic, financial, and engagement factors at once  Alerts that trigger only after grades decline or a student withdraws from courses  Uneven retention strategies across departments  The outcome is predictable. Teams care. Effort exists. Yet action arrives too late. Today, retention must be driven by foresight rather than hindsight.  The Rise of Data Guided Student Support  Forward looking institutions are reframing retention as a connected intelligence function, not a reporting exercise. Human support remains at the heart of the effort, but teams are now strengthened by real time indicators, early warning signals, and unified student profiles.  With data guided retention strategies, campuses can:  Surface early signs of disengagement such as low LMS activity, missed classes, or unchanged academic plans  Equip advisors with combined academic, financial, and interaction histories in one view  Identify students at higher persistence risk such as transfers and first-generation learners  Provide leadership with live visibility into retention trends by program, student segment, and cohort  Reduce manual spreadsheet monitoring and shift staff time toward direct student outreach  Data does not replace human support. It makes it timely, targeted, and effective.  Why Institutional Research Is Now a Retention Power Center  Institutional Research is shifting from a compliance and reporting function to a mission critical driver of student success. Instead of simply documenting past activity, IR now accelerates insight, strengthens decision making, and supports proactive student intervention across the institution.  OculusIT’s IR services enable universities to unlock this evolution by combining higher education expertise, integrated dashboards, and end-to-end analytics that turn raw data into real action for student success leaders and executive teams.  Modern IR teams are:  Building real time dashboards that guide daily student support actions  Automating reporting cycles to eliminate manual data work and delays  Developing early-signal indicators that reveal disengagement before it escalates  Leading cross campus collaboration across academics, advising, finance, and enrollment  This transformation establishes IR as a strategic partner in student persistence, empowering campuses to act earlier, support students more effectively, and make decisions driven by live insight instead of historical reports.  What a Data First Retention Strategy Looks Like  Institutions succeeding in this enrollment environment are adopting a student success model grounded in shared data, automation, and clear accountability. Key components include:  Centralized Insight: A unified source of truth across student systems with holistic visibility  Aligned Metrics: Shared outcomes and indicators across advising, academics, and cabinet leadership  Proactive Monitoring: Always on dashboards and alerts that surface emerging patterns early  Empowered Decision Makers: Real time access to intelligence for all stakeholders, not just post term reporting  With this foundation, retention becomes dynamic, measurable, and owned across the institution, not isolated within individual departments.  Why This Shift Matters Now  Enrollment pipelines are shifting. Financial pressures are rising. Learners today expect personalized support, fast answers, and proactive guidance. In this climate, institutions cannot afford delayed visibility or fragmented support experiences.  Acting early builds student belonging, protects institutional revenue, and strengthens long term enrollment resilience. The campuses that embrace connected insight now will be the ones that lead recovery and growth in the years ahead.  Closing Thought Data is not simply information. It is an engine for student success, operational clarity, and institutional sustainability. Colleges that modernize retention with real time, actionable insight will not only keep more students engaged. They will create campuses where support feels immediate, outcomes improve, and institutional strength grows semester by semester.  Ready to build a proactive retention strategy powered by clarity and confidence?  Let us connect to explore how your institution can turn live insight into measurable student success impact.

Institutions That Modernize in 2025 Will Lead the Future of Higher Ed Reading time: 4 Minutes Higher education is entering a defining moment. After years of incremental technology upgrades and deferred decisions, 2025 is shaping up to be the year when institutions either accelerate forward or risk falling behind. The colleges that modernize now will be the ones best positioned to operate efficiently, compete confidently, and serve students with the speed and intelligence this decade demands. This is no longer about adopting a single tool or fixing one process. Modernization now means building the kind of institutional foundation that supports resilience, innovation, and trust across every layer of campus operations. The institutions that act with intentionality in 2025 will not simply catch up. They will move ahead. Why Modernization Can No Longer Be Delayed Technology decisions that once felt optional or easily postponed are now tied directly to institutional stability. Campus leaders are navigating: AI adoption that will reshape academic delivery, advising, security, and operations Growing compliance expectations from GLBA, student privacy laws, and federal reporting bodies Evolving cybersecurity threats that target colleges due to their large, open technology ecosystems Rising student expectations for always available digital support and seamless user experiences When these forces converge in 2025, reaction will no longer be enough. Institutions that continue to operate with siloed systems, manual reporting processes, and aging infrastructure will experience operational drag, increased risk exposure, and slower decision making at the exact moment agility becomes a strategic advantage. Modernization Is No Longer a Technology Goal. It Is a Leadership Strategy. The most competitive institutions are no longer approaching modernization as a back-end IT project. They are treating it as a strategic enabler for financial sustainability, workforce efficiency, and student success. Their leadership teams are asking different questions: Are our current systems limiting our ability to respond quickly to change Can we introduce AI or automation without first strengthening data integrity and governance Are critical IT functions still operating only during traditional business hours while student expectations continue to extend beyond them Do we have real time visibility into enrollment, finance, and student risk, or are decisions still guided by static reporting Modernization is what makes it possible to answer yes to those questions. It is what unlocks institutional clarity, not just technical performance. What Modernization Looks Like for Future Ready Institutions The institutions that move decisively in 2025 will not necessarily be the ones spending the most. They will be the ones making modernization strategic rather than reactive. That includes: Moving from manual reporting to intelligent dashboards that update automatically Strengthening cybersecurity and operational continuity instead of relying on hope and internal alert capacity Preparing for responsible AI usage by first establishing trustworthy data governance Ensuring support is no longer limited by work hours, staffing availability, or department silos This is modernization with a mission. Not driven by technology trends, but by institutional outcomes. Faster decision cycles. Stronger student satisfaction. Confident compliance posture. Lower long-term risk. Why Acting in 2025 Creates Competitive Advantage Timing now matters. Institutions that modernize early are already benefiting from improved efficiency, reduced resource strain, AI readiness, and stronger institutional resilience. Those that delay modernization until it becomes urgent will face steeper costs, operational disruption, and reduced flexibility when they need it most. 2025 is the opportunity window. Not a deadline but a turning point. The institutions that use this moment to modernize intentionally will enter the second half of the decade not just more capable, but more future ready. The Institutions That Lead Will Be the Ones That Modernize Now Modernization is not about chasing technology trends. It is about aligning technology, governance, and support systems to serve the mission of higher education at the pace today’s environment demands. The institutions that act now will not simply avoid risk. They will unlock new capacity for progress with stronger decision making, faster adaptation, and better student experience. If your institution is ready to modernize with clarity and purpose in 2025, let us connect and explore how you can move forward with confidence.

Why Higher Ed Leadership Can No Longer Treat Cybersecurity as an IT Issue Reading Time: 3 Minutes For years, cybersecurity in higher education was seen as a technical concern managed quietly by IT teams behind the scenes. But with today’s landscape of ransomware attacks, data breaches, and regulatory scrutiny, that view no longer holds. Cybersecurity has evolved into a leadership and governance priority that affects student trust, institutional reputation, and financial stability. When cyber risk is viewed only as an IT problem, institutions miss the bigger picture. It is not just about securing systems, it is about safeguarding the mission of education itself. From Data Breaches to Institutional Risk A single incident can disrupt learning, compromise research, and student confidence overnight. Beyond operational downtime, the real damage is reputational. Parents, students, and faculty expect that personal and academic data will be handled responsibly. When that trust breaks, rebuilding it takes far longer than restoring systems. Cybersecurity failures increasingly carry compliance and legal implications. Institutions must now demonstrate adherence to frameworks like GLBA, HIPAA, and NIST, and auditors are looking beyond documentation. They expect clear governance structures and leadership involvement. Why IT Alone Cannot Carry the Burden Higher education IT teams are already stretched thin, managing ERP systems, student information platforms, and digital learning environments. Expecting them to lead long term cybersecurity governance without executive backing creates risk. Cybersecurity is not a one-time project or a tool purchase. It is an ongoing discipline that requires institution wide alignment. Without cross department coordination, campuses face inconsistent practices, outdated incident response plans, and unclear ownership when crises occur. Cybersecurity as a Shared Responsibility True resilience begins when leadership recognizes that cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility. Presidents, CFOs, and academic leaders play critical roles in ensuring that risk management, compliance, and governance are embedded into institutional strategy. Presidents and provosts set the tone by prioritizing security in institutional planning and communication. CFOs understand that proactive investment in cybersecurity is more cost effective than breach recovery. IT leaders bring technical expertise but depend on executive advocacy to drive organization wide adoption. This alignment transforms cybersecurity from a reactive IT task into a core pillar of institutional trust. Building a Culture of Cyber Awareness Technology alone cannot stop every threat. Human behavior remains one of the largest vulnerabilities. From phishing to credential misuse, awareness and training are crucial. Creating a culture of shared accountability means involving every stakeholder, from the classroom to leadership offices, in protecting institutional data. That begins with leadership modeling best practices and ensuring cybersecurity is integrated into professional development, not treated as an IT policy alone. How Leadership Can Strengthen Cyber Resilience Institutions that take a proactive, leadership guided approach can minimize both financial and reputational risk. This includes steps such as: Establishing clear governance frameworks with executive visibility Integrating cybersecurity into strategic planning and budgeting decisions Conducting regular assessments and simulation exercises Encouraging collaboration between IT, finance, compliance, and academics Partnering with experts that offer continuous security monitoring and guidance By aligning governance, culture, and technology, campuses build a resilient foundation that supports innovation without compromising security. Leading the Future of Campus Security Cybersecurity is no longer about firewalls and passwords. It is about leadership and the ability to see security as mission critical to the institution’s future. Higher education leaders who treat cybersecurity as a shared responsibility, not an operational burden, will be the ones who sustain trust, protect continuity, and ensure that innovation can thrive safely. Protecting What Matters Most Cybersecurity is not just a technical issue. It is a leadership obligation. Institutions that act now will be better prepared to safeguard their mission and their community. Let’s connect to explore how your institution can strengthen cyber resilience and move from defense to confidence.