5 factors for successful technological innovation

Critical success factors for technological innovation: an IT leader’s perspective.

The incoming classes at most schools want ubiquitous technology, and expect it to be available
when someone uses their cell phone, tablet, laptop or other device.

IT leaders are charged with fulfilling the campus community’s needs and must do so within
budgetary constraints, while continuously scanning the technological environment to make
certain that advances are being properly leveraged at a sustainable rate.

IT leaders face a number of concerns when addressing technological innovation. These include:

Leadership support

Support for technological innovation at the executive and administrator level helps foster a
campus culture where innovation is encouraged, allows for some level of risk, and strengthens
the overall potential for success. A willingness of an organization to allow some amount of trial
and error is needed because not all innovative efforts lead to success.

Having upper-level support gives IT leaders the freedom to take risks when pursuing cutting-
edge solutions for their campus and gives IT personnel the latitude to experiment.

The campus benefits from these endeavors through an increased potential to find viable creative
solutions.

Stakeholder involvement

Involvement of faculty, staff and students helps to map technological innovation efforts, which
is crucial to the direction of technology on college campuses. A fundamental element of
stakeholder involvement is communication; therefore, IT leaders are always searching for
effective ways to communicate their ideas.
Ultimately, the goal of the communication is to solicit the input of faculty, staff and students
regarding technological initiatives and to garner their support.

Training

To sustain ongoing use and stimulate future expansion of technologies, training is paramount.
However, over time training tends to become diluted by the daily activities of the campus
community and is further eroded by the turnover of knowledgeable faculty and staff.

The knowledge base that has gradually developed over time can be depleted. On the other hand,
new training opportunities may be realized through the infusion of new personnel and the new
perspectives they bring with them.

Resources and financial support

It is important for IT leaders to budget for technological innovation; otherwise, you can easily
get caught drifting in a rapidly moving current with little control of your destination. IT leaders
cannot take too many chances in terms of innovation because that can be costly and have an
adverse effect on their budgets.

However, playing it too safe can put IT leaders behind the curve and cause them to fall short of
meeting technological expectations.

Support from campus community

Skill level of faculty, staff and students helps determine the success or failure of a technological
innovation because it impacts the adoption and use of the technology. Users’ ability and
acceptance of the technology are integral to adopting the process.

But if the technology is too complex or has little support from the campus community, a lack of
adoption may impede the probability of success. Regardless of how beneficial a technological
innovation can be to an institution, the benefits of that technology cannot be realized without the
commitment of the campus community.

Rapid changes in technology require higher education institutions to stay current to address the
needs of an evolving audience. Increasing expectations may be attributed to the technologically
savvy environment in which we live as well as to the advances in technology that are occurring
on a continual basis.