Digital Leadership Must-Haves for 2025: A CDO's Picks
Another fruitful area is collaboration with peer institutions and networked communities. For example, as an Internet2 member NJIT enjoys a wide range of community-based information resources as well as access to world-class network, cloud, and security solutions. Through vehicles like targeted conferences, webinars, and working groups, Internet2's 505-strong member community — including 337 higher education institutional members — shares expertise and collaborates to provide a compass for evolving technology platforms. If there's one exceptional model for collaboration in our industry, it's Internet2. We're happy to be a part of it.
Grush: That's really good. What is the next "must-have"?
Infrastructure for Lifelong Learners and Connected Alumni
Wozencroft: We need to build up the infrastructure for lifelong learners and connected alumni, understanding that the world around us has changed, especially as a result of this new technological revolution that we're in.
It used to be that someone could learn a trade, spend 40 years in that trade, retire, and be okay. Now at the rate of innovation, whatever you're learning is changing, perhaps every 6 to 12 months. And in higher education we don't have a great infrastructure for upskilling.
In order for higher education to continue to maintain its relevance, it needs to include that just-in-time, I-need-the-skill-set-right-now type of learning. Yes, you can go on LinkedIn Learning. You can go on Grow with Google. You can use these and similar tools and they will probably be great at teaching you a discrete skill. But I would argue that they are not — yet — teaching you how to make connections and explore a new subject area, or learn something that you then need to figure out how to apply. So, if you learn a skill, that's great, but consider, for how long will that skill be relevant? And are you being armed with the ability to go on to upskill and reskill continuously? Will you be able to gain new perspectives? Do you have the soft/power skills needed to lead from where you are?
And when we think about our alumni, we need to lose the tradition of cutting students loose the day they graduate. Today, we say goodbye to them, and we hope that they come back for some events and perhaps donate to us or attend some different things.
We now have the ability to remain far more connected with our graduates — the potential lifelong learners and alumni — in a much more personalized way. We need to use all that data that we have on our graduates in an ethical — and secure — manner, to support a new degree of personalization and service.
There will be challenges along the way as we learn to deliver a better educational product to our lifelong learners and alumni, but someday they will be connected with richer resources, advanced communications, and highly personalized learning services. And I want to be there.
Grush: I will be there too! What's next?
Cloud Strategies
Wozencroft: Jumping back for a minute into the technical side, I'd like to mention cloud optimization and multi-cloud strategies. Now, there's an emerging market: Everyone's going to be good at something. Everyone's going to be bad at something. You're going to see companies come and go, some seemingly overnight. It's going to be confusing, but you've really got to figure out what that hybrid environment looks like for you. This will take some work.
The CIO and digital technology leaders now more than ever need to be incredibly thoughtful, well-researched, and informed buyers. Because of this unstable market you need to have a risk management plan in terms of your purchasing process — but not like risk assessment plans you've traditionally experienced. This will be different. You will need almost the mindset of an entrepreneur or startup executive: "Where is it worth my making an investment that might be a little risky?" as well as "Where do I need to be very sure that I'm not taking any risk (except for the extraordinarily minimal) in an investment?"