Information Technology - In Transformation: Organizational Structure Implications?

The pace of technological changes and associated changes to higher education are factors that may influence IT department's capability requirements, approaches to service and facilities provision and organizational structures. An IT department needs to be aligned to the institution's mission, vision and goals yet have the capability to proactively change in response to new technologies, new customer-centric requirements and to prevailing economic factors. Do we have the appropriate governance structures; the expertise and capacity we need; are there opportunities to divest some existing in-house interests and reinvest these resources in alternative sourcing models? These are some of the issues confronting higher education IT departments. Effectiveness of overall IT investment, whether in technologies or in human resources is of paramount importance to senior management and users. The paper outlines some implications associated with the types of changes referred to, seeking to identify how capability, framework alignments (e.g. ISO, ITIL) and functional components may be achieved. It also touches upon the cultural implications associated with change and change management. The term Information Technology (IT) is used to incorporate Information Systems (IS) and related non-technology (e.g. human resource) aspects of the central IT department.