Fontys University of Applied Science
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Fontys University sought to better align IT with its educational goals. It engaged Cisco for a Transformative Networking workshop bringing together IT and educational leaders. Participants gained a deeper understanding of each other's perspectives and priorities. This led to a strategic roadmap outlining how IT could support the university's goals of improving education quality and creating innovative learning environments. Both IT and educational stakeholders now view each other as strategic partners working toward their shared objective of providing high-quality education.
Fontys University of Applied Science
- 1. Aligning IT and Business in Customer Case Study Quest for Quality Education Cisco Transformative Networking helps Fontys University of Applied Science create inspirational learning environment EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Challenge Fontys University of Applied Science is one of the largest institutions of its kind in the Netherlands, with about 40,000 students on 10 different sites located mainly in the Customer Name: Fontys University of Applied Science south of the country. Technology lies at the heart of the university’s mission to provide the highest possible quality of education in the core disciplines of engineering, circus Industry: Education and performance art, healthcare, economics, and ICT. Location: Netherlands A shared service center at Fontys delivers IT facilities to the university’s 33 Number of Employees: 4100 business units, which represent different subject areas within the core disciplines. Rather like franchise operations, the business units manage their own IT budgets Challenge while purchasing services from the center. Inevitably, the business units’ desire to • Change perception of IT as cost center make decisions independently is sometimes at variance with the need to create an • Act as strategic partner to business units integrated IT environment for the university as a whole. • Create optimal digital “Although the business units have always trusted the IT department, they used to learning environment view IT as a cost center instead of a source of added value,” says Rens van der Vorst, Solution innovations and projects manager at Fontys. “Our goal in IT was to shift perceptions so • Cisco Transformative Networking that we could effectively act as a strategic partner to the business units.” engagement, helping ensure smooth transition to new campus-wide Higher education, like many fields of activity, has been going through a period of infrastructure based on a validated Cisco readjustment. That’s driven by the introduction of new technologies such as smart Borderless Networks Architecture design devices that help enable new ways of communicating, teaching, and learning. As Results a result, debates about the effectiveness of certain educational models invariably • New understanding between IT take place alongside discussions about the appropriate IT solutions to support and business those models. • Strategic roadmap aligning IT with educational goals Fontys engaged in exactly that type of debate while preparing to issue a pan‑European tender to replace its network, with IT and the business units thinking • Intelligent network as foundation for about an enterprise architecture that would support the university in achieving its multiple projects educational objectives. “We knew there was common ground between IT and the business units, but we had to find it,” says van der Vorst. “Before we could make any real progress, we needed help to develop better mutual understanding.” © 2013 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 1 of 3
- 2. Customer Case Study “The Transformative Solution Networking process turned The university’s end-to-end Cisco network had provided excellent service over many years. During a discussion about the forthcoming tender, the IT team at Fontys asked out to be the perfect Cisco for advice. “Cisco’s response took us by surprise,” says van der Vorst. “They way of understanding told us they could help us think about an appropriate enterprise architecture with our organization and a view to achieving our educational goals.” helping our organization Cisco proposed its Transformative Networking methodology, which helps organizations understand itself.” in the public and private sectors align their business requirements and IT planning. Fontys University saw the methodology as a means of quickly moving to a validated Rens van der Vorst design that would provide a foundation for its digital learning environment. Innovations and Projects Manager Fontys University of Applied Science The first stage of the process was a one-day workshop attended by business unit directors, members of the university’s management board, and representatives of the IT team. Discussions started at the top level with the university’s educational vision and objectives, and moved on to prioritizing those objectives and assessing their impact on the organization and its infrastructure. The Cisco consultant who orchestrated the workshop helped to get all participants to open up and talk candidly. This provided a forum for each group to communicate about their roles, responsibilities, and goals for the university. “Everyone agreed that Fontys aspires to offer the highest quality of education, but we soon discovered that for some people the word quality is about moral standards, while for others it’s related to technical aspects of teaching,” says van der Vorst. “Sometimes you need an external viewpoint to help you reach a deeper level of understanding.” The process of eliciting these, and similar, nuances of interpretation proved to be revealing, and acted as a catalyst for new and productive discussions. As the session continued, people began to see they had a lot of common ground. “There was a moment when I noticed people were really starting to understand each other,” says van der Vorst. “It was a very interesting process and a good methodology; it just worked.” After the workshop, Cisco produced a unique architectural network roadmap for Fontys, based on the four main business priorities that emerged during the session: • Improve the quality of education • Support teachers in their changing roles • Give substance to the university’s social mission • Create small-scale learning environments The document summarized the impact of these business goals on IT, providing a snapshot of the current status of the university’s network. It concluded with an IT action plan that highlighted technology interdependencies and prioritized recommendations according to their importance in attaining the business goals. “The executive summary in the architectural network roadmap was well formulated, concise, and easy to communicate to the business,” says van der Vorst, “and the document as a whole has proved to be of lasting value. We’ve incorporated it into our IT planning, and we regularly refer back to it.” Results The IT team at Fontys used the roadmap to write a mission statement describing the transformation that would be necessary for the university to achieve its business goals. The IT team discussed the mission statement with the business units, with all parties finding it much easier to communicate and reach agreement as a result of the insights they had gained during the workshop. © 2013 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 2 of 3
- 3. Customer Case Study “There is a new confidence “Going through the Transformative Networking process helped to tie our investment in the business units and to desired outcomes,” says Rens van der Vorst. That process is still ongoing, and new measures are in place to assist the transformation. Fontys has set up a group that the IT team that delivering meets every two months to discuss IT strategy and make decisions, and its members high-quality education include both business unit directors and board members. is something we can Adopting a more strategic and collaborative approach is helping to change do together.” attitudes towards IT. Fontys stakeholders are less likely to judge an IT investment purely in terms of cost, because they now appreciate the educational rationale for Rens van der Vorst each IT project. “There is a new confidence in the business units and the IT team Innovations and Projects Manager that delivering high-quality education is something we can do together,” says van Fontys University of Applied Science der Vorst. From a practical perspective, Fontys is working on a number of large projects designed to enhance its digital learning environment. Virtualizing the data center and moving certain services to the cloud is one priority, while upgrading the university’s outdated wireless environment is another. Wireless usage is increasing by 30 percent each year, as growing numbers of users start connecting to the university network on multiple devices, and the IT team is investigating how to accommodate all those devices while managing them securely. The foundation for these, and other, developments is an intelligent network based on the Cisco® Borderless Network Architecture. Different projects are proceeding at different rates, but significant progress is being made on the basis of the new alignment between IT and education. “The Transformative Networking process turned out to be the perfect way of understanding our organization and helping our organization understand itself,” says van der Vorst. For More Information To find out more about how Cisco Transformative Networking can help you align business vision and technology planning please visit: www.cisco.com/go/services For more information on Cisco Borderless Networks architecture, please go to: www.cisco.com/go/borderless Product List Cisco Services •• Transformative Networking as a means of moving to a validated Cisco Borderless Network design Americas Headquarters Asia Pacific Headquarters Europe Headquarters Cisco Systems, Inc. Cisco Systems (USA) Pte. Ltd. Cisco Systems International BV Amsterdam, San Jose, CA Singapore The Netherlands Cisco has more than 200 offices worldwide. Addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers are listed on the Cisco Website at www.cisco.com/go/offices. Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1110R) © 2013 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Printed in the UK ES/0313 Page 3 of 3