Campus Technology Insider Podcast June 2023
Listen: The Mechanics of Digital Transformation at National University
00:08
Rhea Kelly: Hello, and welcome to the Campus Technology Insider podcast. I'm Rhea Kelly, editor in chief of Campus Technology, and your host.
At National University, the role of the data officer has shifted from the capture and analysis of data to a broader focus on digital transformation. As the institution's chief digital officer, my guest Alex Chimon leads both the digital and the data realms, with the strategic goal of improving student outcomes and the student experience.
Chimon comes from a diverse background, driving digital strategy in industries such as healthcare, marketing, and food service before joining NU last year. We talked about NU's key digital transformation goals, how the worrisome capabilities of artificial intelligence will impact Dx efforts, overcoming fear of change, and more. Here's our chat.
Hi, Alex, welcome to the podcast.
01:09
Alex Chimon: Thank you. I appreciate being here.
01:12
Kelly: So I thought maybe we could start by having you kind of introduce yourself and your role as chief digital officer at National University.
01:21
Chimon: Sure. So Alex Chimon, I am the chief digital officer at National University. I have been here now about nine months, so relatively new into the role at National University. I actually come from a background that is not in higher ed, so it's not the traditional higher ed background, coming from more consumer brands and healthcare is where I come from. So relatively new into the world, but I'm bringing a lot of the I will call it knowledge and experiences that I've had from outside into the organization.
01:54
Kelly: So is that a new role at National U? Or?
01:57
Chimon: Yes, it's a new role at National University. Prior, they have had data officers in play, not digital officers in play. When I joined, the original thinking was to bring in a new data leader, and they had shifted that to be a digital and data leader. So my role is basically both digital and data, and leading both areas and understanding, where do we need to go from a digital aspect? How do we bring kind of that outside-in consumer lens to our students and improve that student experience? So that was something that they, that National University, prior to me joining, had said, we need to have a better focus on the student, student's outcome, and what the student's looking for, for their success, versus a traditional lens of just build it and they will come and that type of thinking. So it's, it's new from a digital lens, and then encompassing data as well, too.
02:57
Kelly: What would you say, I mean, is that focus on the student kind of the main difference between what a chief data officer would, would be and, and bringing in the digital?
03:09
Chimon: Well, so the data officer is really more focused, when you look at the data side, they're really more focused on data, maybe the insights of the data, and then how do you bring that data across the organization, and what are you capturing. Digital is focusing on how do you use that data to drive the better outcomes in the various channels, leveraging digital. And then there's also looking at, what are the traditional channels and work efforts that are being put in place, and how do we improve those leveraging digital technology as well?
03:44
Kelly: So you mentioned your diverse background, working in a variety of industries. How has that informed your thinking about digital? And, and also I want to know, how is the adjustment of entering the higher ed world for you?
03:59
Chimon: Yeah, I'll actually start with the latter on that one, right? Entering the higher ed world, it's, it's, it's a different world than consumer brands, mainly because the focus isn't really on selling something. It's really focused on, how are you driving student success? How are you getting students to get educated and getting them to graduate or getting them the right certifications, so that their lives are better? So it's a bit of a different thinking process. It's close to, I would say, the healthcare industry. When you think about certain healthcare organizations, if you think, for example, I know a lot of people would be like, okay, health, you know, health insurance is a scam, that kind of stuff. But when you think about how most health insurance companies have come to life and what their real purpose is, it's actually to drive better health outcomes, right? And get your, what they call members, right, but get the people that have health insurance and health coverage healthy, and to where they need to be, and so forth. It's the same type of concept. So it's, there are some similarities in that concept of, we are driving students' success and trying to make their lives better through leveraging the right digital experiences and getting them to where they need to be, self service, and so forth, through the whole process. So I think there's a lot of differences. But there's also some similarities in certain areas. The biggest difference, I think also, is more speed to how you move forward. And some of these, you, the higher ed world doesn't move as quick. And some of that has to do with regulatory factors; some of that has to do with more, I will call it organization, operational factors. So, you know, if you're starting on a semester or quarter model, that kind of stuff, there are certain things that you don't want to do in the middle of a student's class, or the middle of their engagement with the university that might disrupt it, right? So you might have certain blockers that don't allow you to move as fast as you would, as you can in the consumer world. However, we are also looking at how do we enable some of those moving faster in the consumer, as we did in the consumer world, within higher ed. And a lot of that has to do with, 1) thinking, 2) policy, how do we set our policies and procedures, and then 3) how do we build our technologies and capabilities in a way that allows us to be more modular, more nimble, so that we can very easily change and shift and it doesn't really affect the student's outcome, but it should continually improve how we're engaging with the student and what we're providing for him. So it's really bringing kind of that continual improvement, that Agile methodology thinking around, let's continue to improve small bits as we go and leverage student feedback to change quickly, and pivot when we need to pivot to really drive those outcomes in the success.