Technology Solutions 

Phase 3
IT staff at post secondary institutions persistently struggle with knowledge gaps. This impacts operations in several ways, including but not limited to: delayed time serving faculty, students and staff; solving the wrong problems; and unnecessary escalations.

Conventional helpdesk software lacks a convenient way to seamlessly document the rich context that oftentimes provide valuable insights. Expecting that the same person to always be available is unrealistic: people go on vacation, get sick, and leave organizations. Knowledge attrition is frustrating for all IT staff and dilutes service quality.

The United States has just under 6,000 post-secondary institutions (National Center Education Statistics, 2022). There are 76 of them within 50 miles of the 10027 zip code (National Center Education Statistics, n.d.) When Canada and the U.K. are included, that jumps to more than 6,600. Expand that number worldwide and the figure quadruples to more than 27,000.

Further, according to the CUPA-HR 2023 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey (4782 respondents), 51% of IT staff indicated that they were at least somewhat likely to seek employment within the next 12 months. IT departments within these institutions are confronted with a reality that many other organizations have: much of their operations heavily rely on undocumented knowledge and/or highly fragmented data silos.
The problem
The solution and product
Filling critical knowledge gap

Bichsel, Jacqueline; Fuesting, Diana Tubs; Schneider, Jennifer. (September 2023).The CUPA-HR 2023 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey. cupahr.org. https://www.cupahr.org/surveys/research-briefs/higher-ed-employee-retention-survey-findings-september-2023/

National Center for Education Statistics. (2022) Table 105.50. Number of educational institutions, by level and control of institution: 2010–11 through 2020–21 [Data table]. In Digest of education statistics. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d22/tables/dt22_105.50.asp.

National Center for Education Statistics (n.d.). Search for Schools and Colleges. Retrieved July 28, 2024, from https://nces.ed.gov/globallocator/index.asp?search=1&State=NY&city=New+York&zipcode=10027&miles=50&itemname=&sortby=city&College=1&Status=Search+Finished&Records=76&CS=BE744070