platforms, systems, and applications – some of which are discussed below – that can facilitate health and safety. It is also important when speaking of and prioritizing initiatives to frame the argument in terms of health and safety rather than security alone. Speaking in terms of health and safety is not only inclusive of the entire campus and community but its posture is proactive: speaking solely in terms of security forces a posture of surveillance, of intrusion, which is generally undertaken after the fact. Reframing the argument in this way,
individuals might come to understand how health and safety involves engaging the entire campus community and sets the stage for a renewed focus on teaching and learning.
Integrated Platforms, Systems, and Applications
A 2019 survey conducted by RiskRecon, a cybersecurity risk management firm, concluded that “nearly 59 percent of universities are running outdated, vulnerable software, compared with 18 percent of healthcare institutions and 6 percent of banks.”24 Some of these may be 30 to 40 years old and require massive numbers of staff to keep these legacy systems running as updates and workarounds are common. As a result, the systems are not integrated with other, newer systems and applications; they don’t produce or present quality data in ways useful to decision makers; and they are vulnerable to cyberattacks because of their outdated design and security defenses.
Colleges and universities need to make the investments in technology infrastructure that will support more modern platforms and systems and equipment, so quality data may be produced and effectively communicated in a manner that is scheduled and accessible. Equally, with investments in technology infrastructure, digital learning initiatives will be more successful.
Arguably, upgrading technology infrastructure upgrades (bandwidth, data centers, networks, etc.) involve significant cost. A 2020 study by Communication Technologies discovered that, “while a university’s infrastructure costs are in line with the industry at around $10 per square foot,” the total costs can end up in the millions. The same study found that core infrastructure accounted for about 10 percent of the costs, telecom rooms accounted for 13 percent of the costs, network electronics accounted for 16 percent of costs, and core systems accounted for about 61 percent. This is why a 2019 study found the number of institutions with networking budgets exceeding $2.5 million tripled over 2018, and no doubt why the trend will continue.25
Approach matters, of course. As the study noted, their findings suggest that “61% of the total network cost goes to the labor and materials used to run wiring throughout buildings” – meaning that “if you did an all wireless building, you could eliminate 61% of the cost because there there’s no wiring to get in and out of offices.”26 Incorporating newer technology, like passive optical networks such as GPON and XPON, will also reduce costs as the approaches are very “green” as energy savings produces a return on investment, is less labor intensive thereby saving installation costs, and, being networked, reduces the need for staff to troubleshooting issues.
Equally, platforms and systems are also expensive. A 2023 study said universities of 20,000 or more full-time students could spend “between $30 million and $100 million in the first five years of a new [student information] system.”27 Systems for schools of 1,000 students or more can easily spend $500,000 to $4 million dollars on the same. And that does not include the costs of various modules that would comprise an integrated enterprise resource platform (ERP), such as finance, human resources, customer relationship management, billing and payments, housing,
visitor management, facilities management, etc.
Yet, such an investment is critically important if one wishes to obtain and use the quality data that can inform contemporary business practices. This is why investments in data and data management are increasingly the focus of
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